How to detect Bluetooth, without rebooting

command-line bluetooth

7,923

Solution 1

You should check to see if the USB bluetooth kernel module (driver) is loaded.

lsmod | grep btusb

If it doesn't return anything, then you need to load the kernel module with:

sudo modprobe btusb

Solution 2

Can you try restarting the init.d service?

:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

Executing this command after you connect your usb bluetooth adapter should restart the service and make the bluetooth service recognize new connections/adapters/etc....

Let me know...

7,923

JapanPro

Expert-generalist, willing to learn, unlearn and relearn, & passionately curious with a deep understanding of artificial intelligence. Solving technical and business problems employing innovative technologies and practices are his key strengths. Pramendra is a tech architect with hands-on experience in software development, especially in JavaScript. He has successfully been able to transform, Japan's top enterprise and startup in all levels of engineering, used by millions of customers. His experience in defining tech roadmaps, code convention & building/leading team add value in achieving a team mission. His experience in design thinking, good communication, business mindset, & continuous learning makes him a great team member and also helps greatly in cross-team contribution. Career Objective Create a positive impact on society through the amalgamation of business and technology. Interest. Professional: Product Management, Engineering Management, Performance Optimizations, High-load low-latency Scalable Fault-tolerant Architectures, Distributed Systems, Functional Programming, Code Quality, Systems Design, Microservices, Serverless, Product Architecture, E-commerce, Tech Roadmap. Recreational: DevOps, Machine Learning, Product Innovation, Learning new tech & biz practices. Skill. Frontend / JavaScript node.js, React, React Native, GraphQL, Redux, TypeScript, MobX, Functional design pattern, Recompose, Next.js, Angular. Backend / PHP, Go-lang,Python, Java, Ruby, C/C++, HTML5, CSS3, Rust. DevOps / Kubernetes, Docker, Ansible, Jenkins, JMeter, Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, Serverless, CI/CD DB / MySQL, MongoDB, Elastic Search, SQLite PM / Scrum, Kanban, Jira, Confluence AI / Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Data Science, Neural Networks Others / RFID, Blockchain, Bigdata, Data Science, eKYC, CryptoCurrency. Ref https://linkedin.com/in/pramendragupta https://github.com/pramendra https://freelancer.com/u/karmu.html (★★★★★) https://stackoverflow.com/users/282000 (12K)

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

JapanPro over 1 year

I have an external bluetooth adapter, it works if I attach it before booting, but if I connect it afterwards it fails to detect any device.

Is there any command to scan for and detect devices?
- koushik over 13 years
  
  how do you connect this device ? via usb ? in other words, is this a usb bluetooth adapter that doesn't get enabled if you plugin after booting ?
- JapanPro over 13 years
  
  its via usb, thats right @kaushik
- Mikel about 13 years
  
  hcitool and sdptool may help.
sondra.kinsey almost 6 years

Note: This works on an unmodified Ubuntu system with no extra packages installed. Great!
cfi over 2 years

Even if the driver is loaded and listed with the above lsmod | grep btusb, sometimes it helps to force a restart of it: rmmod btusb, then modprobe btusb.