Pixel Slate: Mouse cursor freezes when using Brydge (bt) keyboard and a (bt) mouse

[David Cook]

Ok, the subject says it all....i.e. after booting up, connecting the bluetooth keybd and bluetooth mouse, and

mousing around for a minute or two, the mouse cursor freezes.  And, rebooting and trying again...same thing.

It's reproducable.  (I put fresh battery in mouse, and even tried a different bluetooth mouse, and same lockup

happens.

I called Slate's phone support a few days ago about this.  The tech I talked to finally told me that his final

opinion was that "such a configuration is unsupported"  (these two multiple bluetooth devices don't play

nicely together).

I almost fell out of my chair!  This new 'flagship' chromebook has been around for over a year, and yet

a problem such as this is known to exist, but hasn't been fixed?  

[ I DID find an INTERIM workaround...i.e. if I ditch the bt-mouse, and instead insert a usb-c to std-usb wireless mouse adapter (for that other kind of wireless mouse) into the other usb-c port, then the Slate seems to work

fine...no more mouse freezing.  But the freezing problem NEEDS to get fixed soon! ]

For starters, can someone else there at chrome-os engineering support please confirm whether this diagnosis

of 'unsupported' is correct?  And, which company is responsible to come up with the fix...Google or Brydge?

[Joe Ellett]

I use the Brydge C-type keyboard, a Bluetooth speaker, and occasionally Bluetooth headphones, with no problems with any of the devices, so I'd suspect the Bluetooth driver in the mouse.

The support rep doesn't seem to have superior skillz. It's not multiple Bluetooth devices that are the problem, but Google historically has adhered closely to Bluetooth standards, so if your device has drivers that don't adhere strictly to the standards, it may not work reliably. This is more frequent if you have an inexpensive and/or off-brand device that either buys low-end Bluetooth chips, licenses third-party drivers or has a minimal development staff.

Probably, one of the reasons that my configuration works so well is that I stick with brand names when using bluetooth; Bose QC35 II headphones, Brydge C-Type keyboard etc. I test some unknown-brand components, but if they don't work reliably, I immediately return them or trash them. That's part of the cost of using unknown brand Bluetooth hardware.

I don't think that this is a Google Slate problem. You might wish for the Slate drivers to be more tolerant of out-of-spec communications, but that's never been something Google has focused on.

[David Cook]

Yes, Joe, I agree that the issue is NOT just anytime that there are two or more bluetooth devices. (Because I can use my bluetooth speaker simultaneously with the Brydge bt-keyboard, and it works fine.)  Hmmm...so, all along, I've been assuming that it was the Brydge keyboard's driver at fault.  But, your suspicion that the mouse driver is probably the culprit now seems CORRECT!

Ok, the specific bt-mouse (mice) that I've tried are both Logitech M535s.

Meanwhile, can someone recommend some DIFFERENT  manufacturer's bluetooth mouse that I 

should buy and try?  Thx.

[Joe Ellett]

I must admit, I've never found a BT mouse I've been happy with, for any machine, any OS. I use a Logitech M705 with their unifying receiver, which stays plugged into my machine.

I'm waiting on the Brydge C-Touch touchpad that's supposed to be out this fall, hoping that it will work as well as the C-Type. I've always been more of a mouse person, but a Chrome OS touchpad has so many 1-2-3-4 finger gestures that the mouse can't emulate that I'm making the switch.

[Harry Cutts]

Hi,

Thanks for reporting this issue! Our Bluetooth team been working quite a bit on the firmware for the Bluetooth chip in the Pixel Slate recently, so they're looking into whether this needs an additional fix (as opposed to one having been written already and waiting for deployment). We have both the Brydge keyboard and the M535 to test with, but when you get a chance, could you reproduce the issue and then file feedback? Please mention "hcutts" in the description so I can locate it easily. That'll give us some more debugging information.

Thanks,

Harry Cutts

Chrome OS Touch/Input team

[David Cook]

Ok, Harry.  I reproduced the M535 BT mouse issue again today (on the Pixel Slate) and did the 'file-feedback' that you requested.

Cheers...