Bean Loader keeps connecting on my Mac OS X Sierra

[ctenuta]

My Bean Loader keep stuck in Connecting... with all of my Bean and Bean+ devices on a MacBook pro with the Sierra (10.12). I am using the latest version of the loader.

I have other iMac with the El Capitan and it's working fine.

I would be grateful if someone could help.

[karel]

Hi @ctenuta

Sorry to hear you are having issues connecting to your Bean and Bean+. Just to get some basic troubleshooting steps out of the way, have you tried turning your Bluetooth off and turning it back on again? That usually fixes it, but if it doesn't we can troubleshoot more. Also, are you paired with any devices or have HID enabled?

Best,
Karel

[ctenuta]

Hi @karel.

This MacBook doesn't have support for bluetooth v4.0, so I bought the dongle from IOGEAR. I don't have any devices paired. Do I need to have HID enabled or disabled? How can I do that?
I have also turned the bluetooth on and off, but Bean Loader keeps stuck in Connecting...

I ran this script https://github.com/dokterdok/Continuity-Activation-Tool to make the IOGEAR bluetooth dongle the default bluetooth adapter, and everything seems fine, except for this issue with Bean Loader. I can see the ble devices trough the Xcode Bluetooth Explorer and the Bean Loader show the devices too. So I think that I am missing something.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Cristiano

[karel]

Hello again @ctenuta

It sounds like you took care of the other issues. So, there does seem to be something up with the connection within the Bean Loader. Usually if we see connection issues like that one, it's because the Bean has been incorrectly cached -- which often is easily fixed with turning off and on Bluetooth. But, since you tried that already, let's look into other potential problems.

I assume you don't HID enabled which is fine and you won't need it to connect if you are wondering. I only asked because HID uses pairing and establishing pairing followed by trying to connect with multiple different devices can lead to confusing to connections depending on which device the Bean is going to auto-connect to and so on. For now, don't worry about it.

If you've tried power cycling the Beans along with the rest of the troubleshooting steps, then let's tackle it from another approach. Can you try downloading our new cross-platform Command Line Bean Loader? It will run on your Macbook or you could try to connect via a mobile phone, using one of our mobile platforms.

Command Line Bean Loader
Bean Loader for Android
Bean Loader for iOS

If you are able to connect with any of these other option, I would recommend updating the firmware on your Beans and re-trying to connect with the OS X Bean Loader. Otherwise, if you can't connect from any of the loaders then we have larger issues. Let me know how it goes!

[pierce]

Hi @karel

Same exact issue on my end too when using the bluetooth dongle. I tried both the iOS loader and the command line interface - the iOS loader works fine but the command line stalls out after scanning for the device. It's almost as if it can read signals fine but not able to send them out again.

Terminal:

bean blink_led --address {address}

Found Bean with name/address: Bean/{address}

And then doesn't make any more progress.

[karel]

@pierce @ctenuta

Thank for providing more information. We are going to be looking into some OS X related issues soon and I will be sure that we take a look at this too.

Hopefully you both have found some work arounds for the time being by using alternate loaders.

[pierce]

Hi @karel,

Thanks for the heads up. Right now I'm doing a workaround with the iOS client, but it's not ideal so I'd love to get an update on this.

[pierce]

Hi @karel

Any word on this?

[PunchThrough]

Hi @pierce and @ctenuta,

Would you be able to verify that you don't have any Bean or Bean+'s paired to your mac?

The "Remove a Bluetooth device from your Mac" from this page shows you how to do this.

Let us know what you find!

[pierce]

Hi @PunchThrough,

Confirmed that I don't have any Bean or Bean+ paired with my Mac. Let me know if you need anything else to diagnose further!

[PunchThrough]

I know this sounds crazy, but do you have any other regular Bluetooth devices connected to your computer? Such as headphones, keyboards etc?

I ask because we ran into an OSX bug the other day where OSX could not connect to BLE devices while using Bluetooth headphones.

[pierce]

Hi @PunchThrough

Ran into the same issue when I disconnected all other Bluetooth devices from my computer. Still getting the infinite "Connecting..." message in Bean Loader.

[PunchThrough]

Hello pierce!

Which version of Bean Loader are you using?

[ctenuta]

Hi @PunchThrough.

Do you have a step by step guide to install the IOGEAR GBU521 on Mac?

It seems that it has no official drivers for OSX and it's your recommended bluetooth dongle.

I tried to do so much to make it work that I must have missed something.

Thanks in advance.

[AtomicProf]

I Have the same issue.
Connecting... shows up.
I can connect via iOS. I updated the bean firmware, renamed the bean from iOS.
The new name shows up on OS X bean loader.
I use a dongle for my late model 2011 MacBook pro. Avantree DG40s
I'm running MacOS 10.12.1
I don't have any blue tooth device connected.
I've toggle BLE on and OFF
Pulled the battery on the Bean, reset the memory.
It will not connect.

I'm about to try the command line

OK so I installed the common line. It finds the bean. When I send the blink_led command, it only comes back with
Found device with name/address Bean/771..

[ctenuta]

Hi @AtomicProf.

I also have a MacBook Pro Late 2011, but my bluetooth dongle is the recommended one from PunchTrough (IOGEAR). Did you have to do something to make your dongle work? Does it have drivers for OSX?

I could not properly install the bean command line version on my mac. Every attempt to install bean-sdk node_module returns these errors:

npm WARN optional Skipping failed optional dependency /bean-sdk/noble/bluetooth-hci-socket:
npm WARN notsup Not compatible with your operating system or architecture: bluetooth-hci-socket@0.5.1

And bean scan command result in ERROR: Cannot find module './build/Release/binding.node'

[PunchThrough]

Hi @ctenuta,

I'm assuming your MacBook doesn't have builtin Bluetooth 4.0? We have done very limited testing with BLE dongles on macOS ... On Windows/Linux we recommend using the Zadig tool to install the necessary drivers but that is not applicable for macOS.

Regarding the Node.js bean-sdk install issues ... those are not errors. The optional dependency of bluetooth-hci-socket is only required for Windows/Linux.

[AtomicProf]

Hi @ctenuta,

A bought a cheap dongle 8 months back.. $9 from amazon. Bean Loader, couldn't find any beans with. So I was annoyed with myself. Then order another like 4 months back, and I am only now getting around to the Light Blue Beans again.

I thought I had ordered one that was recommend from some where. To answer you question, I just plugged it in the USB port opened Bean Loader, and it found my Bean. But would not connect.

I tried a second bean. And the same thing. hung at connection.

[PunchThrough]

Hello @AtomicProf!

Try updating your Bean Loader to version 1.12.2, and let me know if that works or not.

Alternatively, do you have another device that you could try to connect to the Bean with? Such as an iPhone or Android phone with the Bean Loader app? Also, have you ever been able to connect to your Bean or Bean+, or is this an issue that started more recently?

[AtomicProf]

Hey PunchThrough,

Thank you for replying.
A -- I have been using version 1.12.2 (1648)
B -- Yes I can connect to my beans with iOS on an iPhone6+ and iPad 2. I've uploaded sketches, they run no problem.
C -- I have never been able to connect to a Bean via the MacBook Pro (late 2011) with a bluetooth 4.0 dongle.