Skip to content

Bug: RAK4631 Hard Freeze (Requires Manual Reset) when connecting via Bluetooth on Linux #7

Description

@Basti77

Connecting a RAK4631 (WisBlock) to CLI applications MeshTUI via Bluetooth on Linux causes a hard freeze of the node. The device becomes completely unresponsive, fails to transmit, and does not perform an automatic watchdog reboot. A manual hardware reset is required to restore functionality.

Environment:

Hardware: RAK4631 (nRF52840) on WisBlock Base.

Firmware: any MeshCore build

Environment:

  • Node Hardware: RAK4631 (nRF52840) / WisBlock Base
  • Firmware: Reproduced on Meshtastic and MeshCore
  • OS: Ubuntu Linux (Kernel 6.8.0-94-generic)
  • BlueZ Version: 5.72
  • PC BT Hardware: Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface (ID 8087:0a2a)
  • Clients tested: MeshTUI, MeshSense

Clients (hardware) tested: MeshTUI, MeshSense. (with meshtastic)

Steps to Reproduce:

Power the RAK4631 node (running standalone, stable 24/7).

Attempt to connect to the node via Bluetooth using a Linux desktop client (MeshTUI or MeshSense /Windows).

The node freezes during or immediately after the connection handshake/sync.

The node stays in this frozen state until a manual physical reset is performed.

Observed Behavior:

No Automatic Reboot: The internal watchdog fails to recover the node.

Client Specific: This does not happen with the Android/iOS mobile apps, only with Linux-based desktop clients.

Consistency: The issue is reproducible across different firmware versions (Meshtastic and MeshCore).

Expected Behavior:
The Bluetooth connection from a Linux client should not cause a terminal state that requires physical intervention.

Please implement a 'Rate Limiting' or 'Slow Sync' option for BLE connections. Currently, the app sends Protobuf requests too fast for the RAK4631/nRF52840, causing a hard freeze. A configurable delay between requests would fix this.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    help wantedExtra attention is needed

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions