Fixing PS4 Controller Bluetooth on Fedora

If your DualShock 4 (PS4) controller connects over Bluetooth and immediately disconnects on Fedora 42, you’re not alone.

This guide explains why it happens and how to fix it for good.

What’s going wrong?

Fedora 42 uses modern drivers (hid_playstation) and the BlueZ Bluetooth stack, but they don’t always play nice with DualShock 4. The main culprits:

1. ERTM (Enhanced Re-transmission Mode)

The PS4 controller fails L2CAP negotiation if ERTM is enabled (a low-level Bluetooth feature that Fedora enables by default).

2. hid_playstation Kernel Driver

This driver can interfere with Bluetooth HID pairing, especially if the controller sends partial device class info during bonding.

3. Stale BlueZ Cache or UI Flakiness

Old device entries or GNOME Bluetooth quirks can break otherwise valid pairings.

The Fix (Tested on Fedora 42)

Disable ERTM (Permanently)

echo "options bluetooth disable_ertm=Y" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/disable-ertm.conf
sudo dracut -f