Update Your Bluetooth Firmware

2026-07-10

I've been having issues with my Bluetooth keyboard using USB Bluetooth adapters for ages now. Yesterday I realised I couldn't use both my keyboard and my headphones at the same time without the keyboard disconnecting constantly. I tried to debug this for a while and eventually ran across this article: Fixing RTL8761BU firmware loading on Linux for the TP-Link UB600. I'm actually using a Mercusys MA530 Bluetooth USB (enabled with this dkms patch), but the chip is the same.

Following those instructions I downloaded the Windows 10 driver, extracted the firmware binary and sudo mv'ed it to /usr/lib/firmware and all my problems were solved! I can now use my headphones and keyboard at the same time with no disconnects, and I can even put the USB directly in the PC instead of using an extension cable.

Now I just need to remember to re-do this when linux-firmware gets updated and my change is overwritten...