This gist is currenctly archived.
Please refer to previous revisions if you know what to do.
The patch proposed was merged into kernel in 5.8 release, but no longer working as of linux 5.11
[ARCHIVED] Fix for CSR Dongle 0a12:0001 ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Front of PCB corrected for skew and cropped. Original orientation
Back of PCB corrected for skew and cropped. Horizontally flipped
Color coded back of PCB corrected for skew and cropped. Horizontally flipped
Throughholes: Blue
Blind vias: Red
@JeffreyO Thanks a lot for going above and beyond with your teardown! I remember trying to find the actual Chinese ASIC vendor, which (unless one takes a microscope photo of the bare die) it's going to be hard, but there are mentions to companies like Barrot in the kernel, which may be a good start point for more shady stuff: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/bluetooth/btusb.c#L2322
If someone tried to clone the CSR chips they haven't done it correctly. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Note that the Barrot based clones (mine at least) actually
have Barrot and some Barrot modelnr written on the IC.
@JeffreyO Thanks a lot for going above and beyond with your teardown! I remember trying to find the actual Chinese ASIC vendor, which (unless one takes a microscope photo of the bare die) it's going to be hard, but there are mentions to companies like Barrot in the kernel, which may be a good start point for more shady stuff: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/latest/source/drivers/bluetooth/btusb.c#L2322
If someone tried to clone the CSR chips they haven't done it correctly. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you. Also, for anyone wondering, there is a way to properly and nondestructively open up the USB dongle. I just gently pried it apart and wiggled it enough and was lucky not to break anything.
But, that's not the right way. The right way is that there's a clip in the USB part latching to the outside of the case. You press down on that and slide the dongle apart away from the metal. It should all come out in one piece.
To put it back together, you sandwich the plastic parts and the PCB back together and slide it into the metal part (Keep it mind that those 2 tiny divots in the metal are the clips. It only goes together one way.) while applying very light pressure to the clip. You should hear a click when everything is back together successfully.
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Pinout so far: (Adding the pinout later. Beeping everything out currently.)