Sony PS3 Dual Shock Controller won't connect to Steam but is connected to Blueto...

Question

I had an issue I used AI to solve and thought I would pass it along. I followed all the advice but couldn't get my controller to work wireless. I will add the summary of diagnostic steps and solution below. I hope this helps someone. :

PS3 DualShock 3 Bluetooth on Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (Kernel 6.17)

Problem
-------
- Controller worked perfectly over USB.
- Bluetooth paired and connected but Steam never detected it.
- No /dev/input/js0 was created.
- bluetoothctl showed Connected: yes but Paired: no/Bonded: no.
- sixpair successfully programmed the controller with the PC's Bluetooth MAC.

Diagnostics
-----------
1. Verified hardware
   - USB controller detected.
   - hid_sony kernel module loaded.
   - Wired controller worked in Steam.

2. Verified Bluetooth transport
   - btmon showed:
     * ACL connection established.
     * HID Control (PSM 0x11) connected.
     * HID Interrupt (PSM 0x13) connected.
     * Controller transmitted HID reports (A1 01 ...).
   - Therefore Bluetooth and pairing were NOT the problem.

3. Verified device creation
   - udevadm monitor showed:
       add uhid
       add hidraw6
       remove hidraw6
   - HID device was created then immediately destroyed.

4. Found kernel errors
   journalctl reported:
       sony ... unknown main item tag 0x0
       sony ... Failed to set controller into operational mode
       sony ... failed to claim input

Root Cause
----------
BlueZ was using the UserspaceHID (UHID) backend, which failed to initialize
the DualShock 3 correctly on this system.

Fix
---
Edit:

    sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/input.conf

Set:

    UserspaceHID=false
    ClassicBondedOnly=false

Restart Bluetooth:

    sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

Ensure HIDP is loaded:

    sudo modprobe hidp

Reconnect controller:
    1. Plug USB in briefly.
    2. Unplug.
    3. Press PS.

Verification
------------
Successful fix produced:

    /dev/input/event27  PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller Motion Sensors
    /dev/input/event28  PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller

Controller became visible to evtest and Steam.

Useful diagnostic commands
--------------------------
btmon
bluetoothctl
sudo udevadm monitor --kernel --property
sudo journalctl -k -n 100 --no-pager
ls /dev/input/event*
ls /dev/input/js*
sudo evtest

Notes
-----
- sixpair is still required once to program the controller with the PC's
  Bluetooth MAC address.
- This controller is a genuine Sony CECHZC2U A2. ;

The Editing of the /etc/bluetooth/input.conf file as above was the solution.