If you found this via your favorite search engine, you’re probably wondering why you can’t get your controller to be seen by fwupdmgr when you’ve followed the other sites’ online instructions to the letter. I had the same problem.
But, after some experimenting, I got mine to update. Here are just a couple of points that worked for me and will hopefully save you the time figuring it all out froms scratch.
- Everyone and their brother always says “Make sure you start the controller in Android mode (B+Start) or it won’t be seen by the updater!” That’s not necessarily true.
8BitDo or the fwupdmgr guys must have changed something somewhere along the way, because my newer controller cannot be seen by fwupdmgr while in Android mode – ever. It can be seen fine by lsusb when in Android mode, but will only be seen by fwupdmgr when booted into firmware update mode (L1+R1+Start). This is fine. It actually makes the update easier because you don’t have to start the update, disconnect, change modes, and reconnect in firmware update mode – you just start the update instead. - Plug the controller directly into your system.
I have a USB hub connected to my system. I can plug the controller into it and play via USB with no problem at all. However, the device cannot be seen by fwupdmgr when connected through this hub, for reasons unknown. So if you’re going to update – save the wild geese and just connect directly to your computer.