You might try using ‘hcitcptest’ instead of Cloverleaf to make a connection. The utility is a simple socket program and if you’re not connecting to it you certainly can’t connect to Cloverleaf. I always use it first because it’s a little simpler to set up than a Cloverleaf thread (if you can believe that!) and it sometimes reveals things that aren’t obvious in Cloverleaf. For instance, I had a connection one time that was sending a startup message and disconnecting right away when it didn’t get a response.
