Bluetooth headset doesn't automatically configure its profile correctly

[Ethan Blanton]

I have a bluetooth headset capable of several modes of connection (headset, handsfree, and a2dp). In 15.10, once I had correctly configured it for a2dp once, applications using pulseaudio could use it freely each time it was connected to the machine.

In 16.04, upon connection, applications that attempt to use it appear to hang waiting for something. I have to fiddle with its settings (and sorry I can't be more specific, but it's not clear to me exactly what sequence fixes it; I change it to/from headset and A2DP in blueman a few times, do the same in pavucontrol, etc., and at some point it starts working) for several minutes to get it working in a2dp mode. It appears that after connection I can put it in headset mode and start playing to it immediately, but of course the audio quality is horrible.

Once I've fiddled it into working, it works until disconnected, and upon reconnect it behaves the same as before I fiddled it into submission: a2dp connection, but clients accessing it hang.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: bluez 5.37-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-22.39-generic 4.4.8
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu May 12 18:38:16 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-04 (342 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
InterestingModules: rfcomm bnep btusb bluetooth
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS13 9333
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.4.0-22-generic.efi.signed root=/dev/mapper/lubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: bluez
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2016-04-22 (20 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/07/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A06
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA06:bd11/07/2014:svnDellInc.:pnXPS139333:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: XPS13 9333
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
hciconfig:
 hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
  BD Address: 5C:51:4F:7C:03:11 ACL MTU: 1021:5 SCO MTU: 96:5
  UP RUNNING PSCAN
  RX bytes:1391 acl:0 sco:0 events:164 errors:0
  TX bytes:27517 acl:0 sco:0 commands:163 errors:0

[Ethan Blanton (eblanton)]

I have isolated a method for making things work, for others who may have similar problems:

1) Connect headset by turning it on.
2) Set headset to headset (not a2dp) mode using blueman-manager
3) Disconnect headset from blueman-manager
4) Reconnect headset from blueman-manager; it will show Audio Profile: off
5) Set audio profile to A2DP

At this point, it generally seems to work. Shorter sequences have not yet reliably worked for me. Some parts of the dance can be done in pavucontrol, but it's easiest to do it all in one place.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Saverio Miroddi (64kramsystem)]

Same problem here, and the "magic sequence" solves the issue as well.

I had a similar sequence as well (it was using "HSP/HFP" in place of "off"), which stopped working today.