[Dell Inspiron 7370] Bluetooth headset selected as default sound output, yet sound outputs to laptop speakers

[Pierre Equoy]

Ubuntu 19.10 (using -proposed pocket)
Kernel 5.3.0-21-generic #22
pulseaudio 1:13.0-1ubuntu1
bluez 5.50-0ubuntu4

Device: Dell Inspiron 7370

Step to reproduce
=================

1. Pair a bluetooth headset with the laptop
2. Go to sound settings
  -> in "Output device", the bluetooth headset is selected
3. Click Test, then "Front Left" and/or "Front Right"
  -> the sound outputs to the laptop speakers instead of the bluetooth headset

If I select "Speakers - Built-in audio" in the "Output device", then select back the bluetooth headset from the "Output device" list and test it, it works as expected.

I tried this with 2 different bluetooth headsets (UE Boom and TaoTronics TT-BH07) which work fine on an Android device.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: pulseaudio 1:13.0-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-21.22-generic 5.3.7
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: pieq 1532 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu Oct 31 17:36:10 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-07-02 (121 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" - Release amd64 (20190416)
SourcePackage: pulseaudio
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to eoan on 2019-10-19 (12 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/23/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.14.0
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.14.0:bd04/23/2019:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron7370:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Inspiron
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 7370
dmi.product.sku: 07E9
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

This kind of problem is becoming common enough that we should also check if it's a GUI issue in gnome-control-center in how it communicates with PulseAudio.

[Pierre Equoy (pieq)]

I ran the following steps:

1. Power laptop on with bluetooth turned off
2. Turn BT on in gnome settings and set my BT headphones in pairing mode
3. Pair the headphones.
4. In Sound settings, it looks like the selected device is the BT headphones, but if I play something it outputs on the laptop speakers.

output of `pactl list` gives something interesting though:

Source #1
 State: RUNNING
 Name: alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo
 Description: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
 Driver: module-alsa-card.c
 Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
 Channel Map: front-left,front-right
 Owner Module: 7
 Mute: no
 Volume: front-left: 30421 / 46% / -20.00 dB, front-right: 30421 / 46% / -20.00 dB
         balance 0.00
 Base Volume: 6554 / 10% / -60.00 dB
 Monitor of Sink: n/a
 Latency: 123 usec, configured 40000 usec
 Flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
 Properties:
  alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
  device.api = "alsa"
  device.class = "sound"
  alsa.class = "generic"
  alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
  alsa.name = "ALC3254 Analog"
  alsa.id = "ALC3254 Analog"
  alsa.subdevice = "0"
  alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
  alsa.device = "0"
  alsa.card = "0"
  alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel PCH"
  alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel PCH at 0xd1128000 irq 128"
  alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
  device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1f.3"
  sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.3/sound/card0"
  device.bus = "pci"
  device.vendor.id = "8086"
  device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
  device.product.id = "9d71"
  device.product.name = "Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio"
  device.form_factor = "internal"
  device.string = "front:0"
  device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
  device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
  device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
  device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
  device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
  device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
  alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC3254"
  alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0295,102807e9,00100002 HDA:8086280b,80860101,00100000"
  module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
  device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
 Ports:
  analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (priority: 8900)
  analog-input-headphone-mic: Microphone (priority: 8700, not available)
  analog-input-headset-mic: Headset Microphone (priority: 8800, not available)
 Active Port: analog-input-internal-mic
 Formats:
  pcm

Source #2
 State: SUSPENDED
 Name: bluez_sink.E3_28_E9_21_94_78.a2dp_sink.monitor
 Description: Monitor of TaoTronics TT-BH07
 Driver: module-bluez5-device.c
 Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
 Channel Map: front-left,front-right
 Owner Module: 25
 Mute: no
 Volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB, front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
         balance 0.00
 Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
 Monitor of Sink: bluez_sink.E3_28_E9_21_94_78.a2dp_sink
 Latency: 0 usec, configured 0 usec
 Flags: DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
 Properties:
  device.description = "Monitor of TaoTronics TT-BH07"
  device.class = "monitor"
  device.string = "E3:28:E9:21:94:78"
  device.api = "bluez"
  device.bus = "bluetooth"
  device.form_factor = "headset"
  bluez.path = "/org/bluez/hci0/dev...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

I'm experiencing the same issue with a Philips SHB7250 headset on a fully up-to-date 20.04.
This headset used to work fine until about a couple of weeks ago (I have been running 20.04 since the early days, so it's a recent regression).

Switching back and forth between sinks in g-c-c doesn't make the issue go away, though. Sound output is always through the laptop built-in speakers. I have also tried resuming the corresponding sink (it's marked SUSPENDEND) and setting it the default using pactl, to no avail.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

I downgraded pulseaudio to 1:13.0-3ubuntu2, and the problem is gone, so this appears to be a pulseaudio regression.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

After successfully downgrading, I upgraded again to 1:13.99.1-1ubuntu1, rebooted my laptop, and lo and behold, my bluetooth headset works again.

I wonder if simply reinstalling the pulseaudio packages instead of downgrading and upgrading again would have fixed the problem. I'll test that if it happens again.

I'm removing the rls-ff-incoming tag for now.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please remember to report the issue upstream:

  https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/groups/pulseaudio/-/issues

and then mention the new bug ID here.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-control-center (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for pulseaudio (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]