Can't send audio to Amazon Echo via Bluetooth

[Doug Morse]

Pairing and coupling to Amazon Echo works, but no sound is heard.

I believe the issue is related to the fact that Amazon Echo is paired as a handset (i.e., speaker + microphone) rather than just as a speaker. I believe the critical error is found in a dmesg line such as:

Feb 28 10:59:05 n1 bluetoothd[1025]: a2dp-source profile connect failed for 50:F5:DA:A6:3F:EA: Device or resource busy

as I describe in the askubuntu.com discussion at:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/871630/cant-send-audio-to-amazon-echo-via-bluetooth

I have clarified there my thinking and the steps I've taken thus far on this issue, which includes trying debug bluetooth per the Ubuntu wiki page which describes how to do so.

This is probably an upstream issue, as Mike H-R has commented there that the problem also occurs on ArchLinux.

I and a few others would like to get this resolved, and I am happy to help (I'm a software developer). However, at this point, I'm not sure how to proceed without some assistance. I suppose I could report it to Debain, but I've only ever used Debain vis a vis Ubuntu, so I thought it best to start here.

Thanks.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: bluez 5.37-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-72.93-generic 4.4.49
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-72-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.5
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Wed May 17 22:27:59 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-12-26 (507 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.10 "Wily Werewolf" - Release amd64 (20151021)
InterestingModules: rfcomm bnep btusb bluetooth
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-72-generic root=UUID=5950fbba-cde1-49ac-a918-04e517894c57 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: bluez
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-02-28 (78 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 01/18/2017
dmi.bios.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.bios.version: RYBDWi35.86A.0362.2017.0118.0940
dmi.board.name: NUC5i5RYB
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corporation
dmi.board.version: H40999-504
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIntelCorporation:bvrRYBDWi35.86A.0362.2017.0118.0940:bd01/18/2017:svn:pn:pvr:rvnIntelCorporation:rnNUC5i5RYB:rvrH40999-504:cvn:ct3:cvr:
hciconfig:
 hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
  BD Address: DC:53:60:97:55:17 ACL MTU: 1021:5 SCO MTU: 96:6
  UP RUNNING PSCAN
  RX bytes:13547334 acl:58 sco:0 events:1935087 errors:0
  TX bytes:1652407651 acl:1934967 sco:0 commands:76 errors:0
mtime.conffile..etc.bluetooth.main.conf: 2015-12-29T07:24:08.439240

[Doug Morse (dm-dougmorse)]

I should also note that on the askubuntu.com site, I speculate that it may just be some permission issue deep down somewhere, and why.

[Doug Morse (dm-dougmorse)]

Additionally, this issue also appeared along the line with Ubuntu+KDE and apparently was easily resolved, as described in ubuntuforums.org, [link](https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2318966). Quoting another ubuntuforums.org post (also KDE), [link](https://askubuntu.com/questions/763539/bluetooth-speaker-no-sound-in-ubuntu-16-04), "....So far, it seems that things only go wrong when I try to connect in A2DP mode. Until there is a real fix/workaround, I am going to try to remember to always switch to HSP/HSF mode before powering off or disconnecting the speaker.". So, perhaps in the short-term for Ubuntu+Unity a similar workaround could be found, if this is indeed the correct diagnosis, and in the longer-term figure out why connecting in A2DP mode fails (for both KDE and Unity).

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1582213, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

[goog64 (goog64)]

I have the same problem. Dell XPS13 laptop Linux Mint 18. Finally managed to pair with Amazon Echo, but cannot get sound to it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Preston (theprecognition+launchpad)]

for what it's worth, pavucontrol shows that the Echo is playing music.

I just don't hear anything. :-( (I've turned volume up, too)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Can anyone with an Amazon Echo also try Ubuntu 18.04?

http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

[Anne van Rossum (annevanrossum)]

I can confirm that pavucontrol shows moving sounds bars with an Output Device called "Headphones (unplugged)" and that the Configuration shows "High Fidelity (A2DP Sink) Unplugged" and "High Fidelity Capture (A2DP Source)". There is no sound however.

➜ ~ uname -a
Linux V 4.15.0-34-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 27 15:21:48 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
➜ ~ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=18.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=bionic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"

[tbenst (tbenst)]

On 18.04, I'm having this same issue. I can pair to an Echo, but cannot connect nor setup as an Audio Sink. I get errors like "dbusfailederror input/output error" in blueman.

[review (reviewwriter)]

I am using Ubuntu 18.04 and I have same issue. My echo was working fine from many days and suddenly I have this issue where when I goto bluetooth devices and right click on Echo and click on Audio Source, It says "Now connected to Ubuntu" but does not play sound.

If I give the foolwoing command in terminal: sudo service bluetooth status
I see the issue might be with "a2dp-source profile connect failed for XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX: Device or resource busy"

Not sure how to fix it. I have removed and paired the device again and restarted my computer couple of time but of no use.

[review (reviewwriter)]

my issue:
a2dp-source profile connect failed for XX:XX:XX:XX:XX: Device or resource busy

[Andrzej Machalski (jendkers)]

I had the same issue with Device or resource busy and the same problem when Alexa says that is connected to pc and no sound - but it's because your pc becomes bluetooth speaker for Echo, in that state pacmd list-cards shows:
...
a2dp_source: Przechwytywanie o wysokiej dokładności (źródło A2DP) (priority 20, available: yes)
a2dp_sink: Odtwarzanie o wysokiej dokładności (odpływ A2DP) (priority 40, available: no)
off: Wyłączone (priority 0, available: yes)
...

Finally I got connected Echo as bluetooth speaker and it's working now after reboot too.

Steps to get Echo working as bluetooth speaker that works for me:

1. Echo doesn't know anything about bluetooth connection - so first forget your device in Alexa App, and other devices.
2. Reinstall your pulseaudio-module-bluetooth: for fedora: sudo dnf reinstall pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
3. Uncomment MultiProfile in /etc/bluetooth/main.conf and set it to multiple. (not sure if it is nesesery)
4. If you made modifications do:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo service bluetooth restart

5. Check if A2DPSink and source is registred with sudo service bluetooth status
6. If not do:
pacmd load-module module-bluetooth-discover
7. Reset adapter:
sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
8.Check if adapter works good: (my class is 0x1c0104)
hciconfig -a
9. Now unload pulseaudio modules:
pacmd unload-module module-switch-on-connect
pacmd unload-module module-switch-on-port-available

Now open terminal and run bluetoothctl, and in bluetoothctl type:
default-agent
remove ECHO_MAC (if you have saved it before)

Now tell to Echo "Alexa, bluetooth" and after "Searching" Echo should show in bluetoothctl so connect it:
connect ECHO_MAC
exit

After that bluetoothctl should show that connects to echo and pairs it, then pacmd list-cards will show a2dp_sink available yes. After reboot when you want to connect, don't say anything to echo, just run bluetoothctl and connect echo.

If after connect bluetoothctl doesn't show anything about pair and connect, you can try to manualy connect to a2dp_sink with:
dbus-send --print-reply --system --dest=org.bluez /org/bluez/hci0/dev_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX_XX org.bluez.Device1.ConnectProfile string:0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34f
Replace XX with your echo MAC.

Fedora 29, BlueZ 5.50.

[Jesse (jesse-boyd)]

After trying a random assortment of fixes to get my Amazon Echo Show to connect as a speaker using bluetooth to my Linux Mint 19.2 box I found the solution far too simple. The magic reboot! I rebooted the Echo and that must have cleared the bluetooth connections... ha

[DasJott (das-jott)]

I don't use Ubuntu currently, but I think this is a Linux issue anyway.

After using a plain arch linux system, I now use a manjaro installation.

I could pair AND connect my Amazon Echo perfectly fine on the arch installation. I could listen to music on there and everything was good.
Now on Manjaro I have the same problem: Pairing works, connecting doesn't.

Is there anything I could look up on the old system? I still have it on the other partition...

[Rodrigo (ro-goab)]

This error remains unsolved, amazon echo cannot be paired, as an input and output device. It only works with one of the two

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Support for simultaneous high quality input and output over Bluetooth was only added to PulseAudio in version 15, which is introduced in Ubuntu 21.10. Please try that: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/