Bluetooth headphones won't use A2DP on reconnect

[Alistair Cunningham]

*** This bug is the same as bug 1724919, but is NOT A DUPLICATE because that bug was closed because it was reported for Ubuntu 17.10, which is out of support. This bug is for newer versions, such as 19.10. PLEASE DO NOT MARK THIS BUG AS A DUPLICATE. ***

On Ubuntu 19.10 on my Thinkpad T470s, my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones pair using Bluetooth with no problems, and use A2DP by default. If I then power off the headphones and power them back on, they reconnect but use HSP/HFP and sound terrible. If I manually go into the sound settings, A2DP is offered as an option, but selecting it doesn't take effect. The headphones remain stuck in HSP/HFP mode.

Unpairing the headphones and re-pairing them again selects A2DP by default, until the next time I switch the headphones off. Then they're back to stuck in HSP/HFP until I unpair them once again. I therefore need to unpair and re-pair them every time I want to use them, which is a nuisance.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 19.10
Package: bluez 5.50-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.3.0-19.20-generic 5.3.1
Uname: Linux 5.3.0-19-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7:ubuntu
Date: Thu Nov 28 13:28:52 2019
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-16 (833 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
InterestingModules: rfcomm bnep btusb bluetooth
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0316 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB3.0-CRW
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 5986:111c Acer, Inc Integrated Camera
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: LENOVO 20HFCTO1WW
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.3.0-19-generic root=UUID=c023de63-612b-4367-874e-b3c987874f56 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: bluez
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to eoan on 2019-10-04 (55 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 08/30/2019
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N1WET56W (1.35 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20HFCTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Defined
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN1WET56W(1.35):bd08/30/2019:svnLENOVO:pn20HFCTO1WW:pvrThinkPadT470s:rvnLENOVO:rn20HFCTO1WW:rvrNotDefined:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad T470s
dmi.product.name: 20HFCTO1WW
dmi.product.sku: LENOVO_MT_20HF_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad T470s
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T470s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
hciconfig:
 hci0: Type: Primary Bus: USB
  BD Address: F8:59:71:8D:1A:16 ACL MTU: 1021:4 SCO MTU: 96:6
  UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
  RX bytes:3713310 acl:385 sco:2759 events:508913 errors:0
  TX bytes:432771109 acl:506248 sco:2734 commands:2514 errors:0
mtime.conffile..etc.bluetooth.main.conf: 2019-10-27T09:41:27.085337

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Jeremy (wa113y3s)]

Sounds similar to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-sound/+bug/1577197
Can you install blueman, connect to the headset, right click on the headset in blueman, go to audio profile, select off, disconnect headset then reconnect and can you set the audio profile to A2DP then

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

How do I run blueman after installing it?

$ blueman

Command 'blueman' not found, did you mean:

  command 'bluemon' from deb bluemon (1.4-7)

Try: sudo apt install <deb name>

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

That's not /really/ helpful anyway. You'd have installed an extra application, for a wholly unrelated issue, and still have to set the profile to A2DP yourself.

Alistair, there are messages in your logs that seem to point to a firmware issue:
Nov 26 16:56:25 albatross bluetoothd[1010]: Unable to get io data for Headset Voice gateway: getpeername: Transport endpoint is not connected (107)

Furthermore, I see some slightly unusual messages that point to an issue with the firmware (usually) as well:
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 0
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 0
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 0
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 0
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 257
Nov 26 14:45:14 albatross kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: SCO packet for unknown connection handle 257

It's possible the hardware gets confused by losing the connection that was initially there.

I realize this might not be /so/ helpful, but have you also tried with another model of bluetooth headphones, assuming you have something available?

Please see if you can attach the full contents of /var/log/syslog after reproducing the issue (with a different model or with the usual Sonys); once you've made sure that it doesn't contain sensitive data. I'd need to know when you started each attempt so we can see exactly how the system reacts to it.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

The only other Bluetooth headphones I've had access to recently were a pair of Bose QC35 (1st generation). They showed up in the list of visible BT devices, but my laptop couldn't connect to them at all, despite numerous attempts. As a result, I bought the Sonys and got rid of the Bose.

If you take a look at bug 1724919, you'll see that other people have the same problem with other models of headphones.

Attached is a copy of /var/log/syslog since last boot, with minor cleaning. Note that just after booting I wanted to use the headphones for real, so I manually ran the attached 'headphones' script to disconnect the headphones, reconnect them, and force A2DP mode. Then at 18:09:17, I deliberately recreated the bug by connecting the headphones, and unsuccessfully trying to set A2DP in the sound settings.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for the bug report and sorry I was on vacation when you emailed me about bug 1724919.

Now that you mention Sony WH-1000XM3 I realize this is actually bug 1845046 which also was first reported against Sony WH-1000XM3.

[rumpl (rumplstielz)]

Same for Sennheiser MOMENTUM M2 AEBT in Ubuntu 20.04

ii bluez 5.53-0ubuntu3 amd64 Bluetooth tools and daemons
ii bluez-cups 5.53-0ubuntu3 amd64 Bluetooth printer driver for CUPS
ii bluez-obexd 5.53-0ubuntu3 amd64 bluez obex daemon
ii libbluetooth3:amd64 5.53-0ubuntu3 amd64 Library to use the BlueZ Linux Bluetooth stack

[René Fritz (ubuntu-colorcube)]

I have the same problem with Sennheiser MOMENTUM M2 AEBT in Ubuntu 20.04

Nice workaround:
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=1691795&sid=3c219e459f6aac3d70695b278e3454f6#p1691795