Bluetooth headset microphone not working after upgrade to Kernel 6.2

[Felipe Weber]

Since my Ubuntu (22.04) was upgraded to Kernel 6.2.0-26 , my headphones (Sony WH-1000XM5) can no longer connect with the headset (handsfree_head_unit) profile (a2dp_sink, i.e. audio only, works fine). Booting back into kernel 5 (5.19.0-50-generic) "fixes" the issue.

Trying to change profile:

➜ ~ pacmd set-card-profile bluez_card.AC_80_0A_1A_D6_56 off
➜ ~ pacmd set-card-profile bluez_card.AC_80_0A_1A_D6_56 handsfree_head_unit
Failed to set card profile to 'handsfree_head_unit'.
sysctl logs (not very helpful):

Aug 15 17:33:40 pulseaudio[4088]: Refused to switch profile to handsfree_head_unit: Not connected

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Confirmed online that this also affects, at least, another headset (Sony WH-1000XM4) and still present on Kernel 6.4.11-060411 - https://askubuntu.com/questions/1482493/upgrade-to-kernel-6-2-broke-bluetooth-headset-microphone

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ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: linux-image-6.2.0-26-generic 6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1-generic 6.2.13
Uname: Linux 6.2.0-26-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.5
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: i3
Date: Wed Aug 23 08:54:32 2023
InstallationDate: Installed on 2023-03-20 (155 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" - Release amd64 (20220809.1)
SourcePackage: linux-signed-hwe-6.2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sergey Payu (sergey-payu)]

Same here. After updating to 6.2.0-26 my bluetooth stopped working. It just shows Bluetooth Off and nothing happens if I try to turn it on.

[Matt Wilson (msw-amazon)]

I can confirm the same behavior (unable to select on the same headphones (Sony WH-1000XM5). When I look at the device in the "pacmd list-cards" output I see:

        profiles:
                a2dp_sink: High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink) (priority 40, available: yes)
                handsfree_head_unit: Handsfree Head Unit (HFP) (priority 30, available: no)

I've been able to get it working more reliably when I have the blueman package installed. Usually "systemctl restart bluetooth" does the trick. "pacmd list-cards" says:

 profiles:
  a2dp_sink: High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink) (priority 40, available: yes)
  handsfree_head_unit: Handsfree Head Unit (HFP) (priority 30, available: unknown)
  off: Off (priority 0, available: yes)

And I'm able to run:

pacmd set-card-profile bluez_card.[my-mac-address-redacted] handsfree_head_unit

and it works as it used to.

I don't know if blueman is doing something under the covers to make the handsfree profile work more reliabily?

[Paul Bovbel (paulbovbel)]

Without any further analysis, confirmed I have the same issue, and installing blueman package fixed it for me.