Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones connect but don't appear in the audio devices list

[Alistair Cunningham]

When I switch on my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, they reconnect to my laptop at Bluetooth level, but don't appear as an audio device. I have to remove them in the Ubuntu Bluetooth settings, and then re-pair them, every time. This is rather inconvenient. This started happening after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: bluez 5.53-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.6.0-1021.21-oem 5.6.19
Uname: Linux 5.6.0-1021-oem x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.8
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7:ubuntu
Date: Mon Aug 31 14:48:53 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-07-14 (48 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
InterestingModules: rfcomm bnep btusb bluetooth
MachineType: LENOVO 20U9CTO1WW
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-1021-oem root=UUID=42d20f5a-04dd-4073-ac83-e07bd283a1d1 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: bluez
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/01/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N2WET19W (1.09 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20U9CTO1WW
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0R32862 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN2WET19W(1.09):bd07/01/2020:svnLENOVO:pn20U9CTO1WW:pvrThinkPadX1CarbonGen8:rvnLENOVO:rn20U9CTO1WW:rvrSDK0R32862WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
dmi.product.name: 20U9CTO1WW
dmi.product.sku: LENOVO_MT_20U9_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
hciconfig:
 hci0: Type: Primary Bus: USB
  BD Address: F8:AC:65:6D:04:AB ACL MTU: 1021:4 SCO MTU: 96:6
  UP RUNNING
  RX bytes:1274806 acl:246 sco:0 events:180845 errors:0
  TX bytes:152114364 acl:177469 sco:0 commands:3182 errors:0

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Do you mean they don't appear in the audio device list at all, or they just don't get used even when they're selected from the list? Either way, bug 1866194 might be the answer and a fix for that should arrive in 20.04 in the coming weeks.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Even if it's not that bug, please try the same workaround. Just delete your personal audio config:

  cd ~/.config
  rm -rf pulse

and then log out and in again.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

They don't appear in the audio device list at all. Thank you for the workaround; I'll give it a try and let you know if it helps.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

The workaround doesn't seem to help. I also notice that when the headphones connect, the Bluetooth settings window shows them connected for a second or so, then disconnected again.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks. I wonder if you could also test regular Ubuntu for completeness? Like just from a live USB boot:

  https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04/

I would like to rule out the possibility that this is unique to unity-control-center.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

I logged out, and logged in again using regular Ubuntu, and the same happens. When I switch the headphones on, the Bluetooth settings show the headphones connected for a second or so, then disconnected. They don't appear in the sounds settings.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

This is still happening after upgrading to Ubuntu 20.10.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

This *appears* to be fixed in the latest Ubuntu 20.10 updates.

[Alistair Cunningham (acunningham)]

Unfortunately it's not fixed. It doesn't happen every time, but perhaps half the time. I haven't been able to determine any pattern.