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After upgrading to Kubuntu 16.04 my JBL Flip 2 bluetooth speaker no longer works.

It connects just fine, and the sound is set to use A2DP sink with the speaker, but I get no sound.

I found some places claiming I had to change /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf, but that file no longer exists.

Does anyone know how I get it to work again?

BuZZ-dEE
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Michael
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  • Same issue with JBL Charge 2+ after upgrading from 14.04 to 16.04. Pairing is successful (the speaker beeps to confirm the connexion and Ubuntu shows the speaker as connected) but no sound is reproduced when requesting pulse to send audio to the BT device. Maybe an issue with Pulse as the vu-meter freezes when trying to send audio to the speaker and the port only contains "Speaker" when it included "Off", "High Fidelity Playback (A2DP)" and "Telephony Duplex (HSP/HFP)" before. – MaxAuray Apr 27 '16 at 07:20
  • Clues from syslog :

    /// pulseaudio[1942]: [pulseaudio] module-bluez5-device.c: Default profile not connected, selecting off profile /// bluetoothd[790]: /org/bluez/hci0/dev_0C_A6_94_EE_96_4E/fd0: fd(24) ready /// pulseaudio[1942]: [pulseaudio] bluez5-util.c: Transport TryAcquire() failed for transport /org/bluez/hci0/dev_0C_A6_94_EE_96_4E/fd0 (Operation Not Authorized) /// kernel: [ 842.519817] input: 0C:A6:94:EE:96:4E as /devices/virtual/input/input15

     – MaxAuray Apr 27 '16 at 07:27
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    I opened a bug for this https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-sound/+bug/1577197 – Aleksandr Panzin May 01 '16 at 16:30
  • Similar from 2014: https://askubuntu.com/q/481951/396228 – sondra.kinsey May 27 '20 at 22:14
  • I just found this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshootingProcedure -- first suggestion of killing pulseaudio, deleting some files, and restarting pulseaudio did the trick for me (Ubuntu 20.04, Sony XM3 headphones). – MrMas Aug 30 '21 at 16:41

3 Answers3

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I had the same problem after upgrading to 16.04. For me, there isn't a real fix, but I can get the speaker to work. I'm running Kubuntu so these steps are for KDE, and I'm not sure what the equivalent Unity steps are, but I'd imagine they're similar.

Here's what I did:

  1. Let the speaker connect.
  2. In your audio settings, change the profile to "Headset Head Unit (HSP/HFP)" or equivalententer image description here
  3. Power off Disconnect the speaker

  4. Restart the bluetooth service

    sudo service bluetooth restart

  5. Power the speaker back on and reconnect

  6. In your audio settings, change the profile back to "High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink)" or equivalent enter image description here

A2DP should now work. 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.

UPDATE:

It's sufficient to connect, switch to HSP/HFP mode, disconnect, reconnect, and switch back to A2DP mode. There is no reason to restart the bluetooth service.

JaminSore
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    works for me..surprised though. Did you find a permanent fix? – hyades May 06 '16 at 07:08
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    No, unfortunately I haven't. I use bluetooth audio all the time (more than my built-in audio) so I'm hoping this gets fixed soon. – JaminSore May 06 '16 at 14:13
  • Such a fuss for a simple sound to come out of a mechanical thingle!! This was to let everyones' life easier... – Hamid May 24 '16 at 10:44
  • this is the only way I've found to correct it as well. That or repair, but that essentially does the same thing anyway. – DevDonkey May 25 '16 at 15:12
  • nothing new on this ? I experience the same issue... Thanks for the fix btw ;) – SpiderWan Jun 20 '16 at 13:57
  • this is not working for me :( – Michael Jul 14 '16 at 05:54
  • Does not work for me with Sony MDR-XB950BT; switching to HSP/HFP mode causes it to (uncontrollably) switch to Off mode. Disconnecting and reconnecting causes it to (uncontrollably) switch back to A2DP mode and there's still no audio. – Ayberk Özgür Jul 20 '16 at 08:41
  • I have a similar problem with Ubuntu 16.04 + Philips bluetooth headphones. For me the phones get automatically connected on HSP/HFP and works fine, when changing to A2DP mode the sound fallbacks to internal speakers and I can't have A2DP sound. Reconnecting the phones fix it, currently testing the fix:

    "In order to auto-connect a2dp for some devices, add this to /etc/pulse/default.pa: load-module module-switch-on-connect" Described on https://wiki.debian.org/BluetoothUser/a2dp

     – Miguelgraz Jul 30 '16 at 22:58
  • @JaminSore: Try the script in my answer, this will do everything for u – pylover Sep 30 '16 at 07:06
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    @pylover I'll give it a shot when I get a new speaker or fix my old one ... I'd prefer running a script to manually going through these steps every time. – JaminSore Oct 10 '16 at 03:53
  • I don't see at all what the equivalent steps are under Unity. The Unity sound settings window doesn't mention "profiles" or anything like "A2DP sink" or "HSP/HFP". I see this. – Jack M Jun 08 '18 at 11:37
12

After testing all workarounds, i wrote a python script to change profile, disconnect, reconnect and set profile to a2dp.

run it after pair/turning-on the device with python3.5.

https://gist.github.com/pylover/d68be364adac5f946887b85e6ed6e7ae#file-a2dp-py

EDIT 1

$ python3.5 a2dp.py 
Connection MADE
Selecting device:
Device MAC: 00:22:37:3D:DB:1A
Device ID: bluez_card.00_22_37_3D_DB_1A
Sink: bluez_sink.00_22_37_3D_DB_1A
Turning off audio profile.
Disconnecting the device.
Connecting againt.
Setting A2DP profile
Device ID: bluez_card.00_22_37_3D_DB_1A
Updating default sink
Exiting bluetoothctl
pylover
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2

I had the issue. For me worked to remove the bluetooth device and search for it again and reconnect.

Ivo
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