bluetooth does not appear in pulseaudio as a possible source/sink

14.04 sound android pulseaudio bluetooth

16,506

On my system this problem was caused by gdm starting a pulseaudio client and grabbing the bluetooth audio card before the user's client could. I fixed it by disabling pulseaudio for the gdm user: in

/var/lib/gdm/.config/pulse/client.conf

added:

autospawn = no
daemon-binary = /bin/true

16,506

nass

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

nass almost 2 years
I am trying to setup my ubuntustudio 14.04 , 64bit as a bluetooth audio sink (service a2snk in a2DP), so that I can redirect music from the android phone to the pc and from there to my speakers.

I am following this guide which even though older can still work without too many modifications, up to the point where I have to load
```
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
pactl load-module module-bluethooth-discover
```
Now, installing the module works as expected. But loading the module fails, so even though phone -> pc audio connection has been established, no bluetooth device pops up in pulse-audio and as such I hear no sound from the speakers.

This module appears in pulseaudio :
```
pactl list short modules | grep blue
9       module-bluetooth-policy 
22      module-bluetooth-discover   
```
Checking syslog, it states the following related info
```
Dec 14 12:32:19 starmaze NetworkManager[1243]: <info> (50:32:75:B3:DA:31): new Bluetooth device (driver: 'bluez' ifindex: 0)
```
where 50:32:75:B3:DA:31 is indeed the bluetooth MAC address of my android phone.

and a little later
```
Dec 14 12:38:47 starmaze pulseaudio[2663]: [pulseaudio] module-bluetooth-device.c: /org/bluez/942/hci0/dev_50_32_75_B3_DA_31 is not a valid BlueZ audio device.
Dec 14 12:38:47 starmaze pulseaudio[2663]: [pulseaudio] module.c: Failed to load module "module-bluetooth-device" (argument: "path=/org/bluez/942/hci0/dev_50_32_75_B3_DA_31 address=50:32:75:B3:DA:31 profile=a2dp_source source_properties=device.icon_name=blueman card_properties=device.icon_name=blueman"): initialization failed.
```
From these other threads: AU1 , AU2 , AU3 , AU4 , AU5

running pulseaudio -k does not seem to solve the issues and a contradictory statement to Disable=Socket in `/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf actually makes the service "a2dsnk" as broadcast from the pc to the phone to disappear.

What could be wrong? I guess the problem is pinpointed in a failure to load the bluetooth-discover module in pulseaudio or something related. But with all the info (sometimes contradictory) out there, I can not be certain. Can you help?

EDIT:

lsusb returns
```
Bus 006 Device 004: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
```
lsusb -t returns
```
/:  Bus 06.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=uhci_hcd/2p, 12M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 4, If 2, Class=Application Specific Interface, Driver=, 12M
```
lspci and lspci -nnk are over in pastebin. Not sure how this will help so I included all the output.
- Andrew almost 9 years
  
  Did you ever figure this out?
- nass almost 9 years
  
  @SantaClaus it was always a problem of my bluetooth dongle. 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle is apparently notorious for not working correctly. so close, but no cigar...
nass over 9 years

nope the module is already loaded..
nass over 9 years

It seems that everything should be fine. I mean I can play audio from phone to the pc, but no bluetooth sound source appears in pulseaudio playback devices
Jeremy31 over 9 years

Can you include the results from lsusb -nnk and lsusb as it might be an issue with needed firmware on the PC's bluetooth device
nass over 9 years

Hi there, info is included, but lsusb -nnk returns "invalid options' for both "n" and "k". did you mean something else perhaps?
Jeremy31 over 9 years

yes I did lspci -nnk and lsusb
nass over 9 years

ok here it is...
Jeremy31 over 9 years

I still need result from lsusb
nass over 9 years

it's in here after "EDIT"
Jeremy31 over 9 years

amazon.com/gp/aw/reviews/B001EBE1LI?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*ent‌ries*=0 I would find another bluetooth device, the one review shows it has the same 0a12 0001 ID that yours has and says A2DP doesn't even work in Windows, a search for 'bug 0a12:0001 A2DP brings a long list of results also
nass over 9 years

Hey, thanks for the effort. the dongle seems buggy indeed. however, none of the searches brought up my problem. Some get sloppy sound bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/460743 , other state that this dongle works fine compared to others (!) bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56791 !! One seems to have the same problem, but they blame it on the dongle getting powered up before the kernel boots mail-archive.com/[email protected]/… .
nass over 9 years

I, for one, feel that I should get the bluetooth audio to appear in pulseaudio sources list and then and only then can I judge the sound. because if I can't see bluetooth audio source in pulseaudio, I can only assume the problem is either with the bluetooth driver (which has worked for others though), or with pulseaudio bluetooth modules.... don't you think?
Jeremy31 over 9 years

Have you tried the idea about booting with the bt dongle unplugged and plugging it in later
ErlVolton over 8 years

This worked for me on 16.04 Beta 1 running on Dell XPS 13 9350
spraff almost 8 years

Suppose I want to fix this without rebooting. What command should I run if gdm has already grabbed the audio card? Thanks