Bluetooth headset A2DP works, HSP/HFP not (no sound/no mic)

Question

My Philips SBH9001 headset pairs fine using Ubuntu 12.04. In the audio settings it's properly detected as A2DP device and as HSP/HFP device.

Hardware: Thinkpad X230, Ubuntu 12.04 64bit, Kernel 3.6.0-030600rc3-generic (build from Ubuntu mainline repo), Bluetooth device is USB-Id 0a5c:21e6 from Broadcom, Headset is a Philips SBH9001.

Note: Kernel 3.6 rc3 is used because of a fix for audio on the dockingstation that is not in any previous branches.

Playing audio in A2DP works just fine out of the box, but when switching the headset to HSP/HSP mode there is no sound nor does the microphone work.

When connecting the headset, /var/log/syslog shows:

Aug 25 21:32:47 x230 bluetoothd[735]: Badly formated or unrecognized command: AT+CSRSF=1,1,1,1,1,7
Aug 25 21:32:49 x230 rtkit-daemon[1879]: Successfully made thread 17091 of process 14713 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.
Aug 25 21:32:49 x230 rtkit-daemon[1879]: Supervising 4 threads of 1 processes of 1 users.
Aug 25 21:32:50 x230 kernel: [ 4860.627585] input: 00:1E:7C:01:73:E1 as /devices/virtual/input/input17

When switching from A2DP (standard profile) to HSP/HFP:

Aug 25 21:34:36 x230 bluetoothd[735]: /org/bluez/735/hci0/dev_00_1E_7C_01_73_E1/fd3: fd(34) ready
Aug 25 21:34:36 x230 rtkit-daemon[1879]: Successfully made thread 17309 of process 14713 (n/a) owned by '1000' RT at priority 5.
Aug 25 21:34:36 x230 rtkit-daemon[1879]: Supervising 4 threads of 1 processes of 1 users.
Aug 25 21:34:41 x230 bluetoothd[735]: Audio connection got disconnected

Any hints how to get HSP/HFP working here?

Solution 1

• This is a known bug in bluez with the new Broadcom BCM20702A0 series adapters; yours is one of those. (see bug report)
• The bug is rated "high", but it has not yet been fixed. You may want to add yourself to the list of people affected by the bug, and maybe post a message asking if there is any timeline on a fix.

Other possible solutions:

• Edit /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf and under [General], add the line Enable=Socket. Restart blueoothd with sudo rfkill block bluetooth && sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth and see if it helps.

Solution 2

In my case I got an Iogear GBU521 using Ubuntu 14.04

lsusb | grep -i bluetooth
Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0a5c:21e8 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0

I created the *.hcd that you can download from https://www.dropbox.com/s/8md0ygdufn0h9w1/fw-0a5c_21e8.hcd?dl=0 and drop it in your /lib/firmware folder and then reboot.

If you want to build yours here are the steps:

1. Download the driver from www.iogear.com/support/dm/driver/GBU521 for Windows 8.1
2. Extract the installer
3. Go to the folder GBU321_421_521_Win8.1_v12.0.0.8030/Win64
4. After learning about the PID, VID and hex2hcd, the only problem is finding the name of the correct *.hex to convert to *.hcd
5. The right direction is looking at the bcbtums-win8x64-brcm.inf in the same folder. There you will search by the last four digits of the PID (21e8). For this case the right file was BCM20702A1_00.002.014.1315.1338.hex (IF YOU TRY TO GUESS IS IMPOSSIBLE)
6. Convert the file with hex2hcd (see step 4)
7. Rename the file to fw-0a5c_21e8.hcd and place it in /lib/firmware
8. Reboot
9. If it is not working unplug and plug it again
10. Enjoy!

Solution 3

A combination of actoins finally solved that issue:

• firmware upgrade to version G2ET86WW (2.06) http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/research/hints-or-tips/detail.page?&DocID=HT073834
• kernel upgrade to latest stable: 3.5.0-21
• setup firmware for Broadcom bluetooth chip following https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1065400

Comments

[Takkat]

Are you able to change the profile from "Sound Settings -> Output -> Mode"?

[Stefan Armbruster]

Yes, switching output mode works, there is a short clicking noise to hear. But no audio in HSP/HFP after switching. Switching back to A2DP works, audio also.

[Rmano]

I know this is old, but for the other way around (HSP working and A2DP no) see askubuntu.com/questions/775523/…

[Stefan Armbruster]

Thx for your answer, it explains why it happens. Unfortunately the suggested workaround does not work, the described behaviour did not change at all.

[ish]

You're welcome. I didn't expect it to...looks like we'll just have to wait for the bug to be fixed. :(

[wxl]

i'd like to follow the process myself but i'm having problems with the exe installer (GBU521_FW_V12.0.0.9980.exe) which appears to be an executable and not a self-extracting archive. did you use wine to run the installer and then pick the files out of somewhere? if so, where?

[abelbm]

I see, the issue is that the installer that i used(back in 2014) was the version v12.0.0.8030 and they updated to version V12.0.0.9980. I believe that I still have at home the original disk that came in the box. Let me upload the disk to my dropbox and I let you know the link so you can download it.