Bluetooth speaker connected but not listed in sound output

Question

I can successfully connect a Mi BlueTooth speaker to Ubuntu, but I cannot play sound through it, because it is not listed in my sound output list.

Bluetooth module for PulseAudio sound server

Is present on my system, however running sudo pactl load-module module-bluetooth-discover returns:

Failure: Module initialization failed. 

How can I solve this issue? `

Solution 1

One way to solve the problem is to:

1. unpair the device
2. run the following command on terminal: sudo pkill pulseaudio
3. and then pair again the speaker via bluetooth.

The speaker is now displayed on the output audio list, which needs to selected for obtaining output sound.

Remember to, under Sound Settings, change Mode to High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink).

Solution 2

This is what is working for me for Bose QuietComfort 35 on Ubuntu 16.04. pauvcontrol didn't do it for me, and neither did the numerous settings changes and module loadings recommended elsewhere. So give this a try:

1. Install blueman

   sudo apt install blueman
   

2. Delete the paired device in the bluetooth settings.

3. Run these commands in terminal:

   $ sudo pkill pulseaudio
   $ sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart
   

4. Turn off headphones.

5. Turn on headphones, and press green/go until headphones notification voice says "Ready to pair."

6. Launch blueman, and from the upper right menu, right-click the icon to bring up the blueman menu. Select Setup new device.

7. Pair the device, and when you are given an option, not Headphones, not Handsfree. Use the Audio sink option.

8. Then when you look into the audio settings panel, the device should be displayed.

Solution 3

This is old, but I had the same problem on 18.04 and none of the solutions offered worked for me.

What worked for me, at least for Audacious, was to start PulseAudio Volume Control, and after I started Audacious - I selected Mi Bluetooth Computer Speaker from the dropdown.

Solution 4

I had to use Lou Gro's blueman solution every time I rebooted. This fixed it for me:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bluetooth_headset#Gnome_with_GDM

Follow the instructions under "Gnome with GDM" (use gdm3 in the paths instead of gdm for Gnome 3)

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Comments

[umpirsky]

Thanks, that worked. Kinda sucks that it is required so often. No permanent solution.

[Jesbus]

This 'kind of' works for me, my QC35 appears in the sound output again. But it connects in HSP/HFP mode (mono). I cannot switch it to A2DP stereo mode.

[Jesbus]

and.. after getting frustruted and pkilling pulseaudio 1000 times in a bash loop, somehow it started working in A2DP mode again. Bluetooth is an absolute nightmare on ubuntu :/

[Jo Mo]

I did not even have to disconnect the device, let alone unpair. Just killed pulseaudio and reconnected with bluetoothctl. It worked. Weird.

[Shautieh]

+ 1 My speaker was only visible and working for one logged in user (yes I concurrently log under different users on my computer). Unpairing and killing pulseaudio helped pair it back to the user I needed to output the sound with ATM.

[ÖMER TAŞCI]

Thanks, it's worked for my bluetooth speaker. But, my PC's internal speaker has not worked yet.

[Erik Norman]

This worked for me. (At least once)