pavucontrol doesn't show Bluetooth headset

Question

I'm trying to use an LG HBS700 Bluetooth headset with my laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon running Xubuntu 12.10). I'm able to successfully connect the headset using the Blueman program, but when I go to pavucontrol, all I see under the "Output Devices" tab is "Speakers" and "Headphones", neither of which work with the headset.

I've tried setting the headset to both "Audio Sink" and "Headset service", but neither worked.

Solution 1

To enable a Bluetooth audio sink in pulseaudio we need to make sure that pulseaudio-module-bluetooth is installed.

Then we also have to load the pulseaudio module module-bluetooth-discover to enable creating an output sink for pulseaudio. This can be done by adding the following line to our /etc/pulse/default.pa:

load-module module-bluetooth-discover

To switch the output sink to the headset whenever it is present we can also add the following module here:

load-module module-switch-on-connect

Settings take effect after a restart of the pulseaudio server either by log out and log in or with

pulseaudio -k

Switching to the Bluetooth audio sink can also be done with pavucontrol .

• How do I switch to another audio output sink in XFCE?

Solution 2

I know this is a bit of an old post. But as I recently had the same problem I came across a rather simple solution: just install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1909957

good luck with that :)

Comments

[Admin]

OK, sound worked after installing pulseaudio-module-bluetooth and restarting pulseaudio. There's one issue though - I can't control volume using the laptop's multimedia keys. When I hit up or down, the volume OSD changes but the actual sound level doesn't. In pavucontrol, I don't see any volume settings changing, for the Bluetooth headset, for the speakers/headphone jack, or for an individual program.

[Eliodorus]

Shouldn't it be module-bluetooth-discovery (y on the end), from what I see in Google search results? Also, do other packages have to be installed in order to load those modules, and if so, which? When I run modprobe module-bluetooth-discovery or modprobe module-switch-on-connect (as root), it doesn't find the modules in question. Are these "modules" different from kernel modules? And should the existing line load-module module-switch-on-port-available in /etc/pulse/default.pa be removed/commented out?

[Takkat]

@srunni: we're not talking of kernel modules here. It is Pulse Audio Modules. These are listed with pacmd list-modules. In case you like to switch to another port of your sound device the module-switch-on-port-available may be used.

[Eliodorus]

OK, pacmd list-modules isn't showing module-bluetooth-discovery or module-switch-on-connect. Perhaps another package is needed?

[Takkat]

@srunni: there is no y. Try loading the modules with pacmd load-module module-bluetooth-discover and pacmd load-module module-switch-on-connect. In case you get an error post it here. Else they should be listed with pacmd list-modules. Then you may edit the default.pa as said in my answer to always load them.

[Eliodorus]

OK, it appears that it is not necessary to add load-module module-bluetooth-discover to default.pa. After doing so, trying to start PulseAudio fails to start, giving the error Module "module-bluetooth-discover" should be loaded once at most. Refusing to load. Everything is working if I only add the line for module-switch-on-connect to default.pa and remove the preexisting line for module-switch-on-port-available.

[AlwaysTalkingAboutMyDog]

@Takkat pulseaudio automatically starts these modules now if you have them installed. You do not need to add anything to /etc/pulse/default.pa for this to work. In face, as srunni said, it will cause errors if you add it again.

[keiki]

It works in current Xubuntu version, because the module load of bluetooth is already included in the configuration.

[Saijin_Naib]

Helped with Alpine Linux Edge (v3.15) with Kernel 5.11.22-r1 Thank you so much!