Ubuntu – How to get the A2DP output option and the input working again

bluetooth

I have a bluetooth headset which works perfectly on Ubuntu 13.04.
Now I update to 13.10, and here is what's happing:

After installing blueman, bluetooth-suport, pulseaudio-module-bluetooth and so on, I can find my device, pair it and connect to the headset service. But the device does not appear on the Sound Settings, so I just can't select it as input/output device.
In other words, it's connected but "useless".

So, searching around for solutions, I found a software called stream2ip. With this I can connect the device and it appears on the Sound Settings, the sound plays on the device as well, but my microphone does not work, even when selected on the settings, also the A2DP option still not working.

Stream2ip isn't a solution at all, I mean everything was working without it in the previous Ubuntu version.

Maybe I'm missing something, and I hope someone could give me any hint.

How can I get the A2DP output option and the input working again, on the Ubuntu 13.10? How to make the device to appear on the Sound Settings without have to use Stream2ip?

Thanks!

Edit 1
What I tried so far:

  • Install bazaar fork related below.
  • Reinstall pulseaudio
  • Reinstall bluez
  • Change settings on /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf (Enable=Socket, Disable=Socket…)
  • Install all sort of packages like bluez-utils, bluez-audio, gstreamer0.10
  • Install pulseaudio volume control
  • Install blueman, bluetooth-suport, pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

Edit 2

Now the microphone and a2dp are working (separately of course).
To do this, I have to connect the headset, start some music, pause it using the playback options of the headset, then change the output mode in the sound settings to A2DP (sometimes it does not work in the first try)
It's far from working like it was working on 13.04. But it's working, and I probably will have to deal with the stream2ip for while.

By the way, here is how I installed the strem2ip:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:takkat-nebuk/takkat
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade 
sudo apt-get install stream2ip-gtk3

Edit 3

Instead of using the stream2ip to make the headset appear on the sound settings, you can just use this command: pulseaudio -k

Now the question is: How to make it automatically when I pair my device?

What I got so far:

  • All the headset stuff working.
  • A way to avoid using the stream2ip, but not the optimal way yet.

Edit 4

When I disconnect my bluetooth device, the overall sound just crash, all the devices disappear from the sound settings (including the speakers). If open, the Rhythmbox also crashes and I don't have any other system sound as well.

Any guess on how to solve this?

And I'm still looking for ways to avoid using the pulseaudio -k command every time I connect my headset.

Best Answer

I tried all the suggestions here to get my a2dp-mode with my bluetooth headphones to work in Ubuntu 13.10. After installation of Ubuntu 13.10 with kernel 3.12.rc4, the headphones were shown in sound-settings after pairing them and applying the command pulseaudio -k, which kills the pulseaudio-service. However, I still could not choose them and the sound kept playing over the internal speakers of the laptop.

This worked for me:

1) open configuration file

gksudo gedit /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf

and add under [General]:

Disable=Socket

I also uncommented the line (removing the #) that reads:

AutoConnect=true

2) reinstall pulseaudio and bluez, do NOT omit to install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth

sudo apt-get install --reinstall pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils pulseaudio-module-bluetooth
sudo apt-get install --reinstall bluez bluez-alsa bluez-audio bluez-gstreamer bluez-hcidump bluez-tools bluez-utils

Once I had done so, I restarted and connected by headphones using the bluetooth-settings, which worked fine. Still I did not see the headphones listed in sound-settings* in Unity. However, once I opened **pulseaudio-volume-control and selected the configuration-tab, I saw the headphones, but the associated profile was set to off. I changed that to A2DP and the headphones were listed in sound-settings. Since I done that, the headphones are shown in sound-settings immediately after connecting.

NOTE: I had the bazaar fork installed as described above, but removing it once the headphones connected did work.

Related Question