Bluetooth Audio – Make UE BOOM Speaker Connection Permanent

audiobluetooth

I can add and connect the bluetooth speaker in Linux (UE BOOM speaker; some details in this answer here). At that point it is paired and trusted and works perfectly.

The problem is that after almost every logout and after every restart the bluetooth speaker is absent in the list of output devices that can be selected in pavucontrol or in a panel applet that I have installed in this Mint Xfce.

The same happens if the speaker was disconnected and used by another machine or a phone.

It is still present in the devices list of the bluetooth settings but is disabled and cannot be enabled

enter image description here

In rare cases the device is marked as "soft blocked" in sudo rfkill list. In such cases I can unblock it with sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth, which sometimes is enough, but in most of those cases is not enough (I have to connect it manually). But in most of all cases (that is: when the device is seen but not connecting), it is not blocked.

What works in all cases

(but that I would like to avoid doing after each restart/login):

  • removing the device completely from the Xfce Bluetooth settings,
  • pushing the bluetooth button of the speaker (image),
  • letting the laptop find the UE BOOM speaker again. (In most cases this is enough for the speaker to be connected automatically and appear in pavucontrol and the panel applet. In some cases the command sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth is needed before the computer can see the speaker.)

Therefore, there seem to be two issues here, that may or may not happen on the same occasion:

  • the speaker being 'soft blocked'

  • the speaker being seen but without connection

This problem is not Ubuntu, Xfce or kernel specific, I have seen it in the same terms in Ubuntu Gnome, KDE-neon, and in Solus (Gnome and Budgie).

Changing #AutoEnable=false to AutoEnable=true in the /etc/bluetooth/main.conf doesn't help.

Systems where I encountered this problem:

  • Linux Mint 18.2 Xfce

  • Ubuntu-Gnome 17.04

  • KDE-neon (ubuntu-16.04-based),

  • Solus (Gnome and Budgie)

  • Kubuntu 17.10

Best Answer

Before anything else: be sure there no other devices like smartphones or laptops are connecting to the same USB external device.

I think it is normal to mention under this question the practical solution that I have found - or more correctly the practical circumstance under which the problem has vanished - and that may shed some light on what the problem really is (or is not).

So - after seeing this problem in Linux Mint 18.2 Xfce, Ubuntu-Gnome (17.04, if I'm not mistaken), KDE-neon (ubuntu-16.04-based I think), and in Solus (Gnome and Budgie, a rolling release), I can confirm that Ubuntu 16.04 proper ("Ubuntu Desktop", aka Unity) is not affected by this.

Once added and connected, the speaker bluetooth device is remembered and is automatically connected if powered on without previous or further ado.

It only needs to be selected in the sound settings.

enter image description here

That's that, I don't know what to conclude, except that the most central distributions are recommendable in critical cases.

UPDATE ~ Other systems that are not affected by this problem:

  • Linux Mint 18.3 KDE

  • Linux Mint 18.3 Mate

What works on systems where this problem appears:

In such cases running sudo rfkill list gives Soft blocked: yes, which can be unblocked with sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth or even rfkill unblock bluetooth.

If that doesn't work to unblock (or even in any case) it might be a good idea to do:

systemctl enable bluetooth.service
systemctl start bluetooth.service

(as indicated here; the first command will ask for password multiple times)

The UE BOOM2 device can be reset with a long push at the same time on the power button and the down volume button (until a sound is heard and the device shuts down), which may be helpful in combination with the above.

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