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This has been a bad surprise for me coming (escaping) from the Windows environment which I used for my whole life. A few months ago I decided to uninstall Windows 10 and install Ubuntu 16.04 to force myself to use AND start learning Ubuntu and its environment.

But hey, I cannot use my bluetooth speaker (Marshall Woburn to be specific but brand/model doesn't matter from what I see). The description of my problem I would like to get help for is simple as that. There are bugs with the bluetooth part of this OS. Sometimes no device shows up in bluetooth device list. Sometimes it is listed there but fails to connect. Sometimes it connects but disconnects after some while. It's been months I'm struggling with this problem to do the simple things like watching a movie or listening to music and I started to feel tired about this.

Is there an official explanation about this bug or some fix for it? If we are depended to a bluetooth speaker, should we avoid Ubuntu 16.04?

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards, Tayfun.

mindblast
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  • Please refer https://askubuntu.com/questions/414258/successfully-connected-to-a-bluetooth-speaker-but-how-do-i-direct-sound-there?rq=1 – digiwizkid Oct 29 '17 at 09:48
  • Have you installed all updates? – Jeremy31 Oct 29 '17 at 10:30
  • Thanks for your answer. I already did and have those lines my default.pa file but still not working. By the way, there are plenty of answers referring to the same problem but none of them is the ultimate solution. – mindblast Oct 29 '17 at 10:33
  • @Jeremy31 I run the following commands to get the updates: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade – mindblast Oct 29 '17 at 11:20
  • I too had this issue. My Bluetooth speaker at times behaves strangely. I bought it to replace my laptop speaker but failed as a reliable alternative. – user227495 Dec 07 '17 at 14:15
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    [blueman](https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/oneiric/blueman/) and [bluewho](https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/bluewho/) may work well for you here. These are some bluetooth managers that seem to work better than the default manager. – Elijah Cruz Webservices Dec 08 '17 at 20:04

2 Answers2

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Works great here in 16.04.3 It auto pairs & auto connects to my bluetooth speaker when I turn it on. The only caveat is that if I set up & connect in another ubuntu install when returning to previous install I have to set up in bluetooth settings again.

If only using speaker in 1 ubuntu install then no problems..

Basically.

Make sure pulseaudio is fully updated, current is 1:8.0-0ubuntu3.7 Don't have blueman installed, just using gnome-bluetooth

Set up speaker

Open Bluetooth settings, add the speaker (pair).If speaker was already in Bluetooth settings then remove & add fresh.

After pairing close settings, then open indicator, click on your speaker > connect. (On is exposed, not covered) To check then open sound settings, make sure bluetooth speaker is selected as output device. Test for sound.

To get autoconnect in 16.04

Open /etc/pulse/default.pa in root text editor, ex. sudo -H gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

Under the .ifexists module-bluetooth-discover.so section add this new section, save.

.ifexists module-switch-on-connect.so load-module module-switch-on-connect .endif

reboot

If still having issues with auto connecting or connection breaks right after connecting read my post here. Note I no longer need the startup script anymore with the updated pulse & it only worked if speaker was on before logging in. https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2365083&p=13661744&viewfull=1#post13661744

doug
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  • Thank you so much for the detailed answer. But unfortunately most of the time the problem is device disconnecting very shortly after. I didn't have those lines in my default.pa file, so I added them. I have no problem at this very moment about connecting or discovering the device, but it disconnects mostly within 5 minutes. I couldn't finish a song on youtube. And there is no way to connect it back without a reboot. I will see your other post, hope the script you mention there is another one I'm trying my luck with, which makes me select the device and after that it disconnects and reconnects. – mindblast Dec 14 '17 at 20:48
  • I forgot to add; I have only one Ubuntu installed (only OS in fact) and only 1 bluetooth device I'm trying to use. Luckily no keyboard or mouse... – mindblast Dec 14 '17 at 20:52
  • Not sure if that script will help if the disconnect is after x min., it's designed for when it connects the almost immediately disconnects. Is your speaker powering down when this happens? (most bluetooth speaker power down after x min. if not being used though that doesn't seem to be your case. – doug Dec 14 '17 at 22:52
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I found that replacing the default bluetooth manager with blueman solved my bluetooth problems with 16.04. I can't explain why but it seemed to do a much better job of detecting and pairing devices.

SteveSong
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  • I tried my luck with blueman for a while as well. There are many people mentioning it after all. But it seemed to me blueman has its own problems which makes things worse. The success rate (staying connected for long time) is higher without blueman, I can tell you that. – mindblast Dec 14 '17 at 20:42