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I have a UE Boom 2 Speaker. With Ubuntu 16.04 I was never really able to connect to it via Bluetooth (sound was awful), but when I fresh installed Ubuntu 17.10 beta (one month before release), I was able to connect easily with good sound quality.

But a few days after the official release of Ubuntu 17.10, the Bluetooth connection crashed, and I was not able to connect again, unless I reset the speaker and rebooted my computer. Then I would be able to connect again, but after a few minutes, it would break again.

The default Bluetooth settings window freezes when I am trying to reconnect.

What could be the cause? Unfortunately, I don't know which logs I check to diagnose the problem - please comment if you can advise and I will add any necessary information.

I have tried with another Bluetooth device (from another brand: D-LINK), and I have the same problem.

I am using a ThinkPad T460s (which comes with Bluetooth 4.1).

Zanna
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Johannes Lemonde
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  • A couple of questions for you : [A] Do you have any other BT devices to be able to test ? [B] If yes [or you can borrow one] is the [poor] quality same on both devices or is it different [C] How far away is the speaker? [D]If the speaker is next to your computer what is the quality like [E] Which BT Chip do you have? – Piloti Nov 11 '17 at 15:34
  • With 17.10, the sound has never been awful. [A] I don't have other BT audio devices, I could try next week. [B] The sound is absolutely perfect, when connected however. [C] Next to my computer, a few centimetres away. [D] see point B. [E] I absolutely don't know how to determine that and googling doesn't help... – Johannes Lemonde Nov 11 '17 at 15:45
  • Hi @JohannesLemonde : when the speaker is a few centimetres from the computer does it still drop or is it stable ? For the chip, which PC are you using? Finally, if you /could/ borrow another BT Speaker / headset and duplicate, that would be excellent. It will help isolate the issue. Also, does the UE Boom stay stable with anything else ? – Piloti Nov 11 '17 at 16:34
  • I've just borrowed a bluetooth to jack adapter and am listening music through it. As of now, it works, but the bug may still come (Usually it happens half an hour after I began the connection). I forgot to mention : I suspect the bug to happen when I open or close specific programs or windows from my computer. But I have no proof of that... For the computer I have, it is the ThinkPad T460s. I couldn't find the bluetooth chip's name, but the spec says it has Bluetooth 4.1 https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-t-series/ThinkPad-T460s/p/22TP2TT460S#tab-techspec – Johannes Lemonde Nov 11 '17 at 17:29
  • Confirmed : **The same bug happens with other bluetooth devices too.** – Johannes Lemonde Nov 11 '17 at 17:30
  • I tried `sudo apt-get --reinstall install bluez`, and will see if it helps. First assessment : it was easy to connect again after I ran that command. But as said before, sometimes it works a few minutes and sometimes a few hours before it drops. – Johannes Lemonde Nov 11 '17 at 20:22
  • Somebody else is having an issue which /looks/ similar: https://askubuntu.com/questions/975666/syncing-issues-with-ue-boom-2-bluetooth-speaker-and-ubuntu – Piloti Nov 12 '17 at 10:57
  • The command I tried didn't work. Reinstalling bluez has no long term effect. – Johannes Lemonde Nov 13 '17 at 17:10
  • I have the exact same issue with a Thinkpad T470s. Started happening a few days ago. Before that, it worked perfectly. – Laurent Nov 14 '17 at 09:40
  • THe only other suggestion I have is this : when you boot Ubuntu, try the X log in, which will take you to Unity. Try the Bluetooth again and see what happens. If it is ok then it /may/ be a 17.10 but somewhere that needs reporting formally. If it also fails, then I am out of options. Sorry. – Piloti Nov 14 '17 at 15:54
  • Well, I could try, but I haven't got Unity on my laptop since I installed Ubuntu 17.10 a directly (fresh install), one month before release. And moreover, during the whole month before the release, everything was fine, and I was already using Wayland. But OK, i'll try from the Gnome on Xorg session and tell you soon. – Johannes Lemonde Nov 14 '17 at 19:52
  • I have the same problem on my Lenovo E570, using Xorg – mmzc Jan 25 '18 at 10:24

1 Answers1

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maybe it will help you - it helped me:

sudo alsa force-reload

and then:

sudo reboot
Dario66pl
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  • Thanks to you, I tried again to connect to my Bluetooth device, and it worked - for now !! But actually I absolutely don't know if the connection will perdure, and neither if alsa was the cause : since november there have been plenty of updates anyway !! But for now it works !! thank you very much. – Johannes Lemonde Mar 03 '18 at 16:56
  • Johannes, did this solution fix your problem? I'm experiencing the same thing with my bose bluetooth headphones. Everything is working great for a few minutes and then the connection is lost.. – Edvin Apr 11 '18 at 08:08