Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

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fyre
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Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by fyre »

Hello,

I will try to give complete information, but please let me know if I leave anything out.

Currently, I can use the headset (which is a Sennheiser HD 4.50BTNC) when A2DP Sink mode is selected in Sound settings, but this does allow for 2-way communication. When I select HSP/HFP all audio stops playing.

I am running Linux Mint 18.2. The bluetooth adapter shows up in lsusb as the following:
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 0a5c:21e8 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0

dmesg | egrep -i 'blue|firm' prints:
[ 0.193557] ACPI: [Firmware Bug]: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored
[ 16.622052] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.21
[ 16.622058] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[ 16.622060] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[ 16.622061] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[ 16.622067] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[ 16.836259] Bluetooth: HCI UART driver ver 2.3
[ 16.836260] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol H4 registered
[ 16.836261] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol BCSP registered
[ 16.836261] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol LL registered
[ 16.836261] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol ATH3K registered
[ 16.836261] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol Three-wire (H5) registered
[ 16.836279] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol Intel registered
[ 16.836284] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol BCM registered
[ 16.836284] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol QCA registered
[ 16.836284] Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol AG6XX registered
[ 62.271654] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 62.271655] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[ 62.271657] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[ 94.654115] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: chip id 63
[ 94.670102] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM20702A
[ 94.671030] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM20702A1 (001.002.014) build 0000
[ 97.015706] Bluetooth: hci0 command 0x213c tx timeout
[ 104.951751] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: Patch command 213c failed (-110)
[ 106.999775] Bluetooth: hci0 command 0x0c03 tx timeout
[ 115.191898] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: Reset failed (-110)
[ 117.207891] Bluetooth: hci0 command 0x0c03 tx timeout
[ 125.432011] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: Reset failed (-110)
[ 197.467097] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: chip id 63
[ 197.483094] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM20702A
[ 197.484093] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM20702A1 (001.002.014) build 0000
[ 197.484121] bluetooth hci0: Direct firmware load for brcm/BCM20702A1-0a5c-21e8.hcd failed with error -2
[ 197.484124] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: Patch brcm/BCM20702A1-0a5c-21e8.hcd not found
[ 197.598069] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[ 197.598076] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[ 197.598085] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
I've tried installing the firmware found here:
https://plugable.com/2014/06/23/plugabl ... -on-linux/

But once that is done, the bluetooth adapter stops working and gets stuck on "Searching for devices...". I deleted the firmware file and bluetooth worked again.

Thanks for your help.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
observativetiger

Re: Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by observativetiger »

I'm going to take a guess here and say it has to do with your dmesg line:
[ 197.484124] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: Patch brcm/BCM20702A1-0a5c-21e8.hcd not found
On the firmware page you linked to, in the second comment, it says you need to move and rename the file then reboot so it can be found by your computer. A few comments down the page it gives the terminal command:
sudo mv /lib/firmware/fw-0a5c_21e8.hcd /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM20702A0-0a5c-21e8.hcd
I would reinstall the firmware and run the command from your terminal, then reboot and see if that solves your delima.

Hope this helps
fyre
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Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:48 pm

Re: Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by fyre »

Hello. Thanks for your help.

I ran the rename command on the firmware and this time the bluetooth adapter still works. Unfortunately it doesn't fix the original problem. Audio still won't play when HSP/HFP is selected. The message you noted in dmesg is indeed gone now, but there is a new error:

Bluetooth: hci0 SCO packet for unknown connection handle 6
JeremyB
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Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by JeremyB »

fyre, I have been trying but I can't get it to work. I am starting to wonder if it worked correctly with Ubuntu 15.10 with the 4.2 kernel as I even tried my LM 18 Live USB and Ubuntu 16.04 Live and I can't get the firmware to load correctly. I even tried firmware from different places but they may have been the same
observativetiger

Re: Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by observativetiger »

I'm at a lost on that error code also. See if another headset works if you can, or like me start toggling settings back and forth between the default device and your headset. I've got a picky Bluetooth speaker with mic that won't work unless I toggle it as input in settings first, then it works fine. Persistance usually pays good unless JeremyB is correct on the firmware not working...Launchpad might have an answer to that. Hope all this leads you two to a working device :D
JeremyB
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Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Bluetooth headphones only work in A2DP, not in HSP/HFP

Post by JeremyB »

Got it working today with HSP/HFP after

Code: Select all

sudo wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/plugable/bin/fw-0a5c_21e8.hcd -O /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM20702A1-0a5c-21e8.hcd
Then plugging in the Bluetooth dongle and pairing with my headset. There might be some firmware upload timing issue happening
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