Bluetooth Audio issues after update

General system Gaming, sound and video
1

My system and bluetooth headphones were solid since I installed maybe 1.5 years ago?
I went an extended period of time without upgrades, a few months. This last update included a Plasma upgrade to 6.1.
I’m not sure if that’s what did it but now my bluetooth audio is extremely quiet. And when pushing audio over volume it’s distorted and quiet. :frowning:

Where can I look? Is there a different audio driver I can pull in? Maybe alternate bluetooth driver? Speaker volume seems perfectly fine.

:pactl info
Server String: /run/user/1000/pulse/native
Library Protocol Version: 35
Server Protocol Version: 35
Is Local: yes
Client Index: 1345
Tile Size: 65472
User Name: pch
Host Name: lappie
Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 1.2.1)
Server Version: 15.0.0
Default Sample Specification: float32le 2ch 48000Hz
Default Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Default Sink: bluez_output.9C_0C_35_9E_0A_A0.1
Default Source: bluez_input.9C:0C:35:9E:0A:A0
Cookie: 01b5:ff0d

bluetooth            1105920  42 btrtl,btmtk,btintel,btbcm,bnep,btusb,rfcomm
crc16                  12288  1 bluetooth
rfkill                 40960  11 hp_wmi,iwlmvm,bluetooth,cfg80211
2

It’s generally not advised to leave a long period of time between updates. Other issues start to creep in.

I suggest sharing your boot-log. We may find an error or something descriptive there to help pinpoint the issue.

journalctl -k -b -0 | eos-sendlog

And for good measure, you might share the output of:

(Audio hardware details)

inxi -Axx

(Playback devices)

aplay -l
3

Definitely guilty of not upgrade. I was studying for my CKA cert and didn’t want to upgrade before the exam just incase I hit a breaking issue. I upgraded the day I got my passing result though :smile:

journalctl: https://0x0.st/XO8p.txt

inxi:

Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard EliteBook
    840 G3 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d70
  API: ALSA v: k6.10.1-arch1-1 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.1 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin

aplay:

Audio:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20724 Analog [CX20724 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Thanks for taking a look at this

4

I think you’ve shared the output of the inxi command twice there (and left out the aplay output).

5

@pzc, I noted what are probably unrelated issues in your bootlog, that may hopefully be resolved with a BIOS update. It’s worth noting you are currently using BIOS version 1.13 Rev.A (7 Nov 2016). The current revision which is 25 releases later, is 1.60 Rev.A (5 Dec 2023).

There have many security issues addressed, and loads of fixes. Before attempting a BIOS update using the link below, please confirm it is the correct support page for your device.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/hp-elitebook-840-g3-notebook-pc/7815294

6

My bad on the audio device info. I updated the post.
Thanks for pointing out the Bios @Bink
I may need to get a windows drive attached to update it. That is the correct link, I will try to get that updated this weekend.