[Help] Bluetooth Audio Issues on Endeavour OS with 'realme Buds Wireless 3' Neckband

[schizosire]

Hi everyone,

I’m running the latest version of Endeavour OS (KDE) with PulseAudio (on PipeWire) by default and am encountering a frustrating Bluetooth audio issue with my Realme 3 Buds Wireless neckband. I’ve been using Endeavour OS for over a month without any major issues, but this problem started suddenly about two weeks after I switched from my previous Boat Airdopes 141.

Initially, the neckband worked fine, and I would reconnect it by joining the magnets. However, the issue began unexpectedly, and despite not tinkering with any configuration files, the Bluetooth audio started acting up. I tried various fixes but couldn’t resolve it, so I decided to reinstall Endeavour OS from scratch.

During the live session, Bluetooth audio worked fine initially but then went missing after disconnection or sometimes while reconnecting. After installing and updating the system, and ensuring all necessary Bluetooth utilities and sound functions are installed, Bluetooth audio still does not work.

If anyone has experienced similar issues or has suggestions on troubleshooting or resolving this, please let me know. If any text files or logs are needed, I can provide those as well. I just need to get this fixed as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Hardware info:

[schizosire@turing-machine ~]$ inxi -Eaz
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-6.1:4
chip-ID: 8087:0a2b class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: bt-v: 4.2
lmp-v: 8 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c010c

[schizosire@turing-machine ~]$ inxi -AAz
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor driver: snd_pci_acp3x
Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
API: ALSA v: k6.10.9-arch1-2 status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.3 status: active

[joekamprad]

welcome to the purple fun

Can you start by adding some hardware info?
https://discovery.endeavouros.com/forum-log-tool-options/how-to-include-systemlogs-in-your-post/2021/03/

Only BT would be inxi -Eaz

And Audio: inxi -Aaz

[schizosire]

done. added the mentioned info.

[joekamprad]

by any chance you are dual booting?

[schizosire]

Yes, Windows 10 is installed on the same disk as EOS. However, the system boots into EOS by default unless manually booted otherwise. As mentioned in the post, I haven’t encountered any issues until very recently. dual booting hasn’t caused any issues in the past, so I’m puzzled as to why it would be causing a problem now.

[joekamprad]

the first thing to try is:

1. remove the device from bluetooth manager
2. open terminal and run sudo bluetoothctl
3. run: scan on set phone sin connection / pairing mode.
4. pair "UUID of device"
5. connect "UUID of device"
6. check audio settings or pavucontrol (configuration tab) if audio works now over the phones.

[schizosire]

weirdly, it worked. I connected my neckband through sudo bluetoothctl initially (after re-installation of EOS from scratch), but maybe it worked this time because I didn’t use the trust <UUID of device> command?
why did it work this time? what could have been the issue?

[joekamprad]

sudo

Happens BT is not the most stable thing…