Bluetooth volume doesn't change, off or max

Bluetooth volume on Gravastar Venus pair of speakers no longer changes in KDE after update. I used to be able to adjust volume via JamesDSP but that stopped working. I removed JamesDSP. Volume is either mute or 100%. It was also this way prior to the most recent updates.

I've tried to find references to absolute volume with no success in Pipewire config files.

I have not tried different bluetooth devices, I don't have any.

Regular wireless headphones, G933 volume needs to be near max to hear anything.

Yes I dual boot, sound works fine in Winders 10.

System:
Kernel: 5.19.13-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=e1a6aef3-e2b1-422c-a112-f41b436462a8 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
loglevel=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.25.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.6 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1
dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Micro-Star product: MS-7C90 v: 1.0
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Micro-Star model: MPG B550 GAMING CARBON WIFI (MS-7C90) v: 1.0
serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.70
date: 06/25/2021
Battery:
Device-1: ps-controller-battery-d0:bc:c1:cf:0a:0a model: N/A serial: N/A
charge: N/A status: full
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 gen: 4
level: v3 note: check built: 2021-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA201016
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3684 high: 4097 min/max: 2200/4650 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3592 2: 3644
3: 3621 4: 3665 5: 4097 6: 3684 7: 3699 8: 3700 9: 3598 10: 3663 11: 3653
12: 3595 bogomips: 88799
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities:
Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
Type: retbleed status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
STIBP: always-on, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
Type: srbds status: Not affected
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070] vendor: Gigabyte driver: nvidia
v: 515.76 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 515.xx+ status: current
(as of 2022-10) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 2b:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2484 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3440x1440 s-dpi: 106 s-size: 824x352mm (32.44x13.86")
s-diag: 896mm (35.28")
Monitor-1: DP-2 res: 3440x1440 hz: 100 dpi: 107
size: 819x346mm (32.24x13.62") diag: 889mm (35") modes: N/A
OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA
515.76 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: Gigabyte
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 1-4:3 v: kernel pcie: chip-ID: 046d:0a5b
gen: 4 class-ID: 0300 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2b:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:228b class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 2d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Logitech G933 Wireless Headset Dongle type: USB
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
Device-4: Sony DualSense wireless controller (PS5) type: USB
driver: playstation,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2.4.1:5
chip-ID: 054c:0ce6 class-ID: 0300
Sound API: ALSA v: k5.19.13-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.59 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 29:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlo1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169
v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 2a:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp42s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Device-3: Sony DualSense wireless controller (PS5) type: USB
driver: playstation,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 3-2.4.1:5
chip-ID: 054c:0ce6 class-ID: 0300
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 1-9:7 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 3.17 TiB used: 327.17 GiB (10.1%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:5 vendor: Western Digital model: WD BLACK
SN770 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 731030WD
temp: 39.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Patriot model: Viper M.2 VPR100
size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: ECFM22.6
temp: 30.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: TR150 size: 447.13 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD
serial: <filter> rev: 12.3 scheme: MBR
ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Silicon Power model: SPCC Solid
State Disk size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 8A0 scheme: MBR
ID-5: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: AMD Radeon model: Radeon R7
size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1.01 scheme: MBR
ID-6: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: TeamGroup model: T-FORCE 500GB
size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: S6OA scheme: MBR
ID-7: /dev/sde maj-min: 8:64 type: USB vendor: ASUS model: ROG ESD-S1CL
size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A
serial: <filter> scheme: GPT
SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%) used: 327.17 GiB
(35.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 608 KiB
(0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:6
ID-3: /home raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%) used: 327.17
GiB (35.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%) used: 327.17
GiB (35.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 931.22 GiB (100.00%) used: 327.17
GiB (35.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:7
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.54 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 36.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 31 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 60%
Info:
Processes: 349 Uptime: 1m wakeups: 1 Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 3.6 GiB
(23.1%) Init: systemd v: 251 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1913
libs: 522 tools: octopi,pamac,paru,yay Shell: fish v: 3.5.1 default: Bash
v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.22
Garuda (2.6.8-1):
System install date:     2022-07-04
Last full system update: 2022-10-09
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       NetworkManager
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify) 
Snapshots:               Snapper
Failed units:~~~

Welcome
Have you now tried the lts kernel just to rule out the zen kernel

1 Like

I have not. I will look up how to install a different kernel and report back via edit.

Booting to LTS did not effect bluetooth volume control.

I noticed another oddity when I was messing around, with the G933 if I have the mono input set, audio output is off and sounds like it's under water. When the G933 is set to be just headphones it works normally. Also when switching additional options in KDE's volume control it started the bluetooth speakers rather than just swap the headphones. I had to reenable the headphones. This may have been caused by using either front USB ports or the fact those front ports are USB 3 and the headset is older and prefers USB 2. I moved the dongle to the back and it seems to have resolved the under water sound issue.

1 Like

Have you tried changing the audio codec being used? See attached screenshot.

Multiple times with degrees of failure, mostly with the head phones. The 5.1 causes a loud buzzing. The speakers tend to automatically revert to a different codec.

I found a solution with much searching and a huge heap of luck.

My fix on kubuntu:

sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service

Change

ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

to

ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd --plugin=a2dp

then

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

The effect should be immediate!

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