Ubuntu
pulseaudio package

Output device not remembered after connecting/disconnecting another

Bug #1921766 reported by Cody Shepherd
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
PulseAudio
New
Unknown
pulseaudio (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Ubuntu 20.10 running pulseaudio version 13.99.2 is my daily driver for development work. I run it on a Lenovo X1 Carbon 8th Generation connected to dual monitors via a Lenovo dock. Both monitors are capable of outputting sound via HDMI.

I use bluetooth headphones frequently with my Ubuntu 20.10 system, but I don't leave them on -- I turn them on and off as needed for Zoom calls. When I'm not on a call, however, I prefer to use my laptop's speakers for audio -- not my monitor speakers.

Turning the bluetooth headphones on works fine, they connect and pulseaudio correctly identifies the new connection and switches to the headphones as the audio device.

However, when I turn the headphones off, pulseaudio always selects an HDMI audio device as the sound device to use, not the internal speaker device that I was using prior to turning on the headphones. I must manually open Sound Settings and select the speaker device every time I turn my headphones off.

My expectation is that the device I was using prior to connecting the headphones is remembered and switched back to by default after I disconnect my bluetooth headphones.

I've tried using the pavucontrol app to disable the HDMI audio devices, but the hardware device disable settings are not granular enough to let me target the HDMI devices independently of the speaker device.

Tags: groovy
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
tags: added: groovy
Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thanks for the bug report.

First please try editing /etc/pulse/default.pa and comment out:

  load-module module-switch-on-port-available
  load-module module-switch-on-connect

and then reboot. If that hasn't fixed the problem then please subscribe to:

  https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pulseaudio/pulseaudio/-/issues/44

Revision history for this message
Cody Shepherd (codyshepherd) wrote :

So I did look at those options, but disabling them did not provide the experience I was looking for, and required me to do as much or more manual switching of audio devices.

To be clear, I don't want to disable the functionality that these options provide. I am happy with the audio switching to hotplug devices (such as my headphones) automatically when they connect, and I'm happy with the audio switching to new ports as well. This bug is with the behavior of switching _back_ to the original device when a hotplug device disconnects. It should remember the original device, or at least allow me to set a default to switch back to, instead of deciding for itself.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 20.10 (groovy) reached end-of-life on July 22, 2021.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test. If you then find the bug is still present in the newer Ubuntu version, please add a comment here telling us which new version it is in.

Changed in pulseaudio (Ubuntu):
status: New → Won't Fix
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in pulseaudio:
status: Unknown → New
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