Bluetooth Guru for car connection - General Questions and Answers

Hi, I've been having some fairly big issues with my in-car Bluetooth and phones. I have a 2013 Subaru WRX with the stock stereo which is made by Clarion.
I first started experiencing problems with it about 2 years ago: I would be driving along when all of a sudden my phone would randomly disconnect from my car while I'm talking, listening to music or just had the GPS running (or a combination of these). Oftentimes my car stereo will spaz out once it disconnects and will actually freeze (all buttons are non functioning, including steering wheel controls, power button, am/fm buttons, volume, etc) and take many minutes to reset the connection or it won't do anything at all (the stereo says, "please wait" or "paused" or will get hung on the song title that was playing when the phone disconnected) and my phone won't reconnect to it - I'll have to restart my car. Sometimes the stereo will reset and simply won't reconnect to my phone.
The kicker is that it's an intermittent problem, but still happens semi-frequently for periods at a time then it seems to get better. I've tried deleting my paired phone list in the car and on the phone, I've tried formatting my phone and nothing worked. I even brought my car into Subaru to diagnose the problem because I feel it's a car issue and they claimed it worked with their own phone which I feel is BS because they didn't want to fix it while the car was still on warranty, but that's another story! They said they couldn't fix it because they saw no problem (couldn't reproduce it) even though I provided them with video and pictures of it occurring.
This first started happening with my unlocked, stock, HTC One, m7 (currently running lollipop) . I thought there was a chance it could be related to an app or the OS but was not able to diagnose or isolate the issue. I just recently bought a Nexus 5x (marshmallow), unlocked, stock, thinking if it was the phone then this would fix the problem. It actually seems to have gotten worse with the frequency, however I've noticed that the phone is better at pairing with my car after the connection is lost. I still can't reproduce this on a consistent basis.
Can anyone suggest some possible causes and fixes? I'm hoping someone here is a Bluetooth Guru!

Related

[Q] Constant Bluetooth Disconnects in 4.4.4

Has anyone else had issues with Bluetooth since updating to 4.4.4?
I flashed the factory images the day they came out, and since then have been having constant troubles with my Bluetooth connection, specifically in the car. My car's BT system has a pop-up message on the screen every time the connection drops and reconnects, and since the update, it will drop every ten minutes or so and reconnect, which has never happened before. It's only slightly annoying, but what's really annoying is that because if it, it never lets my phone's voice recognition get going.
I've tried booting my phone into safe mode to see if any third party software is causing the issue, but the problem still persists. It is a factory image, but is running CWM Recovery. Could that be the issue, by chance? I think I remember CWM messing up my radios at one point, and this could be something similar.
So has anyone else had this issue? Or have any insight?
Thanks in advance.
Same here but I saw the issues on 4.4.3 already. It sucks
So an update:
I started over, wiping everything, and flashed the factory images from Google but with TWRP. Still no luck. One thing that I noticed was that when the Bluetooth disconnected, an "Unfortunately, Bluetooth Share has stopped." error popped up on my phone.
Then I flashed martinro's SimpleKitKat ROM with TWRP, and everything worked perfectly. I have no idea why the Google images are having trouble. Any thoughts?
Madmax, was it with your car system, too? Or an earpiece or the like?
Similar issue in top of A2DP disconnects:
When I'm playing music in my car using the aux input, my music will all of a sudden auto switch to Bluetooth headset until I disconnect 3.5mm cable and plug it back in phone. Then the music will route back to stereo. It will randomly do this sometimes within a few seconds of replugging the cable back into the phone and sometimes it will stay playing in the stereo all the way to my destination.
Help?
Sent from my wondrous Nexus numeral 5

Bluetooth issues on 38R?

I've noticed that ever since I upgraded to 38R I keep getting disconnected from my bluetooth car stereo. When it disconnects the Bluetooth icon on the OPO goes grey. It looks like the Bluetooth module is crashing and then getting reset by the OS. I just got done with a 30 minute drive and it happened 3 times. Has anybody else noticed anything funky with the Bluetooth stack?
I've also had the phone itself hard crash several times. Not sure if 38R is ready for prime time.
I'm not running anything custom, just pure 38r on a rooted/twrp device. No exposed or other mods.
I updated manually last night and this morning on the drive in, I had it suddenly switch from my Ford's Sync system to the internal speaker. The dash display showed the phone was attached and when I switched from Pocket Casts to Play Music, it reflected what was playing, but the sound came out of the phone, not the car stereo. I went into the settings and toggled music off and on, switched Bluetooth off and on, then switch the stereo to AM radio then back to Bluetooth and it behaved properly.
I was using Waze which keeps the screen on and things were fine until I got off the freeway and shut down Waze. The screen shut off after a minute as normal, but when I double-tapped the screen to wake the display up, the audio dropped from the stereo and started playing from the phone. Hmmmm. I unpaired Sync and deleted the OPO from the car's side and I re-paired the phone.
It seemed OK until my drive home just now when once again, tapping the screen to wake it up cause the audio to drop back to the speaker. Since I don't use nav apps all the time, this is clearly an unacceptable bug that makes me wonder HTF they're beta-testing. It's nice that the GPS doesn't seem totally broken and the touchscreen goofiness is gone, but being unable to maintain Bluetooth connectivity for media is a huge gaffe.
Ok, I'm still trying to figure out what is going on here. I restored my TWRP backup from 33R and I had two bluetooth crashes on the way home today. Could there be a firmware update that is causing this that would not have been rolled back as part of the restore? I've read online that there is no new radio in 38R? Is there something else causing it?
I ran the full 33r factory image and it fixed the Bluetooth issues. I ran that way for a couple of days and had no BT problems even on a 2+ hour drive. I did a clean 33r to 38r OTA and within the first 30 minutes in the car had a BT freeze and disconnect. Its pretty clear, at least with my device, that there is something wrong with the BT stack on 38r.
I have little different but seems to related with BT.
When BT is enabled, my wifi performance drops significantly. I tried to remove all paired devices and reset BT config, but nothing really fixed the issue. I need to turn off BT completely, if my wifi speed goes down. I'm running 38R. I don't think I noticed any issue on 33R.
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...with-cell-data-turned-on.143815/#post-6381709
DirkBelig said:
I updated manually last night and this morning on the drive in, I had it suddenly switch from my Ford's Sync system to the internal speaker. The dash display showed the phone was attached and when I switched from Pocket Casts to Play Music, it reflected what was playing, but the sound came out of the phone, not the car stereo. I went into the settings and toggled music off and on, switched Bluetooth off and on, then switch the stereo to AM radio then back to Bluetooth and it behaved properly.
I was using Waze which keeps the screen on and things were fine until I got off the freeway and shut down Waze. The screen shut off after a minute as normal, but when I double-tapped the screen to wake the display up, the audio dropped from the stereo and started playing from the phone. Hmmmm. I unpaired Sync and deleted the OPO from the car's side and I re-paired the phone.
It seemed OK until my drive home just now when once again, tapping the screen to wake it up cause the audio to drop back to the speaker. Since I don't use nav apps all the time, this is clearly an unacceptable bug that makes me wonder HTF they're beta-testing. It's nice that the GPS doesn't seem totally broken and the touchscreen goofiness is gone, but being unable to maintain Bluetooth connectivity for media is a huge gaffe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having this exact same issue since upgrading to 38r. Bluetooth audio works fine until screen goes off and I turn it on again. Then audio comes out of the phone, but Bluetooth icon is still lit up and otherwise still connected to the car. VERY annoying.
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Yeah... Right now when I get into the car, audio plays though the speaker (despite bluetooth connection) unless I open Play Music specifically. Somehow that does something that also fixes other apps (Slacker, book readers, etc).
menos08642 said:
I've noticed that ever since I upgraded to 38R I keep getting disconnected from my bluetooth car stereo. When it disconnects the Bluetooth icon on the OPO goes grey. It looks like the Bluetooth module is crashing and then getting reset by the OS. I just got done with a 30 minute drive and it happened 3 times. Has anybody else noticed anything funky with the Bluetooth stack?
I've also had the phone itself hard crash several times. Not sure if 38R is ready for prime time.
I'm not running anything custom, just pure 38r on a rooted/twrp device. No exposed or other mods.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on 44S, and have a similar issue. Had the issue since 38R though. Bluetooth stays connected to my car fine if I'm not using the OPO or if I'm just streaming music. But in phone calls, it drops the bluetooth all the time. Really really annoying.
menos08642 said:
I ran the full 33r factory image and it fixed the Bluetooth issues. I ran that way for a couple of days and had no BT problems even on a 2+ hour drive. I did a clean 33r to 38r OTA and within the first 30 minutes in the car had a BT freeze and disconnect. Its pretty clear, at least with my device, that there is something wrong with the BT stack on 38r.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having same problem. Disconnects but just on calls and this happens with my BT headset. This doesn't actually happen on my stock Nexus 5. I'm thinking CM must be using different BT drivers? It's been the same on 33 and 44. I'm betting it carries to 5.0. If I don't find a workaround I may be forced to go to a different ROM. Just have no idea which one may be unaffected?
any fix for this?

[Q] Bluetooth in car

I have a d2vzw running cyanogenmod CM, build M11. I recently bought a new car, a Mazda 3 with full infotainment system.
Frequently, while on a phone call through bluetooth, the call will stall (dead on both ends) and the infotainment screen will reboot. I have taken the car to the dealer and they say it is likely to be my modified phone that is the culprit since they show no issues with stock firmwear.
It is also common for the sound system to stop and not allow BT or USB audio through. It still lets FM radio, though. The screen does not reboot in this case, though.
So, the question: Is it possible/likely that this is my phone causing the reboots? So far, I have only noticed the reboots and stalls when connected via BT, but that has been most of the time.
And second: is there anything to be done other than going back to stock on my phone?
Has anyone else had this issue?

Issues with Stable Bluetooth Connection in Car

I'm having an issue with my bluetooth holding a connection with my 2013 Honda Civic LX. When listening to music through any music playing app, the connection always stays steady. When there is no music running from the phone, I'll frequently get a message from the display on the dash that the phone has been disconnected. The phone will usually reconnect in a second or two, with another display indicating that it has been connected. This will happen at least two times during my commute to work (25 minutes), oftentimes as many as five times. When I am actively in a phone call, the disconnects seem to be more frequent. It has a timer on the display that shows how long the phone call has been active through the car, and it rarely gets above 3 minutes before the call gets routed back to the phone's speakers while the bluetooth reconnects. The strange thing is that my wife's LG G4, also AT&T, has absolutely no connection issues at any time. I switched phones with her for a week just to confirm since I'm the one generally driving this car, and I didn't have the car drop the connection to the phone even once. Before that week, her phone would have occasionally been used when we were both in the car and she wanted to listen to music through her phone, so it had been connected to the car for more than a week.
I factory reset the phone just to see if there was a strange software issue causing the problem. After the factory reset, the phone and car had a steady connection with no drops for about a week. When the problem came back and was obviously just as bad as before, I tried another factory reset. Once again, the connection stayed steady for about a week before I would get disconnects again. At this point, I contacted AT&T, who replaced my phone thinking that it could be a hardware issue. A week after getting my replacement, the issue popped up once again.
Besides factory resetting, which is the only thing I've found to fix it at least temporarily, I have tried a few different troubleshooting steps. I have cleared cache using the storage screen in the settings menu. I've deleted the phone from the car's connection list. I've re-paired the phone to the car without giving permission for contacts or messages. Also tried to just do a simple reboot of the phone, as well as turning bluetooth off and back on. None of these have any effect on the connection issues once they start coming up.
I can take the car to Honda, but judging on the fact that my wife's phone works just fine in the car, I'm convinced that it is somehow an issue with the software on my phone. My phone is not rooted, and is currently running Android 5.1, S/W H81010o, Build LMY47D.
My guess is hardware problem. My G4 seems to do the same thing with my Jaybird X2 headphones. I've had Jaybird swap them and I'm having the same exact issue of disconnect as with the previous set. I doubt I'd get two bad sets, so its gotta be something hardware related. Sorry I wasn't any extra help. I'm just searching to see if anyone else is having my issue.
My hunch would be whatever the BT protocol is that's being used to pair the devices. Or possibly just an isolated hardware incompatibility. I'm on my second G4 (totally separate reason from BT), and neither has had issues with pairing or staying paired. Even if I were to pause or altogether stop playback of audio, the connection remains stable for me. I pair mine with a Sony BT speaker, a Kinovo receiver for streaming to my car stereo, and even a receiver attached to my Yamaha A/V receiver at home. No issues whatsoever.
For what it's worth: I use PowerAmp Pro when I stream, almost exclusively.
upyouratrix said:
My guess is hardware problem. My G4 seems to do the same thing with my Jaybird X2 headphones. I've had Jaybird swap them and I'm having the same exact issue of disconnect as with the previous set. I doubt I'd get two bad sets, so its gotta be something hardware related. Sorry I wasn't any extra help. I'm just searching to see if anyone else is having my issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The strange thing for me is that my wife's LG G4 (now 6 months old) works fine in my car under the same circumstances, but I've had 2 LG G4's of my own that essentially showed the exact same symptoms almost immediately. I'm leaning far more towards it being software, with whatever glitch not being present immediately after I factory reset but shows up within a week on my Google profile. My guess is that it's related to the phone related data transferred to the car since it stays connected just fine during media playback but disconnects soon after the media stops, but I can only block contacts to test that theory.

Bluetooth help, need some technical assistance.

I've got a new Honor 8 with the latest updates and one glaring issue. The bluetooth audio skips with my Kenwood KDC-X701 head unit, sometimes a whole song plays, sometimes I get a lot of random skips and pauses in the music like it's dropping connection. The phone is within 2 feet of the head unit so distance isn't an issue. I tried it key on engine off with everything else in the car turned off to rule out interference from anything else in the car like headlights, tail lights, alternator noise, etc. I connected it via the 3.5mm jack and had smooth playback without skipping so it's not an audio source issue. And just to rule out a BT issue with the phone, I connected to and had smooth audio with a generic Chinese BT puck in my home. This same head unit has had no issues streaming BT audio from an iPod Touch 5th gen so it's not simply a head unit with bad bluetooth, it's some kind of issue between the Honor 8 and the head unit. What I want to know is how to determine what BT protocol is in use between the Honor 8 and the head unit and then determine what BT protocol the iPod Touch used and see if there's some way to manually set how the Honor 8 connects via BT to the head unit.
Or is there something more simple I'm missing here? Some kind of power saving I need to turn off, some menu option I'm missing, I hope so.
I'm going to make sure the head unit is on the latest firmware, I believe it is but I'll check and report back if there was an update and if it did anything for the issue.
Ok so during a 5 minute call through the head unit tonight there were not any BT issues, so this must be a music specific BT protocol issue, I'm slowly getting closer to the root of it.
Seems putting it in the dash pocket directly below the head unit works better which is unnecessarily close (less than 4 inches away) and many times closer than the iPod Touch ever needed to be. So there's still some kind of issue but seems like I might have a work around, it only skipped twice in a 30 minute drive which is the best it's been.
8 hour drive today with only 5-7 drops an hour. Seems worse when I'm around a lot of traffic, sometimes or that could just be coincidence.
Sometimes it's also partly dropping, music keeps playing but other Bluetooth features aren't working like Google voice commands or making/taking calls. Weird!
Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk

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