Bluetooth music controls stop working on screen off

[RedRamage]

So I have an odd problem. I have a Motorola S10 bluetooth headset for listening to music. It's really nice not having to deal with cords and having controls for play/pause and track forward/back right on the headset.

However recently the controls have stopped working when my screen is off. I can't pause my music or advance track. I hear the 'beep' in my headset indicating that a button has been pressed, but my phone isn't getting or ignoring the command.

To make matters more complicated, it isn't a consistent thing. Occasionally the controls will still work with the phone off. This has been happening for a couple of weeks now and I'm having a very hard time finding any regularity to when it will or won't work. There doesn't seem to be a pattern. I also can't seem to trace it to an specific program that I recently installed. I'm at a loss here... anyone have any bright ideas?

 

[Devinator]

Try clearing cache, data, etc. from Bluetooth in manage apps. If that doesn't work, have you tried removing the headset from your device and adding it back again?

 

[RedRamage]

Yeah... tried that. No luck unfortunately.

 

[Devinator]

Have you tried the headset with another device, maybe a computer, to see if it works there. If the problem only exists on the phone, at least you can narrow it down to the phone, and, not the headset.

 

[RedRamage]

It would be hard to test it on a computer as my computer won't simulate the same situation: The controls not working when the screen is off. A computer doesn't sit in the same 'off state' as the phone.

I do know that it used to work and still does occasionally. Also it worked with my old WinMo phone previously.

 

[Devinator]

Well, I did say another device. I only said computer because most people don't have two phones. But you could always try it out on another phone if you have access to one. Or if someone will let you borrow theirs for a little bit.

Gotcha. That's good to know. But still could be phone or device related.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Android Central Forums

 

[Keith Ealanta]

For what it's worth, I'm having a very similar problem.
For me it appears that when the screen is off the next/prev buttons change behavior.
I've recently upgraded to Android 4.3 (which is when the problem started), and with that I've gained multiple user profiles. I thought for a while it could be that, but even if I've not logged in, the buttons work as normal as long the screen is on.
I'm guessing it's something to do with key-maps, and which ones are active when the screen is on vs. when it's off.
I'll try to post here if I find a solution.