Bluetooth headphones won't pair/connect

General system Newbie
1

Fresh eos install. I use my Sony WH1000XM5 headphones every day.

I have followed these instructions: https://discovery.endeavouros.com/audio/bluetooth/2021/03/

I have tried the solution in this post: New install, bluetooth won't work - #6 by ricklinux

My headphones get detected in pairing mode, but will not connect. I tried installing blueman, which says they’re connected after trying to pair, but no options appear in my sound settings. I have also tried using pulseaudio-bluetooth. I’m all out of things to try. Headphones connect fine to my phone and Windows 11 install. As per second link, fast boot is off. I also disabled it in bios.

Thanks

2

Can you provide the output of bluetoothctl ?

3

Sure!

[dani@dani-endeavouros ~]$ bluetoothctl
[bluetooth]# hci0 new_settings: powered bondable ssp br/edr le secure-conn wide-band-speech cis-central cis-peripheral iso-broadcaster sync-receiver 
[bluetooth]# Agent registered
[bluetooth]# [CHG] Controller 10:6F:D9:DA:16:E8 Pairable: yes
[bluetooth]#
4

Can you provide the output of inxi -Eaz additionally ?

5 
[dani@dani-endeavouros ~]$ inxi -Eaz
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: MediaTek Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.1
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 3-2:2 chip-ID: 0e8d:0608
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c0104
[dani@dani-endeavouros ~]$
6

Sadly I’m not familiar with lmp-v. But essentially it contradicts the output of bluetoothctl…

I’m on KDE plasma and and I don’t have issues with bluetooth devices. I can pair my Sony WI-C100 headphones via bluedevil without issues.
Have you checked the sound system settings if the headphones are listed there as an audio input device ? Make sure to unhide inactive devices in the settings there.

7

If you are using kernel 6.11, boot with LTS kernel and see if that makes bluetooth works as expected.

8

I’m using Gnome on my install. Haven’t had issues a few months ago. I have checked sound settings for both input and output and it doesn’t show up.

9

I tried switching to the LTS kernel. Still doesn’t connect.
I should add now that bluetooth itself is working. My bluetooth mouse paired fine and is working with no issues. I have also tried my bluetooth earbuds (WF1000XM4) and they won’t pair either.

10

@BakaDani
Have you gone through all the steps with bluetoothctl to do the following not just everything the wiki pointed out as far as installinmg certain packages and making sure bluetooth was working.

bluetoothctl ----> scan on ------> trust ----> pair ---> connect

It’s a matter of getting the specific device to be seen and to be trusted and paired and connect. Sometimes you need to remove those devices and start fresh as it can pick up the wrong info and then will not work. Bluetooth can be stubborn sometimes as it also depends on the hardware and what version it’s using.

11

I tried following those steps. At first it failed to connect (timeout). After trying again, it said that it connected, but it’s not showing up in audio settings. Pretty much similar to what I described with blueman.

I’m gonna try reinstalling with KDE instead. I’ll report back if that helps.

Edit: This did not make much of a difference. On KDE it just fails to pair after 30 seconds. Additionally, my mouse won’t pair either.

12

Is the firmware up to date on the headphones??

13

Yes. Android app reports 2.3.1 which according to sony’s website is the latest version as of now

14

Cool, just a thought …

15

@BakaDani
If bluetooth paired and connected then it might be another issue related to audio if not showing.

16

Don’t think this is the case, since the headphones don’t make a connection successful sound.

17

If the device isn’t showing up in the output of the audio settings then it’s using another output even though it may be connected is what I’m saying.

18

bluetooth, at least when it comes to my personal experience, has never worked flawlessly on linux (whatever distro, I tried plenty). The latest update botched my audio experience (my speakers are shown as “connected”, only on software level, the speakers are of a different opinion and no audio gets played anyway). What is more jarring, is that everything works perfectly with Android (aren’t they using the same kernel???). I never truly understood how such an important piece of software is so neglected…

anyway, random rant aside, in the past one trick that worked was to reset the bluetooth driver:

bluetoothctl power off && bluetoothctl power on

good luck! (and keep a spare cable nearby…)

19

Unfortunately this didn’t help either.

Oddly, it’ll say in the settings menu that it’s connected, but the bluetooth window will say that it failed, and then where it said it connected will just go away and still say that there’s nothing paired.

20

image
image1425×858 162 KB

Really getting mixed signals here. Connected but not paired?

Few seconds after posting that screenshot here, got a notification saying that pairing failed.

Edit: I tried pairing on a different arch-based distro also using gnome and it paired immediately, connected, and was recognized as an audio device, and played sound.