Ubuntu – Pair Bose QuietComfort 35 with Ubuntu over Bluetooth (2)

bluetooth

(Relating to Pair Bose QuietComfort 35 with Ubuntu over Bluetooth – seems to be "too old to response to")

This is really frustrating!

I am running Ubuntu 16.04 and am unable to get sound in the headphones. I have tried all suggestions above without success. I have had it working before I reinstalled Ubuntu, but unfortunately I have not noted how I made it working then. Now I can pair, at least from the Ubuntu side what it seems, but there is no voice in the headphones indicating that a pairing has been made and the sound is still coming out from the computer's speakers.

[bluetooth]# pair 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 
Attempting to pair with 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 00000000-deca-fade-deca-deafdecacaff
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 Paired: yes
Pairing successful

[Joachim Bose QC 35]# connect 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 
Attempting to connect to 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 Name: Joachim Bose QC 35
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 Alias: Joachim Bose QC 35
Connection successful
[Joachim Bose QC 35]# info 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9 
Device 04:52:C7:5F:CB:A9
Name: Joachim Bose QC 35
Alias: Joachim Bose QC 35
Class: 0x240418
Icon: audio-card
Paired: yes
Trusted: yes
Blocked: no
Connected: yes
LegacyPairing: no
UUID: Vendor specific           (00000000-deca-fade-deca-deafdecacaff)
UUID: Serial Port               (00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Headset                   (00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Audio Sink                (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: A/V Remote Control        (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Handsfree                 (0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: PnP Information           (00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Generic Access Profile    (00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Generic Attribute Profile (00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Device Information        (0000180a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Bose Corporation          (0000febe-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
Modalias: bluetooth:v009Ep400Cd0134
[Joachim Bose QC 35]#

Best Answer

I have a similar issue with a bluetooth (BT) headset, my solution was:

Open bluetooth (BT) manager (it should show a list with all BT defined)
If yours is not there,
Set the headphones(hp) to 'discover mode' and run a Search on the BT manager This should discover the hp and they should appear now. They may not connect though, in that case:
Right-click on the hp name and select headset, this may still not produce sound,
Right-click again on the hp name, this time there will be a new option, 'audio profile'
Select High Fidelity Playback (A2DP sink)
Now open your 'Sound Settings' and select your headphones and adjust volume.

Hope this helps.

Get back to a clean state

I would recommend to clean up you past attempts to pair:

On Ubuntu, remove the headphones from the Bluetooth paired list.
On the headphones, hold the switch in Bluetooth pairing position for 10 seconds to delete all paired devices (You'll get a voice confirmation).
If you can, deactivate Bluetooth on other surrounding devices to make sure they won't interact.

Deactivate Bluetooth LE

Edit Bluetooth configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

Replace:

#ControllerMode = dual

with:

ControllerMode = bredr

Restart Bluetooth:

sudo service bluetooth restart

Pair

Make sure the headphones are in pairing mode.
Pair with System Settings > Bluetooth
Select & test the headphones in System Settings > Sound. You may want to choose High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink) for high playback quality.

Reactivate Bluetooth LE (optional)

As it is only the pairing that has to be done without Bluetooth LE, once it is paired you can go back to the original configuration:

sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

Replace:

ControllerMode = bredr

with:

#ControllerMode = dual

Restart Bluetooth:

sudo service bluetooth restart

Troubleshooting

If you have issues connecting back after disconnecting/rebooting:

Make sure you have the computer and Bluetooth turned on before the headphones.
If Connection is grayed out in System Settings > Bluetooth, you can use the Bluetooth menu in the menu bar (next to the clock) to do Connection On/Off.

Ubuntu – How to play through bluetooth headphones

It looks like the underlying problem was similar to the one for this question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31380594/linux-bluez-dbus-communication

Except that I'm running a systemd linux setup so I had to do as the comment on that answer suggested:

With newer Systemd-based systems, copy /lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service to /etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.service and change the ExecStart line to ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd -E.

– Arto Bendiken

So I did that, restarted, and then started bluetoothctl, and connected manually:

[Bose QuietComfort 35]# connect 04:52:C7:32:68:16 
Attempting to connect to 04:52:C7:32:68:16
[CHG] Device 04:52:C7:32:68:16 Paired: yes
Connection successful

This time when I paired, my headphones recognised the connection (they didn't previously, even though GNOME seemed to think the pairing had worked) and the output device appeared in my devices list.