5

My problem is fairly simple. I have a pair of Q30 headphones that I'm trying to pair to my desktop. I have a bluetooth 5.2 bluetooth card which I believe (but don't truly know) is backwards-compatible with Q30's bluetooth 5. My bluetooth definitely works, as I was able to pair my phone with it, but for some reason my Q30s refuse to pair.

  • Desktop Software/Hardware:
  • Linux kernel version: 5.15.0-46-generic
  • Ubuntu version: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS
  • Bluetooth version: 5.2
  • Device driver: Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX210 160MHz

Before, when I clicked on Pair, it would replace the label of the device with "BES_BLE" (a known bug). After some time giving me the spinner, the device would disappear from the list and then reappear unconnected. Rebooting both my desktop and my headphones did not work. I also have no other devices connected to my headphones before attempting to pair to my desktop.

The closest thread I could find that was related to this was here but it seems like no solution was found.

One last thing I tried was connecting via commandline. I used hcitool scan to find the MAC address of the headphones and bluetooth ctl connect [MAC address]. This gave me the following error: Failed to connect: org.bluez.Error.Failed br-connection-unknown. Not very helpful

Random_User
  • 91

4 Answers4

4

I managed to get it working in Ubuntu 22.04 Found this hero replying on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/soundcore/comments/yk3bkq/configure_soundcore_life_q30_in_linux_mint/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=14&utm_content=share_button

Open a terminal:

bluetoothctl

it will start scanning, turn on the headset in pairing mode, and copy the address to the clipboard, then paste:

trust [address]
pair [address]
connect [address]

After I ran these commands, the device was connected, but not paired, nor running properly. I typed exit and restarted the utility. Then I re-ran the pair command and then I saw that in the bluetooth settings the device went into paired. At that point I disconnected it by clicking on the GUI toggle to disconnect and then I clicked again to connect it back. They connected and were recognized and are working. The steps order might differ a bit as I was fiddling randomly to get them to work. It was quick. I think something goes wrong in the trusting process when doing the pairing conventionally with the GUI.

Anyway, if it doesn't work on the first attempt give it a second try, you'll manage.

dzang
  • 161
  • [Linux Mint 21.1] Indeed I had to do a couple of extra tries, but it worked at some point. Hopefully I won't need terminal again next time. C'mon, 2023 and we still have bth issues on Linux? oh well. – igorsantos07 Mar 18 '23 at 19:55
3

Also for 22.10 Ubuntu you'll need to sudo apt install libspa-0.2-bluetooth

As well

Aleksandr Panzin
  • 151
3

Wow ok, immediately after I typed the last comment, it worked. I restarted the bluetoothctl, then removed the headphone from my list of devices and rediscovered it. This time, instead of it showing up as BES_BLE it showed up as Soundcore Life Q30. And I was able to connect to it through the GUI. A full year after I got the headphones.

Thank you all for your help. For future readers, the solution that worked for me was:

  1. Run sudo apt install libspa-0.2-bluetooth
  2. Open bluetooth config file
  3. sudo <your editor> /etc/bluetooth/main.cong
  4. Uncomment ControllerMode = and set it to ControllerMode = bredr
  5. Restart bluetooth service: sudo systemctl restart bluetooth
  6. Remove the device and rediscover it, then try to connect to it using the GUI

Special thanks to @Vadim Yushmanov and @Aleksandr Panzin

Random_User
  • 91
  • Great to hear you've finally managed! I doubted if it was okay to "necropost", but gladly the issue was still relevant for you :) Just in case any other device will be failing to be discovered while on "bredr" mode, you can set it back to "dual" which is the default. Apparently, for the Soundcore headphones, "bredr" is only required for pairing.

    On a side note, if the microphone is not detected, here's a solution https://askubuntu.com/questions/1085960/use-bluetooth-headset-with-microphone-hfp-in-ubuntu-18-04

     – Vadim Yushmanov Jul 31 '23 at 11:05
  • Thanks, it's crazy that it took almost a year to get this issue resolved. I've loved Linux otherwise but the fact that simple issues come up when you try to do basic things is frustrating.

    As a side-note, I find I have to do a full reset of the headphones when switching between Windows and Linux, but that seems to be a known problem (think I saw something about it a year ago when I was investigating the issue

     – Random_User Jul 31 '23 at 19:13
  • That's true, I also reset them every time when changing the os. My understanding is this is due to same MAC address but different drivers/settings for the BT module of the laptop – Vadim Yushmanov Aug 01 '23 at 20:43
0

To add up, this is what actually helped me:

  1. Open bluetooth config file

    sudo /etc/bluetooth/main.cong

  2. Uncomment ControllerMode = and set it to

    ControllerMode = bredr

  3. Restart bluetooth service:

    sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

After that, follow the trust-pair-connect steps described earlier:

bluetoothctl
trust [address]
pair [address]
connect [address]

Source: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/292189/pairing-bose-qc-35-over-bluetooth-on-fedora

Vadim Yushmanov
  • 51
  • Unfortunately, none of the potential solutions has worked for me. I've tried installing libspa-0.2-bluetooth, I've set the ControllerMode to bredr, etc. None of it has worked.

    When I try to connect using bluetoothctl, I am able to trust the device, but when I try to pair, it says Attempting to pair with <device_mac>, but nothing else happens. If I try again I get Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.InProgress, then after a minute or two I get Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.AuthenticationTimeout.

     – Random_User Jul 22 '23 at 23:02
  • Oh and if I try to pair again, it gives me error Failed to pair: org.bluez.Error.AuthenticationRejected – Random_User Jul 22 '23 at 23:04