Bluetooth not finding earphones

[Donato Lorenzo]

I'm using last PeppermintOS:

$ cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="PeppermintOS"
NAME="Peppermint"
ID=peppermint
VERSION_CODENAME="bookworm"

$ uname -a
Linux makina 6.1.0-18-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.76-1 (2024-02-01) x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ sudo dmesg | grep -i blue
[    9.615069] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.22
[    9.615097] NET: Registered PF_BLUETOOTH protocol family
[    9.615099] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    9.615104] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    9.615107] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    9.615112] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    9.789430] Bluetooth: hci0: HCI Enhanced Setup Synchronous Connection command is advertised, but not supported.
[   10.227730] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[   10.227735] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[   10.227740] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[   10.230641] Bluetooth: MGMT ver 1.22
[   29.395811] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[   29.395816] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[   29.395838] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11

$ dpkg -l | grep -i blue
ii  blueman                              2.3.5-2+b1                              amd64        Graphical bluetooth manager
ii  bluez                                5.66-1+deb12u1                          amd64        Bluetooth tools and daemons
ii  bluez-alsa-utils                     4.0.0-2                                 amd64        Bluetooth Audio ALSA Backend (utils)
ii  bluez-firmware                       1.2-9                                   all          Firmware for Bluetooth devices
ii  bluez-obexd                          5.66-1+deb12u1                          amd64        bluez obex daemon
ii  bluez-tools                          2.0~20170911.0.7cb788c-4                amd64        Set of tools to manage Bluetooth devices for linux
ii  libasound2-plugin-bluez:amd64        4.0.0-2                                 amd64        Bluetooth Audio ALSA Backend (plugins)
ii  libbluetooth3:amd64                  5.66-1+deb12u1                          amd64        Library to use the BlueZ Linux Bluetooth stack
ii  libldacbt-abr2:amd64                 2.0.2.3+git20200429+ed310a0-4           amd64        LDAC Bluetooth ABR library (shared library)
ii  libldacbt-enc2:amd64                 2.0.2.3+git20200429+ed310a0-4           amd64        LDAC Bluetooth encoder library (shared library)
ii  libspa-0.2-bluetooth:amd64           0.3.65-3+deb12u1                        amd64        libraries for the PipeWire multimedia server - bluetooth plugins
ii  pulseaudio-module-bluetooth          16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        Bluetooth module for PulseAudio sound server

$ dpkg -l | grep -i pulse
ii  libpulse-mainloop-glib0:amd64        16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        PulseAudio client libraries (glib support)
ii  libpulse0:amd64                      16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        PulseAudio client libraries
ii  libpulsedsp:amd64                    16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        PulseAudio OSS pre-load library
ii  pavucontrol                          5.0-2                                   amd64        PulseAudio Volume Control
ii  pulseaudio                           16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        PulseAudio sound server
ii  pulseaudio-module-bluetooth          16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        Bluetooth module for PulseAudio sound server
ii  pulseaudio-utils                     16.1+dfsg1-2+b1                         amd64        Command line tools for the PulseAudio sound server
ii  xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin:amd64        0.4.5-1                                 amd64        Xfce4 panel plugin to control pulseaudio

My laptop is a Dell XPS 13.

From Blueman, when searching, it does not find my earphones (testing with two models, JVC and JBL). It finds a lot of devices, which are automatically hidden seconds after.

Neither from bluetoothctl. Even if I try to "pair -address-" manually it just says "device not available".

I've tried this https://sourceforge.net/p/peppermintos/pepos/inst/thread/efc397e2cd/.

But no luck.

Some tip?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi Donata,

From the post you read, and screenshot uploaded there and package mentioned by RWC, is the best we can do, at this moment in time. Unless a community member could direct you to a solution?

Package: https://sourceforge.net/p/peppermintos/pepos/inst/thread/efc397e2cd/#3a59

[Donato Lorenzo]

Hi,
I could make it work.

I just need to:

sudo rm -fr /var/lib/bluetooth
sudo service restart bluetooth
sudo killall pulseaudio
sudo killall blueman-applet
sudo killall blueman-manager
// switch off / power on the headphones
// wait bluez/blueman connect to it automatically

BUT:
- I cannot tell in which order, cause:
- sometimes it work, sometimes it does not
- sometimes the device is connected, but no Audio Profile is available
- sometimes the device is connected, but A2DP Audio Profile is not available
- sometimes the device is connected, and A2DP Audio Profile is available and all good and I can be happy

Probably, on source of problems could be on blueman-manager and blueman-applet: more than one process using bluez. But I cannot tell for sure. Cause after thousands tests, I still have no recognized a pattern.

I hope it helps.

Thanks!

[manuel rosa]

Hello, here's the thing, as I'm not a user of bluethood sound devices, I spent a few minutes searching on the internet and found something that could help you, I can't guarantee it will work for you, but it's worth trying.
This link describes a solution found by another Debian 12 user and it worked for him.
https://www.reddit.com/r/debian/comments/15c038q/bluetooth_earbuds_wont_connect_in_debian_12_stable/
Now it would be interesting if it works for you to post here.
Thank you and I hope I helped.