How to connect Bluetooth headphones to Laptop?

Question

I want to connect my August headphones to my laptop in Ubuntu 16.04. Yet I seem unable to add it via the bleutooth gui:

I see the TA headphones yet clicking on the entry does nothing and there is no feedback. The Devices indicator is looping forever.

---

I then try to add it via terminal as described in that answer using bluez-tools, yet bt-audio is depricated for me.

---

I then tried bluetoothctl:

 $ bluetoothctl
 [NEW] Device 04:52:C7:0D:C5:69 TA Headphones
 [bluetooth]# connect 04:52:C7:0D:C5:69

Yet unfortunately it outputs:

Attempting to connect to 04:52:C7:0D:C5:69
Failed to connect: org.bluez.Error.Failed

---

I am also trying to follow similar question like this one. The are suggesting to run:

sudo pactl unload-module module-bluetooth-discover
sudo pactl load-module module-bluetooth-discover

Yet those commands yield in:

Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
Connection failure: Connection refused
pa_context_connect() failed: Connection refused

---

Failing on all of these approaches: How to add Bluetooth headphones either by gui or terminal?

Solution 1

First install all updates

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Reboot

If you have already paired the device, I would do in terminal

wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pylover/d68be364adac5f946887b85e6ed6e7ae/raw/d698974910bbb7d016ec0ad08c1bf41b4b524364/a2dp.py
alias headphones="a2dp.py 04:52:C7:0D:C5:69"

Then whenever you want to use the headphones in A2DP audio, in terminal enter

headphones

There is a bug in either Bluez or Pulseaudio that makes it difficult to switch audio profiles from HSP/HFP to A2DP without switching the audio profile to off, then disconnect, reconnect and then switch to A2DP. The a2dp.py script automates this process

Solution 2

1. You may be trying to connect to the wrong headphones. Make sure yours are set into pairing mode. For the August EP 650, this is done by pressing the volume buttons + and - for three seconds.

2. If you now enter bluetoothctl, you should see a new device:

   [NEW] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 EP650
   

3. Pair with the device:

   [bluetooth]# pair 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5
   Attempting to pair with 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 Connected: yes
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 Paired: yes
   Pairing successful
   

   Your device may have a pairing key.

4. Connect the device

   [bluetooth]# connect 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5
   Attempting to connect to 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5
   [CHG] Device 00:12:D0:01:F4:E5 Connected: yes
   Connection successful
   

5. Check sound options to see if you are using the correct output device. If your experience a garbled audio mess, make sure you have Hihg Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink) enabled.

Solution 3

To enable a Bluetooth audio device it needs to be paired with your comuter first. To do so you enter the headset into pairing mode:

Turn the device on then press and hold the - and + buttons for 3 seconds to enter pairing mode. In pairing mode, the LED flashes red and blue.

After that you can proceed with the discovery and pairing of a new device:

• How do I connect to my Bluetooth headset?

In case a device was paired in the past but does not work as expected we may have to remove it first, then re-pair it.

Comments

[Kaos]

I think the problem is solved in recent version. Just interesting how my script is helping people to automate the Bluetooth headphone connections. +1

[Jeremy31]

I noticed some updates today for pulseaudio and was going to see if it fixed this mess, thanks @pylover