Question My very own Bluetooth mystery...

[le_stan]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, even though I read quite a lot here over the years. I usually find what I'm looking for, so I feel no need to clutter the forum with questions that have already been answered.

Today however, I come with something I really don't understand... I have a pair of totally worn out earbuds, brand and model JBL Reflect Mini 2 let's call them "HP1". I love these. So much so that it's my second pair. These are unfortunately not manufactured anymore, but I was lucky enough to find another pair (let's call them "HP2") in stellar condition on the equivalent of Craigslist in my country...

Sadly, trying to pair them with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S23) proved impossible. They just don't show on the list of available devices. Since the phone didn't change and the brand & model of the earbuds didn't change either, I'm really surprised this would cause an issue...

So, here's what I tried already:
- Connect them to my wife's professional phone (Galaxy A53) --> No problem, they connect and work like a charm
- Connect them to my wife's personal phone (Galaxy A54 5g) --> Impossible to connect.
- Activate - deactivate bluetooth
- Unpair HP1
- Restart my phone
- Factory reset the earbuds (holding Vol+ and Vol- together for 5 seconds)
- Delete cache and data for Bluetooth agent and Bluetooth MIDI Service apps (Couldn't do it for Bluetooth app itself, options to delete cache or data are greyed out)
- Reset Wi-fi and bluetooth connections
- Activate developper's options and try (toggle, toggle back) options like
- Activate bluetooth HCI snoop log
- Show bluetooth devices without names
- Show unsupported bluetooth le devices in bluetooth settings
- Bypass bluetooth LE audio allowlist
- Turn off AVC Block list
- Disable A2DP hardware offload
- Bluetooth AVCRP Version (1.5 (default), 1.4, 1.3, 1.6... tried them all)

But this had no impact whatsoever, my earbuds are still MIA.

If an expert among you has any idea what more I could try, I'm all ears. I truly hope I will find a solution to this, since I really don't want to switch to TWS earbuds (been there done that, I hate to carry this box around and have to find a place to put an earbud when I want to remove one (which I do A LOT). Having one or both dangling around my neck is perfect.

Thanks in advance for reading this whole thing and I cross my fingers someone can find the solution I was unable to find...

Stan

 

[Laura Knotek]

Have you contacted the seller? It sounds like you bought something that was defective. I'd recommend getting a refund.

 

[le_stan]

Well, that was my first thought as well, but since the earbuds pair flawlessly with my wife's A53, I don't think there's anything wrong with them...

In the meantime, I also tried to connect them to other devices:
Android TV box --> No problem, pairing and playback perfect
Windows computer --> Not working - Looks like they are displayed as "Bluetooth headset" (instead of "JBL Reflect Mini 2 like the hold HP1 earbuds), but won't pair (connecting... --> "We didn't get any response from the device, try connecting again"

One lead I'm currently following is trying to update the earbud's firmware while they are connected to an android device...