Bluetooth suddenly stopped working

[talos01 (Travis Miller)]

My bluetooth headphones won’t connect now when they have before on the same device. Problem occurred after an update, booting into the backup images did not help. Downgrading bluez to 5.71-1 and restarting also did not work.

Edit: Found the (really simple) fix: Forget the device through gnome-settings (or equivalent) and reconnect.

Headphone model: Sony WH-1000XM3
Fedora version: 39, latest updates
Output of “systemctl status bluetooth”:

bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: active (running) since Thu 2024-01-04 14:57:02 CST; 4min 57s ago
Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
Main PID: 932 (bluetoothd)
Status: “Running”
Tasks: 1 (limit: 8708)
Memory: 2.6M
CPU: 56ms
CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
└─932 /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd

Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/sbc_xq
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream_duplex
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/opus_05
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/opus_05
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/opus_05_duplex
Jan 04 14:57:17 fedora bluetoothd[932]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.84 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/opus_05_duplex
Jan 04 15:01:25 fedora bluetoothd[932]: src/profile.c:ext_connect() Hands-Free Voice gateway failed connect to 38:18:4C:18:5B:83: Permission denied (13)
Jan 04 15:01:25 fedora bluetoothd[932]: profiles/audio/avdtp.c:avdtp_connect_cb() connect to 38:18:4C:18:5B:83: Too many levels of symbolic links (40)
Jan 04 15:01:28 fedora bluetoothd[932]: profiles/audio/avdtp.c:avdtp_connect_cb() connect to 38:18:4C:18:5B:83: Too many levels of symbolic links (40)

Output of dnf history info {latest update}:

Packages Altered:
Upgrade bluez-5.71-2.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade bluez-cups-5.71-2.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade bluez-libs-5.71-2.fc39.i686 @updates
Upgrade bluez-libs-5.71-2.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade bluez-obexd-5.71-2.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade distribution-gpg-keys-1.99-1.fc39.noarch @updates
Upgrade edk2-ovmf-20231122-14.fc39.noarch @updates
Upgrade firefox-121.0-3.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade firefox-langpacks-121.0-3.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade ibus-typing-booster-2.24.10-1.fc39.noarch @updates
Upgrade libaom-3.8.0-1.fc39.i686 @updates
Upgrade libaom-3.8.0-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libblkid-2.39.3-1.fc39.i686 @updates
Upgrade libblkid-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libblkid-devel-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libfdisk-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libmount-2.39.3-1.fc39.i686 @updates
Upgrade libmount-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libmount-devel-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libphonenumber-8.13.27-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libsmartcols-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade libuuid-2.39.3-1.fc39.i686 @updates
Upgrade libuuid-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade podman-5:4.8.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade util-linux-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgrade util-linux-core-2.39.3-1.fc39.x86_64 @updates
Upgraded bluez-5.71-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded bluez-cups-5.71-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded bluez-libs-5.71-1.fc39.i686 @@System
Upgraded bluez-libs-5.71-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded bluez-obexd-5.71-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded distribution-gpg-keys-1.98-1.fc39.noarch @@System
Upgraded edk2-ovmf-20231122-12.fc39.noarch @@System
Upgraded firefox-121.0-2.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded firefox-langpacks-121.0-2.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded ibus-typing-booster-2.24.5-1.fc39.noarch @@System
Upgraded libaom-3.7.1-1.fc39.i686 @@System
Upgraded libaom-3.7.1-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libblkid-2.39.2-1.fc39.i686 @@System
Upgraded libblkid-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libblkid-devel-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libfdisk-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libmount-2.39.2-1.fc39.i686 @@System
Upgraded libmount-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libmount-devel-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libphonenumber-8.13.19-2.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libsmartcols-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded libuuid-2.39.2-1.fc39.i686 @@System
Upgraded libuuid-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded podman-5:4.8.1-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded util-linux-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System
Upgraded util-linux-core-2.39.2-1.fc39.x86_64 @@System

[talos01 (Travis Miller)]

Found the (really simple) fix: Forget the device through gnome-settings (or equivalent) and reconnect.

[hamrheadcorvette (hammerhead corvette)]

@talos01

Headphone model: Sony WH-1000XM3

There’s a couple things I would like for you to try : Go to your settings > bluetooth > devices

Click on the device you are trying to reconnect and if it appears, click on it an remove device.

I have a couple of headset earbuds from Senheisser and Jaybird and when this happened in the past, I would forget the device on my laptop and make it discoverable again and reconnect the device.

Sometimes disabling / enabling by simply clicking on the Bluetooth icon has also worked.

[talos01 (Travis Miller)]

Already got it, but I’ll mark this as solution because it’s more detailed.