Hi. I come to you having exhausted every option I can think of to try.
The behavior I see is as follows:
I can (re)pair the AirPods successfully with the Mac Mini 2018. After, I click their name from the Bluetooth menu. I get the spinner. It spins. It finally stops. The AirPods do not become available as an audio device, or they do for 1 second, then immediately disappear. This behavior is consistent about 99% of the time; On a few instances, they do become available as an audio device, but no sound emits from them.
The setup:
Sometime in the past two or three months, I didn't realize how big a problem this would be, or I would have written it down, the AirPods ceased to connect to the Mac Mini 2018. This happened prior to moving to 13.5.1, and I was on a version of 12, because I usually delay upgrading for a long time.
I've spent many hours on the phone with Apple, and we've performed all the usual troubleshooting steps, including:
So I bought a new pair of AirPods, hoping that's the problem. It is not. The new pair exhibit the same behavior on the Mac Mini 2018; They work flawlessly on the other Mac hardware, just as the existing pair from 2021 do.
I've also done a complete format and reinstall of MacOS, signed into my Apple ID, then immediately tried pairing; This also does not work. No dice.
I've also disabled Bluetooth/turned off other Apple devices. I get this same behavior regardless of the status of the other devices.
Before this began, every Apple device including the Mac Mini 2018 happily paired with the AirPods I bought in 2021, without incident; I never had to do anything odd, like disable Bluetooth; I'd just click their name in the Bluetooth menu on the device I'm using, and they'd hop over from where ever else they might have been connected to at that time, be it MBP, or iPhone.
At this point, I can't think of any further debugging to attempt; I might buy a non-Apple Bluetooth headset, and see if that works.
The Mac Mini 2018 passed diagnostics, and nothing was found wrong. I'm also able to use a Bluetooth speaker, other Apple peripherals that are Bluetooth, and Continuity Camera works as well.
Only both sets of AirPods 2nd Gen do not connect, or if they do, immediately disconnect after 1 second. (Connect tone, then immediate disconnect tone.)
I've exhausted seemingly all options at this point; I might try Windows 10/11 under BootCamp to see if I have any luck there?
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
The behavior I see is as follows:
I can (re)pair the AirPods successfully with the Mac Mini 2018. After, I click their name from the Bluetooth menu. I get the spinner. It spins. It finally stops. The AirPods do not become available as an audio device, or they do for 1 second, then immediately disappear. This behavior is consistent about 99% of the time; On a few instances, they do become available as an audio device, but no sound emits from them.
The setup:
- AirPods 2nd Gen (existing pair, plus new pair from today to test)
- Mac Mini 2018, latest OS X
- MBP 2015
- MBP 2023 M2Pro
- iPhone Mini 12
Sometime in the past two or three months, I didn't realize how big a problem this would be, or I would have written it down, the AirPods ceased to connect to the Mac Mini 2018. This happened prior to moving to 13.5.1, and I was on a version of 12, because I usually delay upgrading for a long time.
I've spent many hours on the phone with Apple, and we've performed all the usual troubleshooting steps, including:
- Un-pairing and re-pairing on Mac Mini
- Unplug any attached peripherals such as USB drives that might interfere with BT
- Hardware resetting Airpods, then repairing
- Booting into Safe Mode and trying
- Resetting the NVRAM and SMC
- Creating a new user, and repeating the above with this user
- Installing a profile, and logging the behavior while a tier two support person watched, then uploading full log dumps and a video of the behavior
So I bought a new pair of AirPods, hoping that's the problem. It is not. The new pair exhibit the same behavior on the Mac Mini 2018; They work flawlessly on the other Mac hardware, just as the existing pair from 2021 do.
I've also done a complete format and reinstall of MacOS, signed into my Apple ID, then immediately tried pairing; This also does not work. No dice.
I've also disabled Bluetooth/turned off other Apple devices. I get this same behavior regardless of the status of the other devices.
Before this began, every Apple device including the Mac Mini 2018 happily paired with the AirPods I bought in 2021, without incident; I never had to do anything odd, like disable Bluetooth; I'd just click their name in the Bluetooth menu on the device I'm using, and they'd hop over from where ever else they might have been connected to at that time, be it MBP, or iPhone.
At this point, I can't think of any further debugging to attempt; I might buy a non-Apple Bluetooth headset, and see if that works.
The Mac Mini 2018 passed diagnostics, and nothing was found wrong. I'm also able to use a Bluetooth speaker, other Apple peripherals that are Bluetooth, and Continuity Camera works as well.
Only both sets of AirPods 2nd Gen do not connect, or if they do, immediately disconnect after 1 second. (Connect tone, then immediate disconnect tone.)
I've exhausted seemingly all options at this point; I might try Windows 10/11 under BootCamp to see if I have any luck there?
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.