Cannot hear calls on 700 NC on Surface Book 2 with Microsoft Teams Calls

[mray]

OK - so here's what's working for me.

The aforementioned bluetooth dongle.

But - in order for it to install correctly I had to disable the onboard bluetooth device. So steps are:
1. Buy a bluetooth dongle.

2. Before you install the dongle, open device manager, locate the onboard device controller, and disable it. 

  > Mine was called Marvell AVSTAR Bluetooth  Radio Adapter.

3. Reboot.

4. After the reboot, log in and confirm that the onnboard adapter stayed disabled. If this thing comes back online, your onboard controller may prevent the dongle from operating. 

5. Verify that the dongle installed. In the device manager it shows as **Micro size USB to Bluetooth Dongle**. On previous attempts, it had a warning by it and an error code 10. After disabling the onboard and rebooting, there was no such error.

6. Reboot - with the dongle installed. 

7. After this my headphones didn't automagically connect, so I had to open the bluetooth manager, and pair the device again.

Here's a picture of my device manager. 

So - honestly - it's a little frustrating to have to do this - but I'm not sure if I should blame Bose or the PC manufacturer. Once it connects it sounds fan-tastic. I do wish I could get the $20.00 back from someone for the cost of the dongle... but I'll abide... like the dude. 

Sincerely,

Not a Robot

[Bjork]

Hey Mray, thanks for posting your workaround solution. Unfortunately buying a dongle and going through this process just isn't worth it to me. I want a seamless solution where the product works as intended. I think others wil benefit from your post though.

I bought these headphones specifically to replace the Bose QC35 for work meetings through the PC. The thought was that the superior microphone would be a good fit for my use case. Seeing as how the QC35s worked perfectly in this scenario, I'm apt to blame Bose at the moment. Who would have thought a standard like Bluetooth would still be causing so many problems in 2019.

[Swapnils]

Agree to Bjork's comment. I do not accept Mray's comment as a solution. Bose 700 NC should work out of the box. Personally i dont like any dongles attached to my laptop. 

Tell me whats the point to buy USD 2000 worth Laptop and USD 400 worth headphones and then stuggle with basic features like bluetooth. Both Surface Book 2 and Bose 700 NC are premium products. What surprises me is that Bose support team cannot test this issue with Surface, really? 

Since you asked, here are the hardware/software details:

• Summary of issue: Cannot use Bose 700 NC as handsfree device in Teams or any communication aap
• Country of residence: United States
• Firmware version of the headphones
  • Model: Bose 700 NC 
  • Firmware: 1.1.4.1144.be3bf4b
  • Manufacture Date: June 12, 2019
• Device Model/OS and Firmware
  • Model: Suface Book 2
  • Version 1903 (OS build 18362.267)
  • Bluetooth Adaptor: Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter
  • Driver version: 15.68.17013.110
  • Driver Date: 6/25/2019
  • Driver Provider: Marvell Semiconductor, Inc
• Sources affected: Bluetooth Handsfree Audio Gateway

[mray]

Ya'll are right. This should work. Hopefully they'll fix it. While they work through it I've chosen to suffer the pain of the dongle... and shared how it can work.

[Mik Evans]

Hi all,

you don't need that much Info.

Seriously, this Problem is pretty universal unfortunately.

I'm sitting in Germany with the same f***ing Problem.

Surface Book 2 and NC 700s not getting sound, other side can hear me.

When I try to answer a call it works for like a second an then the headphones tell me call lost...

I can still here the other side for a few seconds and then their gone.

They of course can still here me just fine.

Also sometimes at this moment the headphones just shut down suddenly.

You can replicate this Error with any surface book 2 I'm pretty sure, just do it.

For me this happens every time... And I've tried all settings in teams and the OS-Sound settings.

I've also tried all the basics, reconnecting, restarting, repairing, updating firmwares, uncoupling my phone and on and on... It's always the same issue. You can replicate it. It's not that hard.

Seems to be a problem with the surface book 2's bluetooth adapter and the bose headphones.

It's probably a driver issue.

regards,

Mik

[Swapnils]

I wonder if the same issue happened with Apple Mac Books and Bose Support would have recommended to use another Bluetooth Dongle as workaround.

Worst thing about this issue is.. its been over month now and Bose has not acknowledge this issue. Come on guys, at least acknowledge this issue and provide some ETA for the fix.

As i write this comment, I am using my Bose Soundsport connected to Surface Book 2 and it works without any issue. I dont know how hard it is for Engineering team to replicate this issue. I am pretty sure they are not incompetent, most likely this issue is not a priority for them and that Saddens me 

[schr1554@gmail.com]

Hi mray,

I am having the same issue. 

I am being used as a guinea pig for my team who is considering ordering these and if I play around with the settings and restart and change the source teams is pointed at I can sometimes get it to work temporarly. I think my success rate is 10% at this point which means obviously I will not be endorsing the purchase of this item.  

Has anyone found a solution yet? 

[mray]

That was exactly what happened to me before I bought the extra dongle and disabled my on board bluetooth controller. It seemed to fail to hear the incoming call. The mic worked. After I installed the dongle and configured my laptop it works. Unfortunately the systems center managers appear to occasionally enable my factory bluetooth controller - which means I have to go through the configuration again. As long as the onboard bluetooth controller is disabled and the wireless dongle is installed it works.

This solution won't be satisfactory for many.

[NickDrouin]

This reproduces for me daily, but I can't quite zero in on the exact conditions.

I was initially hit by the auto-off issue, but I've now set the auto-off to 3hrs, so I'm expecting the instability introduced by that to go away.  I am left baffled that the NC 700 cannot detect that there is an active headset audio/mic connection and just times out.  Anyway, that is for another thread.

So, I'm left with the bug as described elsewhere in this thread, and the conclusion: these Headphones are a terrible Headset with PC telephony.  I think the problem stems from an interaction of system sounds via the BT Headphone connection and the Headset connection.  As you know, once paired, they are represented as both a Headset and a Headphone in Win10.  My best guess is race conditions surrounding system sound output and headset audio session initiation.  This seems to cause a state wherein the mic is connected via the Headset, but the audio-out is not.

I have the time, interest, and skills to attach debugging and tracing software.  I can even make introductions between the Bose engineering team and the Win10 bluetooth developpers, if that can help.

PC Hardware:

MSFT Surface Book 2

PC Software:

Win10 18362.295 (latest)
Microsoft Teams Version 1.2.00.22654 (64-bit).

Phone:
Android 8.1.0, 2018/12 SP, OPM7.181205.001

[NickDrouin]

Roundup of threads on Noise Cancelling NC 700 Headphones and PC Telephony and Call issues here:
https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/Roundup-Threads-on-Noise-Cancelling-NC-700-He...