QC35i Turning On - Switch or Firmware?

[joelirwin]

I am going to start this separately and would suggest people chime in on their current status if before this week you exhibited random turning on on your QC35 and you either fixed your on/off switch yourself or updated to the recent firmware or both.  Where are you now?

Did the problem/situation go away or are you still having it?

I have asked Bose multiple times for status but no response as of yet.  I do not know myself if they are still testing or have made conclusions as to the cause.  In addition, I have seen no information myself as to whether the recent firmware upgrade had anything to do with Bluetooth in general or the random off situation specifically.

Also if you have a BLE tester on your phone it would be useful information to know if you found a signal on the older firmware version and whether there is a signal on the current firmware version.  Some people here have suggested that pushing buttons/switches other than the on/off switch will generate a behavior even if it is off.  Is that confirmed?  If so, that suggests a BLE signal.

[joelirwin]

bump - would love to get feedback/input on this.

[dstrong98]

Hey joelirwin,

I just started experiencing this issue over the last couple of days. My firmware was a little out of date when I first encountered the issue so I updated to the most recent version - though I'm still getting headphones that turn on every few seconds after turning them off. I called Bose, and they wanted me to pay $250 for a replacement. I told them it was absurd so I was offered 50% off. I still told them that was absurd and they responded with that's the best they could do.

I haven't heard of fixing the on/off switch yet, though I'd likely stay clear of that route as I'm not sure if I trust myself to try taking these apart haha.

I'll be following this to see if theres a response by Bose for this, though I expect there won't be.

[joelirwin]

@dstrong98See https://community.bose.com/t5/Around-On-Ear-Headphones/Huge-Bose-fan-hugely-disappointed/m-p/182261#... for my response.

In this thread I am looking to find out if anyone with either the DIY on/off fix or the recent firmware upgrade is still seeing the issue or whether the issue is gone (and for how long)

[Vojo]

1. Hi there,

Um, what is a BLE? I’ll have a look if you tell me what and where!

i responded to an earlier reply to my post in this forum with some steps to reset headphones, which were provided to me by a supervisor. I think the headphones are more stable, but not cured.

cheers

[joelirwin]

BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy.  It was an added protocol to the Bluetooth 4 standard a year or so back.  It allows a device to go into a low power consumption state and yet still have a limited amount of functionality.  In other words, if you implement BLE, you look off to the user but you are still on a lower power consumption state.  A BLE signal is broadcast so another paired device can continue to communicate in a limited way.  If you have a smartphone there are apps (many of them free) which allow you to tell if any local devices are putting out BLE signals (such as "BLE Scanner" for the iphone).  Now imho, if properly implemented, the device should have a three toggle state much like you have for a car's headlights - Off, On, and Auto.  Unfortunately, Bose has implemented BLE on some devices in the "Off" state.  So for Bose off is not off, it is merely a lower energy BLE state.  This allows apps like Bose Connect (and unfortunately IMHO some paired Windows laptops) to turn on a Bose Revolve speaker even when it is "Off".  It also allows Bose Connect to put two Bose Revolve speakers into "party" or "stereo" mode.

I am not at all certain whether the QC35i communicates with BLE while in OFF mode.  I have a QC35ii and I can tell you that it does not put out a BLE signal when it is OFF, only when it is ON.  We as customers are still trying to understand from Bose what if anything they have implemented with BLE on the QC35i and whether BLE is being used in the OFF state to erroniously turn on the QC35i.