Bose Soundsport Free - Only right earbud working - Left is blinking white

[lucamonte86]

For days I have been trying to get my headphones to work again. The problem was that one side could not be connected: the left side didn't stop to blink white. All attempts in this forum to get the headphones to work failed.

I think that many users are doing the same as me and they are sending the headphones back to Bose, but I think that you can solve the problem yourself, because it's just a software bug inside the firmware.

I noticed that in addition to the "Bose Boomtrain" device, a second device named 'reserved_c' appeared in my Bluetooth list. I was able to connect my smartphone to it and it was actually the left earbud (!!!). So at least I knew that it wasn't broken, because I could play music on it.

Even if it's a little nerve-wracking, following steps worked to get both earbuds working again:

1. Manual software update via USB cable and computer:

I connected my charging case with my computer, downloaded and installed the Bose Updater software from here: https://btu.bose.com/

2. I re-installed the current firmware (there was no software-update, I basically overwrote the current firmware) with the updater software.

3. After the update process, I took out the left earbud to see, if it was still blinking white. If so, I pressed the button (there is only 1 button) on the earbud for 10 seconds. Then I did the same for the right earbud (button in the middle).

4. I tried to reconnect the earbuds using the Bose Connect+ App on my phone. The app still said, that only the right earbud was connected. Then I deleted my "connected device list" inside the Bose app.

5. Afterwards I tried to "reset" the earbud processor with following steps:

1) I connected the charging case with a USB cable that was connected to my computer and waited for some minutes.

2) I opened the charcing case (It only worked with the open case!!)

3) Then I unplugged the case for 30 seconds.

4) I reconnected the case to the USB cable (still connected to my computer) again for exact 5 seconds.

5) I disconnected the case from the USB cable again and waited for exact 1 minute

6) Then I took out both earbuds and checked the color of the blinking LEDs. 

I had to do these steps at least 4 times (!!!) in a row. Suddenly the left side started to flash blue again and after a few tries I was able to connect again !

I think the firmware is stuck in a loop and needed a few tries to reboot and get back to a normal state. 

I hope I could help you with this guide. I have searched the internet for a long time and know that many people have the same problem. I think the Bose developers have to look at this bug. And they should definitely introduce a better method to hard reset the headphones.  The Bose Updater app would be a good place for it.

Regards

Lukas