SoundTouch 30 III Bluetooth connection blocked on STOP while reconnecting

[MikeSoundTouch30III]

Hi,

just bought SoundTouch 30 III, don't have any problem with system setup or wi/fi connection, have updated the device with newest version of software, the iOS app works great, didn't have any problem with pairing SoundTouch through Bluetooth with my PC, but after disconnecting Bluetooth connection by turning the SoundTouch off or changing to a preset channel or AUX, when returning to Buetooth connection again, the device pairs (shows that it's paired on both PC and SoundTouch), but doesn't play the sound and displays STOP (big square) on SoundTouch display (even as the PC player - WinAmp or some Mozilla Plug-In continues to play - send sound via BT) and can't "unSTOP" the SoundTouch neither by remote controller (doesn't respond to PLAY or another button) or in the SoundTouch App (the app displays STOP and I am able to change it to PLAY - that is changing the triangle play symbol to "two vertical sticks" pause symbol, but only in the app, not on SoundTouch device that still displays STOP square on its front 1,6" display and doesn't play anything).

Tried restarting computer, connecting/disconnecting Bluetooth, even erasing Bluetooth memory and deleting all other saved Bluetooth devices from PC as well as SoundTouch in case thay somehow "overlap" and disturb each other, but nothing helps. I can only delete SoundTouch from PC Bluetooth memory and erase all paired Bluetooth devices from SoundTouch memory and pair them again, but it's too much of a hassle to do it every time from scratch, I need it to work automatically just by turning SoundTouch on, Bluetooth is the only connection I use it with.

Can someone from Bose help me with this problem (I created an account here only for this one question)? Otherwise I will have to use AUX cable and it's not a "wireless speaker" anymore...

And there is one strange thing... Always, when I press PLAY button on the remote controller when trying to "unSTOP" SoundTouch after reconnecting it through Bluetooth, my Windows Media Player starts playing (it even runs the program if its closed), while nothing changes with SoundTouch STOP.

Thanks

Michael

[Hector_B]

Hi MikeSoundTouch30III, 

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community. I am very sorry to hear that you are having this issue and I would love to assist you with this. 

Firstly I would recommend that you perform a manual update on the speaker. Please also perform a reset on your speaker via turning off your product and disconnecting the power cord for 30 seconds. When power is reconnected, a tone is heard. 

Please update me on the result of this and if any other community members have also had this issue and have found a resolution please do let us know. 

Kind Regards,

Hector B - Community Support 

[MikeSoundTouch30III]

Hi Hector,

thank you for taking my case. To be short, neither helped. Manually updated the ST30 even though it was (the update button in the ST App appeared grayed out), just in case. And neither disconnecting the cord for more than a minute and waiting for new system setup upon turning on again changed anything. The ST30 pairs via Bluetooth (pairing shows up on PC and ST30 alike and sound stops playing on PC like when an external audio device is connected), seems like there is not a problem with Bluetooth connectivity, but still am not able to "unSTOP" the ST30 - neither on ST30 itself through remote control (only Windows Media Player reacts and starts playing on PC - without sound from ST30), nor in ST App (can make it PLAY in the upper right corner with the same reaction as the remote control had on Windows Media Player) or somewhere on the computer by STOP/PLAY various audio programs. Seems like a software issue, not a hardware one, some kind of bug... That's really unfortunate, hardware and even the software are probably working properly, it's just a minor bug, but really bugging...:-/

Meanwhile I found out that to pair it again in order to work properly (without STOP, but just until the next Bluetooth reconnection) I need to delete ST30 device just from PC Bluetooth memory and pair it again there without the need to clear ST30 Bluetooth device memory. So the process of pairing them is a little shorter, but still not as convenient as a proper automatic Bluetooth reconnection upon turning both devices on.

BTW I am one of those 30 percent of conservative PC users still using Windows 7, but am sure many other Bose users are alike and didn't have that problem or had solved it somehow (am still wondering if that Windows Media Player that reacts on remote control or ST App doesn't have something to do with it, looks suspicious...). Is it possible to recreate that problem and try to solve it in Bose? Not hoping to have all Bose research center working on this problem for the next week, but just have no idea what else can work, there are so little options you can do with the device or ST App and seems like tried most of them...

[Jeff_G]

Hello Mike, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Can you please confirm what the state of the computer is when you attempt to use it? For example, is the system on, and Windows Media Player is selected? From what you have described, there seems to be some form of control disconnection between the device and the speaker, and it could just be that the speaker is sending the command to the computer, but it isn't certain what you are actually attempting to play. 

For example, if you have been watching YouTube in a Chrome Browser and you pause it, the command could potentially be trying to access that still and is no longer routing to the media player. 

Additionally, if you are using Windows Media Player as your media source, have you considered setting up the application to act as a music source on the SoundTouch app? This is a very common use case for customers whose music collection is based within Windows Media Player and you can read about how to set this up here. The beauty of this is that despite the fact that all your files are on the computer, you will have the ability to navigate your artists through the SoundTouch app on your smartphone/tablet, giving you much more functionality compared to the basic skip forward, skip back functions of the Bose remote control. 

Kind regards, 

Jeff G 

[MikeSoundTouch30III]

Hi Jeff,

glad to see Bose people trying to help me are "piling up", you really take care of a customer, hope not many more will be needed.

So the state of the computer has no effect on the problem - it's always in Windows 7 and no matter if I play WinAmp, Adobe Flash Player in an internet browser, Windows Media Player (WMP) or nothing at all, the speaker will always get stuck on STOP (big square on it's display) when reconnecting via Bluetooth and it's impossible to do anything about it neither in the computer or the mobile SoundTouch App or the speaker itself. Can only change mode to AUX, a preset channel or some media library, but can't make Bluetooth (BT) connection work again neither on returning back to BT mode. Right now I'm dealing with the problem by disconnecting BT, deleting ST30 BT device from PC BT memory and adding ST30 as a new connection again (at least don't have to erase ST30 BT memory list, but still pretty inconvenient compared to just turning both devices on).

It doesn't matter if WMP is running (either playing or being paused) or not, the program will still open itself automatically upon pressing PLAY button on the remote controller or in the ST App (BTW and I don't know if it's of any relevance, I also have Bose SoundLink Mini as a PC speaker and when I turn it off while being connected to PC via BT, WMD opens alike - but only in this case and otherwise doesn't make it stuck or anything, but it's not a "smart speaker" - just that WMD suspicious behavior might have something to do with it, I tried to uninstall it, but it's "encapsulated" into Windows 7 without that possibility, WMD doesn't even show up among the Programs in Start Menu).

And concerning the last paragraph, I only want to use ST30 as an external BT speaker for my PC, which is my universal device for everything - video, music, radio, TV... I know ST30 is a "smarthome speaker" supposed to play media libraries, streaming services or internet radios, but I want it just as a traditional 90s era "dumbhome speaker" - to play only what I send him from other device without thinking about it much, just as a basic external speaker... In other words, I want it to do less:)

So can it just do what I tell him without making it's own decisions or are computers already taking over?

Michael

[Jeff_G]

Hey Michael, 

Many thanks for getting back to me with the answers to my questions in my previous post. 

From your description, yes, having it connect by Bluetooth probably would be the better option as your audio sources appear to be spread across multiple platforms. 

The SoundTouch 30 should also be able to handle re-connecting in such a manner as you would expect, and not how you have been using it. I can appreciate how irritating this must be, having to erase the memory list, and establish new connections each time you want to use it, and I can assure you this isn't normal behavior of the system. 

Moving forward, I would kindly suggest attempting to pair the SoundTouch 30 to another device in your home to see if the same issues occur. This will help narrow down if the issue is isolated to the speaker or to the source device, in this case, the Windows 7 computer. 

Finally, can you please try the following the next time you try to re-establish a connection to your windows computer after switching to another source: 

1. Right click the speaker icon on the Windows taskbar

2. Click 'sounds'

3. Click the 'playback' tab

4. Change the default speaker to the built-in speaker of the computer, then set the SoundTouch 30 as the default speaker, then hit okay. 

Please let me know if the sound re-establishes. 

Kindest,

Jeff G

[MikeSoundTouch30III]

Hi,

great detective work, should have thought about it. So it seems like it's the usual suspect, Windows 7, possibly with Windows Media Player, always present at the crime scene, as a culprit. Bluetooth reconnected without an issue on iPad. After reconnecting, the ST30 display flashed Pause instead of Stop and could be switched to Play (and actually play audio) from iTunes player on tablet. So it reacted on iPad "orders", although it ignores pressing Play in all of Windows programs, be it Media Player, WinAmp, Flash Player or any other. I don't understand why it needs to play/stop anything while paired via Bluetooth or AUX, when it should only care about making sound and not about what's going on in the source device (term "pairing" implies synchronization, identical activity, the target doing only what the source does).

Unfortunately, changing default playback device doesn't "unSTOP" the ST30, only switches between internal speaker and ST30 - then displaying it's playing when actually it's silent (STOP acting like a MUTE, receiving audio input without making sound).

Do you have any other idea what can be done about it? I thought the next step might be uninstalling Windows Media Player in order to see if it makes the problems, but it's part of Windows 7, was only able to take it away from default programs, but the player still opened upon disconnecting the Bluetooth connection (does the same with Bose SoundLink Mini, but without the problems with BT reconnection).

Michael

[Liam_W]

Hi @MikeSoundTouch30III and thanks for getting back to us!

While we have pinpointed this issue down to your windows device, there are a couple more things that I would like to test with you!

Firstly, are you able to test your speaker with a Windows 10 device? If you don't have one available, would you be able to borrow or use one from a friend to confirm that this is not a fault with your speaker to windows devices? If you find that you have issues with all Windows devices, please let me know!

If you don't have an issue with another windows device, would you be able to test this with a Bluetooth adapter? This may be an issue with the Bluetooth chip that is being used on your computer, which would explain why this would work for the other devices that you're using, and why I have been unable to replicate this issue with a Windows 7 device myself.

If you find that your issue is with our speaker, please reach out to Bose Support directly, by selecting your country/region, then navigating to "Contact Us" at the bottom of the page.

Please let me know how this goes! If anyone else has had this or similar issues with their computer and devices, please let me know!

Liam W

[MikeSoundTouch30III]

Hi, Liam,

I wasn't able to test it with another Windows PC, but the Bluetooth re-connection worked fine with MacBook. I am pretty sure there is no problem with the speakers (they were bought as a proper product for a full price - unlike the second repaired ones on sale we are discussing in another thread) and it's probably in my notebook - either internal Bluetooth device, the device's Toshiba drivers (they are a mess) or the Windows set-up making Windows Media Player always interfere "uninvited".

So I'll now progress step by step and start with buying an external USB Bluetooth adapter with newer Bluetooth technology 3.0 or 4.0 (my notebook is 6 years old, it might not even have 2.0...).

Update: I found a special Bluetooth adapter ("transceiver") made by Creative for a higher quality audio transmission. But it only works if the receiver supports FastStream, SBC, aptX and aptX Low Latency audio codecs for optimum audio performance. Does ST30III support these codecs and so does it make sense to pay a little more for this higher audio quality adapter? If it does and will work as well, I might be even lucky for all these problems for forcing me to upgrade.

BTW doesn't an average Bluetooth source device destroy the "crystal clear" Bose sound? I was going to ask about Bluetooth transmission quality anyway in a new thread - if it's not too low or might be optimized somehow, but the priority was just to make it work. If this little guy will, is it also going to raise the audio quality or even equalize it with that of AUX cable?

https://us.creative.com/p/accessories/creative-bluetooth-audio-bt-w2-usb-transceiver

Thanks
Michael

[Zoe_C]

Hello MikeSoundTouch30III,

Thanks for getting back in touch, the issue would most likely fall with the Bluetooth compatibility as if you don't think your laptop has 2.0 Bluetooth version, whereas the SoundTouch 30 III has Bluetooth version 4.0. 

The adapter you have mentioned with the list of required codecs would work as it has SBC, which is included in the A2DP profile the SoundTouch 30 III would use.

I hope this helps, should you need anything else then please get in touch.

Kindest regards,

Zoe C