Issue with bluetooth headphones disconnect and reconnect

Support
1

Hello Everyone,

I am having an issue with bluetooth and my AirPods. Everything was working fine a few days ago, but after the latest update, my headphones disconnect and then connects and continues to repeat.

Troubleshooting information is below:

inxi -Fazy Output

System:
  Kernel: 7.0.10-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.1.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-7.0-x86_64
    root=UUID=b0bee983-91c6-4ae4-86ec-1d53ce5f5f8c rw apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=535cc135-beca-480b-8eb7-4497f3c62063
    udev.log_priority=3 i915.enable_dc=0
  Desktop: GNOME v: 50.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.52 wm: gnome-shell
    tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM v: 50.0 Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20KH002JUS v: ThinkPad X1 Carbon
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20KH002JUS v: SDK0K17763 WIN
    serial: <superuser required> part-nu: LENOVO_MT_20KH_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad X1
    Carbon uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: LENOVO
    v: N23ET93W (1.68 ) date: 09/05/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 22 Wh (46.3%) condition: 47.5/57 Wh (83.4%) power: 7.3 W
    volts: 11.11 min: 11.52 model: SMP 01AV430 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
    charging: status: discharging control: start: 75% end: 80% cycles: 276
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-8650U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
    gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xF6
  Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 4 cores: 4 threads: 8 tpc: 2
    smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
    desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1000 min/max: 400/4200 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 1000 2: 1000 3: 1000 4: 1000 5: 1000 6: 1000
    7: 1000 8: 1000 bogomips: 33599
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: ghostwrite status: Not affected
  Type: indirect_target_selection status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: old_microcode status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: conditional;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsa status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: TSX disabled
  Type: vmscape mitigation: IBPB before exit to userspace
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Kaby Lake-R GT2 [UHD Graphics 620] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
    ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:5917 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: IMC Networks Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-8:3 chip-ID: 13d3:56b2
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.22 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.11
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa
    dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x233d built: 2017 res: 1920x1080
    dpi: 158 gamma: 1.2 size: 309x174mm (12.17x6.85") diag: 355mm (14")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless: drv: iris wayland:
    drv: iris x11: drv: iris
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 26.1.1-arch1.2 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:5917 memory: 15.12 GiB unified: yes display-ID: :0.0
  Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo gpu: gputop, intel_gpu_top, lsgpu
    x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k7.0.10-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off tools: aucat,midicat,sndioctl
  Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.6.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210/AX1675 2x2 [Typhoon Peak] driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:2725 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: 8087:0032
    class-ID: e001
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: <filter> bt-v: 5.4 lmp-v: 13
    status: discoverable: no pairing: no
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.38 TiB used: 277.55 GiB (19.7%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:2 vendor: Samsung
    model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 4B2QEXM7 temp: 39.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN520
    SDAPMUW-512G-1101 size: 476.94 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 15.8 Gb/s lanes: 2 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 20210001 temp: 44.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 200 GiB size: 195.8 GiB (97.90%) used: 49.51 GiB (25.3%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6 maj-min: 259:8
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%)
    used: 31.7 MiB (33.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:3
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 606.32 GiB size: 595.73 GiB (98.25%)
    used: 108.82 GiB (18.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p7 maj-min: 259:9
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache-pressure: 75 (default 100)
    zswap: yes compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 25 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -1
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:7
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.49 GiB used: 4.29 GiB (27.7%)
  Processes: 300 Power: uptime: 7m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 6.15 GiB services: gsd-power,
    power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 260 default: graphical
    tool: systemctl
  Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 1839 libs: 452 tools: gnome-software,pamac,yay
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 0 Compilers: clang: 22.1.5 gcc: 16.1.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9
    running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.40

systemctl status bluetooth.service Output

â—Ź bluetooth.service - Bluetooth service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2026-05-27 11:04:57 CDT; 8min ago
 Invocation: ac9533f2504f4e9291fa96b9a1159dac
       Docs: man:bluetoothd(8)
   Main PID: 704 (bluetoothd)
     Status: "Running"
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 18982)
     Memory: 3.1M (peak: 3.8M)
        CPU: 86ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/bluetooth.service
             └─704 /usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd

May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/aptx_ll_1
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/aptx_ll_0
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/aptx_ll_duplex_1
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/aptx_ll_duplex_0
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/faststream_duplex
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/opus_05
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/opus_05
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSink/opus_05_duplex
May 27 11:05:07 aahmad-x1c bluetoothd[704]: Endpoint registered: sender=:1.95 path=/MediaEndpoint/A2DPSource/opus_05_duplex

Please let me know if I can provide any additional debug information. Thank you for the help!

2

Are they connected to more than one device at a time (multipoint)?

I’m having an issue currently with multipoint earphones where if connected to my mobile and a notification comes through it plays the notification from the mobile but doesn’t pass control back to the PC. It sounds slightly different to what you’ve described but may be related.

1 Like
3

No, no multipoint (multiple devices) are being used. Just pairing’ing with my Thinkpad laptop running Manjaro directly. I’ve been using the same AirPods for a few years now, and haven’t had issues until recently.

1 Like
4

I wonder whether it’s actually bluetooth disconnect/reconnect looping or whether the system is flipping between output devices. I’m not using Gnome currently but if you open the sound configuration and the bluetooth configuration can you notice either one changing?