Problems pairing Jabra BT200 Bluetooth headset with G5 iMac

Alexander, yes, I did pair in headset mode.

I just can't get to the bottom of the problems I'm having. Most of the hints that I've found seem to suggesting editing or deleting the bluetooth plist file, but it doesn't work for me!

Maybe having an apple wireless keyboard and mouse changes things? The iMac won't let you turn of Bluetooth altogether for instance, giving a "you cannot turn off Bluetooth now because you would lose control of your computer" alert.

Any other suggestions?

Oliver

I finally got my BT headset to work in Tiger. Here is a guide, as much as I know and without any guarantee it will work. There are quite a lot of steps!

Problem:
Bluetooth headsets pair with your Mac but then don't appear in Sound Preferences, so you can't actually use them for anything.

Origin of problem:
Tiger seems to store Bluetooth preferences in a hidden file, blued.plist. You need to purge this before trying to re-pair to your headset.

In addition, bluetooth devices persist in the browse device window of the Bluetooth menu bar even after you try to delete them. These preferences are stored in yet another file, com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
This second file is quite separate to blued.plist, and I wasted several days getting the two mixed up.

I would deal with com.apple.Bluetooth.plist before blued.plist.

My thanks to Tim-Hannon via discussions.info.apple.com for this, which I have summarised below.

To do this, first of all install the developer tools, if you haven't already done so. On my Mac, this was done by clicking on XCodeTools.mpkg at HD/Applications/Installers/XCode Tools

Now go to the Browse Device Window and place all of the headsets and other devices that you want to remove as favorites.

Now go to Bluetooth preferences and click on each of the favorites you have marked. For each, write down the device address, which will look something like "00-07-a4-0e-7e-9c" or suchlike.

Be careful not to write down the addresses of devices (such as mice and keyboards) that you want to keep connected!!!

Now go into your User/Library/Preferences folder and double click on the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist file.
This will open up the Property List Editor window.

One the file is open, click on the triangle marked Root and then the triangles marked Favorite Devices and RecentDevices.

From both of the Favorite Devices and RecentDevices lists, highlight the devices with the addresses that you wrote down earlier. You can delete them with the oblong delete button at the top of the window.

Now, save the file back to its original location. If your Mac complains that it doesn't know where to put the file, place it back in its correct position (User/Library/Preferences)

Now log out, and log back in again. The devices will have disappeared from the browse device window and bluetooth preferences.
So, that deals with com.apple.Bluetooth.plist, but believe me, the devices you want to delete, such as your headset, are still in blued.plist !

Now you can move on to deal with the blued.plist file.

A quick way to purge the file if you DON'T have a Bluetooth headset & keyboard:
Download and run the "bluetooth reset" Applescript from http://slicedapple.ath.cx/downloads

My thanks to Chris via xlr8yourmac.com for suggesting this.

However, this won't work if you have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse - your Mac won't let you jeopardize your input devices. So, if you have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse then you need to edit the blued.plist instead, and carefully remove the data for your headset.

Firstly, delete the pairing with your headset in Bluetooth preferences.

Then follow the Unix shell commands shown at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050520082617274

I have copied these instructions with some suggestions below, assuming the user doesn't use the shell much.
This involves mucking about with your Tiger system files so it is not for the fainthearted and you should back up any important data off your Mac before starting!!!
I have no idea how you could recover your Mac if you make a mistake, except for reinstalling MacOS from your installation DVDs... so you have been warned!

Enter the shell by clicking on the Terminal icon in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder.

Once you are in the shell:
type sudo sh

A password was requested, but on my Mac at least I could just press enter and continue.

type cd ..
type cd ..
type cd var
type cd r

It looks like my guide was so long that it got chopped off at the end! Here is the rest:

Enter the shell by clicking on the Terminal icon in the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder.

Once you are in the shell:
type sudo sh

A password was requested, but on my Mac at least I could just press enter and continue.

type cd ..
type cd ..
type cd var
type cd root
type cd Library
type cd Preferences

type cp blued.plist plued.plist.backup
This makes a backup of the file with the name plued.plist.backup just in case of disaster

type plutil -convert xml1 blued.plist

type chown username blued.plist
Where username is your own OS X username

type pico blued.plist
(Or use another text editor such as Vi, if you prefer)

You can now see the contents of the blued.plist file.
Scroll down until you see your Bluetooth headset device. Delete all the lines for your device, which will start and end with <dict >and </dict>. Make sure you only delete the lines and <dict> and </dict> specific to YOUR device, not any others.
In PICO, you can delete lines using control-K and then save your changes with control-O and quit using control-X.
Now you are back in the shell.

type plutil -convert binary1 blued.plist
type chown root blued.plist

Quit out of the terminal program.

Restart your Mac from the blue apple menu.

Assuming your Mac restarts OK and that your mouse and keyboard still work, go to the Bluetooth Preferences and re-pair with your headset.

IMPORTANT: You must pair using your headset's basic headset mode, not the enhanced "handsfree" mode that some headsets also support. If you use the wrong mode, you will need to go back and edit the file all over again...
On my headset, a Jabra BT200, this involves holding down only the main headset button on its own until you see a continuous blue light.

You should see your headset's hexadecimal address flash up for a few seconds whilst the bluetooth setup assistant searches for devices, before your headset's name appears. This is good sign because it means the Mac is finding your headset from scratch.

After you select your named headset and pairing completes, don't be initially disheartened if your headset is listed as paired but not connected.
Go to Sound Preferences. You should, finally, see your headset visible as an input and output device. Select it... it should work now!! You can listen to CDs through your headset, or speak and listen through it on an iChat session (select the headset in iChat preferences)... and so on.

On my headset (a Jabra BT200) for instance, the headset is in passive mode with the the blue light flashing every three seconds, but after I select it in the Sound Preferences, the light flashes every one second, meaning it is in active mode.

You can even use your headset with more than one device (such as with your Mac AND your mobile phone) SO LONG AS you only have one device in use at a time.

So, if you usually have your headset paired with your phone, you must disconnect the headset from the phone (but you don't actually have tyo unpair it or delete its settings on the phone) before trying to use it with the Mac.
Conversely, if you deselect the headset as your input and output device in Sound Preferences on the Mac, it will go back into passive mode and you can then reconnect it with your 'phone (again, you don't actually have to unpair it or delete its settings on the Mac)

Good luck!

And remember - don't try any of this unless you're really sure what you're doing... please!

Oliver de Peyer
opeyer@nimr.mrc.ac.uk