Since updating to Big Sur I'm having trouble with my bluetooth devices. They (mostly) connect OK, but I cannot play sound to my bluetooth speakers or headphones. The issue occurs on both of the Macs that I have updated so far.
Any advice?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0
Thank you very much, this solved the problem on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro.
Here is what I did:
Poor show, Apple!
– Open Terminal app
– Type in: sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
– Restart your Mac
This removes all plugins and settings in your HAL library & fixes most issues with bluetooth on Big Sur
Yes, I have spent a lot of time with Apple support with the same problem. They suggested making sure my bluetooth devices had updated firmware. In the end I had to revert to Catalina as Big Sur doesn't support ANY of my bluetooth headsets/speakers.
If nothing of these solutions didn't work and you have VirtualBox try this one:
On VirtualBox : Go to Settings > Audio and uncheck "Enable Audio".
There seems to be a bug that crashes in VirtualBox when it attempts to check audio input permissions with CoreAudio.
I’ve made progress, now got all Apple devices connected and importantly my Bose headphones though not speaker.
So open Applications/Utilities open Terminal file - a little coding window will open, copy & paste sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
It’ll ask for a password, that’s your admin password, return and you’re done.
But I only had joy after clearing out any devices and resetting the Bluetooth module. Give it a restart and fingers crossed it should work.
Hope that helps - this is thanks to Michael Coslo
I had no sound problem once after update to Big Sur. I restarted the Mac, holding down Option + Command + P + R
The audio was restored. On Catalina I had AptX codec....and I still have it on Big Sur, w/o having to do anything.
But the Option key + click bt + hover over listed hp no longer shows which codec is being used.
But I know for certain I am using AptX as when I pair my BeyerDynamic Amiron Wireless, start an audio track, the hp voice says AptX active.
Got a 2015 MacBook here and deleting all plugins in "/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/" and restarting did not fix this for me. I have since reset the Bluetooth module and deleted all devices. The fresh connection with my Bluetooth headphones seems to be working now. I would recommend resetting the BT module. See: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/reset-mac-bluetooth-module/
Other things to try since this always happens to me when I update the OS:
sudo kill -9 `ps ax | grep 'coreaudiod' | grep -v grep | awk '{print $1}'`
deleting the plist file worked for me the first time this issue happened when updating to Catalina, but the last two times I ran into this issue, killing coreaudiod has worked for me.
Here is what I got working. AirPods Pro. System preferences->Sound->
no loss of sound if on 5. with “Sound” open. Not a permanent fix yet sound stays without intermittently pausing on and off.
it looks like Apple did not account for no spatial audio or spatial audio on non-M1 laptops and only pushed the Sur update for AirPod Max on both M1 and Intel chip laptops. Slyly. Looks like a top management decision to push people to buy AirPod Max during pandemic. Hope all other headphone manufacturers update firmware or sue(r) Apple.
Don't look for HAL. open applications/utilities then open Terminal then copy and paste
sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
Press return, it'll ask for a password that's your admin p/w.
I've been able to connect my Apple devices but I don't know how long they'll stay connected as I know others are saying they lose it.
Anyway give that a try, hope it works for you.
It worked for me. Had the same problem. At first I discarded an issue with the speaker (Bose Micro Soundlink) because it was working fine with my iphone and ipad. Then I read this comment and did the same (For reset on the Bose micro, turn it on, and hold the power button for 10 sec.)
Thanks! I
I had the same issues , BT found my headphones but they lost connection in seconds
This worked perfectly ; https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252032377
Uppgraded to Big Sur.
Also had a similar situation. Fortunately, all I had to do was a hard reset on my Bose Soundlink Mini II (press and hold the Mute button for 10 seconds).
With the update 11.1 BT works perfectly with earpods and Bose👍
Unplug all external drives.
Had problem with keyboard and mouse, unluged all usb drives and at the moment bluthooth working fine... we'll see
sudo rm -rf /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/HAL/
– Restart your Mac
This is the only fix that worked! Please apple, fix it for good!
Big Sur bluetooth problems
