Sunday, March 18, 2018

Help! My Bose Soundlink Colour won't switch on... what to do???


In the world of Bluetooth speakers, you really do get what you pay for.

I've sampled a few models in my time, and the sub-R1000 units, while they may be loud, are usually very tinny with a lack of low down bass response.
I've been fortunate enough to own a Bose Soundlink Colour for a few years now, and this speaker has delivered solid performance the whole time.


While it may not be the loudest bluetooth speaker that I have heard, it can sit in a corner and push out very decent sound at a moderate volume, without any distortion.

At higher volumes, the bass does drop off somewhat, but I've been very impressed with this little gadget overall.

I was therefore understandably alarmed when the unit refused to switch on yesterday, leaving me stranded in a world without music.
The situation was dire.
I started to envision an expensive visit to Bose South Africa, followed by an unreasonably large EFT from my bank account to theirs...

Thankfully, today we have a resource called the internet, which pretty much makes us all professionals in all fields. Instantly.
It's also a great place to spread dodgy news and make up wonderful factoids.

In this case however, it helped me to get to the bottom of my conundrum, and what follows is the recovery process for a Bose Soundlink Colour that refuses to switch on (assuming that it is charged):


  1. We want to get the speaker into something called "Shipping mode"
  2. To achieve this, first plug the speaker into your wall charger
  3. Hold down the Play / Pause button for 15 seconds
  4. After 15 seconds, while keeping the Play / Pause button pressed, unplug the charging cable from the speaker
  5. Release the Play / Pause button
  6. Plug the charging cable back into the speaker
  7. Press the power button, and the speaker should power on

This process worked perfectly for me, and saved me a repair visit to a Bose store.

My Bose powers on.
Long live the Bose.

13 comments:

  1. My bose color soundlink does not start but is getting charged. Once i remove the speaker from the wall charger, it doesn't start. What do i do to make it start.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Still not working, any other idea?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I won!!!!
    http://btu.bose.com/
    Share with the world.. After 2,yrs of struggling... Yeeehaaaa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. Have a look at one of my newer replies.
      My USB port is a bit dodgy lately, which means it doesn't always make contact.
      Check that out as well on your device.

      Delete
  5. Tried every suggested reset. Nothing works. Expensive paper weight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My Bose USB port is becoming temperamental - I need to try a few times just to get it charging.
      Maybe check the cable connection into the USB port on the speaker...

      Delete
  6. Same here. None of the hacks worked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Odd... I'm finding that my micro-USB port on the Bose is also becoming a bit sensitive.
      When I charge it, I have to try a few times to get it charging.
      Maybe check if the USB cable is plugged into the speaker firmly and making good contact.

      Delete
  7. As an add-on to the above, my speaker started doing some weird things this week.
    The main issue was that I could no longer control the speaker volume from my phone anymore. Some troubleshooting revealed that the phone wasn't the issue.

    I then ran a factory reset, which involves holding down the AUX and Volume down buttons down together for 10 seconds.
    After this, the speaker switched off and wouldn't power back on until I plugged it into power again.
    Note that this erased all saved paired devices, so I had to pair my phone and other devices all over again.

    The issue was resolved though, so please give this a try as well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have similar issue. When I connect my speaker to charging cable amber light blinks for three times followed by a green light and then stops. It doesn't power on. I tried every method.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I messed up the reset. I upressed the play.pause button without removing the powercable. Later i removed the cable as well. The battery drained fast. Now its not starting what to do ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Howdy,

      Have you tried the factory reset process above...?

      Delete


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