AirPods no longer connect to my Mac

Question

I have a Mid-2012 15" Retina Macbook Pro running 10.13.5 which I have been using my AirPods with successfully since I got them over a year ago.

For some reason, today, when I try to connect them, nothing happens. I've tried rebooting. Un-pairing and re-pairing them. They still work with my iPhone.

I noticed this in the Console when I try to connect:

default 14:21:52.245048 -0600   bluetoothd  ***** Temporarily stopping all scans *****
default 14:21:52.331071 -0600   SystemUIServer  [openConnection] self=0x6080002e3c00 EXPANSION.authenticationRequired=0
default 14:21:52.331518 -0600   SystemUIServer  [openConnection] self=0x6080002e3c00 target=0x60c000279ec0 return=0x00000000
default 14:22:02.659245 -0600   bluetoothd  Create connection failed (0x4) for device: 7C-04-D0-A6-1D-CB
default 14:22:02.659318 -0600   bluetoothd  DaemonHCIEventNotificationHandler_ConnectionComplete - 04
default 14:22:02.661284 -0600   SystemUIServer  Failed to connect to the device: 0x4
default 14:22:04.246890 -0600   bluetoothd  ***** Starting after temporarily stopping all scans *****

Is there some other place I can look to see what may be causing this?

Answer 1

Having stumbled upon this article, I tried unchecking "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices" and that seemed to work. Even when I checked it back on the connection seems to be holding. I fail to see what Handoff has to do with Bluetooth but at least it works, for now.

Answer 2

I've tried everything that has been suggested, but did not work. So I've logged-out of iCloud and tried connecting again, it worked. Just in case if it makes any difference I have the "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices" UNCHECKED in General Preferences (as suggested by Darrell Brogdon above.

Answer 3

I fixed AirPod pairing by

• Turning Bluetooth off
• Delete all Bluetooth preference files in /Library/Preferences, /System/Library/Preferences, ~/Library/Preferences
• Restart mac
• "Forget" Airpods from iPhone. This removes it from iCloud
• Reset Airpods by holding button until amber light flashes

Only then was I able to connect from my laptop to my Airpods.