Muse S Athena on Windows 11: Failed to notify characteristic 273e0014 using MUSE_S_ATHENA_BOARD

[icmukraine]

Environment

• BrainFlow: 5.22.1
• Python: 3.11
• OS: Windows 11 Home build 26200
• Bluetooth adapter: TP-Link UB500 (Bluetooth 5.4)
• Intel Bluetooth disabled
• Device: Muse S Athena
• Device name: MuseS-0B12
• MAC: 00:55:da:ba:0b:12

Code

import time
from brainflow.board_shim import BoardShim, BrainFlowInputParams, BoardIds

BoardShim.enable_dev_board_logger()

params = BrainFlowInputParams()
params.mac_address = "00:55:da:ba:0b:12"
params.timeout = 15

board = BoardShim(BoardIds.MUSE_S_ATHENA_BOARD.value, params)

print("Preparing session...")
board.prepare_session()

Observed behavior

BrainFlow discovers and connects to the device successfully but fails during prepare_session().

Logs

Found MuseAthena device
Connected to MuseAthena Device

found control characteristic 273e0001-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358
found characteristic 273e0013-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358
found characteristic 273e0014-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358

Failed to notify for
0000fe8d-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
273e0014-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358

BrainFlowError:
GENERAL_ERROR:17 unable to prepare streaming session

Additional notes

• Muse connects normally to phone app.
• BlueMuse also discovers the device but fails to stream.
• Problem appears related to BLE notify subscription on characteristic 273e0014.

[github-actions]

Welcome to BrainFlow project and thanks for your contribution! We will try to fix your issue ASAP. Make sure that you have read about issue format in the docs.

[Andrey1994]

Hi, can you check the fw version used?
Is phone app or any other process is active in parallel?

[icmukraine]

Fw 3.1.23
phone app was active in parallel

[icmukraine]

The device is detected as MuseS-0B12

[icmukraine]

I re-tested with the phone app fully closed and phone Bluetooth OFF.

Also restarted Windows Bluetooth service, power-cycled Muse, and ran only the BrainFlow script.

The result is the same: prepare_session() fails with GENERAL_ERROR:17.

The previous detailed log showed:
Failed to notify for 0000fe8d-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 273e0014-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358.

[Andrey1994]

can you download and run Bluetooth LE explorer app, it should be available for free in windows store.
Connect to the muse with it, open characteristics and check that this one supports notify?

[Andrey1994]

or any app which just shows characteristics and if they support read/notify/etc. Can run it from the phone also

[icmukraine]

I checked 273e0014-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358 using Bluetooth LE Explorer.

Properties reported:

• Write
• Indicate

I do not see Notify support.

The device connects successfully (Device connected = true).

I was able to switch Indicate = ON for 273e0014.

This looks consistent with BrainFlow currently trying to use notify() on a characteristic that exposes Indicate instead.

Additional test with Python bleak on the same Windows machine:

await client.start_notify(
    "273e0014-4c4d-454d-96be-f03bac821358",
    cb
)

Result:

Connected: True
Trying subscribe...
Subscribed OK

So Windows/Bleak can subscribe to 273e0014.

Bluetooth LE Explorer reports the characteristic properties as:

• Write
• Indicate

No Notify is shown, but Indicate can be switched ON successfully.

This suggests the issue may be in BrainFlow/SimpleBLE handling of this characteristic, possibly trying Notify where Indicate is exposed.

:::`

[icmukraine]

[icmukraine]

I added a Bleak-based inspector.

Results on the same Windows machine:

• 273e0001 — properties: notify, write-without-response → subscribed OK, packets=0
• 273e0013 — properties: notify → subscribed OK, packets=0
• 273e0014 — properties: write, indicate → subscribed OK, packets=0
• 273e0015 — properties: notify, write-without-response → subscribed OK, packets=0

No writes were attempted.

This suggests subscription itself works through Bleak, including the indicate-only 273e0014, but no packets arrive until the device receives whatever control/start command is required.

[icmukraine]

Additional Bleak probe result:

I subscribed successfully to all Muse Athena characteristics:

• 273e0001 — subscribed OK
• 273e0013 — subscribed OK
• 273e0014 — subscribed OK
• 273e0015 — subscribed OK

No writes were attempted.

Packet counts after 10 seconds:

• 273e0001: 0 packets
• 273e0013: 0 packets
• 273e0014: 0 packets
• 273e0015: 0 packets

So subscription works on Windows/Bleak, including 273e0014, but streaming likely requires a control/start command.

[Andrey1994]

I dont get how and why but for me this characteristic has notify properties and it just works

[Andrey1994]

but I dont think this characteristic is used for anything tbh. There are two and brainflow subscribes to both with the same handler, but I have never seen data sent via second one(which fails for you), so as a quick fix to try - remove this line https://github.com/brainflow-dev/brainflow/blob/master/src/board_controller/muse/muse_athena.cpp#L306 and keep only one of them, rebuild and restart.

Also, are you sure its muse athena and not muse s?