[SOLVED] Bluetooth device vanished from PC

[Méowyn]

Hello,
I came in to work today and bluetooth has vanished from my work desktop completely. It is no longer in devices. I know the pc has bluetooth because until yesterday, I used my speakers.

I have no idea what has happened. I've tried troubleshooting but the troubleshooter now says the computer does not have a compatible device.

I am using an HP Elitedesk 800 (don't @ me, it's not my choice lol), running Windows 10.

I have tried restarting and rebooting and the device is still absent. I can't reinstall drivers because the device won't detect.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"It is no longer in devices. " By that you mean Device Manager?

Be sure to check the View tab to ensure that "Show hidden devices" is checked.

Look in Reliability History, Event Viewer, and Update History.

The objective being to determine if there is some entry (error code, warning, informational) that can be associated with the loss of bluetooth. Or audio related problems.

Reliability History is very user friendly and the time line format may reveal some related action that occurred between the yesterday and the today.

That said - - if the work computer in question is owned by your employer then you should report the problem to your office IT team/person.

There are things that can be done but best to not run afoul of any rules and restrictions imposed by your employer.

 

[Méowyn]

OK! All done now.

This:

"It is no longer in devices. " By that you mean Device Manager?

That is indeed what I meant, thank you.

Be sure to check the View tab to ensure that "Show hidden devices" is checked.

Well, there they are. Greyed out, hidden, and...I don't know? The last time I was reliably an IT person was in 2004 lmao. It's been a while since I've had my hand in.

Look in Reliability History, Event Viewer, and Update History.

The objective being to determine if there is some entry (error code, warning, informational) that can be associated with the loss of bluetooth. Or audio related problems.

Reliability History is very user friendly and the time line format may reveal some related action that occurred between the yesterday and the today.

Reliability History is something new for me, and well, lookee here:

My last update was on July 12 so I don't anticipate that caused anything. OK, next, error log:

oh dear

Something DEFINITELY went kaboom. Just...why?

That said - - if the work computer in question is owned by your employer then you should report the problem to your office IT team/person.

There are things that can be done but best to not run afoul of any rules and restrictions imposed by your employer.

I am the IT person lol. We're a two-person non-profit and I handle all our technical stuff. But most stuff is easy. This is stumping me. Part of me thinks that maybe the bt fried? But maybe something here might make some sense.

 

[Méowyn]

I don't know what I did but I got it working again. I did do a clean boot - disabled all but microsoft services, then restarted anything that had to do with bluetooth and a DCom that was off. Then a reboot and voila. I'm still not sure what caused it but hey. I got BT again.

Thanks for the help - you gave me some pointers that sent me off to discover new things, and accidentally fix my stuff, @Ralston18 !

 

[Ralston18]

The technical term for such things is "Gremlins".



Actually there may have been some power glitch or bit of file corruption.

Microsoft/Windows sorted itself out when you did the reboot.

For future reference there are two other tools that may come in handy:

"sfc /scannow" and "dism"

References:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

And do remember to do regular backups at least 2 x and stored off of the current host computers. Also ensure that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Gremlins like to come home again.

Glad it worked out and you are welcome.