Question Bluetooth stopped working out of nowhere

[iXorizon]

My bluetooth can no longer be turned on or off, i dont have the switch in the settings app nor in the network button in the taskbar. I have a maximus xi hero wifi motherboard which supports bluetooth 5.0, ive confirmed in the bios that it is indeed turn on, and inside of windows ive restarted the bluetooth service and disabled/reenabled the bluetooth driver to no avail. Also uninstall and reinstalled but nothing has happened. Could this be because i shut down my pc yesterday by holding down the power button? that wouldnt make any sense

 

[Paperdoc]

Your post suggests that the bluetooth system built into your mobo has failed. Removing and replacing the driver for it should fix the problem if the actual hardware on the mobo is working, but that has not fixed it. You can try these ideas just in case they help.

1. Verify again in BIOS Setup that the bluetooth feature is turned on.
2. Whatever device you are using for this - earbuds, or a phone, or speakers, etc - try to use that with some OTHER bluetooth source. Does it work?
3. MAYBE look for controls of the computer's bluetooth system and re-do the PAIRING of it with that external device.
4. Check the ANTENNAS on the back of your mobo that are used for bluetooth and wifi. Maybe unscrew them and re-attach again in case they are loose.

 

[iXorizon]

Your post suggests that the bluetooth system built into your mobo has failed. Removing and replacing the driver for it should fix the problem if the actual hardware on the mobo is working, but that has not fixed it. You can try these ideas just in case they help.

1. Verify again in BIOS Setup that the bluetooth feature is turned on.
2. Whatever device you are using for this - earbuds, or a phone, or speakers, etc - try to use that with some OTHER bluetooth source. Does it work?
3. MAYBE look for controls of the computer's bluetooth system and re-do the PAIRING of it with that external device.
4. Check the ANTENNAS on the back of your mobo that are used for bluetooth and wifi. Maybe unscrew them and re-attach again in case they are loose.

1. Verified that it is indeed enabled, which it is
2. Yes my headset does work on my phone, i have Sony XM4's
3. Not sure what this means
4. Unscrewed and screwed them back in tightly, no change
I would also like to mention an interesting fact, my mouse is wireless, Glorious Model O Wireless, and so when i have the wireless dongle plugged in the back of the motherboard, the mouse actually works. Im not sure how signal is being transmitted, my best guess would be a bluetooth signal as thats literally the only way? But the bluetooth devices, my headset and speakers, that connect to my pc without requiring a usb dont allow me to connect them.

https://imgur.com/DjBbhnH

This is what my settings app looks like, as ive said theres no on/off switch for bluetooth. This isnt an issue of the external devices, rather its my pc. At this point im just thinking of fully reinstalling windows

 

[CountMike]

1. Verified that it is indeed enabled, which it is
2. Yes my headset does work on my phone, i have Sony XM4's
3. Not sure what this means
4. Unscrewed and screwed them back in tightly, no change
I would also like to mention an interesting fact, my mouse is wireless, Glorious Model O Wireless, and so when i have the wireless dongle plugged in the back of the motherboard, the mouse actually works. Im not sure how signal is being transmitted, my best guess would be a bluetooth signal as thats literally the only way? But the bluetooth devices, my headset and speakers, that connect to my pc without requiring a usb dont allow me to connect them.

https://imgur.com/DjBbhnH

This is what my settings app looks like, as ive said theres no on/off switch for bluetooth. This isnt an issue of the external devices, rather its my pc. At this point im just thinking of fully reinstalling windows

Did you look for it in Device Manager and Control Panel ?

 

[iXorizon]

Did you look for it in Device Manager and Control Panel ?

Whats "it"? U mean the bluetooth? Its listed as Intel Wireless Bluetooth, and as ive said ive uninstalled and reinstalled it from there and restarted my pc to refresh it.

 

[Paperdoc]

Re: my item 3 above about pairing.

On any bluetooth system, when you first set it up OR when you try to add a new bluetooth device, there is a process called Pairing to get the host and the device to recognize each other. AFTER that is done it will be remembered normally so it can re-connect any time they come into contact.

The process involves some adjustment on each unit. Commonly you must set the user device (your headset) to Pairing Mode so it will respond to requests from the host. Then in your computer (the host) you use its configuration screen to tell it to pair with a device, and it goes searching for something currently willing to respond. It may show you only one, or if there are several active locally it may show you a choice. Often it asks you for the "password" (typically a 3- or 4-digit number, defaults often 0000 or 1234) for that discovered device and you enter that to complete the process. IF for whatever reason your computer's system has forgotten about your headset, you may need to re-do the pairing. By the way, in those config screens usually there also is an option to Delete or Forget a previously-paired device (if you stop using one).

Also look in those config screens for a LIST of bluetooth devices available. Many bluetooth systems can deal with only one device at a time, but some more modern ones can handle more than one. When you go into the bluetooth screen you should see a list of known (already paired) bluetooth user devices, and that should include your headset. However, it may NOT be chosen as the device to use right now. So make sure to tell it to use the headset.

Just as an example from my own case. My car uses bluetooth for several things. The one that is automatically links up to every time I start up is my cell phone. It is used for hands-free operations through the car audio system when driving, and of course my phone is on and working when I start the car. I also have a little device that plugs into the car's OBDII diagnostic code port. It simply reads codes and communicates with any bluetooth device for displays and settings. So in this case my PHONE is the bluetooth host. On that when I go to the bluetooth settings it can show me the car system (when it's running) and the code reader device, and I can set which one the phone "talks" to. So when I have the car running and want to use the code reader to do diagnostics on it, on my PHONE I set it to use that code reader instead of the car audio system. Otherwise the code reader normally is NOT connected and the only thing my phone can connect to in the car is that audio system.

 

[iXorizon]

Re: my item 3 above about pairing.

On any bluetooth system, when you first set it up OR when you try to add a new bluetooth device, there is a process called Pairing to get the host and the device to recognize each other. AFTER that is done it will be remembered normally so it can re-connect any time they come into contact.

The process involves some adjustment on each unit. Commonly you must set the user device (your headset) to Pairing Mode so it will respond to requests from the host. Then in your computer (the host) you use its configuration screen to tell it to pair with a device, and it goes searching for something currently willing to respond. It may show you only one, or if there are several active locally it may show you a choice. Often it asks you for the "password" (typically a 3- or 4-digit number, defaults often 0000 or 1234) for that discovered device and you enter that to complete the process. IF for whatever reason your computer's system has forgotten about your headset, you may need to re-do the pairing. By the way, in those config screens usually there also is an option to Delete or Forget a previously-paired device (if you stop using one).

Also look in those config screens for a LIST of bluetooth devices available. Many bluetooth systems can deal with only one device at a time, but some more modern ones can handle more than one. When you go into the bluetooth screen you should see a list of known (already paired) bluetooth user devices, and that should include your headset. However, it may NOT be chosen as the device to use right now. So make sure to tell it to use the headset.

Just as an example from my own case. My car uses bluetooth for several things. The one that is automatically links up to every time I start up is my cell phone. It is used for hands-free operations through the car audio system when driving, and of course my phone is on and working when I start the car. I also have a little device that plugs into the car's OBDII diagnostic code port. It simply reads codes and communicates with any bluetooth device for displays and settings. So in this case my PHONE is the bluetooth host. On that when I go to the bluetooth settings it can show me the car system (when it's running) and the code reader device, and I can set which one the phone "talks" to. So when I have the car running and want to use the code reader to do diagnostics on it, on my PHONE I set it to use that code reader instead of the car audio system. Otherwise the code reader normally is NOT connected and the only thing my phone can connect to in the car is that audio system.

why are u mentioning pairing when the bluetooth itself doesnt work bruh? i literally told u theres no on switch to enable it, and troubleshooting bluetooth on windows gives me an error that says its like disabled and fails to re-enable it. whats the point of trying to pair a device that the computer doesnt even detect as a device. its not an issue from the devices its an issue from my computer idk how many times i have to say this. no bluetooth devices pop up if i try to search for them.

 

[Paperdoc]

Of course I understood that. My point is that the HOST devices - in this case, your computer - is where you initiate the Pairing process. IF somehow the user device is NOT paired any more with the Host, it is the HOST that must search for a user device (your headset) after that headset is set to Pairing Mode. So BOTH devices need to be told to do that process. You have proven that the headset part works just fine, so the computer part is the failure.

I looked in your mobo manual and on p. 3-2 it says that BIOS Setup has NO tools for dealing with Bluetooth. So I would presume you must do whatever is needed with a tool in Windows. And it is also possible that the Bluetooth system on your mobo has failed completely. I've never actually used Bluetooth with my mobo, so I don't know those tools. Maybe others do?

 

[iXorizon]

Of course I understood that. My point is that the HOST devices - in this case, your computer - is where you initiate the Pairing process. IF somehow the user device is NOT paired any more with the Host, it is the HOST that must search for a user device (your headset) after that headset is set to Pairing Mode. So BOTH devices need to be told to do that process. You have proven that the headset part works just fine, so the computer part is the failure.

I looked in your mobo manual and on p. 3-2 it says that BIOS Setup has NO tools for dealing with Bluetooth. So I would presume you must do whatever is needed with a tool in Windows. And it is also possible that the Bluetooth system on your mobo has failed completely. I've never actually used Bluetooth with my mobo, so I don't know those tools. Maybe others do?

damn i just reinstalled windows fully and the issue persists.... its so over....

 

[iXorizon]

wow i googled my issue and a guy came up saying how he turned his power supply off and on and his bluetooth came back, so i tried it and it worked. ...

 

[Paperdoc]

Wow! That's weird! But if it works and keeps working, great!

I know that turning the PSU off completely (either with the rear switch or by unplugging for a while) does actually turn the mobo OFF completely and cause a reset of certain mobo states, but I would not have anticipated that might change the state of the Bluetooth hardware. Speculation but MAYBE that is related to the fact that certain mobo I/O systems (keyboard and mouse ports, some USB ports, LAN ports) have power and limited functions maintained when "Off" so they can trigger a start-up if any external device sends a signal.

Whatever, glad to hear you found a solution.