Bluetooth Issues Since Surface Updates - 5 August 2021

Wow! What has MS descended to? I found a fix for this problem on August 17, as detailed below in another forum thread that was copied to this one, and used successfully by many surface owners to permanently fix this problem as long as drivers remain un-updated:

On https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/bluetooth-is-turned-off/351ed271-b0fc-4bdd-82ba-e8afb2624505?rtAction=1628596915665&page=2 I wrote:

It appears that I may have temporarily fixed the problem. It's been two days and running, with several reboots and many sleep/wake cycles. Hopefully this fix is good and will last until MS gets their act together and releases some good drivers. Again, my tablet is a Surface Pro 6, 21H1, OS Build 1943.1083, and Bluetooth is missing, so in my case, no pen or MS BT mouse. Steps to repair:

1. Go to device manager.
2. Uninstall Bluetooth>>Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter. When you uninstall it, delete the driver (an option on the Uninstall dialog box).
3. Uninstall Network adapters>>Bluetooth device. Delete the driver. This is the action that actually fixed it.
4. Reboot. W10 will reinstall both these devices with earlier drivers. In my case, the AVASTAR adapter is now at Version 15.68.9112.23, Date 12/02/2016. The Network adapter Bluetooth device is now at Version 10.0.1941.1, Date 6/21/2006.

If that fixes it, the next effort is to ensure that it remains fixed until MS releases good drivers, as the update process will constantly reinstall the latest level drivers on your behalf (we're Microsoft and we are here to help!) and it will fail again. If you have access to the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc), you can turn off driver updating. Run gpedit and go to Computer Configuration>>Administrative Templates>>Windows Components>>Windows Update>>Do not include drivers with Windows Updates, Open it and push the Enable button. Done.

However, if you are running W10 Home, gpedit is not normally available. I understand that you can still get to it by installing the Policy Plus application. I run Policy Plus on my W10 Pro devices so can't verify for sure whether it will actually run on Home, but that's what they say. It is more robust than gpedit, allowing the user to filter the display, so I often use it instead of gpedit.

Now you have to research the driver updates as they are released to determine whether they will permanently fix the problem and if so install them manually.

Please post your results in this thread.

This is obviously and without doubt a driver problem and yet MS is saying they can't fix it but will exchange a device with the problem that is still under warranty for one with updated hardware? What about the rest of us? Where does that put me with my 2-3 year old SP6?

This is unacceptable. Unless fixed by MS, when it is time to upgrade hardware you can bet that it won't be another Surface device or a Microsoft product at all, as much as I have enjoyed my two Surface Pro devices over the last several years, perfect solutions for my needs were it not for $MS!

David Dalton

The same issue is happening on my Surface Pro 6, and none of the prescribed remedies do anything other than restore functionality for about 5 minutes upon restart.

Many thanks for your reply, Marion_Y. The Surface is a Surface Pro (5th Gen) Model 1796 i5. (I think someone moved my post to Pro 7 which caused the confusion). The OS Build is 19042.1151. Yes, Bluetooth worked for a very short while after the Firmware update and works for a short time after each restart and then Bluetooth devices stop and eventually the Bluetooth function becomes unavailable (i.e. the Bluetooth icon goes missing from the Action Centre and the Bluetooth Switch goes missing from the Settings App. In Device Manager, the Bluetooth drive may also have the warning icon. The Driver is the Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter which under Update History is Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. - Bluetooth - 15.68.17021.121. I had already tried using the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit to no avail. On the Surface Drivers Download page you will see that there isn't a msi download file (now or yet) for a Pro 5th Gen with build 19042. Or perhaps it has been pulled! So, I can't run your steps 2 and 3 at the moment. I will try them if and when the msi becomes available. But perhaps another update will be made available on Windows Update, which I will continue to check for. I will update this post if when these things happen.

Hi TrevorFayers,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community.

To make sure first: May I know which Surface Pro model do you have? Surface Pro 7 uses the Intel Wireless Bluetooth adapter, not the Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio adapter.

For the issue you are experiencing, your Bluetooth devices connected on the device connected for only about 5 minutes after the update and now none of your Bluetooth devices connects to the device, correct?

May I know what is the current version of the Bluetooth Radio adapter installed on the device? Go to Device Manager, expand Bluetooth and double-click on the Bluetooth Radio adapter then go to its Driver tab. Take note of the Driver version.

Kindly run these steps below first on your Surface then see if the issue persist:

1: Run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check Windows Update

2: Update drivers and firmware

                               Check what is the current OS Build of your Windows version by going to Settings > System > About.

                               Go to Download driver and firmware for Surface, choose your Surface model then click Download on the next page.

                               Choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build and click Next.

                               After downloading, run and install the .msi then Restart.

3: Uninstall/Re-install

Open Device Manager, expand Bluetooth

Right-click the Bluetooth Radio adapter and choose Uninstall device

Note: Leave box uncheck to Delete the driver software

Restart your Surface

If Microsoft rolls out an update and stops ALL of our bluetooth devices from working the issue is on them. We should not have to spend 60 minutes futzing around to fix a problem of their making. If I have to spend my free time troubleshooting and maintaining my tablet why shouldn't I just buy a cheaper piece of hardware? For the record I am using a Microsoft Sculpt bluetooth mouse which the Surface Pro doesn't recognize 5 minutes after I reboot. If I have to reboot my tablet every 5 minutes that is not tenable.

Hi TrevorFayers,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community.

To make sure first: May I know which Surface Pro model do you have? Surface Pro 7 uses the Intel Wireless Bluetooth adapter, not the Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio adapter.

For the issue you are experiencing, your Bluetooth devices connected on the device connected for only about 5 minutes after the update and now none of your Bluetooth devices connects to the device, correct?

May I know what is the current version of the Bluetooth Radio adapter installed on the device? Go to Device Manager, expand Bluetooth and double-click on the Bluetooth Radio adapter then go to its Driver tab. Take note of the Driver version.

Kindly run these steps below first on your Surface then see if the issue persist:

1: Run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check Windows Update

2: Update drivers and firmware

                               Check what is the current OS Build of your Windows version by going to Settings > System > About.

                               Go to Download driver and firmware for Surface, choose your Surface model then click Download on the next page.

                               Choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build and click Next.

                               After downloading, run and install the .msi then Restart.

3: Uninstall/Re-install

Open Device Manager, expand Bluetooth

Right-click the Bluetooth Radio adapter and choose Uninstall device

Note: Leave box uncheck to Delete the driver software

Restart your Surface