After upgrading to Windows 8.1, my Bluetooth device doesn’t work.

Anonymous

After upgrading to Windows 8.1, my Bluetooth device doesn’t work. How can I get it working again?

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Anonymous

Hi,

First, try updating the device’s driver:

1. Check Windows Update for driver updates.

a. Swipe in from the right to bring up the charms, and select Settings.

b. Tap or click Change PC Settings.

c. Select Update and recovery, then select Windows Update.

d. Select Check for updates. Make sure to look at the Optional updates in the results.

2. Check the device manufacturer’s site for updated drivers.

3. Check the radio manufacturer’s site for updates. To determine what make and model of Bluetooth radio you have:

a. Swipe in from the right to bring up the charms and select Search, and search for device manager. Open Device Manager from the search results.

b. In Device Manager, expand Bluetooth, and look for a device with a name starting with Broadcom, Intel, or Qualcomm Atheros (these are the major radio manufacturers). Check the website of your radio manufacturer for driver updates.

c. If you don’t see one of these manufacturers, but instead see Generic Bluetooth Adapter:

i. Press-and-hold or right-click on Generic Bluetooth Adapter, and select Properties

ii. Select the Advanced tab.

iii. Note the number next to Manufacturer ID.

iv. Find that manufacturer ID on this page: https://www.bluetooth.org/en-us/specification/assigned-numbers/company-identifiers (Common ones will be 2 = Intel, 15 = Broadcom, 69 = Atheros)

4. Once you have updated your Bluetooth drivers, please try using your device again. In many cases, updating to the latest drivers will resolve the issue. In some instances, you may need to un-pair and re-pair the device from the Bluetooth settings (from the Settings charm, select Change PC Settings, and then select Bluetooth) to completely fix the issue.

If, after updating to the latest available driver and re-pairing the device, your Bluetooth device is still not working, please provide the following information in your post:

· PC manufacturer and model

· Bluetooth radio manufacturer and model

· Remote device manufacturer and model

This information will help Microsoft to further understand your issue and determine if it is a known issue or a new problem that needs additional investigation.

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184 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-06-09T21:41:29+00:00

I had same problems with bluetooth audio and windows 8.1 on multiple bluetooth speakers. steps 3-5 solved my problem. I had old/wrong/outdated blue tooth driver for my atheros qualcomm driver, downloaded latest, works like a charm.
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Anonymous

2014-06-12T19:54:27+00:00

Everyone seem to ignore this very important quote:

as you may have seen in the forum post, it appears to affect Intel BT cards also, which signifies to me that this is likely an issue with the Windows 8.1 Bluetooth stack. With the older Bluetooth (Windows 8), we wrote our own Bluetooth stack. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has required that we use their stack So, it's sounding like there won't be any real relief for this problem until Microsoft steps up and fixes their BT stack, which I don't think has seen many updates in the last few years!

Microsoft screwed up again, this time Bluetooth stack. I have my Intel 1030 card inserted and working, devices properly installed and visible in Device Manager, just in the PC Settings the Bluetooth switch is grayed out. And due to this simple yet severe bug I can't use any Bluetooth device.

I'm tired of this endless fights against Windows. This whole ecosystem is sick. Microsoft software is a ****. On every improvement there are multiple issues. My son's got MacBook Pro a long time ago and had not a single issue with it. Everything just works. It's as easy as saying that. And I, out of my frustration, am going to go the same path and never look back. Or I'll go for Ubuntu, which may not be as good as Mac OS, but still better than this, and free by the way. And they at least listen to users and fix bugs. Here we have the example of how Microsoft works. Half a year people report bug, and Microsoft just ignores them, giving only laconic answers.
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Anonymous

2014-06-12T22:36:41+00:00

A solution in my case:

If anybody is interested, I have a fix (work around) for the problem.

On computer, go to search, type fsquirt.

Click on fsquirt in search and a fsquirt window will appear on

your desktop.

You will have the choice of clicking receiving or sending a picture.

Example: Clicked receive on desktop window, went to send on my

Samsung Rugby 2 cell phone, had confirmation that the jpeg I chose was

sent suscessfuly from my phone.

Jpeg appeared in Documents folder of Qosmio laptop.

Also sent a jpeg from computer to cell phone, sent with no problems.

I would recommend pinning fsquirt to the taskbar or putting a shortcut

to the desktop for convience sake.

This is not the slickest solution because it did add a step (having

to click on fsquirt), which I think shouldn't be needed, but it is

a solution.

Thanx... this was a great workaround for now.
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Anonymous

2014-06-14T07:03:56+00:00

This proves to me that the problem is with Win 8.1 and how it handles Bluetooth communications

and that they have no interest in fixing it.

The temp solution seems to work because several friends, who were having trouble sending pictures, have

been able to do so with the work around.

Microsoft doesn't seem to be concerned enough to even get the word out on how to

use their own fsquirt application as a work around, sad.
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