Can't pair Bluetooth keyboard - "Check the PIN and try connecting again."

Anonymous
2018-02-24T16:22:25+00:00

I've been using a Bluetooth keyboard with my Windows 10 laptop for months. Suddenly it wouldn't connect, and I made the mistake of removing it from my Bluetooth devices before discovering its batteries were dead. Now, with new batteries, it won't pair.

The problem is that when I go to Windows Settings and select Add Bluetooth or other device and put the keyboard into pairing mode, it shows up in the Add a device dialog, but when I click it, it says "Connecting..." for a long time and then says "Check the PIN and try connecting again." 

That's not the way it's supposed to work! That Add a device dialog is supposed to give me a PIN and then I'm supposed to type it on the keyboard. So I have no way to proceed and complete the pairing.

Troubleshooting steps I have done so far.

  • I've tried the process repeatedly.
  • I moved the keyboard very near to, and then many feet away from, the laptop.
  • I moved the laptop and the Bluetooth keyboard to other locations in house, further away from other wireless devices.
  • I turned off all other Bluetooth devices in house.
  • In Device Manager I deleted everything under the Bluetooth category, selecting to delete the driver files also, and rebooting. (After reboot, everything comes back by itself.)
  • The laptop vendor support app, and Windows updates, say the laptop is up to date.
  • I swapped Bluetooth keyboards between two PCs. This keyboard paired to that PC without issue. The PIN appeared, I typed it on the keyboard, and done. That keyboard from the other PC would not pair on this laptop, displaying the same issue as the other keyboard did.
  • I have seen the solutions offered by ThomasFulton and Hanuki4 in this thread on this forum, but I don't get the same dialogs that these answers refer to, so am unable to use the info.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2018-06-05T21:48:55+00:00

I Got It Working

I had this exact same problem, was about to go and get a corded keyboard. 

After some recent Windows 10 forced update the bluetooth keyboard stopped working

after I had to replace the batteries I could not pair it. 

It kept asking for a PIN but no matter what I entered it would no longer pair. 

It would not pair in the Control Panel / Bluetooth & other devices section and

did not give me an option to put in a code. 

What worked finally for me what: 

Start -> Run -> devicepairingwizard

Select your keyboard, click next 

Click 'or enter a code' link below

On this screen a numeric code will be presented

Quickly type in the code you see on the Wireless Keyboard and press Enter

If successful it will install some files and pair!

I had to try a couple of times to input the code quick enough but thankfully it worked.  

Hope this helps out others.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-06-05T23:15:09+00:00

    Thanks a lot that worked very well :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-04-18T11:35:27+00:00

    I Have the same issue with my bluetooth chipset ralink RT 3290, the bluetooth just stop functioning. even though there is no error reported in the device manager (windows stated driver is running), but not a single bluetooth can be connected, the active devices around my laptop is shown, I could try to connect or pair, but it will always failed. for 2 days i try to crack this problem

    i have tried to :

    1. reinstall drivers (many combination, once even try to downgrade the wifi adapter driver also)
    2. force install earlier windows driver for 8.1, 8.0, 7
    3. force install other brand (broadcom, generic, etc)

    I know this is software problem, because it can detect the name and devices of active bluetooth devices, IT JUST CANT PAIR OR CONNECT  with it.

    it also detect my Harman Kardon Onyx, but CANNOT CONNECT.

    and how can i input a pin if there's no dialog box to ask for it? (this goes both ways when I tried to pair from the phone to my laptop).

    I'm an expirenced IT user, a programmer, and a network specialist. but somehow this Microsoft Bug beat me.

    Ah well, I could always use cable to connect to my phone and speakers.. :(

    typed on laptop is fujitsu LH532 with win 10 x64 pro installed

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-09T15:42:55+00:00

    Hello everyone,

    As I said in my last post, I was going to use a system image backup to restore my system drive to a state before I didn't realize my keyboard batteries had died and mistakenly removed the keyboard from windows. As we are finding out, if one removes a Bluetooth keyboard (or mouse), one can't ever pair it again. No doubt this is a recently introduced Windows 10 bug, and some of us unwitting and unwilling Windows 10 beta testers are paying the price.

    Anyway, I did restore my PC to a system image from before I removed the keyboard, and when my PC rebooted, the Bluetooth keyboard connected immediately without any input from me (as it did before on every bootup). I will make sure to never remove it from Windows again. (And continue to make system image backups, too.)

    I realize this is no solution for those without a usable image backup. How can we make Microsoft aware of this issue? Will this thread ever be seen by someone who can get Microsoft's attention? I already tried Microsoft chat, and gave up after an hour of tech support torture.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-03-05T22:04:01+00:00

    I have the exact same problem with my Bluetooth keyboard. Failing to connect after windows 10 update and uninstalling device.

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    5 people found this answer helpful.
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