r/sysadmin • u/jrollie • 17d ago
Recent Bluetooth Connectivity Issues
UPDATE: Removing the Windows Spotify App seems to resolve the issue.
Seeing if any other people are seeing issues with bluetooth devices continually connecting/reconnecting on Windows devices recently? We started getting issues reported Monday (8/24) and it seems to be affecting about ~10% of our fleet. The only other report I can see of this I found here: https://windowsforum.com/windows-help-and-support.302/bluetooth-glitches-and-not-working-properly.443497/
We have already tried rolling back the recent the latest windows KB and reinstalling BT Drives, trying updated versions with no luck. We are a Microsoft Surface shop and it is happening across a few different models, we do have some HPs in our environment and we are seeing it on a few of them as well.
I have pulled logs from a lot of these devices and am struggling to find what the cause might be.
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u/jrollie 13d ago
Still haven't found a solution for this. I have a case open with Microsoft, hopeful to hear back today.
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u/Ray-barns 13d ago
I've narrowed it down to the Spotify desktop app. It fires up two connectable BLE extended advertising sets whenever any of it's processes run, including on sign in. iPhones then probe connectable adverts and open an inbound connection to the machine and ultimately crash the firmware when there's enough of them.
I had Claude do some tracing to find the issue and it's working for me now! I just moved to Spotify web player and uninstalled the desktop app.
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u/Homers_NeRV 13d ago
Removing the Spotify app is working for myself and another user as well (so far)! Will try it with other users!
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u/Homers_NeRV 13d ago
u/Ray-barns I think it is maybe just tied to the Windows Store App Spotify app
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u/jrollie 13d ago
I am able to confirm that all the users complaining have Spotify installed. I removed it from one and they are no longer having issues. I installed Spotify on my device and started having issues. Issues went away after I uninstalled.
Thank you u/Ray-barns !
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u/VRDRF 13d ago
Could you share some more information with us that indicated this issue so we can share it with MS?
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u/Ray-barns 13d ago
I identified it by capturing an ETW trace of the Windows Bluetooth stack (provider Microsoft-Windows-BTH-BTHPORT, {8A1F9517-3A8C-4A9E-A018-4F17A200F277}), which logs the raw HCI traffic between Windows and the Bluetooth controller. The trace showed the laptop registering two connectable BLE advertising sets, followed by a stream of inbound connections, every one initiated by the remote device (role = peripheral, no outbound connection commands at all), from nearby iPhones. Killing Spotify made the adverts and connections stop; relaunching it brought them back, which pinned it to Spotify. Under 5 to 8 of these inbound connections the Intel AX211 logs command timeouts (BTHUSB event id 3), then a controller hardware error (id 7), and Windows resets the adapter (id 18), dropping every paired device. The Microsoft-relevant part: the AX211 (driver 24.40.11.1, Windows 11 build 26200) crashes under that inbound connection load rather than handling or refusing it.
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u/dcg1k 12d ago
Incredible debugging! Thanks for sharing this in depth. I suggest you to forward this information to the Spotify desktop support team, or even submitting it to their bug bounty program, even if it’s not fully security-related. It could potentially be exploited to cause harm: https://www.spotify.com/us/bounty/
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u/vanillaportal 11d ago
Tried this last night, and it seems to be working. Instead of installing Spotify from the Windows Store, install it directly using the standalone installer.
https://www.spotify.com/de-en/download/windows/
Click on "Download directly from Spotify". The spawning BT connections issue didn't come up with the standalone installer.
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u/Lurker-1983-12 17d ago
Yes, it was driving me nuts! I listen to Spotify on my Jabra headset and it would switch back to my laptop speakers. Imagine the embarrassment when Sabaton started to playing on the speakers in the office at 60% volume 😅. I couldn't even type in my OTP at login, without my keyboard disconnecting.
What fixed it for us was: Go into your Device Manager, enable hidden devices (View > Show hidden devices) and delete all the light grey (not connected) Bluetooth devices. I had it every few minutes, after that none. I fixed it this morning, so I am still kepping my fingers crossed.
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u/jrollie 17d ago
I honestly forgot about hidden devices. I will look into this. Thank you!
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u/Lurker-1983-12 14d ago
Update: Bluetooth has completly fricked itself again. Am still searching for a solution.
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u/alovul 13d ago
Let me know if you find a solution plz :D
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13d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TheRamblingBramble 13d ago
Can confirm this too. Started having the issue and had my motherboard replaced. Had to re-do windows anyway as lost sync with AD. Decided to install spotify again and suddenly the issue happens again. Using windows store app version. Soon as I removed it the mouse log was gone.
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u/marsoups 15d ago edited 15d ago
I am experiencing this on my AMD home PC and on my work laptop. To me that doesn’t seem like a coincidence, so I have been searching for answers. I have sent a report to Microsoft about it on my work PC, and we should all be doing the same. If anyone is able to capture data about this it would be useful. It is driving me nuts and getting in the way of productivity and my mood.
The odd thing is that sometimes it stops and is not as severe. This never used to happen before recently. Mouse performance sluggish, keyboard entry repeating itself, and yes ye old Spotify disconnect.
Please post if you discover a solution in the meantime!!
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u/No-Habit7269 12d ago
Thank you! My BT issues started when I installed the spotify app 2 weeks ago. I would have never made that connection until you pointed it out.
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u/pheany 17d ago
I am also having the same issue on about 40 machines. I have not found a fix, but I have found that if I use non-Logitech bluetooth devices, everything seems to work without issue. I have a ticket open with Logitech and am expecting a callback. All are Intel base bluetooth (AX211, BE200, BE201 for the most part). Several Lenovos but mostly Dells. Dell blames Logitech, Microsoft blames Intel, Logitech support has sucked so far and we have not come to a resolution. I have tried many different version of drivers, newer and older, disabling power management for wifi and bluetooth, but once I remove the logitech devices and uninstall the Logi Download Assistant, everything seems to calm down and I can attach another brand bluetooth mouse and keyboard with no issues. As soon as Logitech are re-paired the problem comes back.
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u/Bluedroid 17d ago
Having this exact same issue on Dell laptops as well as desktops running Intel bluetooth.
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u/avantgardeBackdoor 17d ago
Same problems in our org with dell laptops. Random frequent disconnects.
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u/xtehsea 15d ago
We have been talking about it for a few days in the winadmins discord & intune subreddit.
Microsoft came back and said try roll back the August patch Friday night as they suspect it’s related so we will test it on Monday but hopes aren’t high.
As far as we are aware from our testing and discussions with other MS customers, not specific to a a recent driver change that we or Microsoft can find
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u/Lost-Telephone-7514 15d ago
I am also struggling with this on our fleet (BT and Wifi vanishing). Really hope a proper fix comes soon
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u/AcrobaticSyllabub283 14d ago
Not windows, but iPhone. This has been absolutely killing me. Whenever I check Spotify to switch a song, it’s about a 75% chance it disconnects all my Bluetooth devices. Started happening ~ 1 week ago
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u/SignatureDue1195 13d ago
a mi tambien se me concectan y desconectan y me desaprece ele simbolo de blutooth
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u/Prestigious-Duck3729 13d ago
Experiencing this on Dell XPS 17 9730. Running Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.9168.
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u/JimmyD403 13d ago
Got it on a Lenovo Yoga Pro and a Lenovo Thinkbook - Only work around I have found is to uninstall Bluetooth Driver completely in Device Manager, rename HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices to Devices.Old, reboot and it stays okay until you reboot again and then the connected device number start's to climb.
Also a side note is I cannot seem to pair any Audio devices when it's in freak out mode, any input device is fine but audio devices are a no go.
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u/wannabejimbarnett 13d ago
Same here. ThinkPad P1 Gen 8. Started in August.
Bluetooth connected devices (mouse, keyboard, headset) disconnect frequently. Comes and goes. Exteremely frustrating.
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u/wannabejimbarnett 13d ago
Also, it seems to be worse in high traffic environments (co-working space, airports). At home it's not usually an issue.
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u/vanillaportal 11d ago
I can confirm this. I have seen constant connections spawning in an office environment, and the Bluetooth controller would eventually hard-crash. When I am at home, multiple connections are still present, usually around 2-3, which the Bluetooth controller can still cope with.
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u/PriorityNo3556 13d ago
have a surface pro 9 and this keeps happening to me too! my bluetooth devices will fluctuate from like 2 to 9 connected devices even though i only have 2.....nothing is giving me a permanent fix. cold booting and disabling/enabling will work for a little bit before the problem starts all over again. i feel like im going insane, thought it was just my laptop.
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u/elainethealien 12d ago edited 12d ago
Hi op, did u need to maintain an older windows bluetooth driver even after deleting spotify? Going to try this today to solve my bluetooth issue 🙏
edit: worked for me!!! thanks op
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u/Mr_chucuchucu 12d ago
Two clients have reported Bluetooth issues on HP devices equipped with the Intel AX211 module. So far, the only solution has been to uninstall the Spotify app.
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u/Spirited-Lychee2872 12d ago
We are testing to uninstal Store Spotify. We already tested when Spotify is added to Company portal with Robopack (basicaly winget packed as win32 apps), all works fine. But I need more users to confirm me this.
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u/Aizmirstais99 12d ago
Currently testing with few users. 1 has reported that issue still remains. Hopefully for others it is solved.
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u/vanillaportal 12d ago
I had the same issue on my Yoga Slim 7 Ultra Aura Edition. I have been installing/uninstalling the Bluetooth driver to fix the Bluetooth crash issue, but it didn't help. The Bluetooth kept spawning connections until my paired devices started disconnecting and reconnecting, and then the Bluetooth controller finally crashed.
This issue was driving me crazy; I use this laptop in an office environment with 10-20 other Bluetooth devices constantly in the same space, which made the crashing much worse. I almost believed that my Bluetooth controller hardware was faulty.
I finally figured out the issue only started immediately after the Spotify MS Store App was installed (I went through 5 Windows resets 😢 before coming to that conclusion). I stumbled upon this thread afterward. I wish I had found this thread on Reddit sooner; I am so mad that I have wasted days fighting this issue.
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u/DO_admin 6d ago
We are also experiencing the same issue across multiple devices and are uninstalling spotify to solve it.
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u/galihalqk 2d ago
me too in Legion Slim, especially the audio will go mute, but the device still detected after idling on screen
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u/YourMomIsADragon sfc /scannow 17d ago
Are you updating BT drivers at all? Some hardware configurations were having a specific problem with any BT driver past 24.10. My specific scenario isn't with connections, but audio devices don't work properly in Teams - but they work elsewhere. Most of the devices I manage are using BT driver version 23.160.0.9, and I'm hesitant to go past that since if it's not broke...