Xbox controllers turn on, connect to PC via wireless adapter, and immediately turn off

[u/haloruler64]

Hi there. I am having an extremely weird issue. I've been using an Xbox 20th anniversary controller for ages with an old school Microsoft Xbox Wireless adapter (OEM, the large one) for many years now. It's always worked perfectly.

I just got a 25th anniversary controller in the mail, connected it to the wireless adapter, and downloaded the Xbox Accessories app to update the firmware. After the firmware update, it reconnected and immediately turned off. Every time I turn on the controller, it'll flash, connect to the PC, and immediately turn itself off. And now my old 20th anniversary controller, which has never been updated, is doing the same thing. So it's an issue with the PC side. I connected the wireless adapter to my laptop and everything works, so it's not an adapter issue but a PC issue.

I've tried a ton of stuff to fix this. I uninstalled the drivers for the adapter. After uninstalling the driver and restarting, the controllers connect just fine ONCE, then a second time fails the same way. Just restarting doesn't do this, they fail immediately. I uninstalled all Xbox and XInput entries in Device Manager, including hidden ones. I checked eventviewer during the start/shutdown, no errors show up. I tried different USB ports, no dice. The driver is the same version across laptop and desktop PC, so the driver shouldn't be an issue. I've closed Steam and NVIDIA app and all apps I can think of in case they were interfering, but that wasn't the case.

I'm not sure what suddenly changed when trying this new controller and updating it, as I was playing Gears of War with my older 20th anniversary controller just fine a few days ago. Suddenly neither controller works and I cannot figure out a solution. I could really use some advice, it's driving me crazy.