Bluetooth Mouse + Keyboard

I have read all the threads on the ENTIRE internet regarding this issue and they all say the same thing... check the drivers to see if the power management is shutting them down. I have checked the entire chain and they are all off and I still can not get my Bluetooth mouse + keyboard to work properly. If I am not using both of them continuously then the Bluetooth driver will disconnect and reconnect and it locks my system up for like 10-30 seconds while it reconnects. When I am gaming, I rarely have the problem of it locking up.

With just my Bluetooth mouse I never had this problem. But when I use both of them I get this problem every few minutes. Right now I can't NOT use the Bluetooth keyboard b/c my laptop keyboard is broken atm.

I am going to look for a new bluetooth driver but does anyone else have any ideas?!?!

 

Are the devices attempting to use the same resources? You should be able to check within Device Manager -> Properties -> Resources tab, if applicable. And are they on the same frequency (i.e., 2.4 GHz)? I've read that some people have luck by:

1. Pairing the keyboard first, then the mouse.
2. Increasing the distance between the two bluetooth devices.

If they work by putting greater distance between the two, they are probably operating on the same frequency and therefore are producing interference.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will check this after work. I believe they are on the same frequency as they are both Bluetooth, 2.4GHz. Is there a way to change this, like the channel on a router? Sometimes it will go hours without messing up. Then all the sudden its every 1-5 mins... really annoying. Windows says you can have up to 6 devices connected through Bluetooth at one time. But I fail to see how that is even possible.

 

I don't think there's any way to change the frequency the device operates on. If I recall correctly, pretty much all bluetooth devices run on the 2.4 GHz frequency. Despite all the revisions to bluetooth, that's a standard for the radio signal it uses.

Hopefully you can find a solution soon!

 

Yes. I figured as much. You think by now they would have developed a dual-mode system or separate channels. Or moved off the WLAN bandwidth. Things like this infuriate me.

I have yet to try your fix but I did plugged in a USB mouse last night and the freezing as stopped or is significantly less. So it is the two devices conflicting through messed up a drivers perhaps. Thinking about doing a clean install this weekend as I just reset to factory settings last time, since the keyboard still falls asleep on me and I will have to press keys to wake it up and then type what I want. This happens after say 30-60secs of inactivity. Any way around this?

 

There's no reason to develop a "dual mode". Bluetooth devices are designed to operate on a single frequency, and there are no issues with them doing so, just like there are no issues operating dozens of computers, cell phones, printers, etc. off of a single wireless router. Your problem has nothing to do with the two devices sharing the same frequency. I use a Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse combo in one of my offices, and they work well, even though my mouse does disconnect sometimes (this happens every couple of days only, however, so it's not that big of a deal, in particular since I don't game).

However, Bluetooth can be iffy in my experience. If you don't mind swapping equipment, if you use a dedicated wireless keyboard/mouse system that does not use Bluetooth, you'll typically have a much better experience. The Logitech products based on their Nano receiver work well. I think some of the gaming peripheral outfits (such as Razer) also sell wireless products. Alternatively, trying different brands/models of bluetooth devices may also solve your problem.

 

Although Bluetooth peripherals generally run on the same frequency, there have been improvements over the years to sidestep interference, such as frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Bluetooth functionality really does seem iffy to me as well, as Pirx pointed out. This wouldn't be the first bug I've seen with BT peripherals, but hopefully you can find some sort of workaround.

As for the keyboard "sleeping", if it's the bluetooth keyboard, then unless there is software coupled with it that will give you exclusive power options for it, then I doubt there is a workaround. Usually you can designate USB power settings in the Power Options, within your Control Panel.