[SOLVED] Intel's AC3165 suddenly lost ability to connect & stream to audio devices via BT, card otherwise works fine

[krzemien]

Bongiorno All,

As per the subject line: AC3165 factory-fitted within my nearly 6-years old HP Omen 870-095na suddenly lost ability to connect & stream to audio devices via BT. This card (BT and WiFI) otherwise (seemingly) works fine.

(I did post @ Ten Forums:

Suddenly lost ability to connect & stream to audio devices via BT - Windows 10 Help Forums

and @ Intel Forums:

AC3165 suddenly lost ability to connect & stream to audio devices via BT, card otherwise works fine)


Here's the story & details:

Last week in the middle of some work I suddenly spotted that my connected via Bluetooth Logi MX Sound speakers stopped playing sounds from my PC (Windows 10 x64 Home on-board).

I checked and thinking it's temporary tried to re-connect to the speakers - to no avail.

As it did happen before in the past I just restarted PC - but to the same result.

Having spent some more time in there enabling/disabling BT radio, getting in and out of Flight Mode, restarting PC couple of times, reinstalling drivers (barely updated week+ ago!) etc. I started paying attention to the other audio devices.

I noticed exactly the same problem with (barely used) Logi H800 headset.

I then started removing & re-pairing devices - only to get the same results: device pairs seemingly okay (although it's not acknowledged this way on the device itself), and Windows 10 also seemingly initiates / completes its configuration. However it's not possible to connect to this device at all ('That didn't work. Make sure your Bluetooth device is still discoverable, then try again') and audio just does not stream.

Also, I spotted that newly paired audio devices do not appear under 'Sound, video and game controllers' within Device Manager any more, only there's entry available under 'Bluetooth' section.

All those audio devices above do pair with other equipment without any problems (I checked Android phone and another laptop for the sake of my sanity) and they do work as intended.

Here's the thing: Bluetooth does seem to work fine - I am able to send files to/from my mobile phone or work laptop. WiFi is okay as well (although I don't use it, PC is connected to router via Ethernet) - it does work and performs as expected in both bands, 2.4 & 5 GHz.

I do own Sennheiser MB Pro 1 BT headset that uses its own BTD800 transceiver & dedicated EPOS software - I do use it for work on my work laptop. I set it up on my PC and it does work flawlessly (headset is connected to BT800 rather than AC3165 though).

So having thought about it a bit more (and also having browsed quite a few inconclusive threads about it on the Internet either) I decided to bite the bullet last weekend and to restore OS to the last backup I've had - from 12/10, so just before I installed Oct CUs from Microsoft among other things, but after I updated both WiFi & BT drivers to the latest available versions (19.51.42.2 and 20.100.10.9 respectively).

And it made no difference as situation remains the same.

I did check BIOS / UEFI settings (just in case) - everything remains normal.
I also did faff with UEFI/BIOS and disabled (powered off) PCIe / M2 slot that hosts AC3165 card which resulted in both WiFi & BT hardware missing in Windows after OS restarted, obviously.
I then re-enabled this again - had to resort to complete power cycle afterwards - and to no avail: situation remains unchanged, both WiFi & BT options are present and operational, with the exception of connecting/streaming to audio devices.

Finally, I powered this PC down completely last weekend, removed power cord for half a day and just after I did it, I also ensured all residual power from PSU is lost (20 sec power button with no power plug).

No change.

My conclusions:

The fact that I reverted OS to its previous (working) state rules out any issues with corrupted OS and mishandled drivers. Also, to back that up further: issue occurred on Fri 21/10 and between 12/10 (so backup day) until 21/10 - and before, obviously, also - everything was well.

It does appear that AC3165 somehow lost ability to handle audio & streaming in some way - could failing hardware be the issue? I am obviously aware that this PC is nearly 6 years and out of support etc., but I think I still should be able to squeeze few further years of its life...

And this is my query: how do I check & verify 100% that this is the case so I can order replacement (either another AC3165, or AC9260, or AX200 - having read HP forums it appears that any of them latter ones will also work fine) with clear head & conscience - don't have a problem replacing it etc.? Could anyone advise me on this? Any ideas appreciated.

Many thanks as always,

Tad

 

[shura]

I am having a similar issue described here and it appears to me that my BT adapter operates in some sort of a power-saving mode. I tried connecting a BT dongle (which works happily on another computer) and it has the same issues, which suggests like a software issue with Win10 in my case.
What happens if you move your laptop right next to the speakers?

 

[krzemien]

Ah, interesting, many thanks for this angle.

I can definitely rule-out any BT device driver or OS issues as I effectiveley restored OS from backup made only 10 days or so earlier.

Also, I can see quite a alot of other BT (my neighbour's for instance) devices around me on this PC - matching what I see on my other laptop, or phone.

Finally, BT seems working otherwise fine where file transfer and such are taken into account. It's just audio connection that went pop.

But your take is an interesting one indeed, and I just (very quickly) found this:

Redirecting

Will check it later when I'm back at home.

 

[shura]

Mine also started seeing more devices (especially nearby), but no normal operation. Thanks for the suggested workaround, but I've seen it before and sadly I don't have anything BT-related under HID.

 

[krzemien]

OK, so checked the above and equally - and unsurprisingly either as I did un-pair all LE Bluetooth devices earlier - there's nothing for me to see there.

I did also play with Bluetooth Tools that I came across whilst browsing earlier in the week - and with the same (meagre) result.

I decided to power whole card (i.e. 3165, so including WiFi) off via Slot Security option in UEFI and try again within a week or so and see if it helps?

Otherwise it does look to me that I need to source a replacement if I want to have Audio present via BT...

 

[shura]

Yeah, a "high-power" USB BT adapter is what I went for. Whatever windows does to the power settings, it is doing it to this adapter as well, but the range is now sufficient. The original BT adapter works fine under live Linux, so this is clearly an issue with the Windows power schemes, but at this point I lost all patience trying to fix it on the OS side.

 

[krzemien]

Righto, so there's an update - and the rub:

I decided to take my chances and just bought OEM AX200NGW card from the seller that supports returns (in case I witness issues).

I eventually replaced AC3165 with this card an hour ago or so - was not really in a mood of doing it even though it takes only 15 minutes or so of my time (knew how to access the MoBo / remove graphics card and retrofit it all later as I removed it before when I upgraded by PC with NVMe drive which necessitated the same) - and with the positive result, i.e. PC does see the card and upon the OS being loaded Intel's tool (IDSA) told me there are updated drivers for both WiFi and Bluetooth available (as they apparently were released only couple of days ago): 22.180.0.2(4).

So far so good, got this sorted, restarted PC etc. - and all is well. Almost.

Alas, the problem I originally faced remains, i.e. I am still unable to connect / stream to audio devices even though Bluetooth as such remains entirely operational: can pair devices, send data across etc. Just the audio streaming part remains knackered.

As the above procedure rules out any hardware issues clearly, and I thought that by doing the OS restore from backup - see my earlier post - I ruled out OS issues either. I am literally back to square one as am not sure what and how to troubleshoot further as I remain genuinely puzzled what could be the culprit here.

So, any ideas?

 

[elimega00]

krzemien, I ran into what seems to be your exact issue. I see the same message when connecting to Bluetooth audio devices

"That didn't work. Make sure your Bluetooth device is still discoverable, then try again."

I noticed this issue when I swapped the SSD in my laptop for a new SSD. I tried disconnecting and re-connecting my device, installing different bt drivers, and eventually reinstalling windows. I only got Bluetooth to function in two cases: first when I swapped back in my old SSD, and second when I made a dual boot of Ubuntu on the new drive.

I also looked into the Bluetooth Test Platform after seeing you mention it, I did see that you could set it up without external hardware but I had difficulty implementing it.

Windows is definitely partially at fault given the Bluetooth works on Ubuntu. My new SSD interacting with Windows may also be at fault as these issues started with its installation. The drive itself is fine given BT worked on it in Ubuntu.

 

[krzemien]

Thanks very much for your input.

To summarise at this stage:

1. It's definitely not a hardware fault as AC3165 and AX200 behave in the same way
2. It's definitely not an OS corruption either, as I did restore using backup to the time (t-10 days) when all was well.

With regards to the point 2 however... I did restore just an OS partition, not the whole drive (i.e. BOOT & UEFI paritions were left intact). In the view of your response above I do start wondering if there's a dependency there...? But why?

As this small riddle really itches me now, I aim to get to the bottom of it... Luckily I do have work laptop that's fitted with similar hardware (AX201), so probably painful exercise is upon me now...

 

[krzemien]

So just to finish this off and update you all, definitely for those who encounter the same problem, and also for posterity…

TL;DR

After looking into this problem further based on the fact, that swapping hardware did not really change the situation, I ultimately established couple of weeks later, that the issue I’ve encountered sits with Windows and its Bluetooth stack (audio streaming part really) which must have got damaged by couple of unsuccessful monthly CUs that I’ve also had bumped into in previous months/years.

Ultimate repair install (so-called: In-place Upgrade, so re-installation of the OS without having to reinstall anything else, settings intact etc.) has fixed this problem and all is now well.

Details

I was understandably a bit gobsmacked with all the above to date.
To re-cap: OS restore to the date/time when Bluetooth audio streaming was fully operational – so couple of weeks prior – as well as hardware upgrade (adapter migration, from AC3165 to AX200) gave me the same results: Bluetooth itself remained operational per se, i.e. I could have paired devices, exchanged data etc., but audio streaming was stubbornly not.
I then started suspecting something unhealthy back on the software front (=device driver), related to streaming audio itself. Having a work laptop aside with similar hardware on-board (AX201), I began like-for-like comparison of what I can see in Device Manager.

I confirmed that all key components related to hardware/software installation were okay – so Intel’s drivers were definitely installed fine.

I was obviously unable to locate Bluetooth Audio devices, but I found within Other Devices section couple of them related to Bluetooth which I could not have seen on the work laptop. I started looking further and what attracted by attention were A2DP and AVRCP Transport components (signified by missing references to A2DP and BthHfAud drivers), clearly missing within my home PC (I used Driver View). These drivers are supplied by Microsoft and form part of OS.

Subsequently, by comparing IDs of relevant devices within Registry and some hit & miss game I was ultimately able to manually install relevant drivers for these Other Devices and get to the point, where I was able to connect successfully to the audio device – also marked as such by the audio device itself – but no audio was being heard.

That has further proved that audio streaming part of Bluetooth stack must have got somehow damaged, and also sometime earlier than late Oct. I am guessing – but only guessing – my experiences with unsuccessful monthly CU deployments as documented all here contributed to this very issue:

KB5014699 Windows 10 19042.1766, 19043.1766, 19044.1766

[SOLVED] - Windows 10 - KB5007186 (Nov CU) ends up with 0xe0000100

[SOLVED] - Windows 10 - Updates since KB4512508 (Aug CU) end up with 0xe0000100

(Please note that – interestingly – files that got knackered were actually BT-related!)

I am also guessing that damage must have occurred relatively recently – probably upon the latest occurrence, in Jun 2022, otherwise this problem would have surfaced much sooner. Also, back in Jun I actually tried to revert changes using System Restore – in vain though, should have used OS image really, as OS got stuck @ Restoring Registry stage from which I had to restart it by hard power down. Which is exactly what may have damaged these components.

So to sum up, what has taken place probably is this: the damage to Bluetooth audio streaming stack must have happened in Jun during CU unsuccessful deployment and my subsequent mop-up exercise to revert & resolve; the resulting instability was not visible & known until I possibly and very likely – my new work laptop is only few months old – tried to connect to / pair with new audio device and that has resulted in this part of OS suddenly stopping working late in Oct.



I then paused – life’s too short for any such further manual experiments at this stage – and after some thinking decided to resort to the option I really didn’t like, which was repair install, or – as it’s known – In-place Upgrade, so re-installation of the OS without having to reinstall anything else, settings intact. The other option I’ve had was to revert to Apr OS image, but then I had no guarantee that the above damage was not inflicted sooner (so would have achieved nothing and wasted another evening or so). Also, having to upgrade quite a few programs and thinking very carefully what I installed since then would also be a bit of a challenge.

And so, come one evening late Nov, and few hours later all is well and I’m sorted, and despite me having lost ca. 1 month worth of updates to OS and various other software, and having to go through re-indexing of all my contents, and other minor boring nuances as a result of this operation.

Please finally note that any usual OS repair methods: DISM or SFC are pointless and to no avail. Why is this the case? That’s possibly story for another occasion.

I hope someone will find the above useful – meanwhile will mark this thread as resolved.

I will also update other forums I sought information from (TenForums, Intel, HP) accordingly.