Bluetooth spontaneously disappeared

[kawiah]

Hi folks,

My bluetooth spontaneously vanished in the middle of my work. I can no longer connect my bluetooth mouse or other bluetooth devices.

The Bluetooth ON/OFF switch is absent in settings:

Bluetooth is also missing in the Device Manager:

So far, here is how I have tried to troubleshoot (none have worked):

1) Unplug everything (secondary monitor via HDMI, external speaker, and USB memory sticks) and restart the PC
2) Scan for hardware changes in the device manage (did not make the bluetooth come back)
3) Device Manager > Action > Add legacy hardware. Manual install. Could not identify anything that contained the term "bluetooth" to try to reinstall.
4) System Restore. The PC has been reset to 4 days ago.
5) Download a bluetooth driver from the Windows website to install. I received a message like, "Installation ended prematuraly because there is already a newer version of this driver installed."

Please help! I need assistance ASAP to be able to continue my full-time job with my equipment. Thanks!

 

[Wolfie]

Hi kawiah,

what version of W10 do you currently have?.

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/how-to-upgrade-windows-10-to-the-latest-version.13015/

 

[kawiah]

I have Windows 10 and it is updated.

 

[Wolfie]

What version?.

 

[kawiah]

What version?.

System Info says:

Version 10.0.15063 Build 15063

 

[Wolfie]

You are 2 versions behind (current version = 1703), you need to upgrade first before fixing your current problem!. (See the link I posted above about upgrading!).

 

[Saltgrass]

From my experience, when a device does not show up in device manager, it may be failing. You may be able to see it if you use the hidden devices view option in Device Manger. If it is greyed out that means drivers are installed but the device is not currently connected.

You can try, if your system allows, disabling the Bluetooth in the Bios. Then boot a couple of times without it then re-enable to see if it comes back. Hard to know for sure if a hardware failure is involved or an update like the one we had on Tuesday.

If you can't get it back, the options would be replacing the device if your system allows or using an external Bluetooth dongle.

Is your Wi-Fi working normally?