I've been having some annoyances which seem to stem from somehow any BT use in this laptop causing it to lag sometimes like it's competing in the latency olympics, and strange interactions like it not allowing me to pair any bluetooth game controller if I have a wireless headset paired (it just errors out every time), but the reverse not being true, so I can pair them if I do it in the right order, but have to unpair both if the game controller disconnects for some reason. :/
Ah, too bad there aren't any fixes listed for Bluetooth. I've been having all kinds of issues with device pairing and, once paired, connections dropping. I also suspect Bluetooth (or rather, searches for nonexistent BT input devices) to be the cause of very long delays when resuming from hibernation.
Your last sentence is exactly what I was thinking. The problem with BT isn't necessarily on the kernel's bluetooth driver. The spec is buggy and also a lot of makers of bluetooth devices don't implement the spec properly. But the spec itself isn't spectacular to begin with.
I think the primary culprit is the power management on both the host and client
I have an MX Master and a K380. The MX Master has a noticeable lag in Bluetooth and both will have a noticable delay when first used after a period of inactivity before springing to life. The K380 seems to have a key buffer to mitigate the delay.
If however I have my Bluetooth headphones powered on and active to the host, keeping the bt radio active, most of the issues go away.
I'm always surprised whenever these Bluetooth issues come up. The best Bluetooth experience I've had is with Linux, by far.
I have a BT keyboard (keychron), mouse (mx master 3s) and two headphones. They've all always connected instantly under Linux.
The headsets can use LDAC and aptx HD, which are both unsupported under Windows but work perfectly under Linux.
The mouse has noticeable lag under Windows, while under Linux it's indistinguishable from its wireless (non-BT) dongle. Installing the Logitech app and drivers doesn't change anything.
The keyboard and headphones usually take a while to connect under windows.
Except for the mouse, I've had these same peripherals on multiple PCs, all with Intel wireless cards, and all have exhibited the same difference in behavior between Windows and Linux.
> I had to download a third party tweaker app to disable a sound output device that I didn't want to use.
This is weird, I can disable any and all sound peripherals from the pulse audio control panel. I don't use ubuntu, though, so not sure what its default apps are.
I've had issues with a non-bluetooth wireless keyboard when plugging the receiver into my laptop directly which go away when it's connected via a USB hub a little distance away, which makes me think the laptop itself is causing interference.
I've experienced Bluetooth issues like that before on Windows. 100% of the time it's been solved by using a better Bluetooth adapter. I don't have any issues after using actually good Bluetooth adapters, such as modern Intel ones.
i have this issue with my logitech mx master 3s. horrible lag on bluetooth, completely resolved with the dongle. there's definitely something worth fixing here.
BT runs into congestion issues quite often in my experience. I’ve experienced connectivity issues in areas where there are a lot of wireless networks.
Considering that WiFi and Bluetooth both run at near 2.4GHz - I’d assume that areas with a lot of wireless networks could (and have in my experience) interfere with BT.
This wasn’t limited to 1 set of devices though. Tried it with my AirPods and a pair of NC Sennheiser headphones. Both cause issues when walking into busy (in terms of WiFi) areas.
Your experience is NOT typical. I have had random connectivity issues with every single Bluetooth device I have ever used.
My biggest complaint is bluetooth gamepads. They simply never work right for me... always registering phantom presses or just none at all. I always have to hold it above my head for it to work right which is unusable.
My biggest complaint with BT is it sometimes connects to the wrong device so I have to do a little song and dance to connect it. Wires don’t have this issue.
My second biggest complaint was audio lag but that’s less of an issue now. Of course wires never had this issue.
I experience this also, turns out the bluetooth was trying to detect keyboards and mouse even after I turned it off and explicitly turn off all bluetooth on startup options.
Can confirm, my god how terrible BT support can be.
So much for things working on older laptops, my 6ish years old Asus as some weird Intel BT chip that has completely broken drivers on Ubuntu. Not as in that they can't be built or installed, but the damn thing keeps fucking disconnecting and reconnecting every few seconds. It literally would've been better if they hadn't bothered.
But also like in general, at least anyone making any new protocol or standard can rest easy knowing that they cannot possibly fuck up worse than IEEE making the bluetooth spec.
Hmmm... I'm able to use my BT headset, Apple trackpad, third-party keyboard, and an old SonyEricsson mc600 all on the same MacBook Air with zero problems, other than the appallingly short battery life in the (now retired) trackpad. This is immediately next to an iMac with Apple BT keyboard and Apple BT mouse, again with zero problems.
Is it possible there's something else in your environment interfering with the BT signal? Perhaps an office with lots of other BT connections?
I've been seeing the mouse/keyboard issue at home, mostly.
But I'm reasonably sure I've also experienced the Bluetooth congestion issue in a different context. I have an old, mediocre Bluetooth head unit in my car, and it disconnects from my phone ~90% of the time I drive in traffic. Works flawlessly on back roads and the like.
I’ve had a ton issues on Windows with Bluetooth and I know it’s not the hardware because on Linux it works fine.
My Xbox Series controller is the biggest issue. For instance will not automatically reconnect when I pair it the first time and then disconnect. On the next turn on of the controller, it never finds the PC and connects. Windows then has no push for me to press to connect.
I have to delete the controller and then repair it each time. Sometimes I can’t even delete it and have to go into RegEdit and delete it. The delete button just does nothing sometimes in that menu
I seem to experience troubles like that with any kind of Bluetooth devices. E.g., sometimes they don't connect or disconnect or lag. At this point, I am suspicious of the entire Bluetooth technology. The same is with WiFi actually: it does work well most of the time but sometimes it does not (for whatever reasons, bugs? changes in environment?).
I've been having some annoyances which seem to stem from somehow any BT use in this laptop causing it to lag sometimes like it's competing in the latency olympics, and strange interactions like it not allowing me to pair any bluetooth game controller if I have a wireless headset paired (it just errors out every time), but the reverse not being true, so I can pair them if I do it in the right order, but have to unpair both if the game controller disconnects for some reason. :/
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