Please tell me how to make the Bluetooth on my PC work better

[grommet]

Hello,

My Apple AirPods Pro work very badly with my PC. The audio is scratchy, plays for about ten seconds then cuts out. My Bluetooth mouse and keyboard work fine. I have a Bluetooth USB dongle plugged in. If I unplug it no Bluetooth device will work. I think my PC has built in Bluetooth, I saw something called Bluetooth Radio. Maybe it does not have it built in, I do not know about PCs so I cannot check.

The Bluetooth driver is up to date though it it says it is from 2008.

Why are the Airpod Pros working so badly with my PC? Does my PC have built in Bluetooth? Is there something I can do? The PC has the same problem with Bluetooth speakers, they get very scratchy then barely work.

Thank you if you can help.

 

[saturnv]

Did your motherboard come with an antenna that can be screwed on the back by the ports? I had similar problems with bluetooth once due to not attaching the antenna.

 

[Judge]

If your motherboard has Bluetooth built-in, it may conflict with using an external USB dongle for Bluetooth.

Personally tbh I've tried to avoid Bluetooth like the plague for years! Too many problems....

 

[Raggamuffin]

Your Bluetooth devices will interfere with each other.

When I listen to music on my headphones, if I then connect my xbox controller it does the same thing as you.

Ed

 

[Outdated]

Your Bluetooth devices will interfere with each other.

This happens with standard wireless devices too. I have friends that have 3 computers in the house and they bought wireless keyboard and mouse sets for all three of them. They all interfered with each other. Now they us a wireless set for the lounge room entertainment computer and the others are all wired.

 

[Judge]

This happens with standard wireless devices too. I have friends that have 3 computers in the house and they bought wireless keyboard and mouse sets for all three of them. They all interfered with each other. Now they us a wireless set for the lounge room entertainment computer and the others are all wired.

Good reasons for using Ethernet rather than wireless, apart from refraining from using Bluetooth technology altogether. But consumers crave convenience, so they're willing to struggle with such things.

Though another thing to consider is optimizing one's 2.4Ghz band, for which so many peripheral devices may still use. Making sure not to use an overlapping channel. (Choose channel 1, 6 or 11 for your router.)

 

[MildredHubble]

If your Bluetooth device driver is from 2008 that might indicate that it's working with a very old iteration of the Bluetooth protocol. 2008 is likely Bluetooth 2.0 and as far as I know we are now at Bluetooth 5.0 as well as a few new features that have been introduced to improve reliability with things like headphones.

It's possible your pc motherboard may have some sort of Bluetooth built in that may be more up to date and work more reliably with your apple headphones. But if it doesn't, you can get Bluetooth 5.0 dongles very cheap from Amazon etc.

I had a couple of Bluetooth 2.0 dongles and they were just awful. I used to pair up my headphones and they would just constantly drop out or need to be re-paired with the computer. Bluetooth keyboards and mice were horrendously unreliable. Bluetooth 3.0 was much better but still quite flakey. I've been using a Bluetooth 5.0 dongle this last year and it's been vastly better than the older ones I've had.

I can't guarantee a Bluetooth 5.0 dongle will fix your problem, but it's worth a try, and you can often pick them up for around $5 on Amazon.

 

[grommet]

Did your motherboard come with an antenna that can be screwed on the back by the ports? I had similar problems with bluetooth once due to not attaching the antenna.

I cannot remember. It has been so long.

 

[grommet]

If your motherboard has Bluetooth built-in, it may conflict with using an external USB dongle for Bluetooth.

Personally tbh I've tried to avoid Bluetooth like the plague for years! Too many problems....

It is the only option if I want to use Apple AirPods with the PC. How do I know if they are conflicting? I still am not certain it has built-in Bluetooth but I think it does. But when I remove the dongle no Bluetooth works so maybe that means it does not.

 

[grommet]

Your Bluetooth devices will interfere with each other.

When I listen to music on my headphones, if I then connect my xbox controller it does the same thing as you.

Ed

Hm. Do you have a suggestion for making it work? There are VR headsets that do not have audio or have poor audio and I wanted to use the AirPods. I think there must be a way. I would get something if I needed to install something to fix it.

 

[grommet]

If your Bluetooth device driver is from 2008 that might indicate that it's working with a very old iteration of the Bluetooth protocol. 2008 is likely Bluetooth 2.0 and as far as I know we are now at Bluetooth 5.0 as well as a few new features that have been introduced to improve reliability with things like headphones.

It's possible your pc motherboard may have some sort of Bluetooth built in that may be more up to date and work more reliably with your apple headphones. But if it doesn't, you can get Bluetooth 5.0 dongles very cheap from Amazon etc.

I had a couple of Bluetooth 2.0 dongles and they were just awful. I used to pair up my headphones and they would just constantly drop out or need to be re-paired with the computer. Bluetooth keyboards and mice were horrendously unreliable. Bluetooth 3.0 was much better but still quite flakey. I've been using a Bluetooth 5.0 dongle this last year and it's been vastly better than the older ones I've had.

I can't guarantee a Bluetooth 5.0 dongle will fix your problem, but it's worth a try, and you can often pick them up for around $5 on Amazon.

I have Bluetooth dongles, how do I know which one they are? I would get a Bluetooth 5.0 if I had to. The PC is about two years old and was pretty fast, I am surprised the driver for the built-in Bluetooth (if it has it) is from 2008. I want to find a way to use my Apple AirPod Pros with it so I have the best audio. Right now no Bluetooth audio works with it. Speakers crackle and fail just like the AirPods.

 

[Outdated]

I still am not certain it has built-in Bluetooth but I think it does.

If it does you would have always had a little BlueTooth connect icon in the bottom right of the taskbar next to the clock, sound, wifi, and other such icons in Windows, I don't know where those things show in Mac.

If that's not the case then it may still have built in BlueTooth but Windows hasn't loaded a driver for it. Device Manager will give you that information. But that's irrelevant to the current issue because if a driver isn't loaded then it's not running and can't cause a conflict.

Like any other type of wireless devices come with a limited range of set frequencies they can use, and if more than one device is using the same frequency there's going to be problems. A good way to look at it is when remote control enthusiasts get together for a meet, boats cars or planes, and they all have to talk to each other and check what frequencies each other are using before they can start or they'll have crashes.

It could be many things causing interference, one quick and easy one to test would be to try turning off BlueTooth on your phone.

 

[grommet]

If it does you would have always had a little BlueTooth connect icon in the bottom right of the taskbar next to the clock, sound, wifi, and other such icons in Windows, I don't know where those things show in Mac.

If that's not the case then it may still have built in BlueTooth but Windows hasn't loaded a driver for it. Device Manager will give you that information. But that's irrelevant to the current issue because if a driver isn't loaded then it's not running and can't cause a conflict.

Like any other type of wireless devices come with a limited range of set frequencies they can use, and if more than one device is using the same frequency there's going to be problems. A good way to look at it is when remote control enthusiasts get together for a meet, boats cars or planes, and they all have to talk to each other and check what frequencies each other are using before they can start or they'll have crashes.

It could be many things causing interference, one quick and easy one to test would be to try turning off BlueTooth on your phone.

Thank you for helping. You said a lot and I had some trouble following so I will repeat what I think you said. I have both PC and Mac but this is on my PC.

I think you said if I have Bluetooth the icon would appear in the taskbar. I can check there. But when I remove the dongle my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse do not work. I would be glad to use wired for both of them if it mean the AirPods would work.

I am not sure what you were saying about the driver. I talked with ChatGPT and it showed me how to look for built-in Bluetooth and check the driver. I do not know if I did it right but it seemed to show it did have it built in and when I checked the driver it said 2008.

My iPhone is connected to my PC but I could turn its Bluetooth off. I would make all the changes if it would make the Bluetooth audio work. I also have iPads and they have Bluetooth turned on.

I want to use AirPods Pro because the audio is better but also they cancel the noise where I live which is very bad. That is why I hope to use them.

I am comfortable working on my PC and making hardware changes if I need to, I just need to learn what to do. It is an ATX case, so there is lots of room to reach everything and a removable glass side panel.

 

[Outdated]

I do not know if I did it right but it seemed to show it did have it built in and when I checked the driver it said 2008.

This might be what's causing your problem, that's a very old bluetooth, 2008. In your Device Manager you should be able to "Disable this device". I hope that turns out to be what's wrong.

I'm about to go down a similar path as you. I recently bought a nice set of noise cancelling earphones for when the rest of the world gets annoying. The Bose Quiet Comfort 45, got them cheap just before Christmas. They only connect by wire or by BlueTooth. At the moment I've got them physically plugged in to my computer but I've got one of those BlueTooth dongles on it's way in the mail.

 

[Judge]

It is the only option if I want to use Apple AirPods with the PC. How do I know if they are conflicting? I still am not certain it has built-in Bluetooth but I think it does. But when I remove the dongle no Bluetooth works so maybe that means it does not.

Logical deduction. As @Outdated says above, disengage the onboard Bluetooth service within your device manager first. Then see if the plug n play will acknowledge the Bluetooth dongle. You definitely do not want both devices and drivers operating at the same time.

 

[grommet]

This might be what's causing your problem, that's a very old bluetooth, 2008. In your Device Manager you should be able to "Disable this device". I hope that turns out to be what's wrong.

I'm about to go down a similar path as you. I recently bought a nice set of noise cancelling earphones for when the rest of the world gets annoying. The Bose Quiet Comfort 45, got them cheap just before Christmas. They only connect by wire or by BlueTooth. At the moment I've got them physically plugged in to my computer but I've got one of those BlueTooth dongles on it's way in the mail.

That is an interesting thing to try, to disable the built-in Bluetooth and see if the problem is solved. That would be great. It has not made sense to me that the audio is so poor. The wireless keyboard and mouse work great, no problems. Maybe audio is a different process in some way. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[grommet]

Logical deduction. As @Outdated says above, disengage the onboard Bluetooth service within your device manager first. Then see if the plug n play will acknowledge the Bluetooth dongle. You definitely do not want both devices and drivers operating at the same time.

It always recognizes the Bluetooth dongle, that has not been a problem. the wireless keyboard and mouse seem to work perfectly. But any audio through Bluetooth is very bad. Static and cracks then it stops working at all after a few seconds. It is like this with both Bluetooth speakers and earbuds.

 

[Judge]

It always recognizes the Bluetooth dongle, that has not been a problem. the wireless keyboard and mouse seem to work perfectly. But any audio through Bluetooth is very bad. Static and cracks then it stops working at all after a few seconds. It is like this with both Bluetooth speakers and earbuds.

It's not a matter of whether or not your system recognizes either device or even both. It's that you don't want both drivers to be operating at the same time. Can you absolutely determine that only one driver is running at any given time?

You should also consider that such interference may actually pertain to something beyond your computer if all this is operating within the 2.4 Ghz band. You might also want to improve your router's signal strength if possible. Moving it closer to your computer, going through as few walls as possible, and using a better channel. You might also download "Matt Hafner's WiFi Analyzer" program that examines the signals of not only your router, but those around you. One of the few useful things I ever downloaded from the Microsoft Store when I was still running wireless- and Windows.

Bottom line is that there are a lot of wireless considerations that can interfere with Bluetooth. Wireless is great when it runs optimally. But if not, there's a lot to learn about optimizing it depending on your circumstances. Sometimes everything may seem ok right up to when one device fails or runs poorly.

More things to consider- read this article:

https://www.headphonesty.com/2021/01/bluetooth-interference/

 

[grommet]

It's not a matter of whether or not your system recognizes either device or even both. It's that you don't want both drivers to be operating at the same time. Can you absolutely determine that only one driver is running at any given time?

You should also consider that such interference may actually pertain to something beyond your computer if all this is operating within the 2.4 Ghz band. You might also want to improve your router's signal strength if possible. Moving it closer to your computer, going through as few walls as possible, and using a better channel. You might also download "Matt Hafner's WiFi Analyzer" program that examines the signals of not only your router, but those around you. One of the few useful things I ever downloaded from the Microsoft Store when I was still running wireless- and Windows.

Bottom line is that there are a lot of wireless considerations that can interfere with Bluetooth. Wireless is great when it runs optimally. But if not, there's a lot to learn about optimizing it depending on your circumstances. Sometimes everything may seem ok right up to when one device fails or runs poorly.

More things to consider- read this article:

https://www.headphonesty.com/2021/01/bluetooth-interference/

I do not know how to see if drivers are running so I cannot determine if both Bluetooth drivers are running at the same time.

I do not know about interference, I have many Bluetooth devices. My router sits against my PC, very close. It operates in two bands, 2.4 and the higher one.

I will think about using the program you told me to. Right now I do not know enough to do things like that but a while ago I did not know how to build a PC and now I feel comfortable doing it so maybe I could learn.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Judge]

I do not know how to see if drivers are running so I cannot determine if both Bluetooth drivers are running at the same time.

I do not know about interference, I have many Bluetooth devices. My router sits against my PC, very close. It operates in two bands, 2.4 and the higher one.

I will think about using the program you told me to. Right now I do not know enough to do things like that but a while ago I did not know how to build a PC and now I feel comfortable doing it so maybe I could learn.

Thank you for your help.

You have to go into the Windows device manager, locate your internal Bluetooth device and disable or turn it off.

If your router is that close to your computer, it probably isn't the source of the problem. Stick to isolating your Bluetooth devices to use only one that works.