Bluetooth Mouse Losing Connection No More!

January 21, 2010, 11:29 pm

Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

I have a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000 that I bought when I bought my new Thinkpad with built-in Bluetooth. At the time I was running 64-bit Vista and all was well. Then I upgraded to 64-bit Windows 7, and suddenly the mouse started constantly losing connection.

There was no detectable pattern. It would work fine for a while, and then start disconnecting all the time for no apparently reason. Sometimes it would not wake up after sleeping, but sometimes it would quit while I was using it. At first I got it going again by removing the mouse from the list of Bluetooth devices and then adding it back in. That took too much time. Then, by accident, I discovered that I could wake it up by opening my Bluetooth settings and toggling the checkbox “Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer”. If it was off I’d turn it on, if it was on I’d turn it off. That was faster, but still a pain.

I searched the internet and found many similar complaints, but no solutions. Several sites suggested upgrading your Bluetooth drivers. There’s no new driver for the Microsoft mouse, but I updated the Thinkpad Bluetooth drivers. No joy. Then the other day the mouse started quitting on me every few minutes and in desperation I searched again. This time I found the answer. There are two separate settings that need to be changed.

Bluetooth Support Service Setting

Part 1 of the solution is buried in this Microsoft Knowledgebase article:

Connect a Bluetooth device that does not have or require a transceiver

And I quote:

How to make sure that the Bluetooth service is started

Open the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in for Services. To do this, follow these steps.

Windows Vista or Windows 7

Click Start, copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER: services.msc

In the Programs list, click Services.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.

Windows XP

Click Start, and then click Run.

Copy and then paste (or type) the following command in the Open box, and then press ENTER: services.msc

Double-click the Bluetooth Support service.

If the Bluetooth Support service is stopped, click Start.

On the Startup type list, click Automatic.

Click the Log On tab.

Click Local System account.

Click OK.

If you prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

My log on settings were okay, but my Startup Type was set to “Manual” rather than “Automatic”. I changed it, like so:

Bluetooth Support Services Properties

Bluetooth Power Management Setting

But sadly, my problem wasn’t solved. So then I tried something else. I opened up Device Manager, expanded “Bluetooth Radios”, and double-clicked on the device to open its Properties page – not the enumerator, the device.

Double click the device (highlighted), not the enumerator

Go to the Power Management page and clear the checkbox “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. And finally, relief! No more disconnects. Apparently there is a bug in the power management of the Bluetooth driver under Windows 7.

Uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'

I can’t say for sure that the first step of making the Bluetooth Support Service automatic is necessary, or just turning off power management would fix it. It doesn’t hurt to change it to automatic so I didn’t test this. If you test it, post your results. Are both changes needed, or do you just need to turn off power management to stop losing connection?

Tags: Bluetooth, Mouse, Windows
Category: Tips for Power Users | Comment (RSS) | Trackback

11 Comments

JLPicard:

Hi and thanks for the tip!!
I also have a bluetooth mouse (It isn’t a branded one, it’s chinese….) and I had the same issue.
Actually it works even disabling only the power management setting in bluetooth device properties (I’m running Windows 7 over a Macbook with Boot Camp 3.1 drivers).
Thanks a lot !!!
February 12, 2010, 10:00 am
Sheryl Canter:

Thanks for the feedback. I suspected it was just a power management problem. I’ve noticed that the mouse still goes to sleep after a period of no use, though I turned this off in the Bluetooth settings. That means something else is implementing power management in the mouse. I suspect the two masters were conflicting with each other, and that’s what caused the problem. I don’t know where the other controller is, though. I didn’t see anything in the mouse settings. Maybe it’s in the mouse hardware itself?
February 12, 2010, 10:41 am
David Temple:

I am having the same issue on a Thinkpad x200s, but with Windows XP Service Pack 3. On XP, I don’t find a Power Management tab on the bluetooth device properties. Is there somewhere else I should look for a similar power setting?
March 4, 2010, 12:41 pm
DirtHerder:

I have the same issue as David Temple. I do not seem to have this Power Management Tab. Though I do have these issues with my bluetooth mouse. I also would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. Thanks.
March 7, 2010, 10:35 am
Sheryl Canter:

If you don’t have the power management tab, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not running XP.
March 8, 2010, 11:47 am
DirtHerder:

I’m actually running Windows 7
March 8, 2010, 11:44 pm
Sheryl Canter:

If you’re running Windows 7 on a Thinkpad (exactly what I’m running) and you don’t see the Power Management tab, then update your Thinkpad Bluetooth drivers. That’s what I did. There’s a built-in utility on the Thinkpad that searches for new drivers.
March 9, 2010, 7:48 am
John Ferguson:

When my Bluetooth goes capute, there is no reference to BT in Device Mgr
April 12, 2010, 8:51 am
ELloyd:

I had disconnection issues too and did everything that Sheryl advised above. Still no luck, in fact within 15 seconds of the mouse being installed, it uninstalled itself. The solution turned out to be very simple thanks to a very smart techno friend …… I was using rechargeable batteries in the mouse and they are only 1.2v; a bluetooth mouse requires 1.5v to drive it.
Ah, if only all problems were so simple!
July 8, 2010, 6:17 pm
Jay:

This worked! I did have to remove my mouse and then reconect it before it started working again.
July 11, 2010, 2:06 pm
gamma:

Hi Sheryl,

Thank you so much for your help – it worked for me! I was just about to return the mouse to the store when I found your article. I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit on Acer 1810T.

Once I made the service auto-start mouse started working without loosing connectivity. Prior to that, it would work fine, but go to sleep after just 1 min of inactivity. It would reconnect automatically, but only after couple of seconds of moving it around. It was unusable.

Making the service auto-start, made the other option available for unchecking – “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. Prior to that it was disabled. Go figure.

Option “Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer” is left unchecked on my machine. Hope this helps.

This mouse is almost perfect for my notebook, except for a noisy scroll wheel – especially when scrolling up. Is that something all of you guys experience or I got a lemon?

Now, does anyone know how to configure thumb button to be something else other than back. I usually set it Ctrl-F4 on my other mice. This mouse is not configurable through IntelliPoint 7.1 – it’s not even listed there so there’s no way to do it. I tried a lot of stuff to no avail. I’m looking for some registry entry. I know that are 3rd party software packages, but would like to solve this cleanly. Thanks in advance.
July 22, 2010, 2:10 am

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