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 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.
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.
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?
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 !!!
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?
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?
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.
If you don’t have the power management tab, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not running XP.
I’m actually running Windows 7
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.
When my Bluetooth goes capute, there is no reference to BT in Device Mgr
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!
This worked! I did have to remove my mouse and then reconect it before it started working again.
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.
I had the same problem. I applied this solution so I will find out if this really fixes the problem but it seems promising so far. thank you!
I also had this problem, after applying these changes, I still had the issue. The device would install, and then almost immediately disappear from the devices window. I also noticed the pairing-mode LED never stopped flashing on my mouse (Sony VGP-BMS10).
I ended up uninstalling the bluetooth device from the device manager and letting it reinstall itself after a reboot. It took 20 minutes to go through windows update for all of the services, but the issue is fixed now!
Help! I can’t get it fixed. I went through the MS tech document described above and after I changed my Bluetooth Services Logon to “Local Systems Account” I can’t get it to even see the mouse at all! I changed the power management setting as described and I am more frustrated than I can say.
I am running Windows 7 32 bit and have the same mouse. I also uninstalled and reinstalled the bluetooth device. Is it possible to reset the “Bluetooth Services logon back to what it was before I switched it to Local Systems Account? I think maybe the power management setting might have fixed the problem if only I hadn’t essentially killed all bluetooth devices by changing that setting.
Thanks.
Thank you. Unchecking the “Allow the computer to turn off the device” works for me. This problem have bugged me for so long.
Also in my case I do it under the “Generic Bluetooth Adapter” instead of the “ThinkPad Bluetooth 2.1” device. My computer have no such device despite it being a ThinkPad also.
I have a new Sony Vaio laptop (Windows 7) and Logitech BT mouse, this was happening all the time. Clearing the “Power Management” checkbox as suggested above seems to have solved the problem. Thanks for the helpful tip.
It worked for me – I’ve been using rechargeable batteries for months with htis problem. Have to shake the mouse and swipe the touchpad to get the mouse to wake up. Now it stays awake nearly all the time. On Vista couldn’t find power settings to keep system from making mouse sleep. But seems to work a lot better. Thaaaaaankssss!!!!
Steve
And I dragged out my multimeter and checked some standard batteries (not rechargeable) that I thought were dead and found a few that had 1.5v on them still. Thanks again.
It was great to get this dang mouse working (was quite an investment with the NetGear dongle too). I wrestled with BT SW package failing installs for months just to get BT to load the mouse drivers. Then the intermittent connection problem made me put the BT mouse back in a drawer for a few more months. But after reading this, it’s fixed and I’ll be using it everyday.
Ehem.
Hei and thanks for this information to try to solve all of our problems 🙂
I followed the instructions and now my internal Blutooth can’t discover anything. I have been using it before to connect to my phone and other computers so I know how to work it. But when I did all of those things that you say on this website it stopped working 🙁
I tried to reverse it with no luck.
My system is Asus 1215n 12.1 inch netbook. Running windows 7 32 bit.
I tried to uninstall the Bluetooth adapter and when I restarted the computer it just installed it automatically again. But it still does not work. I can find my computer on my phone but I can’t connect to it and my phone can find and connect to my mouse so it is the computers fault somehow.
🙁
I had the same problem as Big Problem. Nothing showed up in “show bluetooth devices” even tho I had several headsets and a phone paired, even the mouse didn’t show up, although it worked. Also, could not pair to anything. Tried to reinstall several things but finally got everything back the way it was by using system restore to back up a month. I always forget about system restore when I have problems!
I just unchecked the “allow the computer to allow this device to sleep” option again to see if the problem reoccurs. So far, so good.
So far so good. I’m a bit confused since this hasn’t happend with my plantronis BT headset. Might be some odd combo of the mouse and the controllers.
the ibm /lenovo bt lasermouse is trash.
i had this mouse running in linux loosing it connection every 3 minutes or so…. this is bad.
problem also occurs in windows.
other noname bt mices wont disconnect that many. so save your money and dont buy that expensive and heavy bt mouse!
OK people stop and think your pc cannot find bluetooth devices that are not in DISCOVERY mode. If your device disaapears after doing this re-pair it with the pc.
Totally awesome! Thank you, thank you!
Thanks so much for the tip! I just bought my bluetooth mouse yesterday and I was thinking of returning it because I thought it was broken. I had the same problem with the disconnection on Windows 7. Thanks again! Hopefully mine won’t disconnect this time.
When I did it, I’ve got a new problem: new devices are not discover anymore.
Please help to solve.
Thanks.
Thanks. That did the trick (ThinkPad W510 Win7-64 and ThinkPad Bluetooth Laser Mouse).
Now if only I could figure out why the cursor jumps around (yes, I turned off the NavPad).
Peace,
Jacob
There is no Power Management tab in any bluetoothe item under device manager, and now I can no longer see any bluetooth devices after changing the Log On as suggested in the fix description.
Now what do we do ?
@davelueders: I got the same prob as you.. lost all the devices and WiFi started to act crazy.. simply go to service.msc like directed in the blog and revert log on tab back to as it was. Thats is “This account” in the text bix enter “Local Service” without the “” and in password Local Service and you’re good to go. I have a CSR usb btooth radio and do not see the power mgmt tab too in dev mgr. I however removed my a4tech btooth mouse and my Nokia e90 phone from the bluetooth devices and then reinstalled the mouse first and then the phone and both are working great so far. Hope this helps!!
@Jacob: The cursor might be jumping around because the ouse might not be designed on the surface you are using it on. It might be too dark, too white, or maybe a glass table? Try different sufaces or getting a mouse pad if you are not using one to see where the mouse works best. Hope this helps!
@Artur: The bluetooth stops discovering any and all devices by following this method in certain cases despite having all the discovery options on in bluetooth settings. (Happened to me). Solution is to revert the service log in settings to as they were. As I directed to davelueders above. Thanks!
TO EVERYONE WHO LOST BTOOTH Devices after following this method:
I’m guessing you all did not have Power Management tab under your bluetooth device in the Device Manager like me and most of you are using an external Bluetooth dongle like me. If you lost all the bluetooth devices and discovery. Just revert the Bluetooth Support service settings to as they were.
1) Press “Windows Logo” on your keyboard and type services.msc.. Press Enter or Return.
2) Find the Bluetooth Support Service in the Services window and double click it
3) Click the Log on tab
4) Click the “This Account” combo button
5) In the empty text box type: Local Service (or press browse and then type local service in the “Enter object name to select” box an press Check name.. if name is correct it will be underlined if not then type carefully again and press ok).
6) In password and confirm pword boxes type Local Service again
7) Apply and OK.
Hope this helps for everyone!!
@Sonny
I have some problem, my CSR Dogle Blutooth can’t discover MS Mouse Wireless Presenter 8000 in Windows 7 again, unfortunately I can’t restore my system back.
How to fix that problem?
Thanks
I changed only the power management setting and it worked like a charm for my Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000. It doesn’t cut out in the middle of using it like it used to. Fortunately, I haven’t seen it consume batteries any faster so that’s a plus. Thank you for the tip, been looking for a while for it. =)
Thanks a Lot!
It Solved the problem for my Laptop Too!
Dell Vostro 3450
Intel Wireless 1030 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth v3.0 Combo Card
combo WiFi/Bluetooth adapter from Broadcom
Bluetooth Combo Card
microsoft bluetooth notebook mouse 5000 Combo WiFi disconnecting
Solution:
Bluetooth Power Management Setting(In Device Manager)!
IF this worked which I won’t know until later then this is the single greatest thing to happen to me since… Linux. I never had this problem in Ubuntu and I knew it was a Windows issue not my laptop. My HP laptop has built in Bluetooth and this solution makes perfect sense. Windows 7 eats up the battery anyway I don’t know why it would try and “save battery life” by cutting bluetooth. BLUETOOTH IS IMPORTANT to my phone especially. Sometimes I don’t feel like connecting wires. One less worry when I connect my Wiimote at night.
Work fine for me, with my Mouse 5D Wireless (Bluetooth) !!
Funcionou bem pra mim com meu Mouse e uso um modulo interno bluetooth da foxconn no sony vaio
THANK YOU!
.
I had exactly the same issues of losing the mouse control.
I checked the services which were already were well customized.
The disable of the power management settings solved my problem.
Many thanks for the tip.
Thanks for the info! I too was getting sick of the mouse cutting out and was beginning to think there wasn’t a real solution. But this worked for me and now I can go back to getting my work done!
I am glad i found this thread, I was about to return my BT mouse 5000 back to Microsoft. So now I have hope that my mouse isn’t defective and some software checking can make it working good.
i just re-imaged my corporate lappy to upgrade from Vista to Win7. Thank God I bookmarked your article. I made your recommended changes in Vista and had to do the very same thing in Win7. It saved me from launching my BT mouse into orbit from the frustration. THANKS!!!
THANKS A LOT!!!!! I did this and now my Razer Orochi is working perfectly, just in case I did all the changes but I think only changing the power management option it would work, not easy to find a fix to this simple but annoying problem!!! thanks again!!!
This worked perfectly! Marry me.
WOW!!! This solution worked for me on my Microsoft 6000 Mobile Keyboard. (Which, out of gratitude for you, I’m am writing this comment.)
This not only solved the very annoying frequent disconnection problem, but it also cut the wake up lag considerably. It now only takes about 2 seconds to wake up. And now I can type fast and furiously with total confidence that my keyboard is going to keep working instead of disconnecting.
THANKS A MILLION!
Thanks a lot!
I have just bought a new mouse today and got the same problem after a little while. My bt service settings was correct, but not the power management settings.
The strange thing is that I have had my computer for almost 2 years and haven’t had any problems until now. Thought that my bt device was broken
But this solved the problem, thanks!
Thank you for the tip! It worked perfectly and has ended a long time frustration for me.
Made all the changes you suggested – wonderful because it now works perfectly. what a relief! Many thanks.
PROBLEM SOLVED! THANKS TO SONNY!
I followed the instructions, clicked restart service. Done.
I have been trying for days to get my bluetooth mouse working (Belkin comfort Mouse).
It installed, then dissappeared. Couldnt find it when trying to install again.
I read somewhere to do the opposite of what Sonny said. Which did not work.
Anyways, I just want to thank you SONNY! Lifesaver.
Thank you soooo much!
What a relief 🙂