Connection problems: Bluetooth Beats Headphones keep disconnecting and reconnecting on my laptop whenever I play a video and my Kootek cooling pad doesn't shut off whenever I put my laptop to sleep

So after more than a week of troubleshooting every option I could think of and was advised to pursue, calling both Dell and Apple tech support, even nearing the options of a total system wipe after trying repair points, going to an Apple store in person and bringing both my old and new laptops with me along with my Beats headphones and several video recordings just to provide better visualization of my problem, I was able to scrounge up old Bluetooth devices to test on my new laptop, a mouse and a radio which both worked fine, isolated the problem to my Studio3 Wireless Headphones, and both Dell and Apple told me that, "I did nothing wrong on my end and this is likely a manufacturing problem with the Bluetooth chipset compatibility in the Dell laptops, older headphones will likely not work with the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus". And per both their advice, I had no choice but to spend $400 on a newer Beats headphones, Studio Pro, just to get basic audio functionality through Bluetooth.

Now granted I still hear my new Beats Studio Pro disconnect sometimes, it isn't nearly as often as with my Studio3 Wireless headphones, it's actually far rarer, they don't buffer the video at all, and they reconnect immediately and automatically. I guess, on some level, I can actually work with them on my new laptop with out too much of a hassle.

In any case, this entire troubleshooting experience has been thoroughly unpleasant and I'm incredibly disappointed at the laptop manufacturers for this excruciatingly infuriating oversight.

Hi, mrw1_yr

Thanks for your reply!

I used to have a laptop that had various problems connecting to my Apple Bluetooth headset, but it connected fine on the new PC, so I can empathize with your situation.

Due to the difference in Bluetooth protocols, unlike mobile phones, the compatibility of Bluetooth hardware in computers often has various problems, and these problems do bring a bad experience to users. As support staff of the Microsoft community, we will try our best to solve Bluetooth problems involved in Windows systems for users, but if the problem involves Bluetooth hardware, this often requires the cooperation of computer manufacturers.

If you encounter other problems in the future, you are welcome to contact us at any time.

Best Regards

Nicholas.Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi, mrw1_yr

Thanks for your reply!

About your headphones:

If the problem persists after trying the new Bluetooth driver, you can also try to download the old version of the Bluetooth driver and try again.

If the problem still exists, it may be related to the compatibility of your Bluetooth device. It is recommended that you try to use an external Bluetooth device, or contact Dell and Apple to inquire about the compatibility of Beats headphones.

About your cooling pad:

The settings for USB power supply are related to the computer manufacturer and computer model. Most manufacturers will have their own power management control software. And as you said, this is because your new laptop has a setting to power USB devices during sleep time, so your cooling pad will continue to run during the computer sleep period. You can also consult Dell for relevant information about USB power supply, or whether there is Dell's additional official control software to set this.

If you have any progress, you are welcome to contact us at any time.

Best Regards

Nicholas.Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

So I tried all of those suggestions yet these problems are still occurring for both my Beats headphones and my Kootek cooling pad.

I initially had it set to "Hibernate" to see if the cooling pad would turn off then but it still didn't work. When I put it back to "Sleep", even after doing all that, that still really hasn't changed anything.

For my Beats headphones, I tried going on the Dell website to find the latest Bluetooth driver for my laptop and downloaded that, but it still didn't change anything with the connection issues with my Beats headphones.

I also can't say for sure if this is the case with other Bluetooth devices because my Beats headphones are the only device I use for Bluetooth. I don't know if there is any electromagnetic wave interference or anything similar. I have antistatic mat but I don't know if that really affects things.
I'm not sure how a wi-fi router affects things. I've always had a wi-fi router when I was still using my previous laptop, my Dell Inspiron 13, and I never had any problems with my Beats disconnecting and reconnecting every time I watch a different video.

For my Kootek pad, the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" was already checked when I found it. I turned it off then back on again, but that didn't appear to do anything.

Also, I'm not sure I followed option II properly because there was a "Change Plan Settings" instead of a "Change Program Settings". Also, there was no "USB Settings option" and no "USB Selective Suspend Settings".
The only option that had "Enable" was "Sleep" > "Allow wake timers". I disabled then enabled both options under "Allow wake timers" but that still didn't resolve things.

I also don't think I see any "power save" mode on my Dell Inspiron 16 Plus in Windows 11. Someone else told me that they assume my old laptop had a power saving function to stop using power while in sleep but new laptops should be able to power my cooling fan pad. Not sure if that's what is causing it but I don't think I see any specific "power save" mode on my Dell Inspiron 16 Plus.

The only things I haven't tried are calling both Dell and Apple support about this.

Hi, mrw1_yr

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

We understand that you are experiencing issues related to your Bluetooth headphones as well as your laptop cooling pad.  **-Relating to the issue where your Bluetooth Beats would intermittently connect:Do you experience this problem when your computer is connected to other Bluetooth headsets?Bluetooth headsets don't work the same way on the computer side of the connection as they do on the cell phone side due to the protocol, so sometimes there are Bluetooth compatibility issues, which are often related to the computer Bluetooth driver as well as the headset driver.I noticed that you have already tried to reinstall the headset driver, so I suggest that you can visit the Dell website and try to connect again after re-downloading the Bluetooth driver that matches your device model.-You can try different versions of the Bluetooth driver separately and try again (because the compatibility of different versions of the driver is also different).Note: Please be sure to download the driver from Dell's official website, please do not use other third-party software to download the driver.In addition, please check whether there is any electromagnetic wave interference of similar frequency in your neighborhood, such as wireless network router.If the problem still occurs, it may be related to Beats headset compatibility, you can also contact the official headset support.-Problems with your Kootek Cooling Pad not turning off during sleep:**This could be related to your computer's sleep settings.Is your computer sleeping with the screen closed? Is your cooling pad connected via the USB port?Suggest you can check if USB hookup is on:I. Device Manager Settings1. Press Win + X hotkeys and select Device Manager from the context menu.2. Double-click the Universal Serial Bus Controller node.3. Right-click on any Universal USB Hub or USB Root Hub driver and select Properties.4. Switch to the Power Management tab and check the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option. Then, click OK to save the changes.II. Power Options Settings1. Press Win to open the Start menu, type Control panel search bar in the window, and then press Enter.2. Navigate to System and Security > Power Options > Change Program Settings.3. Click the Change advanced power settings option.4. Double-click the USB Settings option, and then expand USB Selective Suspend Settings.5. Select Enable for both the Use battery and Plug in options.6. Click Apply > OK to save the changes.Additionally, if your computer has its own power mode management software, you can set your computer to "power save" mode when you need to sleep and see if the cooling pads are still off!You can also check if there are any USB device related settings in the software.If that doesn't work, the setting for the USB port during sleep may be related to the Bios settings, and since the Bios settings and how to access them vary by computer manufacturer, you can try contacting Dell officials to inquire about the settings.If you have any progress, you are welcome to contact us anytime.

Best Regards

Nicholas.Z - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist