Bluetooth headphones crash audio driver on windows 11

Question

When I connect my Tribit XFree Go Bluetooth headphones to my laptop, theaudio driver crashes and I'm unable to stream any videos or music online. On Youtube the error reads "Audio rendering issues, please restart device". My headphones work fine with my phone and another Win 10 laptop but are giving me serious problems with this Win 11 device. I don't hear any sounds from both the speakers and headphones. Lately, my computer does not even detect the headphones when they're connected through an audio cable. This is usually fixed by turning Bluetooth off and on again several times until the problem is fixed (in case of a wired connection, I have to replug the cable several times until the computer finally detects it). A different possibility while connecting my headphones to the computer is that the sound will play only through the speakers and not my headphones.

I've spoken with multiple MS support agents and some of the things we've tried are :

Updating audio and Bluetooth drivers, refreshing the OS, installing latest Windows updates.

Doing the former messed up my device really bad to the point that I wasn't even able to use my touchpad for days until I reinstalled a certain driver from Device Manager.

I have been trying to find a solution for this for months but I'm not sure what to do anymore. I've posted a hyperlink to a video illustrating the issue as well.

Answer 1

Good Day LataKapoor,

My name is Carlo, I am also using Windows 11 pc and community member like you. Let us work together to sort this out.

First, try to connect the Bluetooth headphones using a different device for us to check if the issue is with the computer or the Bluetooth headphones itself.

If it does the same using a different computer or device means that the Bluetooth headphones is faulty.

If the Bluetooth headphones works using a different device proceed with the steps below.

-Go to Settings

-Click System

-Click Troubleshoot then “additional troubleshooter

-Look for Bluetooth , click it and run the troubleshooter.

Once done proceed with these steps.

-Press Windows Key + R

-Type Services.msc and hit enter

-Look for "Bluetooth Support Service"

-Set it to start then Automatic.

-Go to Device Manager

-Expand the Bluetooth

-Look for Bluetooth driver that was installed

-Right click and Update

-Look for "Browse my computer for driver

-Let me pick drivers available drivers

-Choose an old driver and use it.

Restart your device, then check the Bluetooth headphone

if issue persist, let's download and install the Bluetooth

What is the exact model of your computer for me to check.

To check the system model proceed with these steps.

-Press Windows key + R

-Type msinfo32 and hit enter.

-Look for the System Model and manufacturer and post it here.

Have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe.

Sincerely,

Carlo T.

Answer 2

Hello Carlo, like I said in the post, my headphones work fine when connected to my phone and another win 10 laptop.

I tried running the bluetooth troubleshooter but when my headphones were connected to the device, the videos playing in the background crashed as usual.

I've tried downloading the latest audio driver from the device manufacturer's site (Dell) but when I installed it, it caused a lot of problems in my laptop- it rendered the touchpad useless, windows would open and close on their own and I could barely work on it. I finally had to schedule an on-site repair service with a Dell engineer to make my device usable again.

Anything else you'd like me to try?

Answer 3

I'm experiencing the same issue using the Bose QC32 II.

On a fresh boot, I let my headphones connect and everything works just fine. I go into a meeting (either Teams or Google Meet).

In the meeting software, I use the "Communications" device so I can use built-in microphone in the headset.

If - after the meeting - I don't play any audio for several minutes, the audio driver crashes completely and I am forced to restart my device.

It seems consistently happening when either:

• Toggling bluetooth devices on the same physical device (communication vs default output)
• Not playing audio for several minutes after having used the bluetooth headset.

It happens sporadically when disconnecting the headset after being silent for a while, then reconnecting it. It's about 50/50 chance for it to work.

I'm running Windows 11. Latest updates are installed, as well as original drivers.