Bluetooth fails to find old devices after upgrading hardware

Question

Bluetooth fails to find old devices after upgrading hardware

IridusKnight 0

I upgraded my new PC to an ASRock 850m pro rs Wifi with a built in Bluetooth adapter. I connected my old drive to the new PC, and the paired devices were still in the Bluetooth settings. They immediately would fail to connect, and would give a "removal failed" error when I tried to remove them in order to re-pair them.

I then upgraded to Windows 11, got fresh installs off the motherboards website, and removed the devices from Device Manager. Now, the devices are no longer paired, but refuse to show up when I attempt to add a new device.

I have already...

Removed the devices via Device Manager
Confirmed new drivers are installed via Device Manager
Checked that the motherboards Bluetooth is already working on another OS (I dual boot Linux)
Restarted the PC several times.

Thank you, I am willing to try anything at this point.

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1 answer

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Answer 1

Ivan B 120K Independent Advisor

Hi,

Are you trying to use Bluetooth on an older PC running Windows, but it isn't working?

If possible, please go to the Device Manager, find the Bluetooth tab, take a screenshot, and post it here.

Thanks.

IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-21T04:21:36.1333333+00:00

No, sorry, this is a brand new PC that I just built last Saturday. The drive is a carry over from my old unit, but everything else is new. Here's my bluetooth settings.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-21T11:27:09.0933333+00:00

Hi,

In this case, it might be because of the generic Bluetooth driver. Try installing the standard Bluetooth driver:

https://asrock.com/mb/AMD/B850M%20Pro%20RS%20WiFi/index.asp#Download

MediaTek Bluetooth driver ver:1.1044.0.556

After installing, check if the generic Bluetooth adapter changes to MediaTek Bluetooth.

If it doesn't change, you would have to change the Bluetooth manually. You would need to access Device Manager > Bluetooth > Generic Bluetooth Adapter > Update Devices > manually search for drivers on your computer > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer > see if MediaTek appears and install it.

Open the command prompt (adm) and run the commands: sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth, wait for the process to finish and restart the computer.

Please let me know if it worked or not.

Test it and let me know here if it worked or not. While this is not a Microsoft website, it is the official site of [B850M/ Asrock].

Thanks
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T04:08:50.9933333+00:00

Yeah I had already tried installing the drivers from there. The installation was successful, but the drivers do not appear when I try to set them manually.

I followed the code instructions you sent, even did a PSU flush, and that has not changed anything.

When I try to manually point the generic Bluetooth adapter to the driver folder, it just tells me "your device is already using the most updated drivers".When I tried to specifically set a driver for it to use, ASRock is not even listed in any of the manufacturers.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-22T10:48:53.62+00:00

Hi,

Try setting up the Bluetooth driver using the .inf file. You'll need to go to Device Manager > Bluetooth > Generic Bluetooth Adapter > Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer > Have Disk > Navigate to the folder where you extracted the Bluetooth drivers > inside the "drivers" folder, select the mtkbtfilter.inf file and see if the MediaTek Bluetooth driver appears after selecting it.

Now, extract the Bluetooth driver download I provided in the previous reply.

If that doesn't work, we can completely reset the driver—removing it so the system starts without it—and then try installing it again.

Thanks.
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-22T11:23:27.2733333+00:00

Okay that did work in that the MediaTek MT7921 is now being displayed in Device Manager.

Reinstalled the driver from ASRock's website.

It is still not connecting to any bluetooth devices.

Thank you so much for all the help by the way, this has been an incredibly frustrating process but the clear instructions from you have made this tolerable.

EDIT: Oh, worth mentioning that when I selected the .inf file it actually gave me five options for which drivers I wanted to install.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-22T11:35:18.9333333+00:00

Hi,

Since it's using a MediaTek chip now, does the device fail to appear when you try to locate it while it's in pairing mode?

Try this: go to Start > Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters > Bluetooth > Run.

Check if it reports any errors; if not, restart your PC and test it again.

Thanks.
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T03:23:45.5133333+00:00

Okay, I want through the entire troubleshooter, it claimed to make a bunch of changes (I don't know for sure because it does a poor job explaining what its actually doing) restarted the system afterwards, Bluetooth still cannot find any devices.

I tried all 5 drivers that were in that folder. None of them changed anything.

Made sure that all three Bluetooth services were running. That didn't change anything.I have no idea what is going on.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-23T05:09:52.2033333+00:00

Hi,

Let's reset the driver: go to Device Manager > USB controllers, take a screenshot, and post it here.

Thanks.
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T13:07:45.1866667+00:00

Alright here we go. Also, just to make sure, I double checked my Bluetooth on my Linux drive. Working just fine there.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-23T22:10:39.93+00:00

Hi,

Okay, here is what you need to do: uninstall all AMD USB Extensible 2.0 and 3.0 controllers.

Doing this will stop your USB controllers—and possibly your keyboard and mouse—from working; it will also affect the Bluetooth controller.

Once your keyboard and mouse stop working and you notice the Bluetooth tab is gone, take note of the order in which you uninstalled the items. This ensures you can follow the process correctly if, for example, the keyboard and mouse stopped working at the "controller 2" stage but the Bluetooth tab hadn't disappeared yet.

Once the tab disappears, you can restart your PC. Upon restarting, the system will reload the drivers, effectively resetting them. After it reloads, install the Bluetooth driver using the setup program (instead of doing it manually) and test it.

Thanks.
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-23T23:46:17.73+00:00

Alright;

I uninstalled the USB controllers until the keyboard and mouse turned off. The same one that turned them off turned the Bluetooth off.

When I restarted the PC, it had reverted back to "Generic Bluetooth Adapter"

Tried to connect a device - didn't work.

Right clicked in device manager and automatically detected the best drivers - didn't work.

Reinstalled the MediaTek Bluetooth driver via the EXE - no change.

And just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I switched back to my Linux OS - Bluetooths are still connecting there.
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-24T03:21:31.8233333+00:00

Hi,

In this case, the only remaining option involves Windows. First, manually install the MediaTek driver. Once that is done, go to the Start menu > Settings > Recovery > Fix Windows updates > Reinstall now.

This procedure will reinstall Windows while keeping your files and programs intact.

Honestly, the best option would be a clean install of Windows; if you are open to that, I can guide you through it.

Thanks.
IridusKnight 0 Reputation points

2026-07-31T16:41:12.5533333+00:00

Hey Ivan!

Apologies for the radio silence, work got busy and I had to troubleshoot some other stuff.

To make a long story short, I'm pretty sure my Windows 11 install was completely borked. It did not remember settings on startup, it was having tons of issues, etc. I just decided to spend the last week doing a file transfer of all my important stuff and did a clean reset. Bluetooth is now working just fine.

Thank you for all your help!
Ivan B 120K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-31T19:13:28+00:00

Hi,

I'm glad my advice helped. You can always count on the Microsoft Q&A community, and have a good week.

I hope everything goes well.

Please consider rating the question (accept the answer or not), and access the community at Microsoft Q&A if you have further questions.

Thanks