Bluetooth Headphones connected but sound drops out almost immediately

Question

Hello,

I've recently updated to windows 11 and my Bluetooth headphones have stopped working properly. I have no issues pairing and connecting my headphones through Bluetooth (settings show that voice and audio is connected). But once I play a video on YouTube or something on Netflix, the audio works for about 5 seconds before dropping out completely. The audio comes back for a second occasionally, showing that the headphones are connected, but for the majority of the video there is no audio playing through the connected headphones. I have tried this with multiple headphones and the issue persists with all of them (air pods, Sony WH-100MX4, and various other headphones)

I have tried everything available on the windows 11 troubleshooting website but it has not fixed the issue. I have done the following steps :

1. Run troubleshooting on sounds and Bluetooth
2. Checked if all my Bluetooth drivers are up to date - they are
3. Turned of audio enhancements

I really have no idea as to why the audio is dropping out and hope someone could help me out.

Thanks!

Answer 1

There's probably a few things you may need to do to narrow it down:

Try with audio downloaded on the computer so you know its not a steaming/network/internet related issue.

Try removing one of the devices and then repairing it.

Try without Bluetooth which I don't see if you said that you tried that.

Check for possible interfering devices and move them away (eg cell phone).

Check other Bluetooth devices not audio related.

However, it could be possible that the BT hardware isn't fully compatible with Windows 11 or some other issue. The above stuff should help you to understand what is happening. The more you can do the better you can know if its just audio or all BT stuff on that hardware, etc. Right now, you believe its only audio related which would throw things off if its not.

Just tested myself on Windows 11 and BT audio works fine so I would think its a greater chance to be a compatibility issue for your hardware. You have to do the above tests to be sure.

Answer 2

Good Day H.sala12,

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

Here's the steps you can try.

-Press Windows Key + R

-Type Services.msc and hit enter

-Look for "Bluetooth Support Service"

-Set it to start then Automatic.

-Press Windows key + X

-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 try to pair the Bluetooth headphones.

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

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.

I hope the information above helps. Please let me know how it goes.

Have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe.

Sincerely,

Carlo T.

Answer 3

Hi Carlo,

Thanks for your reply. I have tried the step you have stated and the issue still persists.

My system model is VivoBook_ASUSLaptop TP470EA_TP470EA and the system manufacturer is ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

I look forward to your reply.

Thanks

Answer 4

Hi dashdotdot,

Thanks for your reply. I've tried all the steps you stated and sadly the issue still persists. When I lose audio from YouTube and paly a downloaded audio, the connection sort of kicks back in and the bluetooth headphones start working again. But this is only temporary and they usual fall off completely a few minutes later.

I'm not really sure what I have to do so I might just take it to a repair shop and see what they have to say.