Bluetooth headphones freeze windows constantly

Hello Tsukicchi it sounds like you're dealing with a frustrating and complex issue involving your Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones and Windows. Let's break this down step by step to identify potential causes and solutions:

**1. Update Bluetooth Drivers**

• Outdated or incompatible Bluetooth drivers can cause connectivity issues:
  1. Open **Device Manager** (Windows + X > Device Manager).
  2. Expand **Bluetooth**, right-click your Bluetooth adapter, and select **Update Driver**.
  3. If updating doesn't work, uninstall the driver and restart your PC. Windows will reinstall the driver automatically.

**2. Check Audio Profiles**

• Your PC might be defaulting to the wrong Bluetooth audio profile (e.g., HFP/HSP instead of A2DP for high-quality audio):
  1. Go to **Settings > Sound > More sound settings**.
  2. Under the **Playback** tab, find your headphones, right-click, and select **Properties**.
  3. Under the **Advanced** tab, ensure the highest-quality format is selected.

**3. Disable Hands-Free Telephony**

• The hands-free telephony feature can interfere with audio playback:
  1. Open **Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers**.
  2. Right-click your headphones and select **Properties**.
  3. Under the **Services** tab, uncheck **Hands-Free Telephony**.

**4. Restart Bluetooth Services**

• Restarting Bluetooth services can resolve intermittent issues:
  1. Press **Win + R**, type services.msc, and hit Enter.
  2. Find **Bluetooth Support Service**, right-click, and select **Restart**.
  3. Ensure the **Startup Type** is set to **Automatic**.

**5. Test with Another Bluetooth Adapter**

• If your PC's built-in Bluetooth adapter is causing issues, try using an external USB Bluetooth adapter.

**6. Check Event Viewer Logs**

• Event Viewer logs can provide clues about what's causing the freezes:
  1. Open **Event Viewer** (Windows + X > Event Viewer).
  2. Navigate to **Windows Logs > System** and look for errors or warnings related to Bluetooth or audio.
  3. If you're concerned about sharing personal information, redact sensitive details before sharing logs.

**7. Update Windows**

• Ensure your system is fully updated:
  1. Go to **Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update**.
  2. Install any pending updates.

**8. Factory Reset Headphones**

• Reset your Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones to factory settings:
  1. Turn off the headphones.
  2. Press and hold the **Power** button and **NC/AMBIENT** button simultaneously for 7 seconds.
  3. Re-pair the headphones with your PC.

**9. Test in Safe Mode**

• Boot into Safe Mode to check if the issue persists:
  1. Press **Win + R**, type msconfig, and hit Enter.
  2. Go to the **Boot** tab, check **Safe Boot**, and restart your PC.
• If the problem doesn't occur in Safe Mode, it might be caused by third-party software.

**10. Contact Sony Support**

• If none of the above steps resolve the issue, consider reaching out to Sony Support for assistance. They may have specific fixes for compatibility issues with Windows.

It is my honor to give you some advice, and I hope that my efforts can be of some use to you, otherwise let me know and we will come up with a more technical solution

Don't forget to put my recommendation useful so that it can reach more people

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Best regards!

Carlos OH|

Hi there,

Sorry for the late reply. It's been a bit since I've used these headphones with my PC.

However, today was a day I had to again and it happened less than 15 minutes in.

I've tried nearly everything except safe mode, as I'm not exactly interested in trying this with safe mode because I'd like to be able to use my PC normally as this sometimes happens several hours in. It's very inconsistent when it happens, but it will definitely happen if I'm home for a day and have to use my headphones for most of the day.

I had already updated the driver as mentioned which didn't fix anything. I have reset the headphones but that was more of an annoyance as I had to reconnect it to all my devices after that, but that also changed nothing. Restarting the bluetooth service does nothing, and I'm not even sure if it really works. I was surprised I could even get into the services window, but right clicking on the bluetooth support service only shows the outline of the context menu at first. Once I hover my mouse on it it will show up and I can click restart, which brings up a little window saying Windows is attempting to shut down the service, which is where it hangs. I can click cancel and it will appear that it's stopped because right clicking on the service again shows that I can start the service, but that does the same thing. It brings up the little window saying windows is attempting to start the service and that's where it hangs. After clicking cancel it acts like it's running but I have no way of knowing for sure because nothing responds still.
The hands free telephony is also turned off.

I also don't have access to another bluetooth adapter because this is already a USB one. My PC doesn't have built in bluetooth.

I'm not sure what you mean with A2DP though. When I go to the advanced tab I can just select bitrate and samplerate, which is already set to the highest that Windows supports for that device which is 2 channel 16 bit 44.1 KHz. I can increase the quality using third party software like the alternative A2DP driver, but that's paid software which shouldn't be necessary.

I'm still not sure why this is happening or how. I know the headphones aren't the most stable, as it has this weird thing where very occasionally it will turn itself off, but that happens like once or twice a month at its worst, so I don't get the feeling that has anything to do with it. My laptop is running Linux and has no issues with it, and neither does my phone or my tablet.

I still have to contact sony support but they're having trouble verifying my serial number so that is still ongoing. Though at this point I'm not sure if that will ever get anywhere. This also makes it hard to get warranty in case there is something actually wrong with the headphones.

I could share the event viewer logs I copied but I'm not sure if anything shows any personal information? Could it be that certain logs under the Critical, Error and Warning categories show any personal or sensitive information?