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With no warning, while I was replying to an email in Outlook, bluetooth just went away on my Windows 8.1 tablet (Wacom Cintiq Companion 2). [UPDATE] The problem went away after several hours and various steps the last of which are outlined in my answer below, but comes back quite often, seemingly at random, lasting anything from seconds to minutes to hours.

I've followed the steps on an MS support thread, and the Bluetooth Support service now claims to be running in services.msc (before, it was not running)...

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...but the symptoms of my problem are still there, even after restarting the system. These are:

  • Bluetooth keyboard lost connection, can't connect
  • There used to be a Bluetooth icon in the desktop tray, now it's gone.
  • If I open the 'metro-style' Bluetooth Settings page, it shows a blue cog for a few seconds, then either a blank white screen, or the generic 'Personal settings' home page
  • If I open the desktop-style 'Change Bluetooth settings', the hardware section is completely empty:

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...and if I change anything then click Okay, it says this:

An error occurred while Windows was saving your settings. The Bluetooth device might be unplugged.

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This makes no sense because Bluetooth on this device is internal, it can't be unplugged.

The problem is exactly the same if I start up while charging, so it's not an energy saving issue. It stopped working while the device was unplugged, and the device was a normal temperature, so the internal Bluetooth adapter can't have been fried by a power surge or overheating.

Before just now, Bluetooth had worked fine for months - although in the last week or two, there has been a couple of times when the Bluetooth keyboard stopped working for about 10 seconds then started working again.

No updates have been applied recently, and no new software installed.

I can't find anything Bluetooth related in Device Manager to check the drivers (but to be honest I'm not 100% sure where to look). While trying to research this I found a MS answer that prompted me to look at what Bluetooth items I have in Control Panel, I'm not sure if this below is normal or not (I can't see "Bluetooth devices"):

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How could Bluetooth just disappear like this? What could have happened, and what can I do?

Update - this still happens, a lot. Bluetooth comes and goes seemingly randomly. Usually it sorts itself out after a few minutes, but sometimes it doesn't. No apparent pattern regarding when it happens, sometimes it's less than 20 minutes after booting up, sometimes it's after working for an entire day. When Bluetooth goes down like this, the Desktop settings report that it is working, but the COM Ports and Hardware tabs crash out:

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Here's what happens if I try to restart the Bluetooth service in services.msc:

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Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

Sometimes, after a long time of failing, the Metro-style Bluetooth settings screen appears looking like this, with a never-ending working indicator and no clue what it's trying to do.

Note that the 'metered connection' thing is almost certainly a red herring, it doesn't try to do any setup when I'm not on a metered connection. I'm also almost always on a metered connection and it doesn't usually complain.

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    I've had a similar problem affecting the wireless module on my notebook. WiFi would turn on and off intermittently. I disassembled the laptop to check for loose connections but couldn't find any. I pushed the WiFi module a little to make sure it was properly seated. Strangely enough, that fixed it and I haven't had any WiFi problems since. Since yours is a tablet, there's little chance of the module being dislodged. I suspect the problem lies with the hardware. You can try plugging in a cheap USB Bluetooth adapter/dongle to see if this problem only affects the built-in adapter.
    – Vinayak
    Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 15:25
  • I should mention that my intermittent Wi-Fi problems only began after I surrendered my laptop for servicing of an unrelated problem. I guess a technician accidentally dislodged the wireless module a little while working on my notebook.
    – Vinayak
    Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 16:10
  • Not sure if this helps but I know for a fact that I had errors in my windows registry (Windows 10) when I got 'Error 1053' and 'The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion'. Fixing the registry solved the problem for me.
    – Henke - Нава́льный П с м
    Commented Sep 14, 2020 at 17:29

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Update - I don't think this below is a solution, I think it might have been coincidence that Bluetooth came back after I did this. Leaving it here as something that might sometimes work and an example of something I've tried.

As stated in the update to the question, bluetooth comes and goes. This seemed to help one time when it had gone for hours and nothing else seemed to work, but the problem repeats.

Bluetooth's back and my keyboard works again. I don't understand why it went away, or what the problem was, or how exactly it got fixed, so I'm keeping this issue open, but here are the steps that seemed to have an affect:

  • I followed the linked MS answer above:

    • Opened Services.msc` after searching for it from the Start screen
    • Double-clicked the Bluetooth Support service, switched to Log on tab.
    • Changed This account to NT AUTHORITY\LocalService
    • Started the service, rebooted. It claimed to be running, but nothing happened

  • I later un-did the above...

    • From This account, clicked Browse, then Advanced, then Find now, and chose Local service
    • In the password field, I entered my standard user password
    • I restarted the service and rebooted the computer

  • Then suddenly Bluetooth was back. The tray icon is back, I'm typing this on my bluetooth keyboard, the metro-style Bluetooth settings takes me to actual bluetooth settings...

I don't know if it was the above that caused it to work, but this is what I did immediately before it worked, and it didn't work immediately before this, so maybe it'll help someone in a similar position.

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It may be because you have installed other OS on your PC, like I have installed ubuntu All the above methods didn't work for me I tried opening Ubuntu, enabling bt in that and then switching back to windows which did work for me. Thank you ...

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After working through most of your (beautifully documented) troubleshooting steps, I tried a simple reboot without changing anything in services.msc, and that seems to have worked!

In case a reboot by itself doesn't work for anyone - I tried restarting Bluetooth in Services.msc right before that, so it's possible that's part of the restoration sequence as well.

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Windows is very good on detecting Bluetooth adapters, but has the particularity that once the adapter is gone, everything Bluetooth just disappears.

You case seems like the adapter has lost connection with the motherboard. But given that it is soldered-on, this is not very likely, so I believe that we have to assume a hardware problem. This is consistent with Bluetooth being restored by magic, and then disappearing again by magic. For an intermittent problem, hardware is the most likely explanation.

If your tablet is still under warranty, use it. Don't wait for the warranty to elapse.

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    This is not an answer it is just guesses.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 12:41
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    "most likely", "most probably", "could also be" do not make for a good answer.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 13:12
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    I am free to use my downvotes as I please. I do not find this answer "useful".
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 13:13
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    Given that the OP has solved his problem without changing any hardware (see his answer), it looks like your guesses were wrong.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 13:18
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    @DavidPostill: Please reread his answer - he said "I think it might have been coincidence that Bluetooth came back after I did this". Please also note that his answer dates from a few months before he posted the bounty, which means that the problem came back. My answer was based on all that information and is as much not a guess as is possible without hands-on access to the tablet. I hope that as he let a few months pass, he has not lost the warranty, and my answer tells him to do so asap. You really should think twice before downvoting.
    – harrymc
    Commented Apr 23, 2016 at 13:35

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