Bluetooth peripherals no longer waking computer after Windows 8.1 upgrade

Will do!

 

Well, I'm not sure what to make of this now. The Bluetooth devices will wake the computer about half of the time, but the other times I have to use the wireless mouse to wake it. Not working at all makes sense to me (although it's aggravating), and working all the time makes sense to me, but working about half of the time makes no sense to me.

 

An as an electronics technician for 45 years, I can attest to the fact that intermittent problems are almost always the most difficult and frustrating to troubleshoot and fix.

Assuming fresh batteries, my "guess" would be this is a range problem (not likely if less than 10 - 15 feet) or an interference problem from other nearby electronics.

This assumes it is not a USB problem - which would not surprise me.

I forgot this was a Mac so forget the comment above about ATX Form Factors and +5Vsb voltages.

The only other thing I could suggest is trying a different pair of USB ports. Many motherboards have multiple USB interfaces controlling the various pairs of ports.

 

Both of the peripherals are sitting on the desk immediately in front of the computer. They're interfacing with a built-in Bluetooth module (no USB ports in use for the Bluetooth). Interference seems unlikely since the only thing that has changed in my house setup is that I upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Oh, and the batteries were recently replaced in both the track pad and keyboard.

I'm baffled.

 

Ah, I see. Well, the built-in module may still connect internally via USB. I would try a different dongle.

 

These iMacs are not at all built to be taken apart. Accessing the internals will not be possible for me.

 

That is why I said try a different dongle.

 

Ah, I thought you meant swap out the internal one with one of those. If it comes down to it, I may try one of those out, but for the time being I'd rather keep my last remaining USB port available (once I vacate the wireless mouse adapter). These iMacs only have 4 USB ports and a hub kills the clean aesthetics.

And, since it was working with Windows 8 before the Windows 8.1 update, I'd like to see if there's still a way I can get this to work through the software.

 

Well, I have had mysterious problems appear after updates that just a mysteriously disappeared after additional updates. MS released a bunch today.

And have you checked you computer's webpage for new drivers?

Spin you computer 90° and see what happens.

 

Ha ha, I'll give that a try.

I'll check Windows Update and Apple for updated drivers tonight. Thanks. If nothing else works, at least I had a good laugh.

 

I've seen stranger things work. And that is exactly why wireless Ethernet cards with external and adjustable antennas are best. There is a lot of shielding and other things inside a computer case not friendly to RF radiation.

 

I checked the Apple website and they don't have new drivers for either of the input devices or their Bluetooth receiver, but I've got about 2GB of Windows updates downloading right now, so we'll see. I'll have to post back tomorrow evening because I doubt these updates will all finish installing while I'm still up tonight (we have pretty slow internet).

 

I've given it a couple of days and it's not working anymore, so I'm back to where I started.