Bluetooth stopped working and has totally vanished - Nitro 5 AN515-54

Kings · September 2021

I have a Nitro laptop and regularly use Bluetooth to project my audio to my room's speakers. Last night, mid use, the sound cut out completely. Cheking my settings, my bluetooth on/off slider vanished, along with the button in the notification panel. I have since tried the following, to no avail:

Disable/uninstall drivers in device manger: just caused the Bluetooth icon to completely vanished from the menu during all further attempts.
Reinstall drivers: Not visible from device manager, may as well be invisible to the system.
Starting Bluetooth through services.msc: It wasn't running, but turning it on did not cause any discernable change to the other options/device manager.
System restore: Didn't properly complete because of an error; using sfc and dism through CMD fixed that, but the restore didn't effect the Bluetooth.
Windows Reset: reinstalled through the recovery option; besides uninstalling my apps it didn't cause any of the Bluetooth options to return.
Also, all the above were accompanied by copious restarts.

It's as if whatever Bluetooth hardware that is in the laptop has completely died or disappeared. Is there anything I can do or try to get it back? Pretty frustrated by this so far, but if it can't be solved might just buy a Bluetooth adaptor. Assistance is appreciated.

//Edited the content to add model name.

Kings · October 2021

As I was about to follow your advice with the BIOS, I happened to open the notifications tray and... Bluetooth is back. I don't know at what point it returned other than after the battery reset, but at least one of the previous steps seems to have had a delayed effect. I'll credit the battery step, since that was the last one I tried. Many thanks to you both for your help!

William_mk2 · September 2021

@Kings

I am really sorry for the inconvenience.. Let us do the basic steps first..

Doing the power drain and bios defaults will really help. Kindly follow the steps given below:

Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices or any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, you can find a pin hole. It is a tiny hole. You can a find a battery symbol indicator next to the hole. It is like a + and - sign symbol as though somebody is trying to shift the battery out. Insert the pin on to the hole for 30 seconds. Remove the pin. Flip the laptop. Connect the charger cable, turn on the computer. Only on laptops where the battery is inbuilt you can find the battery reset hole on the back of laptop.

If you dont find a pin hole on the back of laptop then you might be using removable battery. There is no need to unscrew anything to remove the battery. Turn off the laptop. Disconnect or unplug the charger cable, devices and any other cables connected to your laptop. Close your laptop. Turn it upside down. On the bottom of the laptop, please look at the top or bottom depending on the way you look at it. You can find a long door. It is a battery removable door. Just below that you can find a latch. If you move the latch you can remove the battery door. Once the battery is removed, flip the laptop. Open the top cover, press and hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect the battery back on the back of computer. Connect the charger cable back and then turn on the computer.

If you don’t see a reset pin hole on the back of laptop or if you are not able to remove the battery (if it is inbuilt ) then please unplug all the cables and devices out of laptop. Hold the power button for 1 minute. Connect all the cables back and restart the computer.

While turning on the computer, tap f2. It will go to bios. Press f9 once. It will show load bios defaults with a yes or no popup. Press enter. Popup screen will disappear. Press f10 once. It will show save changes popup with yes or no. Press enter. Computer will restart and it will load into windows.

Now check whether the bluetooth is getting detected on your computer.

Now please go to the device manager and check whether bluetooth got detected. Check whether you are able to see the bluetooth on the hidden devices. To check hidden devices in Device Manager display, select View and select Show hidden devices. If you are able to see it then please try to uninstall and restart the computer.

Kings · September 2021

So I've tried the above steps, hadn't done the power thing before. But nothing worked, unfortunately. The very first time I checked device manager when this problem began, I was able to locate the drivers under hidden devices. But after trying the disable/reenable step, they never came back.

Easwar · September 2021

Kings,

May I know the full model name of your unit.

Kings · September 2021

It's a Nitro 5 AN515-54 laptop.

Easwar · September 2021

Kings,

Try to update the BIOS and check once again.

Kings · October 2021

As I was about to follow your advice with the BIOS, I happened to open the notifications tray and... Bluetooth is back. I don't know at what point it returned other than after the battery reset, but at least one of the previous steps seems to have had a delayed effect. I'll credit the battery step, since that was the last one I tried. Many thanks to you both for your help!

William_mk2 · October 2021

Kings

I am glad that bluetooth started to work and it is working fine.. You are always Welcome!

Easwar · October 2021

Hi @Kings,

Good to know thanks for your update.

CheltenhamFlyer · March 2022

I have had exactly the same problem with a new Aspire TC-1660. Came with W10, but upgraded to W11. Bluetooth disappeared. Windows Bluetooth troubleshooter said 'you do not have bluetooth installed'. Bluetooth adaptor would only show in Device Manager as a 'hidden device', and in pale blue. I followed advice on Microsoft and uninstalled the adaptor, turned off my pc and then back on again. Now bluetooth has disappeared altogether. Fortunately I have a little Bluetooth dongle adaptor which is working fine. But I'm asking why a new pc (less than a week old) should do this. Please don't ask me to open up the tower and look inside or any fancy stff like that. I just want to get the functionality that I paid for.
Advice, please?