Bluetooth Connection Interrupted by Arm??? BT headphones

BmGDA

Just got my lovely brand new Acer Swift today! Spent all afternoon setting it up, and finally got around to the audio test on my Meters Music Bluetooth headphones. I noticed that the sound immediately was cutting in and out, and trying to catch up with itself. After a few moments, I threw my hands up in frustration... and the sound immediately became clear and perfect! Many attempts and positions later, I have realised that if my hand or arm is at the keypad, the Bluetooth cannot connect properly. There is no doubt that there is a correlation.

Worth noting the headphones have no issues on any other devices, (I've tried everything I can think of to rectify this, charged headphones too incase it was a battery issue) and it really appears to only happen when my hand is at the scroll pad. Unfortunately, I don't have another set of headphones to try with.

Has anyone else had this ridiculous problem? Is it worth reaching out to support? 
Any help is GRATELY appreciated!!! Thanks all

billsey

First question... Which Swift model do you have? It should be something like SFxxx-xxx-xxxx and the number is likely on the same sticker as the SN and SNID. Next question, is the charger plugged into a properly grounded outlet? Your issue sounds like it might be caused by electrical noise and grounding is pretty important in that respect. Next, try moving the charger to a different position in relation to the laptop, just in case it's the noise generator. You can also look at other cables or connections that might be causing issues. Does the headset continue working fine as you walk away from the computer, or does it start cutting out again as soon as you are just a few feet away?

BmGDA

billsey said:

First question... Which Swift model do you have? It should be something like SFxxx-xxx-xxxx and the number is likely on the same sticker as the SN and SNID. Next question, is the charger plugged into a properly grounded outlet? Your issue sounds like it might be caused by electrical noise and grounding is pretty important in that respect. Next, try moving the charger to a different position in relation to the laptop, just in case it's the noise generator. You can also look at other cables or connections that might be causing issues. Does the headset continue working fine as you walk away from the computer, or does it start cutting out again as soon as you are just a few feet away?

Thank you for your reply, Billsey! I will take a look at your comments.

I believe the model is SF316-51, it's a Swift 3.

The laptop was NOT connected to the charger at any point of my testing. It was running on battery the whole time. The headset worked a few ft away from the laptop, but usually with my Galaxy S20+ phone, I can go all the way upstairs or to the other end of the house and still be connected. I didn't get this far with the laptop connection.

I'm not very technical, so please forgive me if this is redundant info. If there is a chance of electrical noise- it's just me and my laptop, headphones, and mobile. TV is the other side of the room. Nothing else electric particularly close to me.

I bought BT headphones because I don't want to be constantly tethered to a device (also the bass on the Meters is amazing). I did also try the cable connection from laptop to headset, and that was (as expected) absolutely fine. 

billsey

OK, so we know the symptoms are there with the charger disconnected and running on battery. Do they change when you plug the charger in? I don't expect they will, but perhaps the Bluetooth is switched into some low power mode when on battery. It's also possible one of the antennas wires has come loose from the WiFi/Bluetooth card. I believe you have an Intel AX201 card in there and it uses two antennas for both functions.

StevenGen

Just as an addition, have a look if the card if its inserted properly into its mobo slot and the securing screw (see caption below) is there and its not lose (yes these sorts of things happen with a brand new laptop) also and as the SF316-51 OEM Wi-Fi/BT card is an Intel 802.11 - AX.AX201-WIFI 6 with an AX2X2 BT 5.0 type card and its Acer OEM: part number is KE.11X0N.014, remember that allot of the Intel cards are problematic from my personal experience.

I've got a brand new Nitro 5 AN515-56 that has the Killer AX1650i Wi-Fi 6 5.0 BT card where the BT driver does not work with any other driver for Win-11 other than the Acer OEM 22.40.0.2 BT (which coincidentally is the same BT driver that you are using) but this BT has not given me any of your problems as it works 100% and its a great BT with great range around the house with my JBL LIVE 650BTNC headphones but, this drive can't be upgraded and will not work with any new and upgraded driver for Win-11 from Intel, as I'm using the "Intel® Driver & Support Assistant" for all the latest Intel Win-11 drivers which is very puzzling that they don't work only the Wi-Fi new Win-11 drivers work, so I' using different Wi-Fi drivers to BT drivers, figure that out, as I can't?   

What I would suggest is that you uninstall the OEM BT driver completely (go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program) and uninstall the Bluetooth driver and then reinstall the Bluetooth Intel Version: 22.40.0.2 again for this laptop, reboot the laptop and if the BT doesn't reengage press the F3 key to engage the BT function for your SF316-51.