Can't add device on bluetooth

Currently the "Add Device" button on bluetooth in settings doesn't seem to actually do anything. Clicking on it causes it to do that brief depression animation and then it pops right back up and there is no sign of anything ever happening. All the bluetooth services appear to be running: see below screenshot showing button in question and the key bluetooth services running in the services window.


Also yes, the following services are running
--Connected Devices Platform Service
--Connected Devices Platform User Service_<ID>


At the very bottom of this settings window, one of the suggestions is reinstalling the bluetooth driver from scratch. I have now done that (and rebooted) and it didn't change anything.

Trying to select a bluetooth device from the little task bar network widget thing also doesn't work. Both the Devices window in settings and the taskbar widget work correctly to turn bluetooth off an on, but neither work for devices. Selecting the little > for devices in the widget network menu on the task bar causes it to think for a few seconds (the mouse cursor with the little spinning blue ring) and then it just closes the menu and restors the normal cursor.

Going to the Get Help app and selecting the bluetooth troubleshooter it steps through the whole thing: checking latest updates, checking if all the devices are active. It reaches the end after checking to see if the things appear on the task bar says "Great! Glad we were able to help." ... and that is it. Nothing is fixed, it is just happy to help that the things it can check for are there. So here I am begging for human help once again, thanks for any thoughts and suggestions in adance. I'll probably be back with something else next week at this rate, so apologies for that.

NatS1011 said:

Currently the "Add Device" button on bluetooth in settings doesn't seem to actually do anything.

Click to expand...

Computer Management > Event Viewer > Windows Logs
If there are errors for SystemSettings.exe, you have disabled something.

Thanks.

Okay I am in Computer Management > Event Viewer > Windows Logs

And in there, there is "System" I assume that hosts the errors for "SystemSettings.exe" ?


Assuming that is right, looking through it I see a few errors that say it is having trouble starting the "IntelTACD service" because "The system cannot find the file specified." I can't find "IntelTACD service" under the services control window to start it. Those errors seem old though. Also in playing around with the bluetooth settings, no matter what I click or "poke" it doesn't create any new errors, so it doesn't look like the "IntelTACD service" is associated with the bluetooth issues as bluetooth isn't provoking new "IntelTACD service" issues.

Iooking into the "IntelTACD service" it doesn't seem to have anything to do with bluetooth, I get:

The inteltacd.sys driver is a system file related to managing storage devices, including SSDs and HDDs, on computers with Intel processors. This driver is typically provided by system manufacturers rather than Intel directly. Given this, I recommend coordinating with your system manufacturer to determine which specific drivers are needed for your system after the clean installation of the operating system.

Click to expand...

I just updated my BIOS directly from Dell less than a week ago, and I am getting the "IntelTACD service" errors since, so that can't be I BIOS problem, I am not seeing a togle for it under services, and it also doesn't seem to have anything to do with bluetooth.

Set


Enter the device into pairing mode and see if it appears in the device list.

i had blue tooth problems sometime ago. i ended up opening the device manager and removed the blue tooth entries in the device manager.
closed the device manager and restarted the system. then went back to the device manager to check that the blue tooth had re-installed.

blue tooth worked after that.
best of luck, Steve ..

If you know a “friendly name” or a mac address


f.e.
BluetoothDevicePairing.exe pair-by-name --name "name_your_devicve" --type Bluetooth

Check 'Device Association Service' is also running.

Also see if Bluetooth Support Service is set to automatic.

Ooo, army of good suggestions, let me start trying these. Thanks all, I'll get back when I have given them a proper go.