Switch Pro Controller won't reconnect through bluetooth

[TeeSeal]

Recently bought myself a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for use with my switch and PC. When I tried playing on PC the first time I paired it through bluetooth, windows started "setting it up", steam quickly detected it and everything went fine.

However after turning off the controller/PC and attempting to reconnect later, it never does. While the controller attempts to reconnect the steam client freezes, and only unfreezes when the controller gives up (the controller does appear as "connected" during this period in the control panel). Even worse, if I attempt to reconnect the controller while in big picture mode, it causes steam to crash completely.

Connecting through USB works fine. Also I have a PS4 controller that connects and reconnects through bluetooth alright as well.

Never had any kind of wonky controller driver software, just plain steam.

Right now, whenever I want to use the Procon, I have to delete it from the devices in the control panel and re-pair it with my PC, as that's the only time steam seems to interface with it properly.

[Joric]

Couldn't connect bootleg clone pro controller via Bluetooth either. Sync button doesn't seem to work properly, it takes a while to make Pro Controller appear in a list of devices, if you manage to connect it, it goes from Connected to Paired and never goes back to Connected. Replacing mediatek adapter with intel doesn't help, same with BT 4.0 dongle. Wired connection is fine.

[Peskalberto]

This answer is not going to please anyone, but after several hours of research I think I have found the problem.

I think the switch pro controller has some kind of problem with Bluetooth 5.0 (And it seems that even updating the controller from the Nintendo Switch itself does not solve the problem).

By chance I have two bluetooth adapters one 4.0 and one 5.0 and I can say that I only have the reconnection problem with the 5.0.

With the 4.0 adapter the reconnection is perfect and immediate.

I hope that someday Nintendo or whoever will blame me because it is quite annoying to have to be pairing and unpairing. Right now I have the 2 bluetooth adapters connected at the same time on my PC because I am playing quite a few Nintendo games on my PC, which is quite unpleasant.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[ZuxG4me]

Peskalberto님이 먼저 게시:

This answer is not going to please anyone, but after several hours of research I think I have found the problem.

I think the switch pro controller has some kind of problem with Bluetooth 5.0 (And it seems that even updating the controller from the Nintendo Switch itself does not solve the problem).

By chance I have two bluetooth adapters one 4.0 and one 5.0 and I can say that I only have the reconnection problem with the 5.0.

With the 4.0 adapter the reconnection is perfect and immediate.

I hope that someday Nintendo or whoever will blame me because it is quite annoying to have to be pairing and unpairing. Right now I have the 2 bluetooth adapters connected at the same time on my PC because I am playing quite a few Nintendo games on my PC, which is quite unpleasant.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Yeah this may be it. Just had this issue after buying a 5.0 adapter, but for some reason it won't reconnect to the 4.0 either?

Edit: Ok for some reason I tried something and it seemed to work. I connected both 5.0 and 4.0 adapters, then when I first tried to turn on the controller, while the lights were blinking, I pressed the sync button to turn it off and then turned it on again. All the times I did this is worked for me and it connected just fine. Weird but I'm not gonna complain.

[Kyle07]

Strangely when I had my PS5 controller connected with the Bluetooth 5.0 dongle and then connected my Switch Pro Controller additionally, I had the Pro controller connected. I need to check if this is can be reproduced or was just random.

[Meocross]

Marten Ratte post may be the only ray of light in my situation, i just checked my bluetooth dongle and shockingly it's V4.0 from china, i may have to buy the TP-Link UB400 or look for that one advanced missing dongle in my house.

[Meocross]

OMG!!! IT WORKED! I found the missing advanced dongle, it's from elecom, I don't know what version it is but when i pressed the H button now it reconnects!! Thank god this flucking problem is now solved.

The solution for you guys would be to quickly buy the TP-Link UB400
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Bluetooth-Receiver-Controllers-UB400/dp/B07V1SZCY6

[The Brave Little Longshot]

Just chiming in here to say I have the exact same issue with the TP-Link UB500 - never had this issue when I used my laptop's integrated bluetooth, but I like to hook up to a 4k/120hz TV and the laptop's BT is not strong enough to handle that without bad input lag.

I just bought a UB400, should arrive soon so I can how that goes... But I worry it will have the input lag issue that my laptop's BT has. Hopefully not - will report back soon

EDIT: The UB400 works with reconnecting, but it definitely has the serious input lag that I feared (unlike the UB500 which has no input lag, but doesn't reconnect).

Would love a fix to this if one is ever figured out

[ApxuBbI]

This needs to be added into PCGAMINGWIKI, as issue is there, but via web it takes a while to find topic where is actual conclusion.

Can someone else confirm that there is noticeable bump in input lag with BT 4.0 adapter?
Few users managed to confirm to me, that such problem is no longer presented if you have dongle BT5.2+

[Axel]

Has anyone tried a 5.3 bluetooth receiver instead of 5.0? Maybe if we are lucky it's something that could have been fixed

[ApxuBbI]

Axel님이 먼저 게시:

Has anyone tried a 5.3 bluetooth receiver instead of 5.0? Maybe if we are lucky it's something that could have been fixed

I had asked in Switch emulator community, and one person confirmed that for him 5.3 does wake device properly. But it's one person more, so not really enough to make conclusion.

[Axel]

ApxuBbI님이 먼저 게시:

Axel님이 먼저 게시:

Has anyone tried a 5.3 bluetooth receiver instead of 5.0? Maybe if we are lucky it's something that could have been fixed

I had asked in Switch emulator community, and one person confirmed that for him 5.3 does wake device properly. But it's one person more, so not really enough to make conclusion.

Thanks!

[Axel]

To try it out I bought the UGREEN 5.3 Bluetooth Adapter (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BXF13GB7) and it actually worked! My PowerA Gamecube "Switch Pro" controller actually reconnects properly now, I'm super happy.

I'll keep testing it for a week or two.

[Y_N]

I also have this issue with a bt pro controller AND a 3.0 bt keyboard. Always have to forget and reconnect them to work until I reboot my steam deck or windows 10 pc.
I also have a mouse bt5.2 that doesn't have this issue. Connects instantly, along with a ps4 bt controller.

[Nekochan]

I have a 5.3 BT and what causes the reconnect issue for me is turning the controller off to recharge and back on. The guys earlier suggestion to press any button but sync and home works for me.

[Corona Virus]

So I have used the 4.0 asus adapter for a while. Pretty good but the stubby little dongle has pretty bad reception in my living room (15 feet from couch to pc). So I tried out the ugreen 5.3 adapter with the antenna. After getting through the headache that is daring to switch out bluetooth dongles on windows (why are the bluetooth drivers on windows so bad? What do you mean remove device failed? remove the ****ing device!) I eventually got my pro controller hooked up and it was amazing. Genuinely night and day great reception even without line of sight. I was able to hold it down behind my thick wood coffee table which would ruin the reception before, but on this adapter it is perfect with no noticeably perceivable change in latency, and the controller reconnects properly after powering down! Perfect right? Well then I connected my second pro controller... and all of a sudden my latency went down the toilet. With 2 controllers connected the controllers seem to be updating very sporadically. Button inputs go through quickly but the analog inputs take a full half second to update....

anyone got any ideas or other product suggestions? If you have a device with an antenna that works well with multiple controllers, please let me know.

Edit: after buying and returning like 7 Bluetooth adapters of various chipsets and Bluetooth versions, I finally just bought a mediately based Bluetooth 5.0 /wifi m.2 card and installed it and it worked immediately. The range is better than the USB adapters, no perceivable lag and the controllers reconnect immediately. Stop messing around with USB adapters!