AX200 - bluetooth disconnection with multiple game controllers

[claudspeed]

I have a Legion 5 Pro 16ACH6H (from 2021), with Intel Wifi-6 AX200 160MHz card with integrated bluetooth, driver: 22.190.0.4 (from 23/11/2022), OS: Windows 11.

Using an external bluetooth dongle I can connect any number of bluetooth controllers (joypads) of different or same manufacturer.

If I use the intel bluetooth AX200 card integrated in the Legion 5 pro I'm only able to connect one controller. If I connect another the first one disconnects.

No problem on other laptops I've tried with the same controllers.

Other users have complained about this here, but you ignored them.

This IS clearly a driver bug. I am a software engineer, btw.

Can you escalate and try to have this fixed asap, please?

[claudspeed]

I tried doing the same on 22.210.0.3 out of curiosity and indeed I have the same issue, but I found a "solution". This is what I found out by testing:

- if you connect bt headphones first and the dualsense later, both will work

- if you connect dualsense first and bt headphones later, no matter what you do bt headphones won't work (from the BT settings It will show connected, then paired, then connected in an infinite loop and no audio output)

This is indeed trash, and of course on driver 21.0.0.4 I don't have this problem.

[will6]

Hi. Yes, I found that workaround too some time ago. Didn't reported cause It will cause more confusion on this lousy IA Intel forum mods.

But if you press pause on BT headset, it will disconnect and won't reconnect until you turn off the dualsense.

Or if the audio stream ends, headset will also disconnect. Or just playing music and hitting pause, gone. Lol. What a trash.

In that time, I just had always Spotify playing on background when launching a game, to avoid disconnecting.

What a nonsense nightmare this AX cards.

Obviously with my BT dongle (not Intel brand) I don't have any of this problems.

[Efren]

Hey guys,

I want to share an amusing discovery with you all.
I just recently purchased an Xbox Series S Controller, so I ran some additional testing with the AX210 bluetooth.
1st - One of the controllers eventually disconnects if I connect 2 Dualsenses;
2nd - The controllers get crazy and abruptly disconnect if I connect 2 Dualsenses and 2 Dualshocks;
3rd - But, they do not disconnect if I use any combination of these controllers together with the Xbox controller. It's a miracle hahahaha

There is a serious issue with this chip.

[will6]

You can probably connect two xbox controllers to this trash, cause they use way less BW than a dualsense.

So, in resume, there is a severe BW limitation on this cards. That doesnt fulfill with BT 5.0, either 4.0.  Worst thing is, it took me 5 minutes of enabling this card to show every problem. Intel engineers are two years behind. 

[Efren]

@will6 ,

I guess I wasn't clear before. I connected 1 xbox controller, 2 dualsenses and 2 dualshocks, all at the same time and they all worked together for at least 40 minutes.

But the problems start if I disconnect the xbox controller and leave only the sony controllers. Somehow driver doesn't crash if xbox controller is connected. So I believe that the problem is not BW, but something in the device management itself, which should be something easier to correct in the driver.

[will6]

Thats nice to know. Best 40 minutes on intel card ever. Lol

So to get the controllers connected and stay connected for 40 minutes you have to plug 1 xbox controller among the others.

It will be mandatory to have a friend holding the controller? Or can stay on desk?

Way to go intel.

[Efren]

I think keeping the xbox connected on bluetooth is enough. The problem is that the xbox disconnects after 15 minutes of inactivity. I haven't figured out how to set this time.

[claudspeed]

Hi Efren,

what latency readings are you seeing in DS4windows when you manage to connect all of these controllers simultaneously?

In my experience, when the drivers work properly, the polling rate of Dualsense drops from the stock 1000 Hz (1 ms latency) to worse values (4 ms sometimes 8 ms), to make room for more controllers.

[Efren]

With all 5 controllers connected, dualsense latency ranges between 5.0 and 7.5 milliseconds. This latency is acceptable. It is clear that with fewer devices the latency decreases, I believe this behavior is normal.

I think this experiment shows that the problem is not the intel hardware but the driver.

[Efren]

The interesting thing is that I keep the 5 controls connected for a long time without problems. But just turn off the xbox control and the other controls disconnect seconds later.

[Efren]

I made a video to show exactly what happens.

[will6]

Nice findings. Too bad engineers doesnt care. But this is getting widespread.

BTW xbox controller I think it uses BT4.0 and BLE (bluetooth low energy) modes. Who knows if this triggers something on this trashy card.

And increasing pollrate will probably decrease BW usage.

Anyone has a wii remote? I cant find any explanation to the lack of wiimote sound (on dolphin) with this card. You need a Wiimote TR model. Old non TR model has sound, but TR doesnt. And I have like 5 BT dongles from different brands, and all have sound except on the intel one.

[will6]

New driver released on Asus forum

22.220.1.1

Please report back.

[will6]

Anyone tried the new driver I'd post earlier?

[claudspeed]

Tested now, 
22.220.1.1 has the same problem.

Btw, what controllers do you experience this issue with? Engineers at Intel swear that they can connect with these configurations just fine:

Intel:

My testing result:

For AMD based:

HP Laptop 15-gw0xxx + AX200 + 22.190 and 22.220 + Win10 (18363.1411)	PASS
HP Laptop 15-gw0xxx + AX200 + 22.190 and 22.220 + Win10 (19045.2788)	PASS
HP ProBook 455 G7 + AX200 + 22.190 and 22.220 + Win10 (19041.1348)	PASS
HP ProBook 455 G7 + AX200 + 22.190 and 22.220 + Win11 (22000.1761)	PASS

For our solution tested:

Tigelake+ AX201+ 22.200 and 22.220  PASS

Alderlake +AX211 and AX200 +22.220 and 22.220 PASS

The accessories using:

Headset: beats solo 3.

Joystick: dualsense *2, Controller dualshock 4 *1 + Dualshock 3 * 2.

**Dualshock 3 pairing by additional dongle bt via usb interface and modified driver to simulate it is xbox controller. 

[Efren]

I felt some improvement in driver version 22.220.1.1, but the problem persists.

In the previous version, when connecting 2 dualsenses and 2 dualshocks-3, the disconnection started some seconds later, even with no play.

Now, in the current version, I can connect these controllers for a long time, I even thought the problem had been solved. But after some time of play with two dualsenses, the disconnection occurred.

[will6]

Hi. That's a report from enginners?

I have dualsense, dualshock 4 and wiimotes.

Can't connect 2 at the same time, with any combo ie. 2 x dualsense, 2 x ds4, 2 x wiimotes or mixing them.

2 x Ds4 or 2 x wiimotes sometimes stays a little more time connected, but they disconnect.

Also have a galaxy buds and get the infamous bug when trying to connect while a dualsense is connected.

I had 4 different Intel motherboard with even different chipsets. With ax built in cards and all got this problem.

All this problems are widespread. Intel BT cards are historically know by having problems dealing with more than one controller. So nothing really weird or new or user specific.

If Intel enginners can't replicate this problems, they should get other job. Last time I enable this card took me 5 minutes to replicate all the problems.

[will6]

Let's see if there is some improvement or just placebo effect when they release on the official channel with the changelog.

Sometimes I was able to connect two controllers for some time. With any driver. Guess sometimes they get assigned a higher pollrate and stay connected for more time. But they always keep disconnecting sooner or later.

And the dualsense + headset bug is a deal breaker. If you play a survival horror game, the most scary thing is trying to keep the audio alive. Unacceptable.

[Efren]

It's possible. I tested just one time.

[will6]

Forgot to say, if you are using only Ds4's or mostly Ds4, you can increase/decrease pollrate with apps like DS4Windows.

That will make this trash card be able to keep up with the bw and let the controllers stay connected.

This is only possible for Ds4 controllers.

[elliopitas]

i have the same problem with Killer 1650i in my xmg neo 17m21 laptop using my PS5 controllers

can't even handle 2 (I have 4).

even though some cheap ass USB Bluetooth dongle I was using on my desktop for years now is able to handle 4 ps3 controllers just fine all this time.