HP Omen 15 extremely weak bluetooth signal

[Fedaykin]

So, after much troubleshooting and trial & error, I have determined that the Realtek bluetooth in my brand new Omen 15 works, but only if the bluetooth device in question is within 2-3 inches of the laptop. Any more than 6 inches, the sound cuts out and stops, with the connection finally being lost.

I'm aware that Windows 10 1903 has several major issues, so I exhausted every available option software/driver-wise trying to troubleshoot this. I tried many different drivers, including every version of HP's official drivers, Realtek drivers, Microsoft, and even a ton of other drivers. Tried every troubleshooter there is, ran the DISM restore health tool, and ultimately even completely restored the machine back to the factory Windows using the built in recovery tool. I changed every setting I could find, such as the "turn this device off to save power", to be thorough. I've got a ton of experience with this kind of thing, so I'm 99.9% sure that I've ruled out software issues.

As I said, within a couple of inches, bluetooth devices work as intended. Have tested with several bluetooth headsets and speakers, as well as a couple of phones. I've been looking around the internet, and have found that other people have had issues with the internal antenna leads being connected to the wrong output on the wifi/bt device, but that seems to apply to single antenna systems. I haven't yet gotten to the point of opening up my laptop to have a look for anything obvious. Assuming this model has dual antennas, and provided that they're undamaged and properly connected, could it be possible that they're hooked up backwards (might make sense if the 2.4 and 5ghz bands use different antennas)? The built in wifi works just fine, gets a strong signal and picks up tons of AP's around my house.

Seems like this is a somewhat common issue among many users, but I'd really love to fix this, instead of the band-aid fix of using a USB BT adapter. Any insight would be most welcome.

Thanks!

[sandytechy20]

@Fedaykin

Welcome to HP support community.

Run Extensive system test to check for hardware failures.

1. Hold the power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.

2. Turn on the computer and immediately press Esc repeatedly, about once every second. When the menu appears, press the F2 key.

3. On the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI) main menu, click System Tests.

4. Click Extensive Test.

5. Click Run once, or Loop until error. While the test is running, the time remaining and test result for each component are shown on the screen.

If the test passes, follow the below steps:

1. Remove All Barriers: Certain building materials can get in the way of weaker signals like Bluetooth. Metal, bulletproof glass, concrete and plaster are particularly bad, and marble, plaster and brick aren’t great easy. So if you’re really struggling with interference, your first step should be to move your Bluetooth devices away from these materials. That means no brick walls between you and your devices, and definitely no metal desks! 
     

2. Change Router Channel: If you have an Apple router and you’re constantly getting interference with your WiFi, try rebooting it. Upon restart, the station will search for a new channel. Specifically, a different channel than the one your Bluetooth devices are using to communicate. If you don’t have an Apple router, you may need to instead go into your router settings and try changing the channel manually. Experiment with different channels to see which one works best. 
     

3. Move Closer to Your Router: If you often find that you’re getting interference when talking on a wireless headset while on a WiFi call (you’ll know because you’ll hear static), try moving closer to your router. This will give you a more robust WiFi connection, so the Bluetooth frequency can’t overpower it. 
     

4. Get Away From Microwaves and Fluorescent Lighting: Both emit frequencies of 2.4GHz, and moving away from them will distance you from the source. 

That said, The best way to resolve the issue is by using the HP Guided Troubleshooter:  

https://hp.care/2JshaSG 

(simply select your description of the issue from the bottom of the screen to gain access to the next set of steps that should resolve your concern). 

Let me know how it goes.

To thank me for my efforts to help you, please mark my post as an accepted solution so that it benefits several others.

Cheers.

[Fedaykin]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply back here!

The answer turned out to be quite simple after all. I finally had a day off, got bored, and pulled the bottom cover off the laptop. Sure enough, one of the antenna leads was disconnected from the network card. Popped it back on and all is well. I actually feel pretty silly now, writing up that post took much longer than the actual fix (five minutes)!