Lumia not "seeing" any Bluetooth devices.

[stocktiki]

Hoping one of the great Windows 10 Mobile experts out there can help.

My Lumia 640 isn't "seeing" any Bluetooth devices anymore. From Settings>Bluetooth Status is turned on but all I see is "Searching..."

I know it's the Lumia 640 because my Lumia 950 sees the nearby Bluetooth devices. Even my backup Lumia 640 does, too.

I've restarted the Lumia 640 a few times, removed the battery and replaced -- but still nothing.

Any suggestions on how to get my beloved Lumia 640 to play nice with Bluetooth again?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

If its not hardware related, try a soft reset. If that doesn't help do a hard reset or use WDRT. Those last two will require either restoring a save of the phone (make sure you have a save) or customizing from scratch and manually reinstalling apps.

Be aware that some functioning apps may no longer be available for reinstalling via restore or otherwise. I would check on that before doing a hard reset or use WDRT.

Also might be worth a shot is to try a borrowed SIM just long enough to see if Bluetooth comes back. My wife had an L640 that suddenly couldn't use data. After trying everything I (and the carrier) could think of, I decided to replace the phone. The replacement took a smaller size SIM so I bought a multi-size SIM (where you can punch out the two smallest sizes from a larger one). I don't know why, but before punching out the nano, I stuck the new SIM in the L640 and suddenly data worked again.

 

[stocktiki]

thanks! Tried a soft rest - and still - Bluetooth doesn't see any Bluetooth devices.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

thanks! Tried a soft rest - and still - Bluetooth doesn't see any Bluetooth devices.

Try a different SIM. Extremely long shot, but a hard reset is a LOT more work. If neither fix the Bluetooth, I'm afraid its gone for good since a 640 at this time is worth less than a repair place would charge to find and replace the hardware that failed.

 

[Ryujingt3]

Is a hard reset out of the question? It would be a good way to see if it is hardware or software related.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Is a hard reset out of the question? It would be a good way to see if it is hardware or software related.

You should definitely try that if other, easier, steps don't fix it. But if its really a hardware problem, everything you do will fail.

Its just time consuming to do a hard reset because even if you have a restore, you still have to re-enter all your passwords, network ids, blue-tooth pairings, etc.. For some that can take hours.

After a hard reset or using WDRT you have to do everything you do with a brand new phone before you can use it.