How to Fix Bluetooth Mouse Disconnecting

A Bluetooth mouse that keeps disconnecting disrupts your workflow and indicates issues with power management, interference, or driver conflicts. These systematic troubleshooting steps resolve the most common causes of intermittent Bluetooth mouse connections.

1. Check mouse battery and power settings. Replace the mouse batteries with fresh ones, even if the current batteries appear to have charge remaining. Low battery voltage causes intermittent connections before complete failure. For rechargeable mice, connect the charging cable and use the mouse while plugged in to test if disconnections continue.
2. Move closer and eliminate interference. Position yourself within 3 feet of your computer and remove potential interference sources. Turn off nearby wireless devices like speakers, headphones, and secondary monitors. USB 3.0 ports and cables can interfere with Bluetooth signals, so disconnect unnecessary USB devices or move them to different ports.
3. Update Bluetooth drivers. Open Device Manager on Windows (Windows key + X, then M) or System Information on Mac (Apple menu > About This Mac > System Report). Locate your Bluetooth adapter under Network adapters or Bluetooth section. Right-click and select Update driver on Windows, or check for system updates on Mac through System Preferences > Software Update.
4. Disable USB power management. In Device Manager, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers and locate your USB Root Hubs. Right-click each one, select Properties, go to Power Management tab, and uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'. Repeat for all USB Root Hub entries. This prevents Windows from cutting power to Bluetooth adapters to save energy.
5. Reset Bluetooth connection. Remove the mouse from your paired devices list completely. On Windows, go to Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices, click the mouse name, and select Remove device. On Mac, open System Preferences > Bluetooth, hover over the mouse, and click the X. Turn Bluetooth off, wait 10 seconds, turn it back on, then re-pair the mouse from scratch.
6. Adjust mouse polling rate and sleep settings. Install the mouse manufacturer's software if available and reduce the polling rate from 1000Hz to 500Hz or 250Hz. High polling rates can overwhelm Bluetooth bandwidth and cause disconnections. Also disable any sleep or hibernation settings in the mouse software that might cause it to disconnect during brief periods of inactivity.
7. Reset the Bluetooth stack. Open Command Prompt as administrator on Windows and run 'netsh winsock reset' followed by 'netsh int ip reset'. Restart your computer. On Mac, hold Shift + Option and click the Bluetooth menu bar icon, then select Reset the Bluetooth module. This clears corrupted Bluetooth configuration files that can cause persistent connection issues.