Use onboard bluetooth rather than proprietary USB adapters?

C

Captain Starbuck

New member
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
20
Every time I buy a mouse it has a proprietary USB dongle / adapter for the bluetooth connection. I'm looking at them on my desk now, Microsoft, Kensington, Insignia, and the latest is Logitech. These adapters are supposed to support multiple devices, but each one only supports devices from the same manufacturer. Well, I have a MSI Creator 15 A10 with built-in bluetooth which does connect with my phone, and audio devices. But my most recent purchase, a Logitech M705 mouse, only pairs with its own USB adapter, and the notebook doesn't see the mouse for pairing. So much for the "Universal" Serial Bus.

The problem is that there is only one USB-B adapter on this notebook. I'm using the Thunderbolt USB-C to support a dual monitor. When I do have need to plugin another USB-B device, I can't because it's attached to the mouse even though the laptop has onboard bluetooth. The result is that I need to remove the dongle and use the onboard mouse until I'm done with whatever other USB device is plugged in (usually external storage).

What should we look for in mouse products or others to ensure we don't get caught in this trap?

Is there anything we can do with the onboard bluetooth to get it to pair with these other devices? Or anything we can do with off-the-shelf devices to get them to comply with whatever standard is in use by the MSI bluetooth?

Can anyone document exactly what these "standards" are and why they are different?

Thanks.
 
cpsoho

cpsoho

Member
FIRST LIEUTENANT
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
753
Did you try to update the driver to the latest version or try to rest the firmware?
 
C

Captain Starbuck

New member
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
20
I bought a little 4-port USB-A hub for US$12. It has one v3.0 SS port and three v2.0 ports.
Problem solved!

While looking around for an external cooling solution, I also noted that some add-on devices come with extra USB ports "free". So for example, if you get a device that plugs into your USB-A port, the manufacturer knows you still need the port, so they might provide a passthrough (one used, one new = no change), or they might provide a couple extra ports in a mini-bus.

I still don't like the proprietary USB dongles for devices but with a few extra ports it's no longer an issue. This same issue applies to Apple vs Google phones, Tile-like finder devices, etc.
 
Top