Why does my wireless keyboard or mouse keep disconnecting?

A mouse that stutters or a keyboard that drops a burst of characters feels like a serious fault and almost never is. Wireless peripherals run on very little power over a short, weak radio link, and all four of the things that disturb that link are cheap to test. The order matters, because the first one accounts for most cases and takes a minute.

Step by step

1. Put fresh batteries in, or charge it fully.Battery indicators on peripherals are crude and often report fine right up until the device starts misbehaving. A weak cell produces intermittent dropouts long before it produces a dead device, so treat this as a test, not a maintenance job.
2. Move the receiver, not the mouse.A small USB receiver plugged into the back of a desktop, behind a metal case and under a desk, is working through the worst possible obstruction. Move it to a front port, or use a short USB extension cable to bring it onto the desk. This is the single most effective change after batteries.
3. Get it away from other radio sources.Most peripherals use the same crowded 2.4GHz band as wifi, cordless phones, baby monitors and microwave ovens. A receiver plugged in next to a wifi dongle, a USB 3 drive or a phone charger is a classic cause; USB 3 devices in particular emit interference right in that band.
4. Check the surface under the mouse.Glass, gloss, dark shiny wood and some patterned surfaces defeat optical sensors, which reads as stuttering rather than disconnection. A sheet of paper under the mouse is a free test that immediately separates a tracking problem from a radio one.
5. Stop the computer powering the device down.Both operating systems allow the machine to switch off USB and Bluetooth devices to save energy, and the reconnection is not always graceful. Look in the device or power settings for the option letting the computer turn the device off, and turn it off.
6. Re-pair a Bluetooth device from scratch.Remove it from the list of paired devices entirely, then pair it again rather than reconnecting. A stale pairing is a common cause of a device that connects and immediately drops.
7. Reduce the number of things competing for one Bluetooth radio.Headphones, a speaker, a phone, a watch and a mouse all on one computer's Bluetooth is a lot of traffic through one small radio. Disconnect what you are not using and see whether the mouse steadies.
8. Update the drivers and any receiver firmware.Manufacturers issue firmware for the receiver as well as the device. It is unglamorous and it resolves a fair share of long-standing dropouts, particularly on multi-device receivers.
9. Test on another computer to place the fault.If it behaves perfectly on another machine, the peripheral is fine and the problem is that computer's ports, power settings or interference. If it misbehaves everywhere, the peripheral is the fault.

Tips

• Rechargeable cells often sit at a slightly lower voltage than fresh alkaline ones, which some peripherals tolerate poorly. If a device is fussy, try a good alkaline cell as a diagnostic.
• Keep a cheap wired mouse in a drawer. It costs very little and turns a wireless failure from a crisis into an inconvenience.
• If a keyboard drops or repeats characters only when the laptop is charging, suspect interference from the charger rather than the keyboard.

Common mistakes

• Reinstalling drivers before changing the batteries — It is the software answer to a hardware symptom. Fresh cells cost pence and resolve most cases in a minute.
• Leaving the receiver in the back of a desktop — It is behind a metal case, under a desk, surrounded by cables. Bringing it onto the desk on a short extension transforms a marginal link.

If it doesn't work

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