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I have Plantronics Audio 995 wireless headset (for couple years) and use it to listen to music. I use Windows Media Player with it, since after some poking at start it worked best with media buttons on the headset.

Recently though it randomly stops reacting to bulk of button presses from headset. It still reacts to some of commands — for example "next track" stops working, but holding "next track" is processed correctly as fast forward. So I don't think this is hardware issue with headset — the button press is being registered and sent to computer.

Which leaves software issue, but how do I debug this on computer side?..

The only other headset–related software running is Skype, but it is configured to use different device (web camera + main speakers) and exiting it doesn't fix the issue.

Computer is self–built desktop, Windows 7 x64 Home Premium, fully updated, etc.

No headset drivers (I don't think there even were any), note it's not bluetooth — just has its own dedicated wireless dongle.

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  • Do first sfc /scannow just in case. If you have installed any software that came with the headset, try to reinstall it again. Fully patch Windows Update including optional updates (except Bing etc.). Also please give more details about your Windows version and computer model. Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 5:59
  • @harrymc sfc check ok. Headset has no software just PnP. I've added details about computer to the Q. Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 8:51
  • It might be some software interfering with WMP. Since the issue is intermittent, try to pay attention to which products are launched when it happens. Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 11:19
  • @harrymc yep, the question is how to figure out which software/driver/whatever essentially. :) I mostly use same stuff day to day and barely anything out of it is media–related (WMP, MPC, and Skype pretty much). I had tried things like closing the heck out of everything but WMP and it doesn't help. Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 11:24
  • You could try the painful way by turning off startup products using Autoruns. But this can also be a hardware glitch : when you press-long on "next track", does this fix the problem and "next track" press-short now works? Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 11:38

2 Answers 2

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As all attempts have failed to find some software that steals events such as "next track", a hardware problem is maybe a possible explanation.

Since you have tried turning off and on the headset and even re-pairing it without success, it seems that the source of the problem is not the headset. This leaves the connectors as a possibility.

Some people have reported problems with wireless headsets when the dongle is plugged into a USB hub rather than into a USB outlet of the PC itself. We are currently waiting to see if directly plugging the dongle improves the situation.

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  • So far so good with receiver plugged directly into motherboard. I am not yet confident that issue went away, but assigning you bounty so it doesn't go to waste and all your help with troubleshooting. Thanks! Commented Oct 30, 2014 at 13:37
  • Issue hadn't reoccurred once since, so I suppose that was it! My best guess is that being connected through the hub (two chained hubs actually) receiver was sometimes failing to properly “boot” HID drivers or something like. Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 23:49
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You asked how to debug this on the computer side, but first I'd recommend troubleshooting this with another device. Do you have a smartphone? If so, try connecting your smartphone and the headphones, and using either the built-in media player or another app such as Pandora or Google Music to test it out.

If it behaves correctly on the phone, then I would agree -- it's a software issue on your PC, so here are some things to think about:

  1. Do you remember installing any software updates or new computer programs recently? One of those may be conflicting with the headphones.
  2. Some headphones only work when the media player application is the active app, or in the foreground.

As a last resort, my advice would be to reinstall the headphones. To do so:

  1. Uninstall any headphone-specific software (such as a driver that came on a CD with the headphones or that you may have downloaded from Plantronics' website -- your specific model doesn't appear to have anything available on their website).
  2. Verify that the Plantronics USB bluetooth adapter does not appear in Device Manager:
    • Press Windows key + X. (Windows key + Break on Windows 7 and prior.)
    • Click on Device Manager.
    • Click on View.
    • Click on Hidden Devices.
    • Search for the Bluetooth device.
    • Right click on the Bluetooth device and click uninstall.
  3. Unplug the Plantronics USB bluetooth adapter.
  4. Follow the instructions provided by Plantronics at this link to reconnect the device.
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  • Note that it's not bluetooth, just wireless with it's own dedicated dongle. Doesn't even have drivers, just PnP. Foreground definitely not a factor. I'll try with different computer, but without extensive use it's hard to confirm that way since issue is intermittent. Commented Oct 24, 2014 at 8:54

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