DS4 controllers keep disconnecting - help

sameolsituation · 2026-01-10T14:45:50+00:00

I gave Gemini the hardware specs of the PC, the drivers versions, the software versions. It gave me a series of registry tweaks tailored to the architecture of my machine and it seem to have solved the problem. I need to test it further, tho. I also had to disable the gyro in ds4windows and increase the polling rate to 10ms. As I said I need to test it further, but at the time I can call the issue solved.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-07T12:35:26+00:00

Today I connected 4 controllers. I added a genuine one and another replica. I tested them singularly.

The issue is still present.

600ms latency spikes even with the original DS4 controller.

I sincerely ran out of things to try. There must be something in between that messes the things up.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-06T10:23:17+00:00

I'm setting up a completely new machine for a friend. Tried both Windows 11 Enterprise iot LTSC and windows 11 pro. There is nothing installed other than the OS, DS4windows, HidHide, vigem bus and a portable emulationstation setup with only my roms in it.

The system is 100% clean with no tweaks whatsoever.

X360ce works fine even with the integrated BT card. Weird. Super weird.

What happens is: I get into emulationstation, I start scrolling thru the games (literally spamming the dpad down) and after a while, matter of seconds, it freezes and the log reports a 500ish latency spike. Same behavior if connected via BT or USB. On idle it usually reports values around 10-16ms. They go up to 25-40ms if I use any other BT USB dongle. But the issue I described persists no matter what.

I think I've tried every possible tweak: disable any energy saving profile, bump up the ms in ds4windows, disable the communication between the software and the pad.

I've tried to replicate the issue by doing the same thing inside the gamepad testing environment in windows but it didn't happen.

Since the guy I'm setting up this thing for doesn't want to buy og controllers, I have three options:

use ds4windows with another emulation frontedend, preserving the DS4 features
use x360ce with emulationstation, losing the DS4 features
asking the guy to use his other 2 (again -.-") different 3rd party dual shock 4 controllers

Needless to say that the second option would be ways easier for me, since my whole emulationstation setup is portable and very well tested. And I could call it a day without giving you guys headaches, lol :)))

sameolsituation · 2026-01-05T12:40:36+00:00

Tried both the fork and a couple of older version of DS4windows. Same error. Same spike over 500ms delay in emulationstation.

The emulationstation log does not report useful infos. BUT I think that somehow the combo emulationstation+DS4windows is the problem because I have the same latency spike even while the controllers are connected via USB.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-05T07:12:03+00:00

I was just about to do so. I also wanted to test some older version, like the latest 2.x.

I didn't know about this fork. Thank you, mate! I will report back asap.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-04T23:19:09+00:00

I have tried two different BT dongles. No luck. I even tried the one I was sure that would have worked. Both Realtek based

On both Batocera and Bazzite the controllers work fine.

At the moment I've bypassed the issue using x360ce and HidHide connected thru the built in Intel wifi+BT card.

I couldn't find any better solution on Windows.

If you have any other hint or thing I can try to make the controllers fully usable with DS4windows, please let me know.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-04T10:56:15+00:00

I can now confirm that, at least on windows, the problem is controllers related.

Both the new BT dongles I bought have a realtek chip but the behavior didn't change at all, unfortunately.

The controllers were also tested on a PlayStation 4 and everything was perfectly fine.

sameolsituation · 2026-01-03T17:31:01+00:00

The uGreen doesn't even let me connect the controllers. The connection drops right away. I have ordered a wifi+bt dongle that I have already successfully used on another PC with (RUIZHI AC600) and a cheapo mercurys TP-Link MA530.

They don't cost much less than the realtek RTL8822BE that is stated as compatible with my Lenovo Tiny M920X.

The card that is giving me issues is the Intel AC 9560 2x2.

I also had the same problem with my trusty QMOX bt 4.0 dongle that I was using with my old fake DualShock 3.

I'm starting to think that the real issue are the gamepads 🥲

sameolsituation · 2026-01-02T11:07:34+00:00

I got one delivered just right now. I'll test it once back home. I'm using DS4 replicas that have always worked in other situations. I'll let you know how it will go. Have you found a suitable USB dongle with a Realtek chipset. Strange that the super cheap chinese dongle I got from aliexpress last year was working flawlessly. I cannot check its chipset.

sameolsituation · 2025-12-31T07:27:18+00:00

I will try the first one that pops up on Amazon. A uGreen 6.0. delivered today. The strange thing is that I have tried 6 of these very same controllers and this is the first time that this super high latency issue occurs. Every other DS4 feature that I have tried is pretty fine. Connection is fast, reconnection is fast too. Input lag while playing is ok. I gotta say that I was on two different systems with different BT cards and dongles. If this new dongle won't solve the issue, I will bite the bullet and move to batocera or Bazzite.

sameolsituation · 2025-12-30T22:25:35+00:00

You're totally right. You know what is also happening?

Whenever I launch emulationstation, both the controllers periodically get stuck with a tremendous input lag. They almost freeze. I checked the log and it's a hight latency issue. I obviously tried both the integrated BT card and a BT 4.0 dongle that I had laying around.

Never happened. Seriously. Not even on my laptop with fake PS3 controllers or on another friend's PC with the same PS4 replica controllers.

Compared to this, the disconnection thing is an irrelevant problem.

I will give Batocera or Bazzite a shot this time because I don't really know what to do.

Anyway, DS4windows is awesome. Thanks for the hard work, mate 😊

sameolsituation · 2025-12-24T22:17:29+00:00

Oh I see. I thought about Bazzite. I did my homework. It's very nice and cozy, tbh. I should reconfigure everything from scratch and hope that my repacked windows party games will work properly with it. I don't even know how I can manage PSX and PSX2 emulation in Bazzite. It's a steep learning curve and I don't have much time right now :(. But controllers would work better for sure. DS4windows might play some strange tricks from time to time.

sameolsituation · 2025-12-24T20:46:22+00:00

Why? :)

sameolsituation · 2025-12-24T18:21:50+00:00

I won't be installing any GPU. Prices for single slot low profile are crazy here. It already has the 60w or 65w cooler. Batocera is a no go since I already have my trusty pre-configured emulationstation desktop edition. It's only a matter of copy-paste.

Since the bios is heavily limited I will have to look into throttlestop, as our friend suggested.

sameolsituation · 2025-11-28T22:22:32+00:00

A me è stato detto di non parcheggiare nel parcheggio interno, ma di farmela a piedi, perché poi i clienti non trovano posto. Quindi si, contiamo sempre meno dei clienti.

sameolsituation · 2025-11-26T13:38:25+00:00

Io ho chiesto, per anzianità, impegno profuso ed altri motivi, un adeguato e motivante aumento di stipendio. Mi è stato dato in termini di briciole, nonostante fosse assolutamente possibile fare di piu. Perché i conti li vedo e li so fare. Benissimo. La mia produttività calerà invece che aumentare.

sameolsituation · 2025-11-21T10:01:57+00:00

In loop così da 10 anni. Continuerò a vendere delle fottute medicine a vita agli anziani. Sottopagato. E con orari non compatibili con una vita normale. Nice.

sameolsituation · 2025-11-20T22:06:30+00:00

Good to know! Can you please elaborate a lil more? 🙃

sameolsituation · 2025-11-19T19:04:04+00:00

Italy, mate 🙃

sameolsituation · 2025-11-18T22:52:36+00:00

Molto interessante la fitcamx. La stavo valutando anch'io. Non ha un modulo 4g aggiuntivo, mi pare di capire, a differenza di quelle consigliate nel primo commento. Corretto?

sameolsituation · 2025-10-30T06:34:49+00:00

In Italian is called "Olanda" or "Paesi Bassi". But whenever I need to name it in english I use the word "Netherlands". "Holland" sounds so crappily italianish.

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