TL:DR The “wireless” Blackwidow V3 Pro no longer works wirelessly - at all - regardless of whether I try with the 2.4ghz dongle, or via Bluetooth.
Apparently I’m not the only one with connectivity issues. I’ve read quite a few articles on here and elsewhere, so I figured I would consolidate everything I’ve seen and put it here. It seems the BW V3Pro is dead in the water. Here’s the issues I’m facing when it comes to wireless connectivity:
- 2.4Ghz - this is typically how I would use the keyboard, but the other day it just stopped working. Originally I thought it was a pairing utility issue, so I tried to run the pairing utility tool to resync it, but my PC could not recognize the dongle. I tried every USB port on the motherboard, it none of them detected it. I tried plugging the dongle into another PC, still nothing - so I suspect the dongle is defective. I tried looking up a replacement 2.4ghz dongle on razer’s website, but it says out of stock - https://www.razer.com/replacement-parts-mice/razer-mice-keyboards-usb-hyperspeed-dongle/RC30-03420100-R3M1?srsltid=AfmBOorGc4ugzdKeyr6Xd6GzUZ4wRchYcRRqcWj50FTcQpTZP1_xiA9a It looks like I could buy a used 2.4ghz dongle on ebay - but I know better than to trust any used USB device sold on the internet. So as far as I’m concerned, 2.4ghz is just not an option at the moment.
- Bluetooth - since 2.4ghz doesn’t work, I figured I’d sync via Bluetooth. Unfortunately, that is not an option either. According to the official manual, to enter pairing mode, you press Fn+1 and hold for 5 seconds until the corresponding light appears on the keyboard (https://dl.razerzone.com/master-guides/RazerSynapse3/BLACKWIDOWV3PRO-00000602-en.pdf) - I put that here because I’ve read alt+fn+1 was another option online, but that didn’t work either. Regardless, the keyboard never enters pairing mode for whatever reason (and yes, I switched the toggle to BT), so I can’t connect via Bluetooth.
Not sure what else to try at this point, besides wait for a replacement dongle to come back in stock and hope that works - but if the Bluetooth connectivity doesn’t even work, I have little hope. I bought this keyboard in 2022, so it’s about 4 years old at this point. I’ve never heard of a peripheral device losing it’s Bluetooth connectivity, and certainly not after only 4 years, and CERTAINLY not on a product that was $230 at the time.
For now, I’m stuck with a wired connection - not the end of the world, but definitely not what I paid for. If anyone has found a fix, I’m all ears.