Re: Controller disconnects mid game and when trying to reconnect cant do anything

Hi there, @XZMAN11X 

How frequently is this happening? I also use an Elite 2 and have had it disconnect briefly, but normally it reconnects after 10 seconds or so. It's definitely frustrating since that can feel like an eternity. The controller will shut off on its own after a bit and turning it back on will fix it. This is really rare for me though and I'm not aware of a fix.

@EA_AljoThis is happening to me almost every game now. I'm still in the game but I can't move my players when this is happening.

Xbox elite controller: Click on LB and raise the right stick simultaneously. Happens 50% of the time.
Click on RB, LB and raise the right stick simultaneously. Happens 90% of the time.
Click on RB, LB and raise the left and right stick simultaneously. Happens 100% of the time.

Series X.

@Piou98 

Is your controller turning off/disconnecting or does it stay on and connected, but your player stops responding?

@Piou98 

Is your controller's firmware up to date? That can be checked by going to Devices and connections > Accessories. Also, are you using an Elite 1 or 2?

@Piou98 

Thanks for getting back to me. Which system are you playing on?

@Piou98 

I have the same setup. So far, I haven't experienced this on my Series X, but it was happening with NHL 21 on occasion. Unfortunately, I really can't think of anything else that may resolve this. Does the same thing happen when you leave the controller plugged in? I wouldn't think so, but it would be good to test. Have you also tried contacting Microsoft support to see if they may have some suggestions?

Ran into this tonight when I paused and went for supper and it disconnected. Was in squad battles. finally figured out a workaround to fix.

I hit Series 2 Xbox button and actually went to Home Screen. Then I pressed/held Xbox button and turned off controller. 

turned controller back on and and quick resumed game at which point it prompted me to repair/sign in and then I got to screen to select controller to which team and all was good.

figured I should share. May have just got lucky too though. 

hope it works for others.

@Br4ymatter 

Thanks for those details! Hopefully, they help others out as well. 

@EA_Aljo 

This is still occurring.  I happened to me twice this week playing in EASHL club games - the second time about 10 minutes ago.  I have an Xbox Series X with an Elite Series 2 controller and all firmware updates are applied.

The first time, the controller completely de-synched while I was in the middle of playing a game.  The second time, I just lost all party chat for about 20 seconds.  When the party chat came back, I was unable to move - and I play goalie.

As others have reported, the controller still works for everything except moving your player.  You can still navigate the game menus between periods or during a pause.  You can still navigate the Xbox menus.  Turning the controller off and back on does nothing. Re-synching the controller does nothing.  The only fix is to restart the game, giving your team a loss.  I even plugged the controller in to the Xbox and that had no effect.

NHL 22 is the only game with which I have had this problem.  Multiple people I encounter have experienced this problem and report it only happens in NHL 22.

@wadesworld 

I also use an Elite Series 2 controller. There were times it would freeze up on my Xbox One, but then turn off after several seconds. I could turn on the controller again and it would work fine. However, this hasn't happened in several months. I have sent that controller in for repair though so possibly that fixed it. Unfortunately, I don't have any other possible solutions other than making sure the firmware is up to date. We haven't had reports on this in quite some time as well so, thankfully, it doesn't appear to be happening to a lot of people. Regardless, I know how frustrating this is. Especially, since I used to experience it myself. If I hear of anything else that might resolve this, I'll update this thread.

@EA_Aljo 

I appreciate the response.  However, it seems the devs are missing the point.

The point is not why the controller disconnects mid-game.  While that would be great to know, it can happen for numerous reasons and should be an expected corner case.  The developers should anticipate there is always a small chance a user's controller will disconnect. The game needs to account for that and either detect and auto-fix it, or give the user a way to regain control after the connection is restored.  The fact the controller can still control both the Xbox and NHL 22 menus after reconnection proves the gameplay code is missing this key error case handing.

I will note, in particular, I'm talking about EASHL club play.  In offline / CPU, one can likely get back to a "choose side" screen.  In EASHL, there is no such option.  The game needs to detect the restored controller connection and allow the user to begin controlling his player again.

@wadesworld 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass it on. I imagine it's not quite as easy to do as it would seem, but hopefully, the reason will be discovered and resolved at some point.

I'm having this issue multiple times a week. Lost countless club games. Anything we can do yet? 

Appreciate all your replies. 

I am having the same issues as others, with my series X and elite 2 controller. 

Fully updated etc. 

was there ever a fix?

@theNate9923 

How often is this happening? I haven't had it occur in a very long time now with both my Elite Series 2 controllers. Something that might be causing it is interference. Are there any other wireless controllers active or are there any other devices running that might interfere? It really could be anything. Unfortunately, this one is nearly impossible to track down. We get very few reports of it and as I said, it just stopped happening for me. I didn't even realize it until it was mentioned here.

I have experienced this problem once 2 weeks ago and again tonight. I have a Series X with an Elite 2 controller. Mid EASHL game the controller disconnects and reconnects. When it reconnects I cannot control my player, I can't pause the game. During penalty shots I can control the camera angle. Got back to home during the game and going to the accessories app shows that it isn't the controller as I am able to use all the buttons, however, going back into the game doesn't fix the issue. Turning off the controller and turning it back on doesn't fix the issue. Switching to the controller that comes with the console doesn't fix the issue. I agree with a previous poster that says this looks a lot like when you are in a Play Now game and you lose communication with your controller. When this happens the game pauses and when it reconnects you are given an option to select which team you want to control. Unfortunately because you can't do this in EASHL it's impossible to recover.

@rednyte 

Is your controller's firmware up to date? You can find out by going to your Xbox Settings > Devices & connections > Accessories. When I was experiencing this issue, the controller would freeze, but then would restart on it's own several seconds later and work again. However, as I mentioned, this stopped happening within the last year. I did send in my controllers for repair though so it's possible that took care of it. Unfortunately, I've never found a resolution for this otherwise.

Yes. My controller firmware is up to date. I never started experiencing this previously until two weeks ago. I’ve played the franchise pretty heavily for years. This is the first year I haven’t played as much so when I do play it’s rather annoying to let my teammate down by not being able to complete a game. 

If this were a controller issue I’d gladly send in my controller for repair but Microsoft will likely do their tests and say nothing is wrong with it, especially if the controller can be used outside of the game when the game won’t respond. 

@rednyte 

Personally, I've sent Elite 2 controllers in several times over the last few years and they've always either repaired or replaced it. It's frustrating to have to send them in, but the turnaround is quick and I always get a working controller back. That said, the only other thing I can think of is that there's interference from another nearby device that could be causing this. If I have any other ideas, I'll let you know.

@wadesworld 

When this happened to me, I was always able to regain control. I'm not saying we have the same issue, but there are times you can regain control. If I have any additional details on this, I'll pass them on here.