Why do my AirPods suddenly stop playing music?

Airpod connection to Surface Book Suddenly Stopped Working

I use a Microsoft Surface Book running Windows 10 Pro. I have connected my airpods to the computer via bluetooth for many months. Suddenly, approximately 10 - 14 days ago, the connection stopped working. I have tried: 1] turning off the bluetooth on my
iPhone; 2] entirely resetting my airpods and reconnecting them, first to the laptop and then to the iPhone through a series of bizarre steps that may have included turning in 3/4 of a circle during a full moon; and 3] restarting the bluetooth service on my
laptop. None of that worked.

When I open the Bluetooth devices menu on my laptop, my airpods appear as paired. Irrespective of how many times I attempt to connect them, whether the airpods are in my ear or in the open case, whether an app is playing a video or music on the laptop,
when I click "connect," the laptop appears to be attempting to make the connection, but is NEVER successful [or at least never successful for more than a microsecond].

Microsoft needs to help us try to fix this problem. PLEASE