Inconsistent Phillips Hue behavior with DeconZ -- bulb attributes not updating despite changing light levels

Running latest 2022.7 HA in a VirtualBox (not that I think its relevant) with a Deconz USB stick.

A few (not all) of my Hue bulbs are not updating attributes correctly.

Verified as follows: I can use the Deconz applet (the HA add-on) to manipulate a bulb’s light levels while monitoring the brightness attribute (second browser window with the developer tools). The attribute DOES NOT CHANGE. The light levels, temperatures, etc. do.

This problem is affect a handful of my Hue bulbs – both color and ambient – but NOT all. I have another set of bulbs, presumably identical, which are behaving just fine.

Has anyone seen this kind of behavior or have any ideas how to troubleshoot? (I already pulled a bulb off the network and re-added it; no change, same problem.

Thanks!
-J

Following up:

DEFINITELY something going on with firmware in earlier bulbs. I went out and bought some newer Phillips Hue Ambient bulbs, the ones listed as 1100 lumen as opposed to the older 805 lumen. Low and behold, they slot in an speak to HA just fine.

So I guess older bulbs need a firmware update to work properly? (difficult since I’m running Deconz) …

Update:

The newest Hue app DOES allow you to update firmware on Bluetooth compatible bulbs, which I did. Unfortunately, the bulb displayed exactly the same behavior (brightness attribute not responding) despite the new firmware (confirmed in Deconz). So yea… hardware changes causing this I guess?