Has anyone found a way to get A2DP to work on Windows 7

For those of you who may not know what I am talking about, I have a pair of Sony bluetooth headphones that I love. On my old dell laptop I had a lot of trouble getting them to stream audio. You can pair them to the system and get them to show up in the bluetooth devices menu with little trouble. The problem is that for whatever reason Windows or Dell or whoever is to blame does not set up for the A2DP protocol.

On my old Dell this problem was fixed by uninstalling the Dell provided driver and actually installing one from the gateway website. I tried this on my new XPS and it would not allow the install because unlike my old Dell my new one does not have a separate bluetooth card, with the bluetooth being integrated into the NIC the gateway driver cannot find the bluetooth device.

Now I know I am not the only person out there that enjoys the freedom of wireless headphones while watching youtube videos or listening to music while the old (or in some of your cases young) lady watches her TV programs. There has to be a fix and I have ran out of talent and patience when it comes to trying to find it, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I can't say that I've tried bluetooth on any other PC than my own, but with the default driver what "Services" are listed in the Properties for your paired bluetooth audio device?

I think "Audio Sink" on my PC is the one, if that is also listed on your PC. Screenshot: http://puu.sh/fjSg

 

When I check the services I dont have an "audio sync" selection, at least not in any of the main screens. I am however making sure that the "headset" option is checked but either way that does not fix the issue. I have read that A2DP is not enabled on windows 7 by default and obviously all the dell drivers available to not allow for it either. There are some drivers that allow it but the ones I have found do not find the integrated bluetooth on the intel network card.

 

Have you tried the intel drivers direct from the intel site?

 

You know, I havent lol I will give it a shot and see what transpires. According to Dell's website I have the most current driver but I have not even thought to check Intel's site.

UPDATE: I just checked Intel's site and unfortunately the driver I have is the one they say is most recent. So I am still on the hunt.

 

What driver version do you have for the Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed Adapter in Device Manager?

Earlier this month,Windows Update using the Microsoft Update service, prompted me to install a driver update for the Intel 6230 BT 3.0 which installed v1.0.90.20620 which is newer than the latest fromm the Dell website (v1.0.81.20601). I hadn't tried pairing this headset before this update but I am now able to pair my Motorola S305 with my L702x and listen to music with no problems. There was a couple of things i had to go through to get it working and as mentioned previously, i believe it requires the audio sink service to be installed and enabled for the device you are pairing.

Here is what i did:

1. Pair headphones with Windows 7 which should install the drivers for the audio sink and other comonents.

2. Go to Bluetooth Devices or Devices and Printers and find the Bluetooth headset and right click with mouse and you should see an option called Bluetooth Operations. Click this to open the device operations and settings window.

3. If the headphones / device is powered on, and paired successfully with the audio sink enabled, you should see the options Listen to Music and Forward VOIP Calls which you can enable / disable on this screen.

As I mentioned above, i'm not sure if its the new updates from Windows Update that got this working or not. I have manually downloaded the drivers from the Microsoft Update Catalog so PM me if you want a copy.

 

I'm looking haven't found what you are talking about, but I did find an new nvidia driver that I needed lol. I should mention I have the Intel Centrino 1030 not the 6230.

 

Ummm, as long as the headphones pair correctly, the A2DP should be included with the bluetooth stack drivers with the Intel card. A2DP has been included with the bluetooth stack for several years now. I highly recommend you use the stock Dell drivers for the Intel card to begin with as they will interface with the bluetooth radio properly. Then you can update to the newer Intel drivers after you get everything working.

But let's start with some more information about the issue.

1. Are you able to successfully pair the headphones?

2. After pairing them, then turning them off, then back on again, do the headphones automatically connect to the XPS?

3. If they are connecting automatically, do the headphones show up under the playback tab in the sound control panel?