problems with bluetooth

hi all
How does one get bluetooth working? Theres an icon on the desktop that says My bluetooth places. Yet it doesn't work. Double clicking on the icon puts another one in the taskbar, when the mouse is turned on the little green light flashes but the taskbar icon shows no devices connected, even hit the reset button a few times. Same with the phone. They just aren't being seen. Are the drivers broken, or even working for that matter. Can new drivers be installed, if so where do I find them.

Going to the devices pane shows that bluetooth is there and in that catagory there's a sub heading with a Bluetooth bus Enumerator but there's no uninstall option. My phone or mouse aren't recognized. Yet the phone can see the mouse so that part works.. lol.

 

I don't suppose you have contacted your reseller's support to ask them about it eh?

I haven't had a ton of experience with bluetooth, but I know the small bit I've had seemed overly cumbersome much like wireless devices were just a few years ago.

 

haha this is very reminiscent to my earlier attempts to connect my wiimote. As pyro said, the Bluetooth software is pretty obtrusive, having you go though all sorts of windows and prompts to get a bluetooth device to work.

I think bluetooth would have a lot more promise if its range and speed were just a bit greater, since as it stands, I can't seem to get a BT signal to go through any walls.

Anyway, make sure the bluetooth enumerator thing that you see in device manager isn't using the windows default driver. I've heard of a few problems spouting when someone does uses the default windows stack (driver).
I have done a semi-extensive search for newer drivers, but they don't seem to exist (hopefully someone can tell me otherwise after reading this).

To connect a BT device to your computer for the first time requires you to go through a 'helpful' Bluetooth configuration wizard, which can be accessed through the Bluetooth icon that appears in your task bar.

Some devices require you to input a security code or some useless crap like that. Do a scan of your mouse and cell phone's manual for one. If it doesn't give you a security code, then you don't need it. One of the steps in the wizard is to put one of these numbers in, but if it doesn't have a code, you can skip that step.

The software is pretty cruddy. If you manage to get the wizard up, that's half the battle. You only have to do the wizard once, and after that, Bluetooth IS pretty cool.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the response.

Been researching this problem all over the web and it's a very difficult thing to get up and running. The main problem is that the drivers that are supplied by Widcomm are not Microsoft licensed with XP SP2 so what ends up happening is the drivers that get used are the Microsoft default ones, and they just don't want to play with Widcomm at all. There are hacked licenses that supposedly work but this seems a little dicey to me. Usually try to stay away from hacked things. Bad things tend to happen when you use those things. Gonna look around some more and maybe... maybe there's other software out there that will do the deed.

 

I don't mind looking n00bish to help others so I'll pass this along. I had a similar problem at first getting any bluetooth connectivity. My problem, in the end was simple but not obvious.

There is a little icon in the tooltray for your wireless switch and has a big W on it. If you right click on this icon it will bring up (briefly) a window with four modes on it (Off, Wireless/No Bluetooth, No Wireless/Bluetooth, Both On).

By default my machine was set to Wireless/No Bluetooth and required me to manually change the setting to 'Both On' in order to see any Bluetooth devices at all.

If you've already figured this out then perhaps someone else can help with further troubleshooting.

Peace,

D

 

Locker420,
Are you referring to that goofy TrayWalker application? Most people recommend uninstalling that in favor of the physical switch on the front because the program is known to cause headaches when it "helps" you decide what stuff you want running at random.

Good idea though, it could be part of the problem.

Something I'm wondering is why you can't tell it to "continue" with unsigned drivers, you should be able to allow them even if windows XP feels "un-safe" about using them. I'm also wondering if you have tried using the drivers from the bizcom site?

 

Been poking around the device manager. In the list is a yellow question mark with 2 listings. One is the fingerprint sensor, which is not being used, and the other is a unknown device on PCI bus with no drivers installed.

Device Instance ID it lists it as ACPI\IFX\0102\1
ConfigFlags - CONFIGFLAG_FAILEDINSTALL

Could this be the bluetooth module? Are the drivers on the support cd, or would it be better to find them off Bizcom.

All that's in the WiFi switch is on or off no other options. When that was uninstalled the WiFi stopped working.. lol.. Could try uninstalling it again and see what happens.

 

Have you installed the TPM module drivers? If not, then that is what that mystery device is. I wouldn't suggest you install them unless you have extremely important data that could jepordize national security if put in the wrong hands

Unless you're using Vista, unsigned drivers shouldn't be a problem, there is a specific part of the installation that explains why they aren't. That big scary dialog box that windows pops up with saying its unsigned can usually be ignored 99% of the time... unless you got some drivers from a really dubious website or something.

I've also heard that Vista can ONLY use signed drivers... if this is true, then I'll have more ammo for Microsoft (MS, M$) bashing.

 

When the instructions for the TPM module came up, one of the first things that crossed my mind was. "Now this is serious encryption." Then the next thought was "Do I really need this?.. nope. Didn't bother with the install.

Fired off an email to MilestonePC to check if that module was even installed... LOL..Perhaps that should have been the first thing to do.

When the research was done before purchaseing this unit, my impression was that bluetooth was a standard feature on the 15" model of the Compal. Turns out that thought was flawed.

Went to MilestonePC's web site and looked there for it. According to them the bluetooth module is a addon... sigh.. looks like all this was in vain. Now it seems that my wallet is going to get just a little lighter.

Went to Xotic's site and looked at the pictures on how to install this module. doesn't look all that complicated. If this is installed by me, will that hurt the warranty?

Sorry about this semi waste of pixels.

 

The installation of the bluetooth on these machines is pretty painless, and won't harm your warranty unless you squash something in the process =P

 

LOL.. Not going to happen. This thing gets babied all the time. Handled with love and care.

Does it matter where the module is purchased? Does it have to be Compal specific or can any Foxconn T60H928 card work. Would rather buy from somewhere that can give a decent shipping rate on something that can fit into a small envelope. 30 bucks for shipping is a little much in my book.

 

The vendor of the part shouldn't matter as long as somehow you can verify the cards compatible with your machine. On average, anything I ship via UPS with the purchase of a box run's about $10/12 for things the size of a motherboard or smaller. $30 sounds like one of those eBay deals where the item is $.99! (but we charge the full price + shipping and "handling" in the shipping price)

 

Been hunting all over the web for this module and it turns out that Acces makes the module as well. Found it HERE Looks like Brightpoint also makes this.

Now to phone the shops in my area for availability.

 

Ok.. now what happens. The module was bought from BizCom and yes it's the right one for the HEL80, at least that's what the packing slip states.. LOL.

Installing this postage stamp sized thing was real easy. After powering up though, the module is not being seen. From what I've read the Wireless Software Switch is what you use to turn on and off the module. The funny part is the software won't install. The installer keeps giving me a message that the version is not the right one. Even tried to install off the original disk that came with the lappy and still get the same message.

Anyone have any suggestions? The thought of wiping the drive and starting over really... really would be a last resort.

 

Issue resolved. Everything works now.

 

How'd you fix it? Sorry, It's just nice to know given how long this thread's been going

 

Turns out you need the Wireless Switch Software installed. If your just going to use the wireless lan it's not needed.

Figured the best bet was to dl the software from BizComs site. Don't know why or how but when the software was dl'ed it was for the hel30 not the hel80. So went back to their site and dl'ed the files again and they turned out to be the right ones, must have been a glitch at their end the first time.

After the WSS was installed, the options to allow either just the Bluetooth or the Wireless lan or both were available which was new, (The WSS was installed when the lappy was new and after reading on the forum that the software wasn't needed it was uninstalled.) after enableing the Bluetooth/Lan option the hardware wizard popped up and at first, I hit cancel, and the bluetooth still didn't work,(duh!). Looking into the device manager the module was shown with a yellow exclimation after checking the properties there were no drivers installed. So the next thing was to install drivers by allowing the option to search online cause no driver disk came with the module, and I had no freaking clue even where to find them, after a few minutes drivers were found and installed. Turns out to be the Foxconn module too.

Then it was just a matter of turning on the mouse and hitting the reset button, allowing the bluetooth to search for devices, and the magic happend. The only thing that was needed was to turn down the pointer speed cause man did that sucker move.. LOL.

Still don't know why the original software wouldn't install from the system disk, think it may have to do with upgrades to the core stuff, the intel chipset and so on. Not sure, but I'm not gonna mess with it no more. It works and that was the goal.