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    SmartWi neccessary for Bluetooth?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by edwordsigh, Sep 3, 2010.

  1. edwordsigh

    edwordsigh Notebook Consultant

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    One of the first things I uninstalled on my Z was the SmartWi application. Knowing that I did not buy my Z with the Verizon Broadband card, I figured I wouldnt need this application. However, when trying to connect to bluetooth mouse, Windows was not showing any bluetooth devices available for pairing. Not knowing what to do next, I tried to reinstall the SmartWi application and the bluetooth mouse finally appeared and connected.

    Do I absolutely need the SmartWi to enable bluetooth capabilities?
     
    edwordsigh, Sep 3, 2010
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  2. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    No. SmartWi basically provides a frond-end to the device manager for turning wireless hardware on and off. You can completely uninstall the SmartWi software and get the original Broadcom Widdcomm bluetooth stack from HERE. Sony likely won't ever update their drivers for Bluetooth, but Broadcom will. The only thing is, that to turn off bluetooth you'd have to go into the device manager and disable it manually, or just leave it on.
     
    H.A.L. 9000, Sep 3, 2010
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  3. edwordsigh

    edwordsigh Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, I've uninstalled the smartwi, installed the broadcom stack, and it looks like its working! however, i cannot disable the bluetooth manually via device manager as the disable button is greyed out. Any solutions to this?
     
    edwordsigh, Sep 3, 2010
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  4. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Is this after a shut-down and fresh startup? Sometimes when you get new bluetooth drivers it flashes the bluetooth chipset firmware, and requires a cold restart.
     
    H.A.L. 9000, Sep 3, 2010
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  5. edwordsigh

    edwordsigh Notebook Consultant

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    ONCE AGAIN, you saved the day. It worked! Thank you HAL!
     
    edwordsigh, Sep 4, 2010
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