Problem with Bluetooth dongle

[craig@rewind]

I have had the Wavelinker USB Bluetooth dongle for a couple of years now under Windows 2000 and it has always worked fine. I used it for the first time today on my new Dell PC under Windows XP and although Windows recognises it when I put it in the USB slot (it says "Found New Hardware") and adds the Bluetooth Radio Software and some Microsoft Bluetooth software, it doesn't find any hardware. When I load the Wavelinker software that came with the dongle all the options in the software are greyed out.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[nigel_williams]

Have you tried installing the BT software before inserting the dongle?

[Xeon007]

SP2's Bluetooth stuff isn't very good apparently. I had problems using my dongle until I switched from the SP2 drivers to the ones that came with the dongle. Since then I've had no probs.

[Cerbera]

I had similar issues. Wouldn't work with the new drivers that came with it, MS drivers always took over.
What I did was install the drivers that came with the dongle, then once its all installed you have to 'update' the drivers for the bluetooth device in Device Manager. But you have to specify it yourself. Don't let it search. You have to point it at the CD and it'll update them with the new ones and all will be well. Any probs, let me know and I'll see if I can run through it with you... if I'm around ! :thumbs:

[gobstopper]

Give this (http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35927&page=1&pp=15) a try.

It's not quite the same problem you are dealing with, but I found it on my travels when trying to find a solution to by BT dongle problems a couple of days ago. The dongle itself is fantastic, but it cam with IVT BlueSoleil drivers which I have looked around don't seem to be regarded as the best on the planet. With Nokia Data Suite refusing to play ball with them I went looking for a solution.

The lengthy first post in the link I have included involves getting the Widcomm drivers installed. These seem to be the drivers of choice (and another BT dongle which I have, made by Linksys, uses these drivers and I've never had a moment of bother with it). Anyway I followed the instructions and I now have a dongle complete with Widcomm drivers and it seems to be working a treat.

[craig@rewind]

I had similar issues. Wouldn't work with the new drivers that came with it, MS drivers always took over.
What I did was install the drivers that came with the dongle, then once its all installed you have to 'update' the drivers for the bluetooth device in Device Manager. But you have to specify it yourself. Don't let it search. You have to point it at the CD and it'll update them with the new ones and all will be well. Any probs, let me know and I'll see if I can run through it with you... if I'm around ! :thumbs:

I have uninstalled all the generic ones but I can't manually get it to look for the device because it isn't recognising the device! It is plugged in to the USB port and Windows does recognise it as it installs it's own software. But when you uninstall the Windows software it just disappears completely!

[Cerbera]

You don't need to uninstall the Windows ones.. they'll stay there and won't affect it. Get it to the stage where windows knows its there, then install the ones that come with it !

[craig@rewind]

I have done that but it still doesn't work.

[PlexShaw]

Like Cerbera says, you need to force Windows XP to use the driver that was supplied with the dongle. Assuming you've installed the software, you need to update the driver through Device Manager. The reason is because when Windows XP finds two different drivers for a device, it will pick the one is digitally signed over one that is not (in this case, the driver from the CD). This is also why it will not allow you to use the supplied Bluetooth software.

You will also need to disable the MS Bluetooth software to prevent compatability issues, using 'msconfig' and 'services.msc'