Question

Installing generic USB Bluetooth Dongle - Possibly Driver Problem

Asked by: pendulumx

I have purchased an unbranded USB Bluetooth dongle from eBay. The purpose was to transfer photos from my bluetooth-enabled phone to my computer. The dongle did not come with any drivers disk. The only clue as to who made it is the company name "Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd.", which is listed as the manufacturer for the "Generic Bluetooth Radio" under the Hardware tab in the Bluetooth Devices section of Control Panel.

 When I plugged it in to my XP Professional SP3 machine, Windows automatically installed generic drivers for it, and then said the device was ready for use. However, it doesn't work properly. When instructing the computer to search for new Bluetooth devices, using the "Add Bluetooth Device Wizard...", no devices are found, despite several being in range.

It does allow the PC to be seen by other devices (like my mobile phone) as a bluetooth device though, so it's not completely dead! It does not allow connections though. Iif you try to get the phone to connect to the computer, nothing at all happens at the computer end, even though all the options are set to allow connections, show as visible, etc. The connection request just times out.

I plugged the dongle in to my mums  Windows Visata machine to see if the Dongle itself was faulty, but everything worked perfectly. Vista did the same thing as XP, it found and installed generic drivers all by itself automatically, but on Vista it worked fine.

I then dug out an old laptop with XP SP2 on it. That also worked! It can see other devices, it pops up a message when a phone tries to connect to the computer, etc. Everything's good. But I want to use the dongle with my main machine, not these other two!

I went to see if my two XP machines were both using the same drivers, and found that they weren't.

On the (older) machine, which IS working with the dongle, the drivers are version 5.1.2600.2180, Driver date: 03/08/2004.

For the newer and more updated SP3 machine, which isn't working with the dongle, the drivers are newer: version 5.1.2600.5512, Driver date: 13/04/2008

If you go in to "Driver details..." it tells you the names of 5 files (bthport.sys, bthusb.sys, bthprops.ctl, fsquirt.exe, bthenum.sys) and their locations. I thought that if I overwrote all the  driver files on this newer XP system with the older drivers from the other XP system (which I know do work with the device), then this might fix it. So I tried this. I overwrote the above mentioned 5 files with older versions from the other PC. Some of the files were a slightly different file size. However, when I rebooted the computer and reinserted the dongle, they had all magically reappeared again as version 5512! All the files which I overwrote with 2180 versions had somehow managed to come back to being original 5.1.2600.5512 versions, and the same filesize as the original 5512 versions. I tried it once again and the same thing happened?!

So my question is, do you know how I can get it to accept and use older drivers?

Also, could there be another explanation, for why a system cannot search for and detect other bluetooth devices, but can be seen by other bluetooth devices, but no device can connect to it? I don't know for sure that it is the drivers, it's just one thing I was going to try and check before seeing if there was anything else I could think of.

Any help appreciated

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-07-02 at 13:55:37ID24540909
Tags

usb dongle

,

bluetooth dongle

,

bluetooth drivers

,

xp sp3 bluetooth

Topics

Bluetooth

,

Drivers

,

Wireless Network Cards & Adapters

Participating Experts
1
Points
0
Comments
3

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Bluetooth dongle for printer
    Will any USB-Bluetooth dongle work with any printer and any Bluetooth enabled laptop?
  2. Bluetooth Dongle Driver For SP2
    I bought a USB bluetooth dongle a while back. It came with a driver CD which I promptly lost. Hoorah. I then found a tutorial on how to install some Widcomm drivers to handle the dongle... This worked perfectly and I hda a year or so of runnign bluetooth stuff through that d...
  3. Problem installing driver for bluetooth dongle
    Hello all. I am trying to connect my mobile phone to my computer by blue tooth rather than a data cable. I purhased a Bluetooth Usb dongle and cd from a company called Energy Sistem. This loads and runs and gives me two options. The first is to install the driver, the second ...
  4. Where from can I get the driver for my bluetooth dongle ZY…
    Where from can I get the driver for my bluetooth dongler ZYBT20-100 Dongle?
  5. best bluetooth dongle/stub
    My wife and I want to use bluetooth headsets for our cell phone and for Skype on our laptops. Our laptops are new but do not come equipped with bluetooth out-of-the-box. We want to know if there is any difference in the bluetooth technology itself, between various dongles? ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-07-03 at 11:49:52ID: 24773905

You should have gotten version 5.1.2600.5620 with KB951376 v2.
See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951376

What type of BT dongle is it?
e.g. the $1 dongle I got off amazon has a Device Instance ID on the Details tab in Device Manager of
USB\VID_0A12&PID_0001\7&38E64336&0&2

and when I search for USB\VID_0A12&PID_0001 in google I find a couple different sites near the top telling me that's a broadcomm unit, so the widcomm stack should work with it if microsoft's did not (but it does).

Have you done a search for the files you're replacing with the Advanced options 'Search system folders', 'Search hidden files and folders' and 'Search subfolders' checked?
When I did that here I found bthport.sys in 9 different folders.

 

by: pendulumxPosted on 2009-07-10 at 16:16:47ID: 24828251

The BlueSoleil drivers did the trick

 

by: Darr247Posted on 2009-07-10 at 18:07:44ID: 24828560

How did you find out it was a BlueSoleil dongle?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...