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XPS 8500 - Bluetooth/Wifi drivers don't work after clean reinstall
I bought an XPS 8500 within the last month or so, and very quickly decided to drop in an SSD. This meant a clean reinstall of Windows 7 from a DVD for the new drive (NOT a system restore from the recovery discs).
Unfortunately, I cannot get the bluetooth/wifi drivers (http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=MMX1J&FileId=2952379602&productCode=xps-8500&urlProductCode=False) to fully install, the best I can get is various states of only partially working. Sometimes the driver install hangs (I've let it sit untouched for hours and it never finishes), sometimes it reboots the machine, sometimes the install appears to work but Bluetooth is partially broken -- usually the Bluetooth Server cannot start (as seen when the system starts installing the drivers for the new hardware) but sometimes everything appears to have installed correctly but it doesn't discover all bluetooth devices (such as other machines in my house that have bluetooth) and it won't successfully pair with the keyboard I am trying to use.
I saved the original hard drive that shipped with the system and the preinstalled OS still works correctly and bluetooth works as expected. So it probably isn't a hardware issue.
Very frustrated, this is the one black mark on this otherwise very enjoyable system. Any ideas or a workaround?
Joe
DELL-Vishwas M
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July 12th, 2012 12:00
Hi janstett,
Welcome to the Dell Community.
Bluetooth on XPS™ 8500 is integrated on the following WLAN Cards offered with the system.
The link that you have posted is the driver link for Dell Wireless WLAN 1703 Half Mini-Card. It may be wrong driver for your Bluetooth device. Your system may have either Dell Wireless WLAN 1704 Half Mini-Card or Intel 2230 WLAN Half Mini-Card. Since I am not aware of your system configuration, I would suggest you to try installing drivers for Dell Wireless WLAN 1704 Half Mini-Card or Intel 2230 WLAN Half Mini-Card.
Links:
1) Dell Wireless WLAN 1704 Half Mini-Card:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=46Y0F&FileId=2952377197&productCode=xps-8500&urlProductCode=False
2) Intel 2230 WLAN Half Mini-Card:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=KXNWY&FileId=2944815686&productCode=xps-8500&urlProductCode=False
Kindly revert back and let me know for further clarifications.
Thanks & Regards
Dell_Vishwas_M
Dell Social Media Responder
Davet50
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July 12th, 2012 15:00
Make sure you install all three chipset drivers. Open up device manager and look to see what devices have a bang next to them .
Anonymous
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July 12th, 2012 15:00
Well it isn't the 1704 drivers either as the installer prompted me to turn on the wireless switch which does not exist since this is a desktop not a laptop.
For what it's worth I tried the Intel drivers (despite the fact that they don't have Bluetooth support and my system definitely does) and the installer kicks you out when it doesn't find the Intel card.
The 1703 appears to be the one I need and it doesn't work.
Anonymous
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July 12th, 2012 15:00
It definitely has Bluetooth so it's either the 1703 or 1704. The 1703 is chosen by the driver download when my service tag is detected by the system/activex control.
I am trying the 1704 drivers now and if that fails I will insert the old drive again and see if I can get more detail on which mini card is installed... While I have the case open I can probably see what the card is too.
Anonymous
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July 13th, 2012 05:00
Just to wrap this up for anyone interested... Vishwas spent several hours with me on the phone, it looks like Intel's Bluetooth drivers would not uninstall even though they never were fully installed. The install aborts when it doesn't detect Intel hardware but cannot be uninstalled because it doesn't detect the Intel hardware ;) That was probably confusing/breaking the Bluetooth stack. In the end I had to reinstall Windows and start from scratch, and now all is well.
Megatron991
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November 8th, 2013 21:00
Hello! ... recently i've had the same problem. I found the solution! though! This is a link to a direct download from my cloud storage. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fb7ztiv1xdlayp5/Network_Driver_WM7F2_WN_10.0.0.260_A00.EXE
What you want to do ... or at least what i did was i uninstalled everything first, then reinstalled it all.
Then i rebooted , found it wasn't working and then reopened the installed and dida repair and now everything is working ^-^
Hopefully you guys can find this helpful, also ... don't call tech support for this issue .. they had no idea what was wrong ... wasted two hours of my life