bluetooth (355 card) & windows 7 (64 bit) solution

I have an xps 1530...three years old, but still great.  Upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit, 8 gb ram, 128 gb ssd...wonderful :emotion-1:

Of course, the bluetooth 355 card is a problem.  Having spent a good deal of time on the issue, here's my best solution:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320057 

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=GfCNjYFw5rZAov3S

The ASUS USB-BT211 is $14.99 including shipping from Newegg.  Bluetooth 2.1 with a software stack specific to windows 7 64 bit.

Procedure:

1. uninstall the 355 card deleting the drivers.

2. install the asus suite. http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=GfCNjYFw5rZAov3S

3. plug in the (very small) dongle.

4. on restart, go to device manager (control panel) and find the dell 355 bluetooth module. Select and disable...easier than taking the machine apart, it will never bother you again.

Too bad that Dell isn't providing Windows 7 support on a machine that's only 3 years old, but at least this works and is cheap...