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Tissy

21 Posts

74656

November 8th, 2007 09:00

could not find a compatible bluetooth chip on your system Help?

I will try to make this short. I have a 9400 that my bluetooth was working fine on, I then lost my video card.........after dell replaced the video card I lost the motherboard with in 2 hours. The motherboard was replaced the computer still did not work the tech came back replaced the motherboard, video card and processor wa la I finally had a computer again but I've never had bluetooth since. After many hours on the phone with dell they decided to send me a bluetooth card I installed it, same problem. I spend much more time on the phone they determined must be the mother board again, after another new motherboard and another bluetooth card I'm at the same point sigh. There is no bluetooth light on my laptop at all ever lighting up. Dell had me uninstall the bluetooth drivers and software a while back I can not reinstall them I get the above error part way through its like XP doesnt know my card is in the computer. Its enabled in bios but when you go in under devices in bios it says there is NO bluetooth. There is no bluetooth listed in device manager either. I'm at a lost..............Dell seems to be at a loss................I just want to use my bluetooth devices and get this fixed. I thought I'd try forum and see if anyone is familiar with any of this and what are we all missing?

toadvine

40 Posts

November 9th, 2007 00:00

Well, if it's not showing up in the bios then the computer doesn't see it at all, which means you've got one of three unlikely scenarios: either the card isn't in snugly enough for the system to see it, the motherboard's bluetooth connector is broken or it's a bad bluetooth card... none of them seem like they should be the answer since you've had motherboard and bluetooth both replaced several times.

I'd manually double-check everything in the bios - make sure that bluetooth is enabled , disable the wireless switch to make sure it's not turned off by that by accident, check under System>Device Info to see whether the bios does see it or not. If it's still not, I'd push Dell to try and get the whole system replaced because something's funky in there.

If it DOES show up under Device Info though, that's a whole new ballgame. In that case, we're looking at something being funky inside of Windows, probably a conflicting driver or something. If so, try uninstalling all your network adapters, rebooting, letting windows redetect and reinstall them and see what you get if you then try installing the latest bluetooth driver.

toadvine

40 Posts

November 9th, 2007 01:00

Yup, if that's the case then something is very funky on your system indeed. I would definitely push them to replace the whole system - if it's not showing up in the BIOS then it's not a software issue, it's hardware.

Tissy

21 Posts

November 9th, 2007 01:00

When I go into bios under device info and look under bluetooth device it says (NONE). Then I go in under wireless , internal bluetooth it says enabled. The device info has said none since they put the 1st motherboard in it the computer is now on its 4th motherboard and its 3rd bluetooth. I'm at my wits end and will tell ya I have a neck ache from all the time on the telephone with dell I was really hoping someone had run into it here. In device manager there is nothing listed in the way of bluetooth its like it doesnt exist anymore. If I hit the key FN and F2 it only turns on and off my wireless but the little light for the bluetooth never even flickers. I have taken the bluetooth out of its slot and replugged it in numerous times. The last tech that came and put in the motherboard said if my bluetooth still didnt work it has to be a software problem. I told him I didnt see how that could be when the computer doesnt even know it has a bluetooth card in it? Thanks for your suggestions though.
 
Patricia

ronss

1 Rookie

 • 

2.1K Posts

November 9th, 2007 06:00

if dell installed a bluetooth card, and its not listed in the device manager, your computer for some reason isn,t recognizing it.. is it possible there is a bios upgrade for the bluetooth card??? and i quess you stated you enabled it in the bios...... i am not sure why the dell tech did not check the device manager when he installed it to see if it was listed...that is dumb.  have you installed windows service pack 2, it supports bluetooth.
 
check this link out,,might be something there to help ya
 


Message Edited by ronss on 11-09-2007 02:49 AM

Tissy

21 Posts

November 9th, 2007 09:00

Hi again,
My computer software is exactly the same as it was when my bluetooth was working fine along with all my devices, mouse, printer, cell phone except dell had me remove the bluetooth software and driver and I can't load it back on because it doesnt see a bluetooth card.  I run XP Pro. SP2. They only changed bluetooth cards, motherboards and video cards and processor. I keep thinking I must be missing something but if I am I surely can't find it. As far as the tech, he came in and picked up my laptop from work and took it out and replaced the motherboard when he brough it back in he goes any more problems it has to be software, I go well the bluetooth wasnt even showing up, he goes where do you see that???? Needless to say I lost a lot of faith there. Thanks for all your suggestions because i had totally run out, back to dell I guess.
 
Thanks again,
Patricia

Tissy

21 Posts

November 9th, 2007 09:00

I just got off the telephone with dell they are taking the system back to the depot to fix it. They said seeing the techs couldnt fix it that they would ship it back to them and take care of it. They believe it may have to do with the bios some how, long as they fix it it works for me. I hope I find out what was wrong with it if I do will post what it was here.
 
Patricia

Gina Q

1.7K Posts

November 9th, 2007 13:00

Tissy,
 
Let me jump in here with a quick suggestion. I don't see anywhere that you're reset the BIOS. This may enable the Bluetooth. Here's how you do it: boot to the BIOS (F2 on boot of course). Then once in the BIOS hold down the ALT+F then hit ESC and tell the system to Save the changes. See if this helps the BIOS recognize the Bluetooth.
 
If it does not then it's probably that the connector that attaches to the MB is not connected and therefore the system won't see it of course like another said before. Also, when you send your system in to the Depot be sure to remove and keep your Hard Drive. If you don't know how to do this here's the link for the manual

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>with instructions.

Tissy

21 Posts

November 10th, 2007 01:00

When I hold down ALT and F it beeps but I then hit esc , save and exit but all is the same. I was so hoping it would work hate to send it away! Thanks for the suggestion though.
 
Patricia

E1705owner

2 Posts

March 30th, 2008 05:00

I realize this thread is a little Old now,  but I had to put in what I found for the benifit of others pulling their hair out trying to get Bluetooth to work.  This will probably apply to anyone that has had to replace hardware (like their internal BT Card and or MB) or , like me, simply trying to add the internal BT module to thier system.  For those that want to jump straight to the possible answer,  see the Bolded text at the end of this "long story".

 

I have an Inspiron E1705 with XP Media Center Edition (wish it was PRO,  but that's another rant).

 

I ordered a Dell bluetooth TrueMobile 350 from a supplier that supplies refurb products for Dell.

I got no drivers with the device,  so I naturally went to the Dell site and downloaded the specific driver for my laptop and the BT 350 device.

 

so far,  very simple,  here's where it got to be a royal pain.

 

I ran the driver package I downloaded and it says (you guessed it) "could not find a compatible bluetooth chip on your system"  no matter what I tried,  I could not get this driver package to install.

after about 6-8 hours of research both here on the Dell Forums and on the Internet,  I gave up and logged into Dell Support Chat (believe it or not,  I had a quite positive experience) and after two separate chat sessions I got a Quasi solution.

 

basically what happened with the first chat was the tech decided that the BIOS could use an update, I was running A02, and he loaded me up with A04 - the flash and reboot naturally would disconnect the session,  but he asked me to try and install after the update,  which I did and it still didn't install the driver package,  same exact error message window popped up.

so later I got back into chat again with the second tech,  and I had this device with a yellow question mark

 

this item says "BCM2045" - it is not installed (this is why it's a yellow Question mark item)

the Tech informs me that BCM stands for Broadcom and is not the 350 device (the 350 device is a Toshiba device) not having ever seen these devices before I had no idea it was supposed to be a Toshiba device (it does now make sense that you wouldn't install a Toshiba driver on a Broadcom device),  the tech told me to return it and get the right one.. 

 

I decided to do some more looking here in the Driver Download section and searched for the BCM2045 XP drivers and lo- and behold,  there is a package R127314.EXE that is made for this,  of course I didn't find it earlier because the internal bluetooth card I had recieved is actually the Dell Bluetooth 355 module and I was looking for a 350 module! 

 

I installed this driver package and it's working beautifully.  I highly recommend checking your internal module card for anything that says "BCM" ,  this way you can identify what product you have,  seems they may be getting mixed up with the 350 or may have even replaced,  but it's not documented.

 

Also,  please make sure you check the compatibility link (it's at the  bottom of the page where you download the driver - [see the above link])

 

all in all I'de say I spent close to 12 hours trouble-shooting and trying to figure this out plus the Dell Tech's time.  hopefully this will save someone else from doing the same.

ilgaar

1 Message

August 12th, 2008 21:00

I know that I am not posting something helpful, but I just can't help it to thank you E1705owner after months of frustraions and headaches I finally got what I was looking for! now I can get back to to MS Bus controler drive issue which is not being deteceted by XP. If I get that fixed too my latitude D830 will be just fine and ready to roll! I just really don't know how to thank you!:smileywink:

Jotsy

1 Message

October 19th, 2008 14:00

Hello, E1705owner.

I'm new here, before 3 days I take my new inspiron 1525, and with bi work I install all drivers, but only BCM2045 for the bluetooth I cant find.

Tree day I search, but nothing, and now I see you make here link for this driver :smileyvery-happy:

very, very, thanks you for this great job !

I wish you the best!

 

p.s. Sorry for my bad english !

E1705owner

2 Posts

October 20th, 2008 04:00

Glad I could be of help...  like I said in my post I was "pulling my hair out" trying to find a solution that worked.

 

here's an additional note / update to my post:

 

since then,  I somehow burned up my BCM2045 card (i was bummed).

 

Rather than order a new one, I went to Best Buy and found a Kinsington micro-mini USB dongle.  it's barely bigger than the USB port and I loaded the driver that came with it ( I first uninstalled the BCM2045 drivers).

this thing also works extremely well.  I travel for work and sometimes there is no wireless or wired networks and so I end up using my blackberry's data plan.  so this little Micro USB BT device handles my BT mouse (logitech),  and my blackberry at the same time,  I also have a BT headset connected to the phone and can talk on the phone while using the data plan connected to the laptop all at the same time works beautifully!

(this device is only 25-30 dollars (US)).

 

the moral of this post:   if you are absolutely frustrated with the internal BT that either came with your DELL laptop or you tried to add to your laptop, uninstall the driver and go get  a kinsington Micro BT adapter  :)

 

 

trumpetmaestro

1 Message

January 26th, 2010 12:00

You truly are a life saver!!! I've had this same problem and have been trying to get my BT to work for over a month now!  Spoken with various "geeks" and looked up page after page of web help.  It's amazing to me how simple sometimes things are...it was right there in front of me the whole time!!  Thanks a ton!

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