Dell 355 Bluetooth Driver for Vista - Problem solved

Hello everyone!

 

Finally after 6 months of using Dell Inspiron E1705, I finally found out a solution to my bluetooth problem. Previously I published the thread about my Bluetooth 355 with EDR always not being active after the restart. For example, I will install Widcomm drivers and work with BT for a while. I put the computer to Stand by, resume it, and still work with BT. But as soon as I turned the laptop off or restarted Windows, the Bluetooth became inactive. The blue light was on, the BT icon was there, but whenever I tried to change the setting such as Computer Visibility, it gave me the Bluetooth Service Error, stating that the BT may be disconnected. So I had to Fn+F2 or to disable and reenable BT to make it work again....again until the next restart. Totally uncool!

 

I had 4 dispatches for the Bluetooth, and although one of those was for BT 350, it was not Vista compatible, so I stayed with 355. And none of those solved the problem! About 2 days ago I got tired of it, uninstalled Widcomm 6.XXX drivers, and installed the BT 355 stack for Windows XP v.5.XXX on Vista. Yes, I had about 10 messages during the install telling me that the drivers are NOT digitally signed, and now I have the same messages in Event Viewer in Failure Audit section, however the stack installed correctly and the Bluetooth device works all the time everytime, whether laptop is on, restarted, or after I turned it off. (Widcomm 5 stack doesn't simply enhance Vista stack, as 6.XXX is doing, but it offers its own software, which is nice)

 

However, I didn't understand why in the world would the old stack work and the new one not working... So yesterday I went to anycom website and they had a newer BT stack for their 200-250 USB bluetooth dongles. I uninstalled the Widcomm 5 and installed the Anycom stack. (I think version 6.0.1.4700) The Bluetooth worked great... Finally I thought, maybe the new stack will provide a  driver which would make Dell's stack work nicely. So I tried what Dell originally offers for Vista, Widcomm 6 for Vista. When I reinstalled it, the BT was showing the same error. I reinstalled Anycom and the error was still there. So I found the problem - When you install Widcomm 5 for XP on Vista, the BT 355's ROM is flashed, and it works good. When I installed Anycom after that, Anycom didn't flash it, so the old ROM software worked great with new stack and drivers as well. However, Dell's Widcomm 6 also flashes BT, and after that flash, the BT doesn't work as it is supposed to. So therefore, when I reinstall Anycom after Widcomm 6, it doesn't work well. Therefore there is no other choice but to use Dell's stack for Windows XP and stay with it, or upgrade that one to Anycom stack, but not Widcomm 6 offered by Dell for Vista. (Basically - Widcomm 6.xxx stack flashes the bad software onto the device - I reinstalled that one twenty times, so it is the BT ROM software that is bad, not anything else.)

 

Although I don't see any issues with the old stack working on my Vista, I always like having new software. So I was wondering - is there any way to remove the function of flashing BT ROM when installing Widcomm 6? Or to maybe replace the files with Widcomm 5 flash software, so if re-flashed, the working software will be downloaded onto the device? What do you guys think about this issue? Has anyone resolved it the other way? And is Dell going to publish a new Stack which would work as well as the one for Windows XP?

 

I hope my solution helps to everyone who is having trouble with their BT 355 on Vista, and possibly give some ideas to Dell that a change is required with the Flashing Software and/or the enhancement of the Bluetooth Stack.

 

Thanks!

 

Eugene

 

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Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Dell Inspiron E1705: Centrino Duo Computer
Intel Core Duo T2350 @ 1.866 GHz D-0 (Yonah)
17" WXGA+ Screen by AU Optronics
2 GB RAM at DDR2-533 by Hyundai Electronics
ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 256 MB Graphics Card with Hypermemory
120 GB 5400 RPM Hard Disk Drive by Samsung
Dell Bluetooth 355 + EDR Technology
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 a/b/g 54 Mbps
Sigmatel High Definition Audio
Sony DVD+-RW with DL Support