355 bluetooth and downgrade to xp

Here is an excerpt of the KB Article with the options on how to get this fixed.

 

The Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth® drivers may stop installation when re-installing Microsoft® Windows Vista™ or downgrading to Microsoft® Windows® XP.

The Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth® drivers may stop installation when re-installing Microsoft® Windows Vista™ or downgrading to Microsoft® Windows® XP.   This is due to the Dell Wireless Bluetooth adapter being turned off before the re-installation of the Bluetooth software or operating system.   When downgrading to Microsoft Windows XP, it will be necessary to either re-install  Microsoft Windows Vista back on the system or transfer the Bluetooth module to another system running Microsoft Windows Vista.   This will allow the Bluetooth adapter to be turned back on using the Bluetooth configuration utility

i have the smae problem, i downgraded from vista ultimate to XP and i can't install the drivers cause it keeps telling me to press Fn + F2 keys and i keep toggeling but it doesn't continue.. so i read your solution to re-install vista and turn it on from vista again but i can't find the bluetooth options in the control panel.. iis there's any other solution other than re-installing vista or putting the BT module in a vista computer????

 

 

 

 

well, i solved my problem with not finding the bluetooth configuration in windows vista control panel by a very strange way but it worked! after trying to install the vista bluetooth drivers it kept telling me the same thing that happened in windows XP press Fn + F2 keys.. so i went to the unzipped folder in the C:\dell\drivers and i opened the setup from there which bypassed the Fn+F2 keys message box and it gave me a error box at the end of the installation and another Fn + F2 keys message and i pressed cancel.. suddenly the bluetooth LED lite and it was ready for action.. which is reinstalling windows XP again ;).. anyway.. i hope this helps anyone having the same problem..

 

one last thing.. does the BT module have like an EEPROM that controls the state of being active or inactive.. the motherboard EEPROM or the BIOS should be reponssble for such thing.. this is really a silly, time consuming and weird problem which i think the guys at DELL should do something about it

No there is nothing like the EEPROM. What happens is this. Windows Vista uses software to turn the card on and off. The Card is in the off state initially therefore if it was not turned on in Vista before the installation of XP then XP does not know it's there because in XP the software was on the card and not in the software.

Thanks for posting that.. it was really helpful when i was struggling to install my bluetooth driver after reinstalling windows vista.. i was able to install by driver...