I wouldn't have thought that there would be a problem if it was a hardware issue but I'm constantly being proved wrong...

My specific hardware problem is with my Bluetooth Minicard. It just stopped working on me after two years, most of that time I was running Win 7. It's not a terrible inconvenience as the only device I connect via bluetooth is my mouse. The system is a laptop, so only one HDD, but running a Vista/7 dual boot seems like a much more reasonable option than installing Vista and having to reinstall 7. I'm going to look into that. I understand that it the issue COULD be related to a faulty driver, but I've been running 7 on my machine for over 15 months and haven't experienced this issue before, so I'm very confident it's hardware issue.

I was peeved by Dell Tech Support because as soon as the tech discovered it was Win 7, he flat out told me that he couldn't help me, but that the paid Dell Solutions Station could help me.

On top of that, I told him I had an issue with the system heating while playing 3d graphic games and he asked which ones they were, I'm sure to check if my system met minimum requirements for those games (which of course they do). After five minutes he tells me that the particular game I asked about had a minimum requirement of Core 2 Duo P6400 (2.13 GHz) or better, but that I had a Pentium 4 chip that was not at that requirement. PENTIUM 4? I got my machine in 2009, it has a Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26 GHz). It wasn't a little disheartening that this guy hadn't even checked my system config. I even asked him if a Dell Studio 15 ever shipped with Pentium 4 at all. He says that they have, but I don't believe that.

To cut to the chase, he told me that they can't do any support until I put Vista back on, I told him that I can't do it to Dec 11th, and he ended by offering to call me back on Dec 12th, which I accepted and thought was generous. It's still going to be a waste of my time, but whatever, I'll live.

What kind of issues with your hardware?  Since you didn't post the system you have, I can't provide any specific examples, but often they are within their rights to do so if they have reason to believe that the issue is some driver or basic compatability issue with an unsupported OS.  Some devices are not supported at all on Windows 7 (many audio and Intel video chipsets) and some devices are not supported at all on XP (some i-series processor/chipset features).  One way to go through their troubleshooting without messing up your current OS, is to install the supported OS on another disk (unless the problem is with the disk), or you could "dual-boot" ... free up enough space on the drive to install the supported OS which will give you the option on boot-up which to boot to.  This would allow you to display the hardware fault is independent of the OS installed and is actually bad hardware. 

There are a couple of things that should never need a supported OS ... power issues - failure to complete POST, bad memory, and a bad hard drive.  These can be tested and confirmed using 32-bit diagnostics to test and the problem replicated outside of the OS.

You can always "escalate" the issue to a supervisor if your problem does not fall within the realm of a possible software conflict.

I understand the time restraints of a student, as I am one myself, but Vista and 7 take typically no more than 45 minutes and require little/no babysitting - you could install it while studying.  XP is a bit more involved, but is still easily done in under and hour and a half (drivers installed and everything).  We can help you find the right drivers which should speed things up.

EDIT:  Sorry ... I saw afterwards that you did post it shipped with Vista originally, then upgraded to 7.  Dual-booting 7/Vista is fairly easy and won't take much time.  You just need 20-30GB free on your hard drive.  If you post your model and the problem you're having, we might have a better idea what kind of incompatibilities might prevent Dell from troubleshooting from Windows 7.

Could you please look in device manager and see if there are any problems noted for your BT card.

While it is very possible that it is the Bluetooth card that is bad, there is a chance that the driver/software was corrupted, causing it not to work properly (not that that is necessarily OS-specific); or that a Windows Update or some other software install could have messed it up.  It is also possible that a drop could have disconnected (even partially) the antenna cables on the card (you might try opening the wireless cabinet and reseating the card and the cables).

I would escalate this to a level-2 technician or simply call and get a different technician.  He should have at least stated that Dell may be limited in its support without the original OS, since it may be a driver issue, but he should at least engaged in basic hardware troubleshooting before refusing support (like reseating card/cables).  Sounds like he was somewhat unwilling to help you get your issue resolved.

What I would do is dual-boot Vista, which is very easy to do.  There is a good tutorial below you can follow - it says "Vista installed first", but with Vista/7, it doesn't matter.  Just go to Disk Management (right-click Computer, Manage), then right-click on C: (or your "data" partition) and select Shrink Volume.  Shrink it 20-30GB, then boot to your Vista DVD and select the Unpartitioned Space to install to.  After dual-booting, when you boot up your computer, it will ask you if you want to boot to Vista or 7.  You can boot to Vista to see if  your card is working - if not, you can use Vista to Dell's content in troubleshooting it.

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_vista_and_windows_7_vista_installed_first.htm