Bluetooth (phone & PC)

M

MissRibena

Registered User
Messages
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Hi all

How do I get my PC and phone (nokia 6320i) talking using bluetooth together. My PC is XP (home edition at home and professional at work) and when I look in the windows "help" files it tells me there should be a "Bluetooth Devices" icon in control panel but it's not there. I looked in network and phone settings too but still no mention of bluetooth.

Am I missing something very obvious?
Thanks
Rebecca

PS I tried to search for other threads on this topic but the search facility seems to be out of action.
 
Is your computer Bluetooth enabled? Perhaps you need a card or dongle before the the 'Bluetooth Devices' icon appears?
 
Did you install the software that came with your phone?? You can get if from the Nokia website if you don't have it. I have a 6230 and installed the software but never got around to actually using it. I just tried it there now but I think you must have to connect a cable from the phone to the computer also.
 
ribena said:
I just tried it there now but I think you must have to connect a cable from the phone to the computer also.
Click to expand...

Would that not defeat the purpose of Bluetooth?
 
I would have thought so also but when I tried to connect my phone to my computer via Bluetooth a message comes up to say that I cannot use the connection type and to check my settings. When I go in to help it states that you need to have a Bluetooth enabled computer or else a Bluetooth adapter installed so that's where the dongle comes in I presume.
 
Are MissRibena and ribena the same person? Anyway, I also suspect that the problem may be pretty basic/obvious - the PC is probably not Bluetooth enabled and you need a Bluetooth transceiver (e.g. a USB based one) for it.
 
I was talking about a USB dongle, i.e it plugs into the computer and communicates with other Bluetooth devices wirelessly.
 
Just to clarify Clubman, no we are not the same person...that would be a bit freaky to be answering your own query!! Thanks for clarifying the Bluetooth issue. I wasn't the one who raised the issue but now I'm really interested in getting to the bottom of it
 
This intriqued me as I have the same missing bluetooth icon problem.
I found this KB entry in microsoft which explains the missing icon. Its an MS bug that you need a hotfix for.
Without the icon Im not sure how youre going to configure your bluetooth devices, so contact MS for the hotfix via that link or wait for the next patch release.
All very interesting, didnt know there were such things as dynamic icons...


edit...
Just thinking about it, if youve had XP policys applied to your PC/laptop then its more then likely an office policy that you'll need to speak nicely to your admin to change.
 
I'm a bit lost Car. Did you try this yourself? How do you know if "Show only specified control panel applets" have been applied or how can you check those settings??
 
This [broken link removed] link probably explains best.

edit. To view a missing icon or folder that would have been otherwise hidden by applciation of a policy, you need to run the respective .cpl file to view. This generally works but in the case of several (all listed in that first link I posted) theres a bug so even after running the .cpl, youre still not able to view the icon.
I did try running the bthprops.cpl which should have made the bluetooth icon available in the control panel, but it didnt.


Lastly, one more edit as I think of more to say, the policy should have been applied to the relevant hardware by your administrator in the office. I dont know how to apply a local policy to a single machine but Im guessing it'd be in control panel> admin services > security policys somewhere but if you do start messing in there I doubt that they would override parent plicys set by whatever group you belong to in your office. Again, talk nicely to your admin.
 
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I'm totally lost! I ran Bthprops.cpl and nothing happens. When I go in to Nokia suite and try to connect my phone it does find Bluetooth (Microsoft) stack so I don't think that the problem lies there. When I click next the following message comes up: "Cannot use the connection type. Check that all needed hardware, software and drivers are available". Thanks for your help car but I'm not that bothered about it for the moment.
 
Ribena, that's exactly what I'm coming up against when I try to work it. I installed the Nokia software and it did seem to pick up Microsoft Bluetooth but no go.

I didn't realise that PCs had to be Bluetooth enabled. TBH I thought all new PCs would have it as standard (both my home and office PC were bought in the last twelve months).

I searched the files and folders on the PC and it does have Bthprops.cpl.

Rebecca

PS It is a bit freaky that we are both Ribena's with the same problem! But I can concur that we are not one and same person.
 
Very few PCs have Bluetooth as standard. Bthprops.cpl is probably installed by default, even if you don't have Bluetooth hardware in your PC.

Some laptops come with Bluetooth support. Usually there is a function key combination to enable the hardware functionality, before any icons will appear.
 
Oh god what was I thinking .... I decided to ring Microsoft to see if this should come as standard. I've been on the phone for the past 17 minutes and so far it has been confirmed that it should be standard but there was a problem which should have been fixed by service pack 2. I have service pack 2 on both my home and office PCs so now I'm hold for customer support to see why it is still not working.

Will keep you all posted if I live long enough!
Rebecca
 
Hi rebecca,
Were you told your laptop has bluetooth?

Go to start > run and type devmgmt.msc
if you have bluetooth devices in that console then you should have it as default (it'll be very clear if you do). the missing icon isnt anything to do with being configured. (See the earlier link on the hotfix). Do they not have a contact mail address to save ringing?
If its not there in device manager then you'll have to get a bluetooth dongle.

I get the same error trying to connect via bluetooth on the nokia suite as well. Search nokia support for it and you'll get a couple of suggestions. Not all bluetooth adaptors are compatible with all nokia phones.
 
(Miss)Ribena -- it's unlikely that either of your PCs supports Bluetooth as standard, unless it's 1) a laptop, and 2) fairly new.

The best thing is to check the original PC documentation. Failing that, enter the model number in Google, and see what specification comes up. This will at least tell you whether further investigation is worthwhile.

Car -- on my Bluetooth-enabled laptop, I have to press Fn + F10 before any Bluetooth icons will appear, even in Device Manager.
 
Thanks guys. I don't have it so. I just assumed it was standard cos the PC was so new - silly me.

So if I don't have bluetooth and I suppose I don't have infrared either, then am I right in saying my two options are either buy an Bluetooth USB adapter or get a cable that will make the phone into a USB device?

Thanks again
Rebecca
 
If you want to check if your laptop includes Bluetooth hardware then download and run and check what communication devices it finds. As mentioned several times already many laptops are not BT enabled by default even if Windows includes the software configuration tools for this feature. Obviously if a particular computer has no BT hardware (a BT transceiver) then no other BT device is going to be able to talk to it!

Infrared/IrDA is much more common as standard on laptops but not all laptops support this either. Just because you don't have one means nothing for the other. They are totally unrelated. Similarly 802.11/WiFi is another wireless communication technology which is unrelated to these. If you don't have Infrared or Bluetooth then your options to connect to your phone would be get an infrared USB dongle attachment, get a BT USB dongle attachment, get a USB/serial data cable etc.
 
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