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Going down the rabbit hole again …

My laptop is: T420 Laptop (ThinkPad) – Type 4178

The device appears to be: HardwareID USB\VID_0A5C&PID_217F&REV_0748

Broadcom 43142 Bluetooth 4.0 driver

The “Lenovo Vantage” program/tool says my drivers are up to date.  The driver that Lenovo has on their website ( g4wb12ww.exe ) redirects to:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/your-app-doesn-t-work-with-your-new-version-of-windows-c31b6073-5abd-1a96-61a9-73e92e29f169

It suggests that I go to the manufacturer’s website:

https://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth :

“Windows drivers for Broadcom Bluetooth devices are no longer posted here. They should be available through Microsoft’s Windows Update service. If drivers were not downloaded automatically by Windows Update, use Device Manager to refresh the driver from Windows Update, or contact the device manufacturer.”

And of course, the Microsoft website and Windows Update all give me the same:

“The best drivers for your device are already installed”

I get that it is old hardware, and maybe, just maybe, the hardware is broken.

But how come I cannot install a different (USB) Bluetooth Adapter?

I did add one of those AudioJack -> Bluetooth transmitters, but there is too much static even after I cleaned the contacts with DeoxIT.

It may just be time to buy a new laptop.

Thanks for all your help.

Mike

Updated firmware?  I think I have the latest installed.  Since this was shipped with Windows 7 pre-installed, there weren’t really any Win 10 specific updates.

I will check again though.

Thanks,

Mike

Yeah, so, after PC reboot, the new Realtek Bluetooth 5.1 Adapter shows disabled and the Generic Bluetooth Adapter is enabled and “working properly” according to the Device Manager.

However, in the Bluetooth Settings, no devices show up as Discoverable … where they did prior to installing the Realtek driver (and reboot).

So, installing the Realtek Bluetooth 5.1 driver broke the Bluetooth feature more than not having it installed.  If I remember correctly, uninstalling the Realtek Bluetooth 5.1 drivers and Adapter will return the system to what it was before.

Thanks for trying, but I think I have been here before.

Mike

Well, now I have a Realtek Bluetooth 5.1 adapter listed in Device Manager, but it doesn’t work any better.

I did disable and uninstall the ‘Generic Bluetooth adapter’ also, but that didn’t do much.

I freshly paired the Soundcore Q30 headset, and it shows PAIRED, but I cannot CONNECT for the same reasons listed in my original post.  At least this allows me to Remove Device.

I can delete all the Bluetooth items in Device Manager and reboot.  This does seem to be a repeat of my circular debugging steps though.

Thanks,

Mike

I will try that, but the issue isn’t with just one set of headphones.  I have another set of MPOW headphones, some Soundcore earbuds, some Raycon earbuds, and some Soundcore headphones.

This USB Bluetooth dongle is an MPOW 5.1 Bluetooth adapter.  It uses the Microsoft drivers by default, but I just ran the install disk.  I will need a reboot to see what happens.

Thanks,

Mike

Well, she was an administrative user before we went on vacation, I’ll check again.

I had already cleared the Add-Ons and reset the Advanced Settings.

I did see a warning in the “Solve PC Issues” flag which said that Java quit working, so I uninstalled and re-installed the latest jre-7u5 version. I also uninstalled a ‘coupon printer’ app that she doesn’t use anymore and rebooted a couple of times in the process (one after a Norton Anti-Virus installation and update).

Thanks,

Mike