Dell Blueteeth

I've spent the last month fighting my Dell 355 Bluetooth module, just like I spent the month before that fighting the 350, and I've come to one conclusion: they both suck equally.

Someone please tell me I'm not imagining all of this. Every time I wake the laptop up from standby, the BT module disconnects, then reconnects, then takes about 20 seconds to re-pair. Even when there's nothing paired, it goes through all the motions and makes all of the same irritating noises. I just don't understand why it does that after standby, when it comes alive nice and peaceful on a fresh boot.

 

No problem at all with my D400 and the Logitech 270 mouse. Install the bluetooth module, bluetooth software (Widcomm), Mouse driver and then insert battery to the mouse and paired. Worked at the 1st try, no pain at all.

 

I believe when you choose the properties of the BT adapter, there should be power management feature just like the wired network adapter, where you can allow the system to disable to save power.

I can't check, as my BT350 is being shipped to me as we speak.

BTW, what laptop do you have and how do you have both 350 and 355? I tried to order the 355 for my E1505 and they said it was not in their parts list.

 

An E1705. I had one with a 350 and then a replacement with the 355. Both had the same problem. Dell is weird about the 355. They don't even seem to know that it exists.

Sam1, I assume you have 355 since you said Widcomm? I don't have any trouble pairing my mouse, but the module (regardless of whether or not anything is paired) is obnoxious when the system comes out of standby. Also, I get frequent disconnects while gaming.

 

My 350 works great with my v270 bt mouse. Donno what the issue with your is, but make sure that you have the right stack installed (i.e. not microsoft) and you should note a big improvement.

 

Believe it or not, I'm kind of fond of the MS stack. With the MS stack the module doesn't have problems reconnecting after standby, but it is not without its flaws: when the mouse disconnects (I haven't yet determined if that's the fault of the module or the mouse) the MS stack will not reconnect automatically, and I have to toggle Fn+F2 and turn off/on the mouse for it to reconnect. At least with the Widcomm stack it will reconnect on its own. I'm currently using 5.0.1.2609, but have also tried 5.1.0.1700 with no change in how it handles stanby.

 

i'm using the v270 and the 355 with the widcomm stack...correction, i have a v270 and 355 and when i use the widcomm stack the v270 doesn't work. when i use microsofts drivers it works as i expect it too. the widcomm stack won't recognize my mouse at all, or rather: doh!!. nevermind. i just completely uninstalled all the drivers and reinstalled them and it see the mouse now. my bad. all=microsoft+broadcom+widcomm

 

i had a problem with my 350 even turning on after hibernation. It would work right after a fresh reboot. After 4 hours of XPS tech support online trying to convince them that I just needed a new card...they finally gave up on their stupid "advice" and agreed to send me a new card. I got te card today, popped it in, and voila, problem gone. I agree though that BT can be tempermental and has a long ways to improve

 

I had/have the identical problem with my m1210. I finally got rid of the widcomm stack and went with MS's. It's only slightly better. Still have to wait much longer than with my old inspiron 8600 after a hibernation with no less than four of those annoying "connect" sounds, and still boots up beautifully after a restart. I have spent hours with the dell techs on the phone and this is the best they could come up with.

Wish I had better news. If you ever find out a cure, please post it!

Mike

 

bump

Any solutions?

 

Sorry da, still no solution. Dell told me they know about it, but don't plan to do anything about it.

At this point I just have my fingers crossed for Vista.

 

Well, then I guess I will just leave the computer on instead of suspending it! The screen turns off anyway 10 mins after not using it.