I’ve had a problem with my Bluetooth on my Vista x64 laptop ever since I got it. Everything would work fine when the laptop first booted. However, when I suspended the laptop and subsequently resumed, non of my Bluetooth devices could connect to it. I was stumped. I tried updating my Bluetooth drivers, Windows patches and service packs. I’ve had the problem since RTM, with service pack 1 (SP1) applied, and the problem is still there with service pack 2 (SP2) applied.
I’ve seen a lot of people having similar issues. Unfortunately, all I can contribute is a workaround. That said, the workaround has worked well enough for me, but only because I do not typically need by Bluetooth devices all of the time. You’ll see when I mean soon.
The workaround is simple: after I resume the laptop from a suspended state, I disable and re-enable the Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator driver in the Vista Device Manager. The process takes about 1-2 minutes, so it would be quite a nucense to have to do it every time I resumed my laptop.
Here are detailed instructions on how to disable and re-enable the Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator driver:
- Click on the Vista Start button
- Right click Computer
- Select Manage
- Select Continue on the User Access Control (UAC) dialog box
- Select the Device Manager node from the tree view on the left
- Expand the Bluetooth Radios node from the devices tree node on the right
- Right click Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator
- Select Disable
- Select Yes on the confirmation dialog box
- Wait for the device to be disabled
- Right click Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator
- Select Enable
You should now be able to connect your Bluetooth devices to you Vista computer.
You can see this is quite an annoying process, but it has worked fairly consistently for me. I have Vista x64 Business Edition running on an HP Compaq 8710w Mobile Workstation with a Broadcom Bluetooth driver.
I had the very same problem on my previous HP Compaq laptop. It’s not there anymore on my new HP Compaq 8530w 🙂
I recently purchased BlueSoleil for my Vista x64 laptop. What a difference! Bluetooth now works the way it should, for the most part.
Check out BlueSoleil here: http://www.bluesoleil.com
I have the same problem. But, on my Vista 64 desktop, disabling Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator requires a reboot, defeating the purpoe.
Same problem here on 8710w and vista business 64. I switch wireless off and on a couple of time and it works. PITA where you want to run on the docking with external monitor.
You might wanna read this to solve this problem : http://nepalesemap.com/windows7_forum/index.php?topic=2.0
Sachs, thanks for the link. Wish I'd had that a year ago. I've since upgraded my laptop from Vista to Windows 7. So far things are working reasonably well. Hope your link helps other readers.
What if I accidentally deleted my bluetooth enumerator instead of disabling it? Where can I download the drive again? I can't seem to find it.
I'm guessing that if you reboot the machine Windows should automatically reinstall the driver.