I was going to say all kinds of nice things about my new laptop, like “wow not a single dead pixel on that wide screen!” or “3 to 4 hours of autonomy, I had lots of less powerful devices that lasted less…” Yeah, however I can’t really get to this euphoric state as long as that bluetooth implementation keeps bugging me! >:(
The laptop is a Compaq Presario X1000 (more precisely: X1005EA if you need to know) with integrated Bluetooth support. It runs on Windows XP. It’s still not clear to me to what extent XP actually supports Bluetooth. Anyway, the computer comes with a piece of software called “Bluetooth by hp 1.4.1 Build 3” which in turn, installs a Bluetooth driver provided by WIDCOMM.
I can see this in the device manager which shows a “Bluetooth Communications Port (COM5)”. That’s the WIDCOMM driver and it is reported to function normally.
Now, in order to get something done with this “wireless COM port”, it looks like I have to use the “Bluetooth by hp” software. However, that one keeps reporting that no bluetooth device is detected and advises to check if it is connected and functioning properly.
I’ve been wondering for a while if that meant that there is no peer bluetooth device to communicate with… but no, it really seems that the bluetooth manager can’t find the WIDCOMM virtual port! :(
Does anyone have a clue on this? Anyone using that “bluetooth by hp” software? Are there alternatives available?