Bluetooth not detecting any devices in Windows 7
- by underDog
My Lenovo ThinkPad E320 Laptop running Windows 7 64bit has recently been refusing to detect any Bluetooth devices. I have tried to connect, using 'Add devices' under 'devices and printers' to two different Bluetooth mice and my HTC Wildfire android (2.2.1) phone and none of them are detected in the 'Add a device' dialog.
History - Bluetooth initially seemed OK when I first got this laptop. I was able to connect to and use my android phone as a remote with no issues.
I got my first Bluetooth mouse, it paired, but after each restart, or even after sleeping, it would not 're-connect' (even though it was listed under Bluetooth devices and supposedly 'working'), and I would need to remove the device and add it again.
A week or two ago it stopped working all together. It is not detected at all. I gave up on the mouse and bought another (Lenovo ThinkPad brand) only to find that it was not detected either. I subsequently tested my Android phone and discovered it would not detect either.
One thing of note is under 'Devices and Printers' there is listed a 'HID Keyboard Device' which under properties is listed as a 'Bluetooth HID Device'. This was not previously there before this problem started. Each time I remove it, or uninstall it from Device Manager it will quickly re-install itself, even with all my Bluetooth devices switched off.
My (Google and searching this site) research of this issue has not yielded any definitive answers. I have changed the setting under Device Manager - Bluetooth - Properties - Power Management - 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power' to off. I have attempted to un-install and re-install the Bluetooth hardware, including the 'remove drivers' option and downloading and running the Lenovo Bluetooth installer package (found @ http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS014997). Bluetooth is turned on. All items under Bluetooth properties (Discovery and Connections) are checked. I have tried changing the batteries.
I'm not sure what else I can try, apart from perhaps doing a fresh install of Windows. Any suggestions?