Welcome to The Bluetooth Guide
This guide has blossomed from a simple beginning to become the ‘net’s most extensive resource for Bluetooth help & information. Over 100 different USB Dongles, PC Cards and laptop models have now been successfully setup with this guide. After following this guide you should be able to establish communication between your PC and any Bluetooth 1.1 compliant device. Over 50 devices have already been successfully tested.
Note: This guide was last updated in 2005! Links to the patcher utility have been removed due to the threat of legal action by Broadcom Corp. The patcher was originally released on GSM-Forum and I believe copies of it may still be found there. To the best of my knowledge the patcher hasn’t been updated in a long time. This guide was written for a version of the Bluetooth drivers which are now very old. It was also written with Windows XP in mind and may not work with Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Who this guide is for
The purpose of this guide is to take you through a step by step process, at the end of which you should be able to establish communication between your PC and any Bluetooth enabled device. This guide is based on the Widcomm Bluetooth suite which only runs on Microsoft Windows. If you use a different system, for example MacOS or Linux/Unix, this guide will not be able to provide you with a complete solution but much of the information should be useful to you. I do not provide any kind of guarantee that this will work for every single case, it is a free resource of information, and exists only to attempt to help people.
Recent updates
- Restored to full glory on DIY Media Home
Credits
This guide wouldn’t be what it is without the many contributions I have received. Please help us to improve the guide still further! If you find any inaccuracies, please get in touch. If you have a device that isn’t listed on the tested devices list please send an e-mail so it can be added. If you have any suggestions, information, or new ideas that might help others please send them. Thanks.
I would like to thank the following people for their extensive contributions: Phantasm4489, BluetoothMaster, Lion_III, Derek Bartram, Chris Walker, Andrew Lord, Mark Allerton, Ray Hilton and all the contributors to GSM-Forum.
What you can do if this guide doesn’t work
Don’t give up! There are often some difficulties getting everything to work correctly, but with a little patience and care you’ll get it fixed. I have added a Frequently Asked Questions section to the guide which can answer many questions. If you’re still struggling try some of the following links before emailing me:
The F.A.Q. | Whizoo.com | PC-Counselor.com | Geekzone.co.nz | GSM-Forum | Howard Forums | The Expansys Forum | Socket Forum
I’m lost already, where do I start?
Due to the sheer quantity of information contained, this guide is arranged across multiple pages. There is a link at the bottom of each page to the next page of the guide. Before starting the main procedure there are several other pages that everyone should read. Once you have read through this introduction you should go to the next page…
