Bluetooth headset with Windows XP

[M.Hockings]

I am trying to get a bluetooth headset to work on my X30 Thinkpad with
Windows XP pro. Windows and all the Lenovo drivers are up to date, I
can get the headset to pair but I can't seem to open the "My Bluetooth
Places" or get the headset to register as an audio device. In my small
research into this I see people saying that I would need to install some
updated hardware driver to get headset profiles because Windows
doesn't include this or something? Can anyone tell me what the real
story is and how I get the headset to work with XP ?

Thanks for any advise

 

[Malke]

I am trying to get a bluetooth headset to work on my X30 Thinkpad with
Windows XP pro. Windows and all the Lenovo drivers are up to date, I
can get the headset to pair but I can't seem to open the "My Bluetooth
Places" or get the headset to register as an audio device. In my small
research into this I see people saying that I would need to install some
updated hardware driver to get headset profiles because Windows doesn't
include this or something? Can anyone tell me what the real story is
and how I get the headset to work with XP ?

Thanks for any advise

Go to the headset mftr.'s website and download the drivers for it, then
install them.


Malke

 

[M.Hockings]

Go to the headset mftr.'s website and download the drivers for it, then
install them.


Malke

It's a Nokia NS-26W headset, I don't see any specific Windows drivers
for it on their Web site.

Mike

 

[Malke]

It's a Nokia NS-26W headset, I don't see any specific Windows drivers
for it on their Web site.

There must be some instructions on Nokia's site. If not, then look for a
Nokia users' forum.


Malke

 

[M.Hockings]

There must be some instructions on Nokia's site. If not, then look for a
Nokia users' forum.


Malke

OK, I will look around some more. The indications that I have seen are
that Windows is missing some profile or whatever and I was hoping there
was some update or place to pick it up. My expectation was that Windows
XP would handle a bluetooth headset like it handles a regular plugin
headset or a usb headset. That is, just work.

I have not seen factory drivers for any bluetooth headset including the
HS-26W.

 

[M.Hockings]

There must be some instructions on Nokia's site. If not, then look for a
Nokia users' forum.


Malke

OK, I have found a solution and it may be useful to others.

First of all Nokia says that it is an unsupported configuration, they
only support the use of their bluetooth devices in conjunction with
their phones. So there are no headset specific drivers to install.

Apparently the default bluetooth support that comes with XP is useless
so you have to override the Windows bluetooth drivers with the hardware
vendor's drivers. To do this go to the hardware device manager and
expand the bluetooth section. For each of the entries select them, say
update driver, select the driver yourself and pick the non-Microsoft
driver for your computer (probably unsigned from what I have seen and
read). When that is done for all (2 devices for me) then go back to the
control panel and launch "Bluetooth Configuration". At this point
Windows did the found new hardware, installing drivers thing. Then I
could add the headset and it was recognized as a usable device and would
work.

So the key here is that just installing the drivers for the bluetooth
adapter in your computer is not enough. You need to use them in
preference to the nonfunctional ones that come with Windows.

Not exactly a user-friendly way to get things going but it does work
eventually.