Windows XP bluetooth configuration borked?

[dentalblues]

Hi, I hope someone here can help me with this.

I have a "BlueWalker" Bluetooth USB adapter. It used to work fine. I
simply plugged it in, the blue icon appeared in the task bar, and I
could right-click on it to add devices, change settings, send and
receive files, etc..

A few days ago XP crashed while installing something (I don't remember
what, some USB device I had just moved from one port to another), and
since then bluetooth hasn't worked properly.

In Device Manager, the BlueWalker is listed under "Bluetooth Radios". I
can uninstall it and, when I plug it back in, Windows correctly
identifies it and reinstalls the drivers. But the icon does not appear
in the taskbar. In Control Panel, the bluetooth icon is missing, and if
I manually try to run c:\windows\system32\bthprops.cpl, nothing
happens. Clicking on the "Bluetooth Devices" link in XP's help doesn't
have any effect, either (I think those links just try to call
bthprops.cpl).

The BlueWalker flashes its light when it's plugged in, which means it's
working. And if I use 3rd party software (like BlueSoleil), it's
correctly detected and I can send and receive files. But I hate the
BlueSoleil (or Nokia Suite) software, so I'd prefer to use the simpler
built-in XP interface.

After installing BlueSoleil, the standard XP bluetooth icon reappears
in the taskbar, but it still doesn't work (if I try to send or receive
a file I get an instant error, and if I try to open the bluetooth
settings, absolutely nothing happens).

My guess is there's something wrong with the part of the registry used
by XP's "native" bluetooth settings, but I have no idea where to look
or what changes to make.

Any advice?

 

[dentalblues]

One thing I forgot to mention, the "Bluetooth Support Services" service
(svchost.exe -k bthsvcs) doesn't start, either automatically or
manually (I get "error 1053 : The service did not respond to the start
or control request in a timely fashion.").

 

[dentalblues]

I found a lot of messages from people with this problem (Bluetooth
Support Service won't start and the icon doesn't appear in Control
Panel) in several sites, but no solution.

But eventually I DID find the solution. And that was simply to delete
the BthServ service.

To be more specific, I backed up this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BthServ

And then deleted it.

Then I rebooted. After the reboot, I plugged in my USB bluetooth
adapter, went into Device Manager, located the bluetooth adapter,
deleted it and scanned for hardware changes. This reinstalled the
device and also the service, but now it starts perfectly (and the icon
is displayed in Control Panel, and I can open the configuration
panels).

The actual registry keys for the BthServ service look exactly the same,
but my guess is that when the service is rebuilt something else is
changed, besides that particular key.

However, one thing still behaves differently.

When I right-click on a file (ex., in an explorer Window, or on the
desktop) I have an option to "send to -> bluetooth". Previously, I only
had to select this option and press return a couple of times, and the
file was sent to the device I picked.

Now, instead of sending the file directly, XP opens a "file transfer
wizard", where it starts by asking me if I want to send or receive a
file, and then forces me to browse to the file and select it again.

Does anyone have any idea how to skip this "wizard" and just send the
file? Doesn't make much sense to be asked if I want to _receive_ a file
when I specifically picked "send to...".