Windows 7: Toshiba Satellite U500 - Bluetooth issues; BT Monitor vs. Bt Stack

Hello everyone,

(Note1: I didn't know whether this should go into Hardware & Devices or Network & Sharing, so I put it here instead, hoping that the mods would move it where it belongs. Or not )

(Note 2: I posted the same on the Toshiba Europe support forums, so this is a direct C&P)

My wife's machine is a Satellite U500-10L PSU5EE-002003AR, now with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (originally with Vista pre-installed, later with W7Pro 32-bit.)

Now, I've always had various issues with Bluetooth on this machine, and it's the only machine I've ever had Bluetooth issues with, mostly having to do with internet connectivity via mobile phones.

Most usually, I connect to the internet using Sony Ericsson PC Suite and a Bluetooth-controlled Sony Ericsson mobile phone (currently an Elm, and occasionally a Hazel or a C702.) This setup has always worked flawlessly on every other machine I've used, such as my Getac B300, the old HP Compaq 6710b given to me by my previous employer for a couple of years, and even my untrustworthy old Thinkpad T42 (now deceased), and my mother's ancient Macbook. With those machines, I've never had any trouble connecting to any of the phones or to the internet, with no drops, connection issues or any other issues.

Not so with this U500. I'm writing this while connected through PC Suite, with Bluetooth Monitor 4 as the hardware controller. The connection is intermittent at best, usually unreliable, and sometimes downright impossible. Sometimes it works flawlessly for days on end, and sometimes it just refuses to work. Generally, though, I get a connection more often than not, but the issue is annoying nevertheless.



Now, I tried a different approach: I uninstalled Bluetooth Monitor and SE PC Suite, installed the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack and tried to connect to the internet directly through the BT Stack. I paired the Elm to the U500 successfully from the BT Stack control panel and managed to dial the connection, so far so good. But I had no internet access whatsoever. Now, the phone shows that it's actually connected, and so does the BT Stack control panel and the Windows 7 connectivity monitor in the system tray, but there's no actual access to the internet (I only get the little yellow triangle with the +no internet access+ message, but the phone is dialed in.)

So, I tried reinstalling PC Suite (with BT Stack present), and things got even worse: now the BT connection itself between PC Suite and the phone is only sporadic and intermittent, but sometimes it just works well enough to actually get a connection (albeit an unreliable one.)

So now I've uninstalled the BT Stack, reinstalled BT Monitor and went back to using PC Suite for dialing, and the same issues I mentioned earlier still persist.

Now, my two questions are these: a. why didn't I get any internet access with BT Stack, even though the phone was actually dialed in to the connection? and b. assuming the internet access issue is resolved, would I possibly get a more reliable connection (i.e. one that doesn't suddenly decide to drop every so often) with BT Stack instead of the PC Suite/BT Monitor setup?

Thanks in advance.