Bluetooth headset woes using Windows 7 64-bit on thinkpad w541

tsreyb · 25 Aug 2016

At my wits end! These are the devices:

Windows 7 enterprise x64 on a lenovo thinkpad w541.

Sony mdr-zx770bn bluetooth headset

I can 'pair' the devices (inasmuch as an 'MDR-ZX770BN' icon shows in Devices and Printers). But drivers are never located. I get "bluetooth peripheral device - driver not found". In Device Manager, I get three new yellow-flagged devices in the 'other devices' category.

Sony's website says there are no drivers for this headset (implying, I suppose, that I should use the built-in Windows drivers). Their website explicitly mentions that this headset is supported by Windows 7.

Contacted Sony chat support and wasted about 45 minutes with them, other than to confirm that indeed there are no Sony drivers for this headset, and that indeed the headset is supported by Windows 7. They told me to contact Microsoft.

Microsoft's website has information on my error message: obtain the driver from the peripheral's manufacturer.

I'm now stuck in FPP (finger-pointing purgatory).

However I found one ray of light: I found a couple of threads in various forums that recommend manually updating the drivers of the unknown devices to use the Microsoft "Standard serial over Bluetooth link". I did so, and now Device Manager sees four new entries under Ports (COM and LPT): four different instances of the serial-over-bluetooth driver, each using a different COM port (COM4, COM5, COM6, COM7).

I did a properties of the headset's bluetooth icon in Devices and Printers and found that FOUR services were enabled for this device: Audio Sink (COM5), Handsfree Telephony (COM4), Headset (COM7) and Remote Control (COM6).

Unfortunately, even though the headset is paired and now has some drivers assigned to it, and no yellow-triangles or red-Xs appear in Device Manager, the headset still does not show up as an audio device in Windows (microphone or speaker). Even after power cycle and re-pairing.

Maybe the bluetooth radio driver needs updation? I have Intel bluetooth radio (USB\VID_8087&PID_07DC). Windows update said I had the latest version but I was able to find a newer version (19.0.1621.3340). After installing that driver, nothing changed for better or worse.

There's also a Microsoft bluetooth enumerator. I haven't tried to find a newer version of that. It is currently at 6.1.7601.17889

that's where I stand now.

I suspect one solution is to buy a USB-Bluetooth dongle, but I'd like to solve this with the native hardware if possible.

tsreyb · 25 Aug 2016

After about 8 hours of aggravation, I have made significant progress and will share an overview so others may benefit (since it seems this problem is incredibly common):

First of all, I needed to update drivers. I found that just because Windows claims you're using the latest version of a driver does not mean you're using the latest version of a driver.

The driver I needed to update was for my Intel Wireless Bluetooth. To make sure I got the correct driver, I first got the Hardware ID of the current driver, via this procedure:

[a] Device Manager > Bluetooth Radios > right-click on Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) > Properties > Details (tab) > Property pulldown list: Hardware Ids > right-click one of the IDs (the shorter ID was fine) and select Copy. For me the ID is USB\VID_8087&PID_07DC

[b] Paste the copied hardware ID (USB\VID_8087&PID_07DC) into a google search window on your browser. One or more of the search results should eventually bring you somewhere to download the latest software for that driver. There are tons of sites with drivers, but it is always preferable to download directly from the device's manufacturer. In my case, that is Intel. Install the new driver. Your result may differ. It will definitely differ if you have a Broadcom bluetooth radio.

[c] Repeated the same process for the Bluetooth Audio driver. This was found in: Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers > Bluetooth audio. The hardware ID for me was 747413e4-f767-414f-a0c1-6cc1aa9d054c. A google search on this brought me to an updated bluetooth driver. Your result here may be quite a bit different depending on the brand of computer you're using.

[d] The above resolved my original problem of not having drivers for the bluetooth device once it is paired. But the next problem reared its ugly head right away:

[e] .. now that I was paired, and the drivers installed, I was unable to connect. Arghhhh!!! Solution was that I needed to enable *only* the Audio Sink service for my device. This is done thusly:

1. remove the current instance of your device in control panel > devices and printers > right-click on your bluetooth device icon and select remove device.

2. Start a new discovery of the device: control panel > devices and printers > add a new device. (at this point, turn on your bluetooth device). When the device appears, DO NOT click on 'next' (!) Instead, right-click the icon and select Properties. Click the Services tab. Wait for this tab to populate (sometimes took 30 seconds or more for me). It should come up with several check boxes (e.g., Audio Sink, Handsfree Telephony, Headset, Remote Control, etc.). Here you want to enable *ONLY* Audio Sink, leaving all others unchecked. (NOTE: I was using my headset for listening to music only. If you need the other features, you'll need to check those as well. Unfortunately you may have trouble further down the road. I was only able to proceed any further by checking *ONLY* Audio Sink). Click on Apply.

[f] to connect to the device, use this procedure: double click on the headset's icon in Control Panel > Devices and Printers. This brings up a new dialog with a diagram of your PC and the headset in the top half, and a list of one or more 'operations' in the lower half. click on the 'listen to music' operation. At this point I was able to actually connect to the device.

So, in review, I am now at the point of having the device paired, the latest drivers installed, and the device connected.

[I've glossed over the details of what I was doing with my headset during all of this. You'll need to enable it for bluetooth discovery perhaps multiple times, but I'm not going into details as this is usually very specific to the headphones you have]

[g] Dang! Still not there!!!! One last problem I had was that the headphones did not appear in the list of playback devices (Control Panel > Sound > Playback tab)

omg ... Now I FORGET how I got around that problem!!! 8 solid hours of trying to solve this problem. The mind gets a bit muddled by the end. It is possible it was solved by the previous solution (enabling ONLY Audio Sink) but I cannot recall for sure.

Anyway, hope some of this info helps others in similar dire straits some day.