Thinkpads Forum

Hello all,
Since buying my X61 tablet (7763-CTO) early last year, it has had a rather annoying Bluetooth issue. Regardless of the hardware switch position, Fn+F5 setting or even the BIOS setting, the Bluetooth activity light is always on.

The light is on from first powering up the machine (even in the BIOS), and remains on until a few seconds after shutting down. Again, the hardware switch and Access Connections software makes no difference to this. Disabling Bluetooth in the BIOS removes the device from Access Connections, but the Windows device manager still displays "ThinkPad Bluetooth Device with EDR".

This is really starting to bug me, I've been looking into it on and off for the past year with no success. I have already tried clearing the CMOS, uninstalling the ThinkVantage Bluetooth stack and fiddled with all manor of BIOS setting combinations. I just cant get the light to switch off!

I should mention. I have a few non-standard parts installed. An OCZ Agility SSD and 8gb RAM. This problem occurred before the upgrades though. I'm using Windows 7 64bit, all the relevant ThinkVantage applications installed.

Short of replacing the Bluetooth module, any ideas?

Bump. Any ideas at all?

Tried updating the BIOS and loading defaults...?

Any chance of sending it back to the depot for maintenance...?

Cheers.

I've tested with BIOS 1.25 and Middleton's patched 1.25 with the same results. Resetting to default settings before and after flashing hasn't helped.

I'm out of warranty on this machine, so any repairs will need to be DIY jobs to avoid costs.

At the very least I can confirm that this has happened to others. My X60T exhibited the same behavior for its first few years. I'm sorry I don't remember how I got it to quit. It doesn't do it now, and this is after two OS resets (plus BIOS and other updates). I also don't remember if the behavior resurfaced after each OS reset (I used factory recovery methods). You didn't specifically mention disabling or uninstalling the device from within the device manager. That is the first thing I know I tried. It was indeed an annoying thing to get rid of. I decided that until I needed Bluetooth I would just try to purge things that seemed to have to do with it.

In my device manager now, I have one item under Bluetooth Devices. It's a Bluetooth Bus Enumerator.

Good to know I'm not an odd one out with this

I've just spent a few minutes replacing the Bluetooth module (Daughter card under the palm rest). Problem appears to be completely resolved. Bluetooth light now stays off when the device or antenna is disabled, Access Connections now correctly toggles the module on and off. Success!

For the record, uninstalling the device and reinstalling the driver was one of the first things I tried, but noticed the problem occurred when using LiveCD's and persisted across OS reinstalls.

This is certainly a hardware issue with the module. A replacement cost just under £6 from eBay, and took only a few minutes to replace. A small issue, but easy to fix once identified.

birkett wrote:Good to know I'm not an odd one out with this

I've just spent a few minutes replacing the Bluetooth module (Daughter card under the palm rest). Problem appears to be completely resolved. Bluetooth light now stays off when the device or antenna is disabled, Access Connections now correctly toggles the module on and off. Success!

For the record, uninstalling the device and reinstalling the driver was one of the first things I tried, but noticed the problem occurred when using LiveCD's and persisted across OS reinstalls.

This is certainly a hardware issue with the module. A replacement cost just under £6 from eBay, and took only a few minutes to replace. A small issue, but easy to fix once identified.

I had a similar thing happen once on XP instance. I'll check if it repeats on newer OS etc.