T41 Bios Update Killed my Internal Bluetooth?

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aaronpropst · #1 Post by **aaronpropst** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:43 am

i ordered a new extended battery for my T41 the other day, and when it came it wouldn't charge.. at all.

i followed the guidance of these folks:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=3664

and upgraded my bios and my embedded controller to 3.15 and 3.04 respectively.

battery problem still remained. As i'm not having that problem with any of my other older batteries, i decided i may have just gotten a crap battery.. so i sent it back.

In the process of doing all this.. my t41 no longer recognizes my internal bluetooth.. (BMDC on the modem/daughter card)

Has anyone heard of the newest bios update disabling hardware? It's just gone from the device manager. I have no idea how to get it back. (short of cracking it open and making sure it's seated properly... iirc it's screwed down though.)

kho-tele · #2 Post by **kho-tele** » Tue May 24, 2005 2:15 pm

Hi,

no - newest bios updates doesn´t kill the bluetooth.

Regards,

K

aaronpropst · #3 Post by **aaronpropst** » Tue May 24, 2005 2:25 pm

heh.. thanks..

anyone else have any idea why my device manager suddenly has no idea a bluetooth card exists?

the modem's still there.. (it's on the same card) but bluetooth is gone.

i used it (bluetooth) a couple hours before i did the bios updates.. did nothing else with the computer really went to use it after the battery troubleshooting, and it was gone.

n3il · #4 Post by **n3il** » Wed May 25, 2005 7:04 am

Have you turned bluetooth on (Fn+F5)?

aaronpropst · #5 Post by **aaronpropst** » Wed May 25, 2005 10:25 am

Since i bought this thinkpad a year ago i've upgraded both the wifi card (to a b/g one) and added the bluetooth card (and antenna). It's all worked flawlessly for more than 6 months.

the fn-f5 software hasn't worked since the upgrade. (as it's always been looking for the old card) I've just operated em as 'always on' since.

The model is (was) a 2378-DHU.. perhaps i should shop for software on a model number that contains bluetooth and the wifi b/g card out of the box?

aaronpropst · #6 Post by **aaronpropst** » Wed May 25, 2005 10:38 am

i did a (winxp) system restore back to the day before this happened.. still no card.

At this point it's seeming like i'll hafta start rolling back my bios to earlier versions.. i just doesn't make sense that no one else has experienced it though.

JohnDrake · #7 Post by **JohnDrake** » Thu May 26, 2005 10:42 am

Have you hit the machine with the Thinkpad Software Installer yet?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... estyle=ibm

aaronpropst · #8 Post by **aaronpropst** » Thu May 26, 2005 11:14 am

cool! i'll try that.

anyone know if i should update my model number to reflect the wifi card and bluetooth module? is my puter now a 2378-xxx instead of a DHU?

sounds like that app goes off of the bio's model number listing (which i can change) which won't tell the app about my new cards..

brainpicker · #9 Post by **brainpicker** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:08 pm

Here's your answer: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=840635

I tried it after asking you if you'd found a solution. It works so far. I hope it works for you too.

Let me know.

Good Luck,
Yak

aaronpropst · #10 Post by **aaronpropst** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:20 pm

not for me.. i don't even have the device (even an unidentified one) in the device manager. Windows XP Denies the existence of the card. Which makes me think the bios update killed it at a level lower than the operating system.

brainpicker · #11 Post by **brainpicker** » Tue May 31, 2005 7:17 pm

I didn't think it (the Microsoft "Fix") worked either! Then I tried the Fn + F5 switch and up popped the black box where I turned ON both cards and VIOLA!, Windows started installing all kinds of Bluetooth drivers. After that, it worked fine and continues to work. Have you tried the switch recently? After the Microsoft "fix"? Maybe you did this but I just wanted to let you know how it all came down for my similar problem.

Good Luck,
Yak

aaronpropst · #12 Post by **aaronpropst** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:11 pm

Yeah, the thing is, i can't even *do* the 'fix' because the device doesn't exist to windows.. there is no device listed on which i can update the driver (method 2) and i can't 'install a third party driver' as instructed in method 1 because as far as windows knows there is no hardware to install a driver on.. (i don't have a 'bluetooth radios' section anymore.. since the bios update)

freakin wierd..

i rolled back my system using windows system recovery as well.. no joy.

brainpicker · #13 Post by **brainpicker** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:34 pm

Does the modem work? Maybe the card needs to be reseated? It's way on the back left corner so you have to remove all the screws but maybe it's a hardware issue? I mean, if you did a clean install and it still isn't finding the card, maybe the card really isn't hooked up right. I'm out of answers for you besides that.

Good Luck,
Yak

aaronpropst · #14 Post by **aaronpropst** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:35 pm

yeah, i havent completely ruled that out. but i used the card just fine a couple hours before the bios update.. and noticed it wasn't working a couple hours after.

the modem is detected and listed in the device manager.. i haven't actually tested it though, as i don't have dialup of any kind anymore.

thanx anyway for the help though.

kho-tele · #15 Post by **kho-tele** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:18 am

... well, what can one say?

I had the same experience a couple of days ago regarding the LAN-port.
The port stopped functioning from one instance to another-
The motherboard was replaced (under warranty!).

Though it was some days after a BIOS upgrade.

If you have blank spare disk then remove your original disk and run the restore CDs and install the OS to check if this will clear things up.

Or uninstall everything which has to do with bluetooth, boot and reinstall the BT.

Let us know what happens ...

Best Regards,

Ken

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