Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Fix: "Bluetooth device not found" on Thinkpad T60

I recently picked up a Bluetooth-enabled camera phone, and so I became interested for the first time in getting the Bluetooth functionality on my work laptop (a Thinkpad T60 running Windows XP) working to allow me to easily download pictures from the phone.

However, when I launched the Bluetooth Configuration applet from the Control Panel, it would hang for 5 or 10 seconds, and then show an error: "Bluetooth device not found. Please verify that your Bluetooth device is properly connected and turned on." In the Device Manager, under "Bluetooth Devices", only "Bluetooth Bus Enumerator" was listed, but no other specific Bluetooth device.

At this point, I was wondering if I didn't actually have Bluetooth hardware installed (despite the presence of a Bluetooth usage indicator icon on the machine); when I first got this machine, the internal wireless card wasn't yet installed, and I needed to take the machine down to the IT department to have them pop it in. However, one of the IT folks I talked to confirmed that the Bluetooth capability should be present in the existing wireless card.

The solution turned out to be that Bluetooth was disabled in the BIOS. In the BIOS, in the Network section, there is a setting named Internal Bluetooth Device; the value was set to "Hidden." I changed this to "Enabled," saved, and rebooted, and now the Bluetooth card does show up properly in Device Manager and in the Bluetooth Configuration applet.

So, I can now successfully pull photos directly off my camera phone to my PC, without having to individually email them to myself from the phone as picture messages (and pay my wireless provider for the privilege)!

26 comments:

  1. Hi Jon,

    Thank you for creating this topic.
    But in my case I couldn't find any such option in BIOS. I still face the same problem :(.

    I have an old PC (built 2004, with AsRock motherboard) and USB bluetooth dongle, running Windows XP.

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  2. @Anonymous, I haven't run into your situation before; but here are a couple of ideas:

    Have you verified that your Bluetooth dongle (still) works by trying it out on a different computer? (Maybe the dongle is bad, or has gone bad?)

    Have you verified that your USB port (still) works by plugging in a different USB device there? (Maybe the USB port has gone bad?)

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    Replies
    1. my computer used to be owned by a school and it is a t60 IBM thinkpad...my son wants to setup his headphones to it so he can listen to youtube but at the control panel i searched bluetooth devices and it took me to charter browsing for sails on bluetooth devices,are you near Ionia michigan and willing to make a trip to show me,i might be able to meet you halfway .

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  3. Thanks for the Fix .. The hidden menu is well hidden. When I asked the IT folks they said they dont support Bluetooth and have made some registry changes to stop it from detecting .. after going into the BIOS and enabling the bluetooth it popped up ;)

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  4. Jon,

    Mine took a bit more work.

    Background: I have a t61P with XP SP3. My bios setting was enabled, the bluetooth light was on. The thinkpad switch for wireless was on, and the [FN][F5] setting showed on.

    the problem was that I had both the Microsoft stack and the Lenovo thinkpad stack.

    I had to:

    1) remove the bluetooth item in device manager

    2) Unload the Lenovo stack (through control panel) and then

    3) remove the MS stack (using the info here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889814 ).

    4) Reboot.

    5) Choose [cancel] when the reboot tries to load drivers for bluetooth.

    6) load the newest lenovo stack for your thinkpad via the downloads at lenovo support.

    Bam! That did it.

    I hope that helps others.

    vincentzebraitis at yahoo dot com

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    Replies
    1. vincentzebraitis, please take my thanks, it helped me a lot

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  5. vincentzebraitis - thanks so much for the tips. It worked ...

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  6. Worked, vincentzebraitis, Thanks a million.
    And just to clarify to anyone how doesnt get it at first, by "2) Unload the Lenovo stack (through control panel)"
    he means Uninstall it through Add/Remove Programs.

    Thanks again.

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  7. I'm so glad I found this. It worked for my Plantronics 520 headset and my T60. I've been around the block looking - and removing the MS Bluetooth driver was the answer. Thank You to everyone!

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  8. Hi.. I'm so not tech-savvy and so I'd like to know how to get to the BIOS part..? Like, how do i open it and stuff..?

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  9. @Anonymous (9/22): Access to the BIOS is typically via when the computer is first booting up and it briefly flashes a message along the lines of "Press F10 now to access configuration", before Windows begins loading; the specific key will vary by system.

    HOWEVER, please be aware that you can permanently damage your system if you change certain settings in the BIOS that shouldn't be changed. You might want to have a computer-savvy friend or family member look over your shoulder while you do this!

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  10. same problem with me ... but not getting the option of BIOS here in my computer :(
    can any1 here help out where would I found it and what to do then ?

    thanks

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  11. @Anonymous (7/28),

    Are you familiar with what the BIOS is? In practical terms, it's a menu with low-level system settings that can be accessed when the machine is first booting up. I believe my T60, immediately after rebooting, would display a message briefly along the lines of "To access systems settings, press the blue ThinkVantage button." This is what you're looking for.

    Fair warning: You can damage your machine if you change BIOS settings around without knowing what you're doing, so be very careful when accessing the BIOS menu and changing settings!

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  12. I have a brand new Lenovo T400. The Wi-Fi card has Bluetooth capability. After turning the Bluetooth swith ON, the Bluetooth indicator on the screen does not lit. Double-clicking on My Bluetooth Places gives the following error: "Bluetooth device not found. Please verify your Bluetooth device is properly connected and turned on"......Please assist.Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Hey, have you resolved this issue already? try re-installing the Broadcomm Bluetooth Driver from your PC. Normally it's on the Folder C:\ Driver . Your PC will automatically uninstall the present software and will reinstall your new WIFI Card.

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  13. @Anon (9/15), did you check your BIOS, per paragraph 4 of the original post above?

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  14. Lenovo thinkpad R61i (8932) built-in bluetooth only works in ubuntu(linux) system but not in windows XP or 7. When I boot into windows (dual boot) from linux it works but once I restart and go back to windows again it does nt work. Please help. Thanx I have installed the necessary drivers from Lenovo site. Thanx

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  15. I have the same problem as Anonymous just above. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad R61 (8918-B9G) and just installed Windows 7. Now Windows cannot detect the built-in bluetooth! I've tried installing all the drivers from the Lenovo website, checked my BIOS to make sure bluetooth was enabled... still, nothing. Please help :(

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  16. Hi Jon,

    Thank you for your tip.

    I have an IBM T60, running windows XP. Everything worked after disabling the MS Bluetooth Stack.

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  17. my computer is servic pack 2 / xp2 bluetooth device is not found,so please help me ?

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  18. Hey there, I think the problem is that the "SWITCH" of the Aerial Bluetooth Modem is on lock mode, or OFF. It's just besides the AUDIO/MIC jack.

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  19. I also had this problem, that bluetooth was working in linux but in windows it said that it couldn't find any bluetooth device and I should make sure it is attached. The solution was to enable the bluetooth device by pressing the "Fn" and "F5" keys together, on my Lenovo T60 Thinkpad. It installed the bluetooth driver and worked automatically.

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  20. I have laptop lenovo b490 ..same problem was there error "Bluetooth was not detected make sure Bluetooth is plugged in properly"i had solved that problem
    pcfixer729.blogspot.in
    there are solution of tht problem..

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  21. I have a lenovo thinkpad t60, i have the same problem and fn+f5 doesnt work, i already intalled the drivers from the page of lenovo support, but still doesnt work, i enter in to the BIOS confg and the bluetooth device is enable.

    What i do?

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  22. Bluetooth on computer is also one of functions which I am caring to work and download pictures from the phone as easy as posible.Nice post, JONATHAN SCHNEIDER!

    ReplyDelete

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