Acer Aspire M-583P, Intel Wireless-N 7260. No bluetooth at all after Windows 8.1 Pro install.

[JWarn5]

Hey everyone,

I'm having a huge problem. I have no bluetooth. I had it prior to Windows 8.1 Pro and an SSD installation, and I absolutely cannot fix it no matter what I try. To date, I've tried:

• Reinstalling drivers - Both from Intel AND Acer
• Updating drivers
• Downgrading drivers
• Uninstalling and reinstalling Wifi connectivity software
• Installing Windows updates
• Contacting Acer Support ("Sorry, that driver isn't yet supported for 8.1")

I can't even guess at my compatibility on a per-device basis, because there is absolutely nothing to speak of as far as bluetooth on my laptop now.

It fails even to recognize the bluetooth part of the 7260 in Device manager.

What information can I provide exactly that will help you to help me solve the issue?

Thanks so much, everyone.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Hi jwarner112, some computers have the option to enable/disable Bluetooth in BIOS, please verify this.

Then, let's try installing the versions suggested in the article.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-034940.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Bluetooth Software Compatibility with WiFi Software Versions

• http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/proset-ws/sb/CS-034041.htm Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software — Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software downloads
• http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/proset-ws/sb/CS-034060.htm Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software — Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® Technology

Let me know if you see any unknown device in Device Manager.

[JWarn5]

Hello Joe,

I've tried all of this. I can verify that my BIOS has no bluetooth options whatsoever (using Insyde H20 rev 3.7).

I've also installed Intel Wifi 17.1.0 and Bluetooth 17.1.1406.01, both 64-bit for Windows 8.1

No luck yet, no unrecognized devices here for me. I can, however, show you this screenshot of my device manager:

This is all I can get the PC to acknowledge about the bluetooth, that I'm using this card that should have it built in.

It's also worth noting that in my local services, "Bluetooth Support Service" is never running. I rigged it awhile back with a local account to get it running on startup, but this did nothing to help me and so I disabled it again before posting here.

Finally, on the Wireless-N 7260 Properties thought Dev Mgr, I've verified that Bluetooth AMP is enabled. This, too, has no effect.

[Muthu_K_Intel]

jwarner112:

Couple of questions

1. Did the system came with 7260?

2. Do not install any Intel BT drivers. Uninstall it completely. And, cold boot. (shutdown /p from command line) or Shift + Shutdown menu option. This is important

3. After reboot, what do you see in device manager?

[BB4]

jwarner, do you have any kind of hotkey on-screen display setup on that laptop, that you use to turn wifi on or turn on airplane mode, etc?

On my ThinkPad, if have such a thing, and that's where I turn on bluetooth. With BT turned off, there is no device showing in Device Manager for BT adapter. Using the hotkey switch, once I turn on BT there, DM refreshes and up pops the Intel BT device.

Just a thought...

[CWebe]

My device manager looks the same with the Acer R7. I have tried all sorts of driver fixes with no luck. I have some posts where the # 51 pin was taped but i do not and should not have to do that. Next step is to check the bios, which was recommended here. This seems to have been a problem for awhile, having said that aside from the bluetooth issue the wifi connection is leaps beyond the the OEM broadcom that came with the unit.

[JWarn5]

My unit came with the Intel 7260, even though I was given broadcom and intel drivers and left to figure it out myself.

To be sure, I have tried Broadcom drivers and they did not relieve the problem. I'm 99.99% sure it's the 7260 and that it may be faulty.

[JWarn5]

Hey, sorry for the delayed reply. Been a busy week.

I have no hardware key that controls it. From left to right I have Wifi, Sleep, Multiple-Display, Screen Light toggle, touchpad toggle, mute, keyboard light, F10, F11, and Screen Lock. The only Fn keys on the keyboard are media controls and brightness/sound.

Thanks, though!

[JWarn5]

1. The system is using the 7260 it came with, no mods have been made to it.
2. Uninstalled all BT drivers and did cold boot, two or three times to be sure. Never got anything new in the device manager.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Did you check in the system manufacturer's website for BIOS updates that may fix the issue?

Was it a clean or upgrade operating system installation?

Perhaps a system refresh helps. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC - Windows Help

I suppose that, from your first post, you upgraded your computer from a mechanical drive probably to the SSD. I guess the older drive still has an operating system installed, and if you swapped it in you can see if you have Bluetooth capabilities, and therefore discarding or proving a hardware problem.

[JWarn5]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry that mine have been slow. Refreshing is a good idea, it could use it anyway. But swapping the old hard drive back in is an even more genius idea. I'll give that a try when I can. Before that I'll see if any new intel drivers fix it.

Should I find that my hard drive swap doesn't give me back my Bluetooth, are we looking at perhaps a failed intel chip? At which point might I be lucky enough to be able to swap it out and not send in my entire laptop?

Thanks,

Jeff

[JWarn5]

Hey! I have spontaneous new behavior to report!

So, tonight, I was sitting at my local coffee shop and started having Wifi troubles.

I've been having them for some time now. In fact, the wifi sucks on this laptop. It's kind of unstable but I've learned workarounds and so hardly notice anymore.

Tonight, I used the Fn + F3 combo that should disable the wifi adapter. I do this because the "automatic network repair" fixes common problems by simply resetting the adapter and we're good to go.

Only this time, the bluetooth came on. Suddenly it's in the device manager and everything (generic bluetooth controller but whatever)

I can't see any devices, nor can I be seen, but I'm there! It's interesting.

What's more, I realized that the Fn + F3 button combo appears not to be a toggle but a cycler between the following modes (reproducible):

• Wifi off, Bluetooth off
• Wifi off, Bluetooth on
• Wifi on, Bluetooth off
• Wifi on, Bluetooth on

When Bluetooth is OFF, it is completely gone as it was before. Otherwise, it is on.

Regardless, I can't use it, but suddenly it's visible and accessible in the windows tools.

This new behavior leads me to believe that the shoddy wifi and missing bluetooth are interconnected issues and that my wifi adapter is shot (well, malfunctioning).

I'd hate to go to Acer about this but I might have to.

Thoughts on my conclusion?

Thanks!

[Jose_H_Intel1 · Accepted solution]

So, once Bluetooth is enabled with the key combinations the adapter remains visible in device manager, correct?

If the answer is yes, you can install the drivers from links shared in post # 1.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-032541.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — How to Install Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® Technology

As GattoNero mentioned above, system manufacturers use different methods to enable/disable WiFi and Bluetooth*, which include software or hardware switches.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-020275.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Wireless radio cannot be enabled from software

[JWarn5]

Holy crap! I've got bluetooth again!

Thanks to everyone in this thread for helping to make this happen.

Steps taken to get to the solution

1. Enabled the bluetooth device. I don't know why it never showed up before; It was random chance that I found it.
2. Installed the software. This changed the device from "Generic Bluetooth Device" to the proper one. I still couldn't discover anything, though.
3. Enable bluetooth support service. From previous tries to fix it, I realized I'd messed with some startup services and sure enough, this one was not working. When I tried to fix it, I'd get error 1079, which I fixed by following steps in found here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/error-1079-the-account-specified-for-this-service/4cd3a470-7cd5-4f16-a023-55623719345a https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/error-1079-the-account-specified-for-this-service/4cd3a470-7cd5-4f16-a023-55623719345a

Now I'm jamming to Pandora on my laptop. Thanks, everyone!