Intel AC 7265 NGW - Lost Bluetooth functionality

[fercho2346]

Suddenly any Bluetooth functionality dissapeared from my laptop.

Showed as a hidden item in device manager, removed it, but its not detected anymore.

Tried reinstalling drivers, even did a clean windows 10 installation.

Intel Wireless Bluetooth dissapeared from device manager.

Any suggestions or the wifi adapter is faulty? (wifi connections works fine though)

Thanks.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello fnand,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Based on the troubleshooting performed, it could be related to hardware, I would like to confirm some information.

Please run the following tool and attach the report generated. 

1. Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) 

• Intel® SSU Download link 
• Open the application and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View". 
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View". 
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save". 

Questions:

1. Is this the original wireless card that comes preinstalled on your system? was it changed?
2. Do you see any error code in device manager? --> open device manager--> Network adapters ---> Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 right-click ''properties'' --> in general tab it can show if it works fine or error codes.  
3. When did the issue start? after driver update? Windows updates?

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[fercho2346]

Thanks for yous assistance Adrian.

Here goes the ssu report file.

Answers:

Is this the original wireless card that comes preinstalled on your system? was it changed?

Original preinstalled card, never changed

Do you see any error code in device manager? --> open device manager--> Network adapters ---> Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 right-click ''properties'' --> in general tab it can show if it works fine or error codes.  

Shows: "This device is working properly."

When did the issue start? after driver update? Windows updates?

Not sure, as i dont use the function very often, so i kept it turned off.

yesterday tried to connect my bluetooth speaker, and found no Bluetooth connectivity on the system.

The only thing i did was weeks ago had to upgrade the memory , and for that had to remove the card, to retrieve the mainboard and get access to the memory slot.

allready removed it again tried to reseat it and see if it was bad placed, but its ok. both white and black cables are connected too.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello fnand,

Thank you for your response.

In this case, my recommendations will be the following:

• I can see that you have a Windows 10 Enterprise LSTC version. Commonly with this Windows* build version the drivers should be provided by Microsoft* so you might check with MS support to get some drivers and test it.
• Try to check on your BIOS settings to see if the Bluetooth has been disabled from there (Recommended to check with the OEM for better guidance on their BIOS).
• I can see that there is a BIOS update pending for your system, your current version is 201 and the latest is 301 (Recommended to check with the OEM for better guidance to update the BIOS).
• Make sure to update the Windows build version to the latest 1909 (Current version 1809).

I can see that you already tried some troubleshooting steps:

• Clean driver installation.
• Clean OS installation.
• Reseated the Wireless card.
• Check that the antennas are properly connected.

Another recommendation will be to try a clean driver installation of the drivers not sure if you tried it with the OEM drivers, if not you can try it by deleting the drivers from wireless and Bluetooth to install the OEM drivers Version 18.40.1.1.

If any of the steps above do not work, I will recommend you to contact Asus support for warranty options or test a different Windows version.

Best regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[fercho2346]

Actually forgot to mention that i tried with windows 1909 (ssu log attached) , and did a fresh reinstall, trying ltsc to see if i see any changes in the device manager (also tried live linux distributions with the same results, no bluetooth whatsoever)

• allready tried the oem wifi and bluetooth drivers (doing a clean instalation, deleting the previous drivers files)

• the manufacturer told me to do some steps to reset the bios settings and do a system reset. that allready did

there is not options related to bluetooth devices in the bios settings

• the bios update is the last thing i wanna try, i know that's delicated and i dont want to take too many risks.

recently had a situation with the laptop's manufacturer specs site, it is stated that it has a free ddr3l ram slot.. it took me by suprise to found out its a ddr4 slot, just after purchasing the module.. anyway..

unfortunately i dont have another machine to try the card on.

thing is wifi is working great, no problems, its like the bluetooth part of it just died..

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello fnand,

Thank you for your response.

Based on the troubleshooting performed and the steps you have followed, this can be related to hardware or any other configuration from the BIOS like Bluetooth disabled.

Our recommendation is to contact the OEM for warranty options.

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[fercho2346 · Accepted solution]

UPDATE: SOLUTION!

After some investigation, i have found that there is 2 pins in the card (54 & 56) are the ones that receives orders from the mainboard to turn off bluetooth and wifi .

for some reason the mainboard started to send the bluetooth off signal to that pin, so that was making it invisible to any OS. and there is not any option under the bios settings to switch the bluetooth function off/on

Masking those 2 pins, with tape made it for me.

mask those red pins with tape

Thanks for the fast and kind support to the intel staff.

Since these mainboard/laptop manufacturers do not know about this issue, maybe you guys @intel can implement a tool to force mainboards to turn on the functions, ignoring these pins signals?

This issue has been found with old mini pci-e cards too.

[fawadshah33]

Thanks man this masking saved me on Envy 15-as133cl when all other failed.

What failed
==========
Replaced the card with Intel 8265 from Lenovo yoga L380 but still no Bluetooth. Also replaced with Qualcomm Atheros from Dell latitude 3380 wifi card but now Bluetooth appeared and wifi disappeared. Funny thing the Intel Ac7265 wifi card worked perfectly on Lenovo yoga L380. But after making whoa all was fixed. It's running perfectly with Bluetooth back

[fawadshah33]

Thanks man this masking saved me on Envy 15-as133cl when all other failed.

What failed
==========
Replaced the card with Intel 8265 from Lenovo yoga L380 but still no Bluetooth. Also replaced with Qualcomm Atheros from Dell latitude 3380 wifi card but now Bluetooth appeared and wifi disappeared. Funny thing the Intel Ac7265 wifi card worked perfectly on Lenovo yoga L380. But after making whoa all was fixed. It's running perfectly with Bluetooth back

[aquanaut]

Greetings!

I have the same problem as described above.  I bought a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad T450 in 2016 with an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265NGU inside.

WiFi worked just fine in both bands but I had never used Bluetooth before the guarantee expired. By the time I needed Bluetooth I realized it was not working.

Tried everything. Clean W7-64bit installation, checked BIOS for any disabled options, updated and rolled back all drivers, disabled and enabled Bluetooth from Windows services, unplugged the card and checked if connectors and cables were OK, but nothing seemed to work out. No Bluetooth icon in device manager and no Bluetooth functionality on my laptop.

Please, I would appreciate it if you could help me with this issue. Thank you.

[gbguy]

I was about to try the taping of the two pins solution, but found a MUCH easier solution on the Dell Forums.  Simply turn the WiFi on/off (Airplane Mode) and that did the trick.  On my laptop it is Function+PrtScr.  Easy peasy.

[Heinz]

Hello I have the same issue, but my card is a mini pci express, not a m2 and my system is linux.

Wifi is working fine and fast, but bluetooth is not there, it is like there is no hardware for it.

From facotory there was a slow Brodcom card inside with bluetooth and bluetooth was working.

My card is:

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 (rev 61)

My laptop is a Sony Vaio SVE1713U1EB and there is no switch for wlan on/off.

Is there any solution for me ?

Best regards Heinz