Intel bluetooth adapter (2230) shows up as Generic bluetooth adapter since driver v.17

[MMust7]

Hello,

I use an Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 in a Lenovo E530. Since using version v.17 of Intel's bluetooth drivers the device shows up as "Generic bluetooth adapter" in device manager:

Another strange thing: the adapter is not only called "Generic Bluetooth Adapter" but it is in fact a generic Microsoft bluetooth driver and not an Intel driver! However the Bluetooth audio driver is the correct driver by Intel.

Does the v.17 driver package not include a driver for Wireless-N 2230 cards?? It makes no difference if I upgrade directly from v3 to v17 drivers (without uninstalling v3 before) or uninstalling v3 before installing v17 driver. The bluetooth card is always detected as a generic bluetooth adapter using v17...

If I switch back to v3 driver series the bluetooth adapter shows correctly as "Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 + High Speed Adapter" (and uses an Intel driver).

What's going wrong, Intel? Searching the community I found several other (old) discussions with the same problem, e.g. this one:

PS: I use Intels bluetooth driver 17.1.1501.01 and Windows 7 64Bit (Prof.)

[jbenavides]

Hello pustekuchen

As was mentioned in the related forum, this may due to other Bluetooth drivers previously installed in the system, or because you need to use a different Bluetooth driver version.

Was this the original adapter that came with your computer?

When uninstalling the drivers, are you doing a complete removal of previous versions?

Please remember that thehttp://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm PC manufacturer support is the best source to obtain drivers for your system, since some OEM's add customizations to their systems and may require their OEM drivers for proper operation of the Intel® Wireless Adapters.

Here are the instructions to do a clean install of the BT and WiFi drivers:

- Download https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24847/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Bluetooth-technology-for-Windows-7-64-bit-WP- Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology for Windows 7* 64-bit (WP), version 17.1.1501.01.

- Download https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24652/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-Windows-7- Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7*, version 17.14.0. File name: Wireless_17.14.0_s64.exe

- Go to Control Panel, Programs and Features and Uninstall "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software", if it is installed. When prompted, choose the option to "Discard settings".

- Also in Control Panel - Programs, uninstall Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology (uninstall any patch first, then any other version that may have remained).

- In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 and Uninstall it. Make sure you mark the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

- Reboot the PC or scan for hardware changes, check device manager and if an older driver is detected and installed, repeat the actions to uninstall and delete it as well. Repeat this process until the OS does not allow deleting the driver, or until the controller shows as Unknown Device.

- Also in Device Manager, under Bluetooth Radios, Uninstall the Generic Bluetooth adapter, or Intel® Centrino® Wireless Bluetooth®, also selecting the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

- Reboot or scan for hardware changes, then uninstall and delete any older driver versions as you did for the Wireless adapter.

- Install the Intel® Wireless driver. During the first steps of PROSet/Wireless installation, you can customize the installation and install all the 3 driver components.

- Install the Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology downloaded before.

[MBura1]

Hi jonathan_intel, thank you for your clear post on how to force device driver removal.

I followed your steps, until I was up to the point where you say:

- Also in Device Manager, under Bluetooth Radios, Uninstall the Generic Bluetooth adapter, or Intel® Centrino® Wireless Bluetooth®, also selecting the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

My Win7Pro_x64 didn't give me the choice to delete the driver software for "Generic Bluetooth Adapter" and kept re-detecting it all the time.

Notice the hardware position: Port# 4.Hub# 4.

To avoid automatic re-installation of the generic driver, I had to find out what INF file was it using, by right-clicking the "Generic Bluetooth Adapter" -> Properties -> Details -> INF Name.

Once found the INF Name, I found it inside C:\WINDOWS\INF and moved to another location.

Then I uninstalled the device again and Windows couldn't reinstall it after a new hardware check nor upon reboot.

No "Centrino" network adapters, nor a BT Radio node.

Then I followed the rest of your guide and got to the end flawlessly.

You see I installed all the required SW pieces.

But no Bluetooth node was installed.

The unknown device has the same hardware position of the former "Generic Bluetooth Adapter":

By now, no bluetooth support (no BT stack at all!)...

Am I missing something?

Thanks for your help

[jbenavides]

Hello RMabu,

I would like to mention that if Windows does not allow you to delete the driver, it means that you are using the MS inbox driver and there is no need to remove it manually, just uninstall it and then install the driver you downloaded. I would advise you to restore the file to its original location.

Please try downloading the wireless and Bluetooth drivers from the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support and check if the behavior is different using the OEM versions.

If the issue persists, please provide the following information:

Was this the original adapter that came with the computer? or was this a custom upgrade?

Computer make and model

Wireless adapter model

[MBura1]

Hello jonathan_intel

I followed your advice and put the files back to their original location.

Then downloaded the BT drivers from the link you provided above.

BT worked again, although the drivers provided by Fujitsu (Lifebook A512) are quite old.

Sadly, this is not the end of the story, actually it's the beginning.

All started because I have a HP z8000 BT mouse, but the BT stack provided by Fujitsu detects it as something similar to a server.

See /thread/54082 this thread for the full story.

Long story short, in that thread I saw Jose5 was successful installing intel's 17.1.1411.01 drivers, so I thought any newer driver from intel would do the job, and installed the latest for my N 2230.

I was wrong: these newest drivers have the "Generic Bluetooth Adapter" problem I was trying to solve here.

At last, I did it. I am now using my z8000 mouse with Win7Pro x64.

To avoid duplicate information, the end of this story is in the thread linked above.

Anyway, thank you so much for you help.

[jbenavides]

Hello RMabu,

Thank you for the update. We are glad to know you found the way to use your Bluetooth Mouse.

It seems in this case the newer drivers are not necessarily the best, using the driver provided by the computer manufacturer is always recommended, since the OEM may include modifications to the adapter or drivers to make it work in their system, this may be even more relevant with legacy adapters such as the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235.

[MMust7]

Hello jonathan,

I'm sorry for my late reply. Here are my answers:

- I have a Lenovo E530. It bought it with the described Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 adapter

- I did it also the way you described (deinstalled all old driver versions until my wireless adapter wasn't recognized by Windows anymore)

Then I installed the latest driver releases https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/download/25139/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-Windows-7- Intel® Download-Center and then https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/download/25137/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Bluetooth-technology-for-Windows-7-64-bit-WP- Intel® Download-Center

As you can see in the attached image it is still recognized as generic bluetooth adapter and I cannot connect with my http://www.sonymobile.com/de/products/accessories/smart-wireless-headset-pro/ Smart Wireless Headset pro | Android-Fernbedienung - Sony Xperia (Deutschland)

Don't you test your drivers with all supported products when releasing new driver versions??

[jbenavides]

Hello pustekuchen,

Please keep in mind that the PC manufacturers may add customizations to the adapter hardware and software, so the best source for drivers is the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support.

If you wish to try the most recent Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology for Windows 7* 64-bit supported with the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 Bluetooth*, you can download version 18.1.1525.1445 from the following location:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25208/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Bluetooth-technology-for-Windows-7-64-bit-JP- Intel® Download Center

Checking the information of your Headset, it is also a remote controller for Android devices. Considering this, it may require additional drivers or Bluetooth profiles not contained in standard Bluetooth drivers, so you might need to check back with the device manufacture for the requirements of your headset.

[MMust7]

Hello Jonathan,

I am sorry to tell but v.18.1.1525.1445 can't be installed: I uninstalled the previous version and launched https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloads/eula/25208/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Bluetooth-technology-for-Windows-7-64-bit-JP-?httpDown=https://downloadmirror.intel.com/25208/eng/JP-BT_18.1.1525.1445_s64.exe JP-BT_18.1.1525.1445_s64.exe. After clicking on "Next" the MSI package gets unpacked/cached and then an error message appears (my translation: "The source file couldn't be found. Please verify if the file exists and if you can access it")

I downloaded the driver package again... same error. Run as administrator also doesn't help. It looks like there's an error in your latest package!?

[jbenavides]

Hello pustekuchen,

In this case, we advise you to contact the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support and obtain their recommended drivers.

As last option from our end, you may try running the http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect?iid=dc_iduu Intel® Driver Update Utility to check if it will allow you to update using the generic driver, however, if this doesn't work, using the driver from the OEM would be the your best option.