Trying to connect bluetooth speaker to laptop- AAAAARRRRGH!

Longtallronnie

I hate computers!

I've got a Bolse SZ-801 speaker and it shows up in the bluetooth devices window on my laptop (windows 7) but there's no option to connect when I right click on it. The speaker is Bluetooth 3 and the laptop supports Bluetooth 4, my iPhone connects to both without problems so why won't it work?!

jaytmon

Windows 7 and Bluetooth can be troublesome and a PITA. It's possibly a driver issue - first thing to do is to check the manufacturer's website for the latest driver and not rely on the automatically installed Windows one. 

EDIT: the laptop manufacturer's website that is. 

10thumbs

LOL- been there ( also haven't) done that.

Longtallronnie

jaytmon said:

Windows 7 and Bluetooth can be troublesome and a PITA. It's possibly a driver issue - first thing to do is to check the manufacturer's website for the latest driver and not rely on the automatically installed Windows one. 

EDIT: the laptop manufacturer's website that is. 

No drivers available on their website so I've emailed their support. Probably better off buying a longer aux lead!

jaytmon

Probably better off buying a longer aux lead!

I had a Bose bt speaker I used with my laptop for a while, but it screwed with the Internet connection - think the hardware was shared - so I now use an aux lead! Saves a lot of headaches. Speaker of course works fine with phone. 
What make/model is the laptop?

Longtallronnie

It's an HP Probook 6470b. I should point out that Bolse isn't a typo either!

jellyroll

I've given up trying to use my Bluetooth Bose headphones with my windows laptop.

holnrew

Right click on the speaker in the taskbar, it should show up in the devices. Right click it, then click connect. Might need to do that last step twice.

Longtallronnie

It doesn't show up in playback devices either. It's like the laptop can see it, it's installed the drivers but won't actually pair/connect to it.

jaytmon

Longtallronnie said:

It's an HP Probook 6470b. I should point out that Bolse isn't a typo either!

Haha I did google it to make sure

I set set up a JBL Bluetooth speaker on a probook 6470 in my previous job. It was a driver issue and took forever to find the right driver... If I get a chance later when I'm home I'll see if I can recall what I did. I'll be back!

jaytmon

Ok, try this one:

Broadcom Bluetooth

This is for the Broadcom Bluetooth driver for 32 and 64-bit Windows 7. Bear in mind that your Probook *may* not have this particular card in, but it's in the list for the 6470b. I have a suspicion that I may have got BT drivers from elsewhere, but try these first. 

It might be worth uninstalling your (internal) bluetooth device from Device Manager before installing one of these drivers. Or you may have to manually update the driver after installing from download. Worth checking the version number of the currently installed driver to check it is actually different! If none of this makes much sense, just download and run the driver installation packages, reboot laptop and cross your fingers...

Emp_Fab

I gave up with bluetooth and Windows long ago.  By the way, how do you pronounce 'Bose' ?  Bo-zay ?  Bow-se ? Shee-ite ?

Longtallronnie

jaytmon said:

Ok, try this one:

Broadcom Bluetooth

This is for the Broadcom Bluetooth driver for 32 and 64-bit Windows 7. Bear in mind that your Probook *may* not have this particular card in, but it's in the list for the 6470b. I have a suspicion that I may have got BT drivers from elsewhere, but try these first. 

It might be worth uninstalling your (internal) bluetooth device from Device Manager before installing one of these drivers. Or you may have to manually update the driver after installing from download. Worth checking the version number of the currently installed driver to check it is actually different! If none of this makes much sense, just download and run the driver installation packages, reboot laptop and cross your fingers...

It worked!! Cheers dude!

jaytmon

Longtallronnie said:

jaytmon said:

Ok, try this one:

Broadcom Bluetooth

This is for the Broadcom Bluetooth driver for 32 and 64-bit Windows 7. Bear in mind that your Probook *may* not have this particular card in, but it's in the list for the 6470b. I have a suspicion that I may have got BT drivers from elsewhere, but try these first. 

It might be worth uninstalling your (internal) bluetooth device from Device Manager before installing one of these drivers. Or you may have to manually update the driver after installing from download. Worth checking the version number of the currently installed driver to check it is actually different! If none of this makes much sense, just download and run the driver installation packages, reboot laptop and cross your fingers...

It worked!! Cheers dude!

Happy days! Glad to have been of assistance