Is there a bluetooth adapter that would work on HP Z200?

[Trainor]

Bought a Anker speaker unit to use with my old Z200 workstation pc, but the pc does not have bluetooth, so bought a "Plugable" brand bluetooth adapter, but it won't connect.  Is it possible to have bluetooth capability on a Z200 at all?  Should the adapter work, or what could I be doing wrong?  Thank you for any help!

[old_geekster]

@Trainor, welcome to the forum.

Is your computer a Small Form Factor Workstation or Workstation?

As far as the adapter working it would be best if you contacted the manufacturer for help with that question.  They are the experts on their products.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Trainor

What model USB Bluetooth adapter did you purchase?

Did you install the W7 bluetooth drivers it needs?

The generic drivers installed by Windows are not enough to work the device.

I have this model and it works fine on my HP 8200 Elite CMT business desktop, but I had to install the Broadcom bluetooth drivers for it when it was running W7.

https://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTD-400-Bluetooth-4-0-USB/dp/B007Q45EF4

On W10, the drivers were included.

[Trainor]

The bluetooth adapter is the Plugable, the "Bluetooth USB Adapter, Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Low Energy) and Classic Bluetooth Compatible."  [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZIILLI/ref=psdc_3015437011_t1_B007Q45EF4]  I installed the W7 drivers from the CD that came with it.

My Z200 pc is the Workstation, yes.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

If you installed the drivers, it should have worked.

Did you go into the bluetooth software control panel and make your PC discoverable?

The first thing you need to do is to go to the device manager and ensure there is a bluetooth radios device manager category.

That should be in alphabetical order near the top of the list.

If you see that, click to expand that category, and if the driver installed correctly, there should be a brand name bluetooth adapter listed there.

If it shows up as a generic bluetooth adapter, then the driver did not install properly.

[Trainor]

You are right, the brand name of the bluetooth adapter is listed at the top in the Device Manager ["Broadcom BCM20702 Bluetooth 4.0 USB Device"], but when then go to Anker SoundCore in the Bluetooth Device Control panel, and click on CONNECT, it tries, then says "Disconnected."

[Trainor]

Now it is connected, the blue light quit flashing on the Anker, which means the device has been added, but still no sound yet.

Minutes later, there is sound now!  Thank you so very much!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.