Bluetooth doesn't work with network card purchased separately

[Spinoni31]

Hello, this is my first post in this forum.

If i posted in the wrong sub-forum feel free to move it to the right place.

Recently I have bought an intel 3160 HMWWB Dual band network card with built-in bluetooth 4.0 support.

The problem is that, while the wifi connection works flawlessly (both 2.4 and 5 GHz) the bluetooth doesn't get recognized by the system.

I have tried to install the official drivers from intel but it still refused to work. I have also checked the device management from the control panel, but even there nothing was shown for bluetooth devices.

So, my question is, is this device supported? if so, how do i fix this? if not, can someone please give to me a list of network cards that have both bluetooth and wifi tha are supported on this machine?

Thanks in advance, Spinoni31

[Huffer]

Here is the data sheet on that card from Intel:

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/dual-band-wireless-ac-31...

There is no 3160 HMWWB listed but it says the 3160 HMWNB does not include bluetooth.

Your model was offered with 3 different cards (not Intel) that are combo wifi + bt devices so we know it will support that.

The only other thing I can offer is that sometimes if you do not remove prior drivers before installing a new wireless device you will get weirdness that might include inability to recognize the BT function on a dual function card. 

Post back for further discussion and take a closer look at the card you installed to see if maybe it is in fact the HMWNB version

[Spinoni31]

You're right, i've checked the label on the card and it says "Intel 3160 ac HMW". I thought it was HMWWB because that's how it was called in the listing for amazon that i bought this in. i've also checked the datasheets that you've linked me and there appears to be some models with a single antenna plug, while mine has 2. does this make a difference?

[Huffer]

Perhaps...were there 2 antenna leads to attach to the two antenna connection points? The just plain HMW version is supposed to have BT included. 

[Spinoni31]

Yes. There were two antenna plugs on the card, in fact i can confirm that this is a combo card because I've tested this in another PC i had available at the time with windows 7 and the secondo the system fully loaded it immediately detected both WiFi and bluetooth. Another thing I've noticed is that when i Turned on my pc after charging it during the night windows 10 gave a bsod with error code bad system config error. Could this be the problem?

[Huffer]

I think that may come from not deleting the prior driver first. Hate to say it but a reload of Windows may be the way to go here.

[Spinoni31]

Hello, sorry for the long wait. I reset my laptop to fabric defaults but still nothing eventi with the drivers from the Intel website on windows 8.1 it stilo refuses to show up. However, by checking the device management i found out in the advanced tab of the wireless card that it says "Bluetooth(R) AMP" and that is set to active. So, is this problem related to hardware or is it to software?

P.s.: if I need to update back to windows 10, just tell me because i have a multi-use license key registered with my school to update back to windows 10.
Thanks in advance, Spinoni31

[Huffer]

If Windows 10 was ever on it and activated it can be reinstalled with no need for a Key Code. Just download the installer from Windows Media Creation Tool site and reinstall. 

[Spinoni31 · Accepted solution]

Hello, sorry again for the long wait.  I finally managed to reslve the problem and the solution was something i never expected to work...

The solution was to use some scotch tape to block the connection on pin 51 of the network card, in fact i tried this and after booting up the machine the bluetooth suddenly started to show and work flawlessly.

Thanks for the support, Spinoni31