Atheros bluetooth driver fails on Windows 10 64 bit HP ProBook 4540s

[AlanHR]

My bluetooth worked until I upgraded from Win7 to Win10. Now it will not connect to earbuds, etc.  I followed the advice of Paul Tikkanen but when I uninstall the device Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter the laptop goes to a blue screen, says it will restart, but does not. I have to hold power for 8 seconds and then start manually, and the driver/device is still there.

Device Manager shows three items for Bluetooth

  Bluetooth Devece (RFCOMM Protocol TDI)

  Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator

  Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter

I have the two zip files Atheros Bluetooth 10.0.1.15 and .22 and have extracted them but attempts at updating lead to the message that Windows has determined the best driver for this device is already installed.

How can I get back to the Generic Bluetooth Adapter so I can restart from there?

Thanks, Alan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Alan:

See if this W10 Atheros BT driver works for you...

10.0.1.0

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp72001-72500/sp72163.exe

OPERATING SYSTEM(S):
Microsoft Windows 10 32
Microsoft Windows 10 64

LANGUAGE(S): Global

DEVICES SUPPORTED:
Atheros AR3011 Bluetooth 3.0 + HS Adapter
Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 + HS Adapter
Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Bluetooth 4.0 + HS Adapter
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 Bluetooth 4.0 + HS Adapter
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter

- Provides support for Windows 10.

[AlanHR]

Paul,

Thanks for the reply. I would love to try this, but unfortunately, I do not know how to install a new driver without removing the old one. That is, I do not know how to over-write one driver with another.

Can I uninstall either of my other 2 items?

just Disabling the  Bluetooth Enumerator caused my computer to crash.

Alan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Alan.

If you run the driver, it should automatically overwrite the existing one.

There should be no need to uninstall the driver.

[AlanHR]

I ran the .exe file you provided by ftp. It ran for about one minute, with messages to the effect that it would replace a driver, then gave me the blue screen.  Now, after a restart, the Device Manger shows me the same three devices.  I also tried a rollback on the Atheros device entry, and it also gave me the blue screen.

Do you have any other ideas.  Can I remove the bluetooth chip and reboot? Replace with a new bluetooth hardware.

I do not really think the hardware is broken, and all the Device Manager tabs say the device is working, except for this one Event message "Device USB\VID_0CF3&PID_311D\Alaska_Day_2006 requires further installation" and that might measomething to you. the Driver Name shown is oem82.inf and oem38.inf, for different events.

oem82.inf was on the last few Events, and the further installation was only on the first few of the 8.

This was 11/9/2020 and probably the date of my Win10 upgrade from Win7.

Thanks for your interest, Alan

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, Alan:

Sorry that driver didn't work for you.

That is very odd you are getting blue screens from the device.

Since the BT radio is an integral part of the Atheros wifi card, you can't remove it.

Unfortunately, other than going back to W7, I don't have any other suggestions for you to try.

You can also purchase a USB Bluetooth adapter and use that instead.

[AlanHR]

Thanks for your help in all these steps of troubleshooting. The exteral USB Bluetooth is a great idea.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime, Alan:

Glad to have been of assistance, and once again sorry that I was not able to help you with getting the Atheros BT adapter to work on W10.

Cheers,

Paul

[AlanHR]

Paul,

Sorry to have bad news. I did purchase a USB Bluetooth and got it today, overnight from Amazon. It is a BT5.0 + EDR with a RTL8761B chipset. There is a CD which contains the Realtek driver, and the instructions say that the standard W10 driver will not have all the features needed. It also said to delete the old drivers, which I cannot do.

I tried to install from the CD, hoping for a second driver, but I got a blue screen. After booting, I pulled the new hardware out of the USB jack and got another blue screen. The first rebood did not have icons on the taskbar, another boot and this was fixed. I loved your new hardware idea -- do you think I can find external USB bluetooth hardware that will match my Atheros AR3012 driver?

Failing that, will I be able to find a driverless usb bluetooth? Or edit the Registry to remove my existing bluetooth driver by disconnecting it?

Thanks again for your helpful ideas, Alan

PS, I put the new adaptor on a newer OMEN laptop, and the range is wonderful!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Alan:

What happens if you disable the Atheros BT adapter in the device manager?

Can you install the USB Bluetooth drivers that way?

Failing that, what if you were to uninstall the Atheros BT driver in Windows safe mode?

Here's how you can boot into safe mode in W10...you should be able to use the first option...from the Settings menu.

Start your PC in safe mode in Windows (microsoft.com)