hp Pavilion g7 won't detect Bluetooth

[waterpainter]

I am trying to connect my hp Pavilion g7 laptop to a new Anker Premium Stereo Bluetooth speaker. I'm able to connect our phones, but not the laptop.

When I go to "Add a Bluetooth Device", in Control Panel, I get a message "Searching for devices..make sure your device is discoverable"

I've tried everything I know to do:

In Services, Bluetooth Support Services is Started.

In Device Manager, under Bluetooth Radios, there are two things listed., Generic Bluetooth Adaptor and Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator. Both say the drivers are up to date.

In Bluetooth Settings box, I have checked the box that says, Allow Bluetooth Devices to Find this Computer, as well as Allow Bluetooth Devices to Connect with this computer.

I should mention that I had the same problem with a different speaker, which I had just purchased but will return because this Anker speaker was a gift.  I believe the speaker is working properly. 

I feel like it has to be a driver or settings issue.

I'm wondering if there is a different driver that I could download??

I can use the speaker if it is plugged into the headphone jack, but what's the point of having Bluetooth then?

I've spent a lot of time on this already and am at a dead end. Any help at all would be appreciated.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

There should be a specific model bluetooth adapter listed, not a generic one, which means you need to install the corresponding model bluetooth driver for the model wifi adapter your notebook comes with.

For example:  If your notebook has a Broadcom wifi adapter, then you need to install the Broadcom bluetooth driver.

The BT radio is part of the wifi adapter.

[waterpainter]

Thank you Paul!! That was exactly the information I needed.

It took a while to find the driver, and it could not install a couple of the components.  But my computer detected the speaker right away after downloading the driver.

However, using it to play Pandora from the laptop, the music is really broken up. I'm guessing this is a wireless issue. Our connection speed is not great.  However it's not an issue playing Pandora with our phones over the Bluetooth speaker, so maybe it's something else. Any thoughts?

Anyway, thanks again.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I don't have any suggestions regarding the choppy audio problem.

[waterpainter]

Well, I'm afraid that the driver I installed is not exactly right. My laptop found the BT speaker, but it won't play consistently and it causes my laptop to freeze up.

There are lots of driver versions and I don't know if I had the right one. The one I downloaded is Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor version 8.0.1.304.

In my initial search for the right driver, something told me I needed version 8.0.0001.0338, but I could not find a place to download that version. Does that matter? 

Thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

What is the full model number or product number of your g7?

The product number can normally be found on the same label as the serial number.

[waterpainter]

Thank you Paul. I tried a different driver download that completed successfully. Evidently there were a couple things on the first download that didn't install correctly and they must have been the problem.

It is working perfectly now.  

Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction. I really apprectiate your time.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad you got the BT to work properly.

[68pishta]

remove battery and look at fine print in battery well. It will say "Atheros xxxx" that is the wifi adapter that is installed. My G7-2293 had a lower model Atheros that had no BT so I purchased a higher model Wifi/BT Atheros part number and installed it next to the memory, one screw and 2 small coaxial snap on connectors. Laptop picked the wifi right back up but I had to download 'Atheros Bluetooth driver suite' to get a bluetooth icon and functionality. My new 300Mb wifi/BT chip was $4 used on ebay. 

[68pishta]

Not so fast....My bluetooth drivers loaded properly, no errors and wifi is working great, however no device can see my bluetooth? I booted to Linux and voila, bluetooth worked out of the box so I know the chip is working. I read something about covering the pin 20 on the adapter itself into fooling the chip that the bluetooth is turned on due to lack of pull down signal on pin 20 due to the laptop not having the proper soft switch to turn the bluetooth on? F12 on a G7 toggles airplane mode, shuts the entire card down. I am using the Qualcomm Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor version 8.0.1.304 with no BT luck.