Ralink (Mediatek) Bluetooth PCIe Adapter for Windows 8.1 driver missing

[Mike-McC]

I am marking the search for a working Windows 8.1 Ralink RT3290 Bluetooth driver for my Laptop HP ENVY TouchSmart 15-j003sg Notebook PC as solved, since I found a workaround.

In short I refreshed the Laptop and installed the latest Bluetooth driver before applying Windows 8 updates and before updating to Windows 8.1. I still hope that HP will publish a new driver which can be installed directly on Windows 8.1, however this workaround is good for me in the interim period.

Here's the background and some more details:

The forum thread http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Wireless-Internet-Home-Networking/No-Bluetooth-after-upgrade-to-Windows... refers to a solution on http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/bluetooth-systemthreadexception... which suggests installing the Bluetooth driver BEFORE installing any Microsoft Windows updates.

There is some more information in http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/bluetooth-driver-for-hp-probook... which says SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED is a known issue due to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2887595 "Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: November 2013" which fixed a bluetooth issue, but exposed a bug in the Ralink Bluetooth driver.

On my HP ENVY TouchSmart 15-j003sg Notebook PC
Product Number:   D9V73EA
which has the RT3290 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapter installed, I successfully refreshed Windows to re-install the factory-installed Windows 8, then I updated first
Ralink 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN Adapter Driver sp64950 from http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp64501-65000/sp64950.exe and then
Ralink Bluetooth Software Driver from http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp64001-64500/sp64156.exe
Then I restarted the Laptop which took a while.
After the restart I applied all Microsoft Windows Updates, followed by other driver updates from HP.

After that I updated to Windows 8.1 from Windows Store.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are working. (I am only using Bluetooth with an HP Bluetooth mouse X4000b.)
Windows is not crashing.

Unfortunately refreshing my Windows back to the factory-installed condition broke the activation. Because I had followed the advice of the HP Support Assistant a few weeks ago and installed BIOS updates up to F.36 (which has now been removed from the HP download site for my laptop model) I got the Error code 0xC004C003 "The activation server determined that the specified product key has been blocked." I called HP support and they sent me a new product key from Microsoft which allowed me to activate Windows again.

I got the drivers for my laptop (HP ENVY TouchSmart 15-j003sg Notebook PC) from
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=5389106&lc=en&cc=de&dlc=en

Mike

[rex-us]

Hi Dunidar,

The only driver from HP ENVY 700-230qe CTO Desktop PC Drivers that did anything was the Intel Chipset Driver, which fixed the unknown 'PCI Simple Communications Controller' under 'Other devices'.

The Broadcom Bluetooth Driver gave me the following error: "Your system does not meet the minimum requirements for this update. Update has been cancelled. (9996)".

The Intel Management Engine Interface Driver produced this: "The update did not complete successfully. (259)".

The Ralink Bluetooth Adapter Driver did run (again) - but it made no difference for the 'Bluetooth Controller'.

I also downloaded and ran the RT3290 driver from http://www.mediatek.com/_en/07_downloads/01_windows.php (version V5.0.37.0) - this also did nothing for the 'Bluetooth Controller' (and the WiFi adapter already had the same version installed before).

At this point I think the problem is that I had rebuilt the machine and installed various Windows updates before working on the unrecognized devices.  According to many posts I have seen, it almost seems that the only solution is to wait for an updated/fixed driver to come out (hopefully soon)...

Thanks,

rex-us

[rex-us]

update:

Today I got a notification in Action Center to "Install your Bluetooth adapter driver".  I followed the prompts, whic took me to:

Download and install the driver for your Bluetooth adapter

Your Bluetooth adapter is missing a driver.

The model name of your Bluetooth adapter is Ralink Bluetooth PCIe Adapter / Ralink Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter.

Tap or click to download the new driver from the Hewlett-Packard Company website

When I tried installing the software, the system crashed 🙂

[Mike-McC]

Hi rex-us,

You have gone through the same experience with the Windows Action Center that I did. I wrote about it in this thread on Dec 20, 2013.  Microsoft should stop suggesting this driver since it crashes a patched Windows 8.1 64-bit system. The real solution though will be an updated driver, which hasn't been released yet.

To avoid getting this suggestion from the Windows Action Center you need to disable the Bluetooth driver rather than uninstalling it. If you uninstall the driver, Windows tries to be helpful and gives you a pointer to the original Bluetooth driver which is now a year old. Unfortunately, as we all know, this driver can crash the system.

Mike

[Mike-McC]

I installed sp64041.exe Mediatek Bluetooth Software Driver, 2.9.19.0 REV: A successfully on Windows 8.1 64-bit. I found the documentation about it on sp64041.html 

It doesn't specifically list my model HP ENVY TS Notebook PC. Anyway it has successfully connected to my Bluetooth mouse which is all I need it for at the moment.

Mike

[Mike-McC · Accepted solution]

The Drivers page for HP ENVY TouchSmart 15-j003sg (Product number D9V73EA#ABD) on Windows 8.1 64-bit now lists Mediatek Bluetooth Software Driver 2013-12-21, Version 11.0.748.2 which points to sp64949.exe for download.

I also found sp64949.html and this shows a list of other models / languages which this SoftPaq supports.

I'm happy to report that the installation went smoothly and I am now up and running with this version.  The installation required a restart and I also had to re-pair my Bluetooth mouse after the installation. So now everything is fine and I'm running the version which is officially released for my laptop model and Windows 8.1.

Mike

[nxacho]

Hola, yo tengo hp envy 17-j021ss notebook.    he probado todo lo que ustedes dicen y no hay solucion al problema.

Necesito me envien los controladores para este equipo basado en 64 bits, y windows 8.1.   

He consultado telefonicamente a soporte de HP y me dicen que lo deje de fabrica con windows 8, pero no creo que la solucion sea volver al software de windows anterior,  La solucioon es un nuevo controlador.   Si no me lo pueden proporcionar para cuando hp tiene pensado sacarlo?.     gracias anticipadas

[Mike-McC]

Hi nxacho,

sp64949.html says that the driver supports HP ENVY 17 Notebook PC  in English and Spanish. Did you download and install sp64949.exe?

If you need help in Spanish, you might find it easier in the Spanish-speaking discussion boards, for instance http://h30467.www3.hp.com/

Mike

[tataro]

Hi

after hours and hours trying to find a driver for the Ralink BT module without real success I exchanged the wireless module.

I bought a Intel AC7260 module wich is faster than the ralink. The driver is working verry well.

The mini PCI wireless modul is not verry expensive.

It is a good invest.

[nxacho]

Gracias por su respuesta,  he probado a instalar lo que vd. me dice pero no soluciona el problema,   me da error y se reinicia automaticamente el equipo.