My Bluetooth Dongle seems to lock up XP SP2

October 3, 2006 10:45 AM

My Bluetooth dongle locks up XP SP2. The device is KINAMAX BT-USB USB 2.0. The computer is a Compaq Presario 6000. I have tried installing useing the newest BlueSoleil drivers 2.3 and disabling the windows drivers. Once they are installed it pairs its self with my plantronics 320 headseat but the computer will intermittently freeze up. No error messages.
posted by govtrust to computers & internet (6 answers total)

So, uh, what's the question?

* Which BT dongle should I buy?
* Should I switch to a Macintosh?
posted by unixrat at 11:15 AM on October 3, 2006

That's a pretty old machine. It appears that USB 2.0 wasn't included on all machines sold, so if you have a lot of other USB devices you could run into a bus bandwidth issue, which can freeze your machine.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 11:41 AM on October 3, 2006

In my experience, bluetooth dongles are fairly flaky beasts, you may want to buy a "big name" dongle, if it doesn't work you can return it. These small device manufacturers don't always have good drivers, or quality hardware. You might also want to try a USB 1.1 dongle, as your system combined with USB 2.0 might not be the best combination.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:52 AM on October 3, 2006

I appreciate everyones suggestions thus far.
Some clarifications.
I am looking for a way to keep the computer from freezing up after installing the device.
I have a USB 2.0 Card that I am running device on.
When the mac has games, I will switch.
posted by govtrust at 12:30 PM on October 3, 2006

Try the Widcomm Bluetooth Driver stack. It's the equivalent of a bluetooth 'reference driver' and is vastly superior to it's cruddy windows counterpart. My generic chinese bluetooth dongle refused to work at all until I installed it. There are copyright issues (it's part of a non-public SDK) but is made freely available by vendors like HP if you sign their software EULA.

Excellent tutorial and links to legit download sites here, or if you're brave try the usual trackers places.
posted by datacenter refugee at 2:53 PM on October 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

Does the thing work on other machines? I've had USB devices crash and hang machines before but only when they were physically faulty.
posted by ed\26h at 2:55 PM on October 3, 2006 [1 favorite]