Bluetooth Software Stack Gets a Major Update Thanks to Broadcom

30 June 2010
by Mr-Internet

Anyone that bought a pc more than a year ago (or custom made one themselves), may not have been fortuitous enough to consider adding a Bluetooth adapter to their machine.  Yes, we got the ram, quad core CPU,  SLI Video,  super heat sinks, maybe even Blu-ray DVD built in, and to top it off a 64 bit windows 7 operating system.

Well supplier Targus and others came to the rescue and offered a USB Bluetooth adapter so small it could be added to a laptop or PC and forgotten sticking out only a fraction out of the USB port.  They often included drivers and worked with 90% of all PC devices, and most devices included their own drivers.

Unfortunately in another universe iPhones, iPods, and more recently iPads, came to be and with them a flurry of new Bluetooth accessories that worked native-ly with them but not always so well on PC’s.

Simply put this was due to the Bluetooth drivers software (or stack), that was required to add things such as stereo Bluetooth headphones not being 100% driver compatible even with some of  the newest PC’s.

Who better than Broadcom the massive semiconductor giant and manufacturer of most Bluetooth devices, to come to the rescue and offer a comprehensive free download, that updates PCs, and laptops with the latest drivers, to allow the latest devices to your Bluetooth enabled PC or laptop.

Thanks to Broadcom, download page is here  http://bit.ly/bt-4jun-2010, but it is a little tricky for the uninitiated, so here is a few steps on how to get you machine a syncing, as it will not do it automatically, and not obvious in all steps needed to be taken.

Install the software and here we go, make sure the item you want to sync is NOT connected but the bluetooth adapter is on and ready, you do not need to uninstall any old bluetooth stack.

Here I am using Windows 7 and a Motorola S9- HD  stereo headphones

1. After Downloading the Software you are me with a snazzy UI App.

Now put the bluetooth item in discovery mode so windows can find it.

Click the bluetooth icon a a menu should show up (new), click add a device , and make sure the device is discoverable.

Up should come the windows 7 box looking to discover your bluetooth device

Once installed your bluetooth  device is shown, but remember to tick the boxes or nothing will work

Once installed you need to enable the device headphones

In the case of bluetooth headphones, once connected you finally need to activate them in your sound setting and deactivate your normal sound method. Job Done.