bluetooth

Hello I am still gathering information. I ran the Win 7 to 8 assistant and found bluetooth was not compatible. Whether I use an upgrade or a clean install, how would I be a ble to recover that feature if at all? I need it so can it be purchased? I was just reading that in order to get the bluetooth to work I should upgrade the BIOs but have read how dangerous that can be. If I have a good Acronis image and upgrade the BIOS but have issues, can the rescue disc bring me back to where I was originally? Thank you

Acronis (or any other) copies what is on your hard drive and your bios (Basic Input/Output System) is not on it, it is firmware in your motherboard stored on a NVRAM (Non-volatile random-access memory) chip.

Most modern motherboard support sites have an auto update feature that makes upgrading your bios a painless task. It takes 1 or 2 sec and usually backs up your bios first. Most modern motherboards also have a bios backup on the motherboard or dual bios's.

BIOS Backup

I upgraded an older Dell about 8 years ago and all I did was a simple couple of steps. It went from A4 to A11. I was lucky no doubt.
I had no idea it was this complex but thanx for the reading.

I learned that if I am missing bluetooth for example, I should go to Dell and install it then update the drivers
Any tips as to how to to this , i.e. identify the one I should use and how to upgrade it?. Do I just do as in device manager, click on update driver?

Dell has an automated bios update feature you can do from your browser.

Here is a step-by-step. How to Update the Dell Computer's BIOS Settings

silly question maybe, but does your laptop actually have bluetooth ?

silly question maybe, but does your laptop actually have bluetooth ?

Yes, I pair it up with my phone.
My desktop was told its bluetooth was not compatible but I don't think it has it. I have never seen any evidence of it.

I am still diasappointed atmy original plan. Historically if you bought a pc with guts you could upgrade. So I bought 2 good dells - i5, 6 GB etc.
Now I find I would have been better of with 2 lower end machines so i could buy new with the os in it rather than trying to force new into old.
Win some, lose some.
I have two hobbies tv and pcs. Now we are down to one.
Poor es don't help but it is disappoinyting for me and for milins of others. I just spoke with my daughter and she loveds her new Win 8 laptop.
I had mixed emotions.
Sorry to digress ans yes I do have it.
What do you think about going to Dell after an upgrade and trying to find the bluetooth I 'used to have' after an upgrade?

I'm a computer optimist (one of the few areas in my life this is true for ). I assume (yes, I know the yadda yadda definition) that if it works now, it will work with the next upgrade, be it hardware or software. If not then it becomes a challenge to make it work and the fun begins! Just using computers is boring. Fixing them is fun!

Bluetooth is a double edge sword, most have no issues, BUT, when one comes up it's a nightmare, and the reason is simple, usually anyway, it's drivers, obvious statement I know, but 9 out of 10 that's the cause of problems with this. Now a new OS is always a game of catch up, and hope that your Bluetooth maker\supplier brings out a new driver sooner rather than later, but the sad truth is Bluetooth seems to be very low on their list, and many never bother, as it's probably more beneficial for them (cheaper as well probably) to just make a new device, which then forces you to shell out even more money. Now given it's a Dell (and presumably built in ?), if it's not too old they may well bring out an updated driver, so there is hope, BUT, balanced against your need to use it you won't be able to wait, so your fastest solution is to get a new Bluetooth dongle, which goes against the grain when you already have a perfectly good one, but if speed is the essence then your stuck with this. As to upgrading a bios, this as your aware carries high risk IF it goes wrong, and there is no way to predict this, so all you can do is minimise risk, do not use a windows application to do it, too much risk of something going wrong, some service or device only has to speak out of turn and it could be disaster, using DOS is the safest way, and should be pretty easy, just follow the makers instructions, it's virtually plug and play these days, the next high risk, the greatest of them all, is power spikes, or worse failure, if the system loses power before it's complete then is hope like hell you can still complete after the power is back, the only way to exclude this risk is by using a UPS, this allows x amount of running time if the power goes, and should be enough to complete the job. The main reason to do a bios update is to get rid of bugs (if affected), or to enable specific hardware to function, usually a CPU, would this help get your Bluetooth working again, well you would probably want to see what the makers say the upgrade will give you, or wait for more conclusive comments from others doing this before committing to doing this. From years of dealing with Bluetooth the most universal option to go for is one that uses the m$ Bluetooth stack, because if they create the new OS, then they should also update the stack to work with this, independent makers are probably not going to be in a hurry, and won't of had the head start that m$ would, which is why I suggest getting one that uses m$ drivers, no clear answer I'm afraid, but hope it helps a bit, but one last thought, have you tried using the compatibility option with it ? You should be able to run as though it's still using windows 7 I'd hope, that's what it's made for, never used that feature personally, so can't really guide, but it certainly can't hurt to try it, hope something here helps.

I just can't see the problem you are having as a bios issue, but of course I might be missing the logic behind it possibly being one.

Here is an interesting read describing the main bluetooth problems that crop up Problems with Bluetooth Technology

I'm a computer optimist (one of the few areas in my life this is true for ).

I assume (yes, I know the yadda yadda definition) that if it works now, it will work with the next upgrade, be it hardware or software. If not then it becomes a challenge to make it work and the fun begins! Just using computers is boring. Fixing them is fun!

>>We definetly have the first sentence in common.
I'm still pondering the upgrade. What about partitions if it is an upgrade and not a clean install?
I think I remove them all if it is clean but not sure with an upgrade.
I don't care about bluetooth any longer.

Bios was someone's idea of trying to make my older pc more compatible with Win 8, I am not doing it b/c of the risk and doubt it would help. I won't keep pestering but once in a while I get the itch to work with Win 8 so I ask what i don't know. Maybe Oracle with Win 8 for a brief time but then I'll be bitten. Thank y'all.

Have you actually tried to use this in win 8 ? That is the most conclusive way to see if it will work, if you have not actually tried this yet, install to a spare drive, or create a virtual drive, and install win 8 to that, then just see what does and doesn't work, this is probably the fastest and most accurate way to see what will happen, without messing with what you have currently, just a thought.

Running Win 8 in a VM won't help, at least as far as blue tooth since you don't install drivers there, you use what ever the host provides. Good for checking out Win 8 though. Gives you a chance to see what all the fuss is about. I'm almost ready to dump Win 8 and go back to Win 7 though. There are too many things that no longer work for me due to the "enhanced" security restrictions of Win 8. Stuff like not being able to backup my SeaMonkey profiles, install and run ERUNT (have to use Tweaking.com Registry Back), create folders/files under the C:\Windows directory tree, etc. Nothing helps either. Take ownership, no help. Grant Full Control, no help. If I could get it back to how Win 7 worked, I'd stay with it but as it sits now, I'm almost ready to switch back to Win 7 full time.

After trying out W8 on my laptop (now back to W7), I'd almost rank it right up there with Windows Me in the history of bad OSs.

It's ugly and not a great experience on laptops or desktops either most probably. Is this another half-baked "Vista" that will mature into W9, just like Vista finally matured into W7?

Here is a short list of what's bad (less rambling than I could put it) Things that annoy in Windows 8 on a desktop

Good article Lee. Mentioned a lot of annoyances, most of which I ignore as I never use the Metro/Modern UI if I can help it. I've asked in various places if there is any way to add a Windows Defender icon to the system tray like MSE had but it looks like this is a definite no.