G73JW and Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7260 Bluetooth doesn't work properly :(

[musxiq]

First the specs. Asus G73JW 64b Win7 Ultimate SP1. Intel i7 1.73GHz. Ameritrends BIOS v 205. 14GB memory. History, Upgraded from the original combo WiFi card three years ago. I got the Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 abgn. Worked with no issues. I recently got a new bluetooth mouse, Razer Orochi, which only works with the newer bluetooth 4.0 so I had to upgrade. Here is where my headache began.

Installed the card, no problems. Installed Intel's auto driver update utility. First set of drivers installed ok although there were some glitches on the bluetooth side. For some odd reason the MS BT-270 has a yellow warning while the Intel BT device is working properly. Even in this state the bluetooth seemed to be ok. Intel driver utility says there's an update (this is when the headache got bigger). I used it to install the bluetooth update. Bluetooth stops working again. I tried at least 4 different versions of the driver for this card and none seemed to work 100%. I have no clue why but the intel bluetooth seemed to work only when the MS BT-270 was in yellow state with a code 10 status. (This device cannot start. (Code 10)) Even though, I'd rather this not be the case I went along with it since my mouse was working.
Today, while watching TV the mouse randomly just stops working. I checked my windows system log to find the following errors repeating over and over again

A command sent to the adapter has timed out. The adapter did not respond.
The local Bluetooth adapter has failed in an undetermined manner and will not be used. The driver has been unloaded.
Only one active Bluetooth adapter is supported at a time. (I have not installed any other bluetooth adapters)

The two bolded errors repeat. The last one repeats less often.

Note: Wireless side works flawlessly. No issues throughout any of the updates. Already contacted ASUS support and they basically told me I'm screwed if hardware isn't installed by them. They also told me that they haven't tested this particular card on this machine. They offered absolutely no support and told me to contact Intel.

I went on the Intel forums and found out that, the PCI-E standard changed, to include voltages and this particular card is part of a list of cards that *should* only be installed by OEM manufacturers. Great. So, can anyone tell me how I can either get this card to work properly, or a list of cards that will work for this machine that have Bluetooth 4.0.

[JustinThyme]

ASUS isn't going to cover a 7 year old machine regardless.

Dont use the auto update tool for drivers......ever!

latest drivers and proset software package directly from Intel website for win 7
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26599/Wireless-Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-...

BT
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26582/Wireless-Intel-Wireless-Bluetooth-Software-for-Windo...

[musxiq]

JustinThyme wrote:
ASUS isn't going to cover a 7 year old machine regardless.

Dont use the auto update tool for drivers......ever!

latest drivers and proset software package directly from Intel website for win 7
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26599/Wireless-Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-...

BT
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26582/Wireless-Intel-Wireless-Bluetooth-Software-for-Windo...

I imagined that might be the case. Those are actually the drivers I already downloaded. I think it may be a BIOS issue but, as you mentioned, I doubt they will release a BIOS update for a machine that old. I still love my baby tho. Still blazing fast.

[xeromist]

I do actually have a g73 but I've not attempted to upgrade it to BT 4.0 so unfortunately I can't recommend a card. If it was me I think I would look at reviews of highly rated combo cards on Newegg and Amazon. If other people are successful installing one that might be a good sign. You'll actually want to read the one-star reviews to see if anyone else had compatibility issues. I think a lot of the reviews would be people installing it in new machines though so no telling if their experience is directly applicable.

The other option would be to look for a USB bluetooth. That would likely have less compatibility concern but would take up a USB port.

[musxiq]

xeromist wrote:
I do actually have a g73 but I've not attempted to upgrade it to BT 4.0 so unfortunately I can't recommend a card. If it was me I think I would look at reviews of highly rated combo cards on Newegg and Amazon. If other people are successful installing one that might be a good sign. You'll actually want to read the one-star reviews to see if anyone else had compatibility issues. I think a lot of the reviews would be people installing it in new machines though so no telling if their experience is directly applicable.

The other option would be to look for a USB bluetooth. That would likely have less compatibility concern but would take up a USB port.

You and I share similar techniques. I immediately go to the 1 star reviews to see the "what ifs" that may occur. I actually read a few people who couldn't get BT to work while wireless worked flawlessly. I'm pretty sure it's BIOS thing. Seems to be a conflict with the MS controller and the BT on this card. The only reason I don't want a dongle is because the whole point was to be wireless, without anything hanging off my notebook. I may have to give up on this mouse. I can still use it wired, but that's not why I bought it. grrr.

[xeromist]

Some BT dongles are pretty svelte. I got one many years ago that only made a small bump when plugged in. Small enough to leave it plugged in all the time. I don't know what's out there these days but I can't imagine they got bigger. That said, it takes up a port so depending on how many devices you need that could be an issue.

[MrRuckus]

If you bought the card second hand, it could be a used card. A lot of the time these cards come out of other laptops that are parted out or are OEM stock. If the device stopped responding, it almost sounds like the bluetooth on the card is having issues.

I agree with Xeromist. If you're having that much trouble with it, I would just go with a dongle. They are insanely small these days and also inexpensive.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-USB-Adapter-Bluetooth-USB-BT400/dp/B00DJ83070/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qi...

[musxiq]

MrRuckus wrote:
If you bought the card second hand, it could be a used card. A lot of the time these cards come out of other laptops that are parted out or are OEM stock. If the device stopped responding, it almost sounds like the bluetooth on the card is having issues.

I agree with Xeromist. If you're having that much trouble with it, I would just go with a dongle. They are insanely small these days and also inexpensive.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-USB-Adapter-Bluetooth-USB-BT400/dp/B00DJ83070/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qi...

Nah, it was brand new. After getting another response back from ASUS, the only way for me to get BT 4.0 is a dang dongle. Oh well. I hate dongles, lol. However, if I want to use this mouse wireless, I have no choice. Unfortunately, My only free USB port is broken, due to a lil mistake I made while fixing something else a few yrs ago. Guess I'll have to get it fixed so I can use it for this freakin dongle. Good looking out on the link. I have a similar dongle for my keyboard.

[musxiq]

i've managed to get it to work. Was very weird. After figuring out that there was a conflict from my own experiment and further info from the folks on the Intel forum, I disabled the BT-270 adapter. I allowed all the BT devices to be installed under the Intel BT adapter. Disabled the Intel adapter. Re-enabled the BT-270 and allowed all the drivers to install. Disabled the BT-270 adapter again. Re-enabled the Intel adapter. Deleted the mouse and re-paired. Now my mouse is working. Let's see how stable it is.