This page is for users of Dell Inspiron and Latitude notebooks.
My Dell Inspiron XPS originally came with the Dell Truemobile 300 Bluetooth Internal card. It is version 1.1 of the bluetooth specification. Dell is not offering a BT 2.0 option for the iXPS. I decided to do something about it. The i9300 uses the (bluetooth version 2.0) Dell Truemobile 350 Bluetooth Internal card. After reviewing the on-line service manual for the i9300, I contacted an i9300 owner and asked them for the part number for their TM350. Knowing that the service manual pictures do not necessarily reflect reality, I decided that if the part was not expensive then it would be no great loss if it did not work.
Results of my experimental upgrade are listed below and can be found posted here and here. An addendum of addition information and about Dell models that I speculate may also be compatible can be found at the bottom of this page.
There is good news for i9100 and
iXPS (generation 1) owners who want to add internal bluetooth 2.0 in their
machines.
The TM300 (2U381) for the i9100/iXPS can be replaced with the TM350 (X5166)1 for
the i9300.
The X51661 has the exact same form factor as the 2U381. Both BT adapters have the
same size, length, and thickness. This is what I did for my iXPS (GEN1):
1) Download the TM350 bluetooth driver for the Dell i9300 from Dell's download
page.
2) Go to the Control Panel and uninstall the Dell Bluetooth (Widcomm) software.
This will also uninstall the TM300 BT adapter and the BT Network adapter from
the Device Manager.
(if you're using Microsoft or other vendor for BT support then you'll need to
figure it out)
3) Shutdown the i9100/iXPS, remove the battery, remove the BT cover plate, and
carefully remove and disconnect the TM300 from the cable.
Using a small flashlight and 3x magnifying reading glasses, examine the TM300
and the BT connector on the i9100/iXPS. You will notice that the connector on
the cable is keyed and will only insert into the BT adapter when properly
matched to the TM300. This is also true for the TM350 (X5166)1.
4) Connect the TM350 (X5166)1 to the BT cable. Carefully reinsert the TM350 and
replace the BT cover plate. Install the battery. Plug in a USB mouse (or use the
touchpad/stick when you boot the system).
5) Turn on the i9100/iXPS. Wait for the desktop to finish loading and for it to
find and install the new hardware.
(At this point I deleted the Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator from the Bluetooth
Devices in the Device Manager. I don't know if I needed to do this or not. It
does not seem to matter.).
6) Install the i9300 TM350 driver. The driver software is from Toshiba and
you'll hear the "new hardware" beep about 20 times during the install process.
This is OK.
After it completed installing, I paired my Thermaltake BT mouse with no
problems.
I then reviewed the contents in the Device Manager. Under the Bluetooth Devices
the entry for the Dell TM350 was no longer present and several new entries for
Toshiba were added. Under the Universal Serial Bus controllers is an entry for
the Dell TM350.
There is no "My Bluetooth Places" with the Toshiba software. All the tools are
on the BT icon (on the System Tray) or from the "Bluetooth Information
Exchanger" icon (which gets added to the desktop every time the PC boots). The
software options for the TM350 seem to be quite good. I have nothing to take
advantage of the BT 2.0 yet - so I'll have to wait. So why did I replace the
TM300 with the TM350? ....I wanted to see if it would work, and it does.
I already hate the "Bluetooth Information Exchanger" icon. I do not like it that
Toshiba auto-reinstalls it every time. I want it on the Start Menu - so I can
launch it only when I need it - otherwise I don't want to see it.
If you DO NOT
LIKE the inefficient
bluetooth driver from Toshiba, read about an
alternative BT driver that is much better.
The Dell Truemobile 350 Internal Bluetooth for the i9300 was purchased from Dell
Spare Parts - part Number: X51661
, price as of 31 March 2005 was $13.95 (USD) + $8.00 for shipping.
Here is a link to a discussion for removing the "Bluetooth Information Exchanger" icon from the Desktop.
TrueMobile Bluetooth Internal card not working
If your TrueMobile Bluetooth Internal card is not
working, the below procedure may bring it back to life:
1) Uninstall the Bluetooth software
2) Go to the Device Manager. If the BT adapter is still present, uninstall it.
3) Shutdown the notebook.
4) Remove the BT adapter from the notebook.
5) Boot the notebook. After the desktop is loaded and the system is idle,
shutdown the notebook.
6) Reinstall the BT adapter in the notebook.
7) Boot the notebook - BUT enter the BIOS setup to review the settings first.
8) Page through the BIOS settings until you see the entry for the BT adapter.
- If the BIOS does not see the adapter then replace the BT adapter. (if a BT
cable is present, it is also possible that the cable or the cable's connection
at the motherboard may be damaged)
- If the BIOS sees the adapter then exit the BIOS and continue the boot process.
9) Reinstall the BT software.
Addendum
(1) As of 13 May 2005, it would appear that a second Dell part number: W9242 is being substituted for the i9300's Dell Truemobile 350 Bluetooth Internal card as noted here on NotebookForums.com for $11.95 (USD). I have not seen the W9242 but on-line user posts indicate that the X5166 and the W9242 are interchangeable.
Your system may need a cable to connect the bluetooth card to the motherboard. On some systems the cable is preinstalled at the factory. The TM350 (X5166 / W9242) uses the same (TM300) cable that came preinstalled in my iXPS. If Dell is not offering a TM350 for your system then Dell Spare Parts will not have a TM350 cable for it. If you need the BT cable then call Dell Spare Parts and order the TM300 cable that is appropriate for your system.
Here is a
press release from bluetooth.com detailing some of the enhancements in
version 2.0 of the bluetooth specification.
Owners of the Inspiron 600m/D600/500m/D500 who are very good with a
soldering iron may be interested in
this from
NotebookForums.com.
A cursory review of the
Dell on-line service manuals has led me to believe that the following Dell
notebook models may also be compatible with the above Truemobile 350
Bluetooth internal card. I may have missed some of the models in the Dell product line. There is
no guarantee that even if these models are (bluetooth
cable) pin compatible with the i9300's Dell
Truemobile 350 Bluetooth Internal card, they may not support it or the software
driver for the i9300's Dell Truemobile 350 Bluetooth Internal card. Below are
the models I found:
Inspiron: 300m , 510m*
, 6000 , 8500 , 8600 , 9100 , XPS , 9200
Latitude: D400 , D410*
, D505 , D610 , D800 , D810*
, X300
Precision: M60, M70*
*=
possible need for further review.
For selected older Inspiron systems that do not have USB 2.0 support, there is
an add-on driver that provides USB 2.0 support for Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Here is a link
to the driver at
Bay-Wolf.com.
I may have missed some notebooks - especially any that do not have a service
manual posted on-line. Also, please don't ask me if your particular notebook is
compatible with the TM350 BT upgrade. I am no longer doing research on the
topic.
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Disclaimer: The information contained on this web page may be used at your own risk. The author of this web page makes no claims or warranties to the accuracy of the information provided or the results from its use on any computer.
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links updated on: 30 May 2006