How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?

And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
receivers that have no keypad, no screen?

Different webpage say different things:

https://icecat.biz/p/vendorName/mpn/desc-30113018.html No

https://specspro.net/laptops/2693-acer-aspire-e-15-e5-573-35aq/ Yes

Device manager shows 6 lines but at least one I put in myself and I
don't know if maybe I could do that even if there were no bluetooth
transmitter, but just because there is bluetooth software in Windows
Bluetooth Device RFCOMM protocol TDI
LE Generic Attribute Service
Bose -- this is the one I put in by trying to pair my Bose
hearphones.
Generic Bluetooth Adapter
MS Bluetooth enumeator
MS Bluetooth LE Enumerator

On 2/12/2022 2:17 AM, micky wrote:
> How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>
>
> And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
> receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>
>
> Different webpage say different things:
>
> https://icecat.biz/p/vendorName/mpn/desc-30113018.html No
>
> https://specspro.net/laptops/2693-acer-aspire-e-15-e5-573-35aq/ Yes
>
> Device manager shows 6 lines but at least one I put in myself and I
> don't know if maybe I could do that even if there were no bluetooth
> transmitter, but just because there is bluetooth software in Windows
> Bluetooth Device RFCOMM protocol TDI
> LE Generic Attribute Service
> Bose -- this is the one I put in by trying to pair my Bose
> hearphones.
> Generic Bluetooth Adapter
> MS Bluetooth enumeator
> MS Bluetooth LE Enumerator
>

Both my PCs have Bluetooth. As a nano-USB master (transmitter).

In the Up-Arrow thingy in the lower-right-hand corner, is a non-distinct
blue icon with white squiggle in the center. That's part of your Bluetooth
operation panel ("Send a File"). In Windows 7, I'm not even sure it has that.

In Device Manager, the second item down says Bluetooth.

If it wasn't recognized, there might be some other entry in DM with
a Code 10 or whatever. Since mine is USB bus, if mine broke, it would
be in the USB items at the bottom of Device Manager.

On laptops, the Wifi module can be a combo Wifi/Bluetooth. A
typical brand might be Broadcom silicon. It's possible Intel does
this on some of theirs, but the recollection there is missing -
I only seem to remember the Broadcom cases for some reason.

In Settings, in the Search box, type "Devices" without the double-quotes.
Usually something related to "Devices" will scan for BT peripherals.

Earphones can have a PIN of 0000. Some devices have little in the
way of positive authentication (they're promiscuous).

If I want to "Send a file", then when connecting the two PCs to
one another, a six digit number appears on the screen of the two
computers. And then I "confirm" that the numbers match.

If you own a USB bluetooth adapter, once you plug it into a PC,
that PC "owns it". If you insist on moving it around (as I have),
the PCs keep track, and every time they do a scan, they associate
the device with the first PC it was plugged into. And not the
PC it's plugged into at the moment. Naturally, this is hell on earth
if you're trying to "Send a File", because the PCs cannot associate
properly. For example, right now, this PC is calling the other PC
the wrong name. Maybe the other PC is Bob, and this PC is calling
it Carol. Because the BT dongle on the other machine right now,
used to be plugged into Carol.

Anyway, Bluetooth is complicated, in the bad way. And a budding rocket
scientist has to have a long grocery list of stupid stuff that
can happen. Some peripherals can associate with multiple devices,
and when they run out of "slots" they misbehave.

Since no two operative models seem to be the same, you're all
the time scratching your head at this stuff.

For some reason, phones are better at this. I cannot confirm
this, as I don't own a phone.

Windows 10 gradually got better as far as rewriting a Bluetooth
stack from scratch. It sorta works now. I still don't
think it supports PicoNet (LAN extension over BT). You
don't want that any way, and that would be a "tick box" for
some person recording the features they wrote. "Send a file"
is enough "networking" for BT. My BT runs a speaker, which
is just a headphone in disguise. The speaker is lithium
battery powered. The stupid speaker is mono.

And there are limits on BT. I have two identical speakers,
and I don't think they will run at the same time. It's
not like HID, where you can have three mice and three
keyboards and it all "just works". BT has a more casual
attitude towards life. "No soup for you!" , BT invented
that expression.

Paul

On Sat, 12 Feb 2022 at 09:17:16, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote
(my responses usually follow points raised):
>How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>
(Silly question, but anyway: does it have a light anywhere with a
Bluetooth symbol on/next to it?)

I don't _think_ anybody's made a laptop in the last few years that
_doesn't_ have BT, but I may be wrong about that. What make/model is it?
(Have you tried to find out online if it has BT? [If you can't find a
manual or similar, look for people selling that model on ebay; if it has
BT, I imagine most of them will mention it.])
>
>And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
>receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>
Usually, the PC should recognise that a BT peripheral has nothing like
that, and either not require anything to be typed in, or accept 0000 or
1234. The instruction leaflet (usually printed in microscopic print on a
tiny piece of paper) for the collar will usually tell you what number to
use, and also what name the collar will appear as when you tell the PC
to do a scan. (you'll usually have to press a button on the collar to
put it into "pairing" mode.)

[I say "usually": I have a BT speaker, that worked fine with my XP
machine; my 7 machine thinks it's a keyboard, and wants me to type
something on it!]
[]
>Device manager shows 6 lines but at least one I put in myself and I
[]
> Generic Bluetooth Adapter
[]
I _think_ that one means it has found it.

On a laptop, you can often turn it off, either to save battery power or
increase security. It's sometimes one of the function keys (sometimes in
combination with the Fn key, sometimes not); often combined with the
wifi control. It may cycle round all off, BT only, wifi only, both on -
not necessarily giving all four options, and not necessarily in that
order. If it's turned off via that route, I don't know if Windows can
find it. If there _is_ such a control, there'll often be a light (often
blue!) to show when it's on (and another one for the wifi if that is
switchable).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Veni Vidi Visa [I came, I saw, I did a little shopping] - Mik from S+AS Limited
(mik@saslimited.demon.co.uk), 1998

On Sat, 12 Feb 2022 02:17:16 -0500, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
> And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
> receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
> Different webpage say different things:
>
> https://icecat.biz/p/vendorName/mpn/desc-30113018.html No
>
> https://specspro.net/laptops/2693-acer-aspire-e-15-e5-573-35aq/ Yes

Which laptop do you have?

The first is for the Acer Aspire E E5-573-35AQ Notebook.
The second is for the Acer Aspire E 15 E5-573-35AQ Notebook.

The ear-bud, I can't help with. Never used one. Probably have to resort to
finding and reading it's instruction manual.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote in
news:3ife0hl661vlltur18okdcb830rffrj06f@4ax.com:

> How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>
>
> And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
> receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>
>
I have never had to do more than the following:
-Put the earbuds in pairing mode
-Go to Settings-Bluetooth on Windows and tell it to search for devices

I have paired a bluetooth speaker and earbuds, and have never had to
enter a code.

Good Luck

On 2/12/2022 11:44 AM, MajorLanGod wrote:
> micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote in
> news:3ife0hl661vlltur18okdcb830rffrj06f@4ax.com:
>
>> How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>>
>>
>> And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
>> receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>>
>>
> I have never had to do more than the following:
> -Put the earbuds in pairing mode
> -Go to Settings-Bluetooth on Windows and tell it to search for devices
>
> I have paired a bluetooth speaker and earbuds, and have never had to
> enter a code.
>
> Good Luck
I beleive most computers sold today have blue tooth. If you have
Windows go to the Setting, Devices, Bluetooth & Other devices and click
the + Add Bluetooth and & Other Devices

With computers, phones, and similar device you have to make sure the
bluetooth is on and in the discover mode. Follow the insturctions.
With some devices there may be a simple code you have to enter into both
device to complete the pairing. I use a real complicated code like 123..

On 2/12/2022 12:49 PM, knuttle wrote:
>
> On 2/12/2022 11:44 AM, MajorLanGod wrote:
>> micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote in
>> news:3ife0hl661vlltur18okdcb830rffrj06f@4ax.com:
>>
>>> How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>>>
>>>
>>> And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
>>> receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>>>
>>>
>> I have never had to do more than the following:
>> -Put the earbuds in pairing mode
>> -Go to Settings-Bluetooth on Windows and tell it to search for devices
>>
>> I have paired a bluetooth speaker and earbuds, and have never had to
>> enter a code.
>>
>> Good Luck
> I beleive most computers sold today have blue tooth.  If you have Windows go to the Setting, Devices, Bluetooth & Other devices and click the + Add Bluetooth and & Other Devices
>
> With computers, phones, and similar device you have to make sure the bluetooth is on and in the discover mode.  Follow the insturctions. With some devices there may be a simple code you have to enter into both device to complete the pairing.  I use a real complicated code like 123..

Most laptops. Or things like tablets.

One reason this can happen, is the provision of a
Broadcom combo Wifi+BT module inside the laptop.

The module can have two antennas. An RF switch selects to
drive one cable, with either Wifi or BT output. There may be
some coordination at driver level, to make it all work.
The module has its own processor. In Linux, there
might be a firmware module to make the combo Wifi+BT
work. (On Windows, the driver loads the firmware and
you never hear about this.)

On my desktop, I use a completely separate BT. It has
a small antenna inside the dongle. As long as the dongle
is clear of the masses of sheet metal around it, it works.

For the other machine, this meant running a USB six inch
extension cable, so the BT would be out in the open.
And it works to a distance of 15-20 feet. My BT speaker
does not work in the kitchen -- too far away.

A BT cannot be entirely *inside* a desktop, because
of the antenna issue.

A BT works on a laptop, via extension cables up the
back of the panel. And the engineers provide an RF
"hole" for the signal to escape.

On mini-ITX home theater PCs, the antennas can be
desktop mounted antennas (shark fin, rubber duck),
and that's how the RF gets out of the metal box.
SMAs on the I/O plate on high end motherboards, support
this external antenna scheme too.

Not all Wifi are Broadcom combo, and it's still quite easy to
find cheap/plain Wifi. Then you need a separate BT
like the one on the machine I'm typing on. And because
it is plugged into an external USB port, the RF signal
gets out for free.

Like Lego, there are many possibilities. On a modern laptop,
yup, could have it. Until someone unplugs the Broadcom module
and replaces it with an Atheros, and they don't happen to
mention that in their posting... :-/

Paul

This is the first reply I've made since the original thread.

Since then I've made a lot of progress, but my specific replies to these
posts might still be of interest.

The basic problem for me is that Sounds / Playback either doesn't take
note of Bluetooth speakers and headphones, or it is disguised as
Speakers / High Definition Audio Device, an option that I'm sure was
there before the bluetooth headphones were anyhwhere in sight.

To reduce confusion, I unplugged the Logictech USB speakers. I had them
turned off but they still appear in the list. (I can't use them because
on vacation I'm renting a room and I don't want to bother my landlords,
who are in the next room, sleeping some of the time.)

I unplugged the earbuds, which worked, but sound very poor, maybe
because they are cheap. The 3.5 mm jack on this laptop does not work --
maybe, although I know how to be careful, I broke it when I took the
entire bottom off to add RAM.
Since the jack doesn't work, I use a USB to 3.5mm adapter. Since I
was't bringing my 6-inch amplified speakers with me on the is vacation,
as I was unplugging the laptop for the trip, I almost left the adapter
at home, but it's so small, the size of a postage stamp and a half-inch
thick, and get the one with both a speaker jack and a mike jack, only a
dollar or two more than with just the speaker jack. They also make them
with short wire between the plug and the jack, so you will be sure to
have room for the usb plug next to it. I'm not using a hub now but I
have two. One barely has room for this thing, and the other doesn't
iirc. Anyhow, they are well under $10, and I'm so glad I brought it.
It works with the *amplified* speakers and also at adequate volume
with the earbuds, although just maybe that's why the fidelity of the
speakers so far seems low.

So I don't know for sure what order I did things, but maybe it's because
there were no more speakers available... No, it's not that the bluetooth
hearphones are working. It's been the built-in speakers that are working
and the hearphones pick up and amplify their sound, all the ambient
sound including the tapping of the keyboard.

So to turn off the built-in speakers I disabled them but no sound comes
from the bluetooth heear phones even thought yey are still listed as
paired although the phone also says that the hearphnes are paired with
it!!! Can they be listed as paired but not commencted? Can speakers or
earphnes be paired with two sound-producers like the pc and the phone at
the same time.

And now I just got bu-dup bu-dap-dup in my ears and I don't kow who sent
it or what it means. Nothing on the PC screen or the phone gives a
clue. I thought maybe the hearphones were turning off but they haven't.

Currently the built in speakers are still listed -- I think they will
always be listed -- now listed as the default, and now that I got a
phone call, removed the hearphones (which turn themslves off if neither
ear has one.) I realize the sound coming from the hearphones is the
amplified sound** of the built in speakers, not the sound from the
bluetooth transmistion

**That's what makes Hearphones*** different from earbuds with a yoke.

***not for sale anymore but there is a ccompetitive product.

Continued inline below.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Sat, 12 Feb 2022 13:31:48 +0000, "J. P.
Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

>On Sat, 12 Feb 2022 at 09:17:16, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote
>(my responses usually follow points raised):
>>How do you know if laptop has bluetooth?
>>
>(Silly question,

There are no silly questions.

Only silly people!

>but anyway: does it have a light anywhere with a
>Bluetooth symbol on/next to it?)

Answer follows my rambling**.

No. Only battery charging/charged light, and power on light. But you
reminded me it still has the original sticker/feature list on it.
Ultra-fast wirle3ss speed
precision touchpad
DVD-RW with M-Disc (tm) support. Never noticed M-disc before. Have
to look that up.
Acer Truharmony. I have a tin ear so that's not too important
Skype cerified.
The it descibes the CPU, the graphics, the original memory and the
original HDD.
>
>I don't _think_ anybody's made a laptop in the last few years that
>_doesn't_ have BT,

I guess that's why they don't mention it.

> but I may be wrong about that. What make/model is it?

An Acer E15 although its longer name is E5-573-35AQ and I can't decide
if it's an E5 or E15.

David covered that in the next post. I plan to soon reply to him there.
>(Have you tried to find out online if it has BT? [If you can't find a

Yes, I posted conflicting descriptions, but I haven't tried your other
suggestions in this paragaph.

>manual or similar, look for people selling that model on ebay; if it has
>BT, I imagine most of them will mention it.])
>>
>>And if I have it, how to connect one of those horse-collar ear-bud
>>receivers that have no keypad, no screen?
>>
>Usually, the PC should recognise that a BT peripheral has nothing like
>that, and either not require anything to be typed in, or accept 0000 or
>1234. The instruction leaflet (usually printed in microscopic print on a
>tiny piece of paper) for the collar will usually tell you what number to
>use, and also what name the collar will appear as when you tell the PC
>to do a scan. (you'll usually have to press a button on the collar to
>put it into "pairing" mode.)

That I know, but I didn't know, it didn't occur to me that a bluetooth
device would be scanned during a scan!!! Or that the name would show up.
But you mean the name, not the 0000 or whatever pairing number is
rquired.

Meanwhile, the question has arisen, if my bluetooth Bose Hearphones**
is already paired to the phone, can it be paired to the laptop at the
same time? Because of that thought, I stopped trying to pair with
the PC. I thought that might be stopign it f rom connecting, and didn't
want to turn off the phone, and didn't want to unpair it f rom the phone
- because when I try to reverse things I normally want on, I often have
trouble getting them working again.

**which both receive blutooth and amplify sounds your ears would hear.
>
>[I say "usually": I have a BT speaker, that worked fine with my XP
>machine; my 7 machine thinks it's a keyboard, and wants me to type
>something on it!]

Try that. Put your fingers on the speaker and type away.

>[]
>>Device manager shows 6 lines but at least one I put in myself and I
>[]
>> Generic Bluetooth Adapter
>[]
>I _think_ that one means it has found it.

Good.
>
>On a laptop, you can often turn it off, either to save battery power or
>increase security. It's sometimes one of the function keys (sometimes in
>combination with the Fn key, sometimes not);

Maybe I should read the manual again. Or maybe it's not again. I read
a laptop manual 5 years ago. Maybe that's not enough.

Well, there are 29 reference to bluetooth, so I guess it has it. That's
what I should have done, look in the manual, before I posted here. I
don't know why I didn't think of that, but I did learn quite a few other
things so this has not at all been a waste.

> often combined with the
>wifi control. It may cycle round all off, BT only, wifi only, both on -
>not necessarily giving all four options, and not necessarily in that
>order. If it's turned off via that route, I don't know if Windows can
>find it. If there _is_ such a control, there'll often be a light (often
>blue!) to show when it's on (and another one for the wifi if that is
>switchable).

Now I remember that I had a laptop with a wifi switch and maybe a blue
light. I don't think think this has either. Because I definitely use
wifi for the net and I red what the two lights mean, and they don't mean
wifi.

On 2/17/2022 12:59 AM, micky wrote:
>
> This is the first reply I've made since the original thread.
>
> Since then I've made a lot of progress, but my specific replies to these
> posts might still be of interest.
>
> The basic problem for me is that Sounds / Playback either doesn't take
> note of Bluetooth speakers and headphones, or it is disguised as
> Speakers / High Definition Audio Device, an option that I'm sure was
> there before the bluetooth headphones were anyhwhere in sight.
>

Bluetooth ------------------ Bluetooth Headset
Host (entries in
Device Manager)

Entries are near Entries in
the top, BT Icon "Sound, video and game controllers"

The "Sound, video and game controller" entries are also in
the Sound panel, Playback section.

ICANBTSPK Stereo

ICANBTSPK Hands Free (even though the device has no microphone!)

In the Playback devices, you will see:

NVidia HDMI audio (video card does not know speakers are connected at LCD mon.)

RealTek Speakers (analog output)

RealTek SPDIF/TOSLINK (digital output to AV receiver)

ICANBTSPK Stereo

ICANBTSPK Hands Free

When I do a "Remove Device", the ICANBTSPK which was set as Default automatically,
reverts to RealTek Speakers set as Default. Like it was before I paired
the ICANBTSPK.

Just about every BT Host should have the lowest common denominator audio profiles.
The audio profile should register with the Windows Sound Mixer, when
a headset is paired up.

It's all working smoothly on my Win10 setup.

The only problem with the Win11 setup, was the ugly interface (poor contrast on character
strings on the screen, uggo design, a step backwards for those
smartphone people out there). I suppose a theme change might "fix" it.

Paul