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I have a laptop running Windows 7. Recently bluetooth has been failing and I'm struggling to find out why. It could be the drivers so I'd like to update them, I believe the wifi/bluetooth chip is Intel.

The Intel site offers a couple of tools that scan the system and report back on the make and model number - but as far as I can tell all they do is check what driver is already installed, not the actual hardware.

I'm pretty sure I have the wrong driver installed so it is of no help in telling me what I actually have.

Is there a tool out there that will physically interrogate the internal hardware to give me the correct model number?

Franck Dernoncourt
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userSteve
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4 Answers4

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  1. Open the properties for your unknown device in Device Manager.
  2. Go to tab Details.
  3. Open Property: Hardware Ids
  4. In Value, you'll see something like USB\VID_8087&PID_0A2A&REV_0001.

That's all the information needed to identify the device. In this example my HP EliteBook 820 has:

Usually you can simply Google for the VID + PID and get link to the driver download page. For the latest driver downloads always prefer the site from the chipset manufacturer.

Esa Jokinen
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Try Aida64 to scan and list all hardware in your PC. You can get a free 30 day trial.

If that fails you can try some kind of linux liveCD/liveUSB and try your luck there, often it will show more info than windows does.

If you fail to get the proper hardware model number it might also be related to your problem - failing hardware that will even fail to report its own model.

In that case you can always search the internet with your laptop model number to find out what exactly is in there, or perhaps download the drivers from your laptop maker support webpage, perhaps old but most likely working drivers and this might help you get the model number recognized.

bocian85
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  1. Right click start button -> Device Manager
  2. In the devices, open Bluetooth, you'll see many Bluetooth devices but to eventually find the actual PC Bluetooth controller for now select Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator with a single click
  3. Switch device manager's -> View (in top menu bar) -> View devices by connection
  4. The parent of Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator is the PC Bluetooth controller/chip
  5. It could say something like Intel (R) Wireless Bluetooth (R). With this ...

Update: Usually right clicking and hitting update driver should update the driver

See driver version: Double click -> Driver tab -> Driver version and driver date

Not sure why but Windows Update hasn't updated that driver till I manually did the above.

Intel also has a visual guide over here - other chipset vendors should be similar too.

DeepSpace101
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Rightclick on your computer symbol -> settings
Open the device manager and search for something like bluetooth device.
Rightclick again on that device and open the Details tab.
In the dropdown field choose device description... and there you got your device.

mushr00mer1990
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