Hi, no windows has not updated the driver on it's own, it's still the latest driver.
Hi, what would you suggest I do then? Can dirty specific contacts affect only the bluetooth functionality? The thing is the older qualcomm chip I replaced is smaller than the Intel one (doesn't occupy the full slot so it's still weird).
Switch off your laptop, remove the AC adapter and the battery (just in case). Remove the cover of the Bluetooth, take off the Bluetooth, use a pencil eraser on the contacts to clean them. Blow the contacts to remove any eraser residue. Put the Bluetooth back and see if the problem is fixed. The same trick can be applied to RAM contacts or any PCI-E card contacts. We even apply it to the chip of toner cartridges if it is not recognized by the printer.
What about the contacts on the motherboard itself? Any way to deal with those? (in case they're the problematic one)
Rather unlikely. The usual case is dirty contacts on the device, not the motherboard. You cannot clean these easily without risking damaging the motherboard, avoid it. If you need to, ask for professional service.
I mentioned contacts because there might well be some that are used by Bluetooth, some that are used by WiFi & some that are used by both. It is true that a damaged cable to the motherboard might only affect certain wires rather than the whole cable but physical damage seems less likely than dirty contacts.
I am very surprised that the two cards have different connectors but if they were both described as being compatible with your computer and both have worked at some stage then I'd have thought that issue was not relevant. I have only changed WiFi-BT cards twice and if I had seen that they had different contacts I would have assumed that they were incompatible whatever their specs said.
It is difficult to get in to look at contacts either at the WiFi-BT card end or the motherboard end. You might get some clue if you can find a manual described as a "service manual" for your computer.
- Perhaps you can hold a camera close up to the contacts to be able to conduct a decent check on a photo.
- But even a decent check might not reveal the problem because the fault might be a poorly soldered contact or a poorly soldered / connected wire within the cable. Poor soldering is largely a thing of the past but is still possible.
- If it was my computer and if I could not get in well enough to see the contacts I would make a tiny nozzle for my vacuum cleaner using toilet paper rolls & sticky tape then use that very carefully to try to remove dirt from the contacts. I did that once successfully but it was a decade ago and I was probably dealing with contacts that were larger than those you are dealing with.
- You could take the computer to a repair shop but I imagine they would charge more than the computer is worth and might not be able to check / fix it any better than you can.
You might well find that the only reliable solution is a USB-connected WiFi-BT card. I have used a USB WiFi with one laptop and got used to it fairly quickly [I thought I would be forever knocking it out of place but only did that a couple of times].
Best of luck,
Denis
As said before, when thing become complicated you should ask for professional help, don't risk damaging your laptop, unless you know what you are doing. Any damage caused can be a lot higher than the fee for a professional diagnosis and repair of your Bluetooth issue.
I have taken it apart again, found some compressed air and blew a bit around the connectors. Wiped the contacts on the wifi chip as was suggested and it seems to be functioning so far.
Regarding their sizes, the qualcomm module didn't seem to occupy the entire length of the connector on the motherboard which seems to be an M2 connector? The Intel chip occupies it fully and has 2 notches vs 1 on the qualcomm. I do have a bluetooth usb dongle but it's very finicky at best when connecting and what not, hence why I'd rather avoid it. I believe it uses a broadcom chip (BCM20702).
Hopefully it really is just dirty contacts and nothing else. I will update the thread if any issues occur. Thanks for the help again.
And it has stopped working again. This time there's a yellow triangle on it under device manager and it says:
"This device cannot start. (Code 10)STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE"
Buy a Bluetooth USB dongle and forget about it.
And I am sorry but I am out of ideas. Barring extraordinary coincidences, the tests you have done seem to me to have covered everything except dirty contacts and you have tried cleaning them.
Denis
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