[StuartV]

It appears to me that Bluetooth tethering between my Pearl and Windows XP Pro w/SP3 does not work.

I say this because:

- I run XP Pro on my laptop. Sadly (for me), I've had to re-install XP from scratch about 4 times over the last few months.

- When I was running XP w/SP2, I had no problem setting up my Pearl to use tethering via Bluetooth. Each time I re-installed XP w/SP2, I used Microsoft Update to get up to date on patches and drivers, installed the BB Desktop Manager, and used the Windows Network Connection Wizard to create new dial-up connections, one for USB tethering, and one for BT tethering. Worked fine, every time. No need to install the Verizon Wireless Manager software or the Dell-provided Bluetooth drivers. This worked with BB OS 4.3 and BB DM 4.5.

- The first time I rebuilt my laptop after XP SP3 came out, I installed XP w/SP2 built into the install, then immediately ran MS Update and installed SP3. Around this same time, I upgraded my Pearl to OS 4.5 and installed BB DM 4.6.

- When I tried to setup tethering with XP SP3 installed, USB tethering setup and worked just fine, but I could never get the BB to show up as a BT modem, in order to be able to configure BT tethering. I tried each version of OS 4.5 on my Pearl, as they were released, and the results never changed.

- I had to reinstall XP (again! ugh!) on my laptop over the last week. This time, I stayed on SP2 and did not allow MS Update to install XP SP3. I did install all patches available for SP2, though.

- This time, configuring BT tethering worked flawlessly, the first time, just like it always had before.

- I suppose it's possible that, now that I have it working, I could go ahead and install XP SP3 and my BT tethering would still work. But I'm afraid to try it!

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 8600 with the Dell BT module option installed.

This is just an FYI....

[Ricky-Ray]

Bluetooth tethering doesn't work for me either. I have SP3 installed on my laptop also. I finally just gave up and because tethering via the usb cable works fine and I always have one of those cables in my bag.

[StuartV]

Yeah, usually I still use the cable. Tethering via BT runs down the battery pretty quickly - where, for those of you that don't know, tethering via USB cable charges the phone while you're doing it.

But, sometimes, when I just need to get online for a minute or two, it's really nice to not even have to take my phone out of its holster. Especially if I'm in my car or truck (pulled over somewhere, of course).

I have Ghost doing an automatic full drive image backup of my laptop every night. Maybe one day soon I'll try upgrading to SP3 right after a backup and test the BT tethering. If it still works, great. If not, hopefully an image restore will get me right back to where I was. Hmmmm....

[camp514]

I am running XP SP3 with tethering via BT and it works just fine. I couldn't use the native XP bt drivers tho and am running the software that came with my dongle(IVT- BlueSoleil ).

[jbirkett]

I have successfully connected with v4.5. I tried several Bluetooth dongles and finally was able to connect using a Kensington USB Micro adapter. It came with a driver CD but used the default Microsoft drivers and I have no problems.
The only thing I can't get to work as I would like is when the connection is reconized there is a window that opens and asks if I would like the Desktop Manager to connect. I would like this to just happen without any acknowledgement.
I searched around a lot before finding an adapter that would work. I got mine at Fry's for $30, their part number was 5531160.