How to turn on the Bluetooth of my laptop?

Question

This is my first question to the site.
I have a problem where I can't turn on the bluetooth on my laptop. If anybody could give help me solve this I'd be very grateful!

Laptop Details
- Dell Latitude E5510.
- Windows 7 32-bit.

Problems
- The bluetooth light is not lit (WiFi is lit).
- The bluetooth icon is not in the system tray.
- There are no settings in 'Control Panel' for bluetooth.
- There are no drivers in 'Device Manager' for bluetooth.

Troubleshooting Already Attempted
- Ensured that bluetooth was enabled in the BIOS.
- Updated BIOS to version A11.
- Downloaded and attempted to install drivers (R285455.exe, R260222.exe, R296919.exe). When I try to run R260222.exe, it tells me that it is incompatible. When I run the other two drivers, it extracts the items but then asks me to "activate bluetooth using wireless switch". The switch is already on but no light appears for the bluetooth symbol. It's a catch 22!
- Ensured that the 'Bluetooth Support Service' was started.

I've been searching for the solution for hours now and just have no idea what else to do. If I've missed out on any information, please let me know.

*EDIT* I'm beginning to think that there is no physical bluetooth adaptor in my laptop at all.

Here are the full specifications

 LATITUDE E5510 : STANDARD BASE
 SYSTEM BASE : EXPRESS CARD SLOT
 PROCESSOR : INTEL CORE I3-350M(2.26GHZ, 1
 DISPLAY : 15.6IN HD ANTI-GLARE LED DISPL
 MODULE..., PALMREST..., NFPRDR, SINGLE POINTING..., E5510
 MODULE..., BEZEL..., LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY..., 15.6, MICROPHONE..., E5510
 DOCUMENTATION : ENGLISH SHIPPING DOCS
 MEMORY : 3GB(1X1GB + 1X2GB)1333MHZ DDR3
 HARD DRIVE : 250GB SERIAL ATA (7200RPM)
 WINDOWS LIVE
 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., POWERDVD..., 8.3, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE..., TT, FACTORY INSTALL...
 OPTICAL DRIVE : ROXIO CREATOR 10.3 SOFTW
 OPTICAL DRIVE : 8X DVD+/-RW DRIVE
 POWER SUPPLY + POWER CORD : UK/IRISH 3 W
 BATTERY : PRIMARY 4-CELL 37W/HR LI-ION
 LABELS : INTEL CORE LABEL I3
 WIRELESS : EMEA INTEL PRO WIRELESS 6200
 KEYBOARD : INTERNAL UK/IRISH QWERTY SING
 SOFTWARE DRIVER : LATITUDE E5510
 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., W7P32, ENGLAND/ENGLISH..., EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING FACILITY...
 MODULE..., SOFTWARE..., W7P32, DIGITAL VIDEO DISK DRIVE..., MULTIPLE USER INTERFACE..., NO-E
 SOFTWARE : MICROSOFT OFFICE STARTER 2010
 OPERATING SYSTEM RECOVERY DELL BACKUP AN
 SOFTWARE..., TREND MICRO..., WF, MULTIPLE USER INTERFACE..., 15MTH
 LATITUDE ORDER - IRELAND
 BASE WARRANTY
 1YR COLLECT AND RETURN
 DECLINED PROSUPPORT
 3YR BASIC WARRANTY - NEXT BUSINESS DAY
 DECLINED COMPLETECARE
 NOTEBOOK - FREE FREIGHT SKU

Solution 1

Here's how to check for physical presence of Bluetooth in a Dell Ex510 system:

• In BIOS, it will say under Wireless or Radios or Networking (sorry, I don't remember the exact menu section and I don't have time to reboot my machine right now) something along the lines of "Bluetooth installed" and might list the module model.
• You can go to Dell Warranty Status and click to Original System Configuration tab. Dell Bluetooth module for Ex510 was 375. Search the page (press CTRL + F) for it.
• Checking for physical presence is tricky and you shouldn't do it unless you have experience re-assembling laptops. The procedure can be found here (Dell Support).

What you might be experiencing is that the radio switch in the front left of the palm rest is set to control both wi-fi & Bluetooth and is currently turned off. The setting is in BIOS in the same section as enabling/disabling radios. You can set it to only control wi-fi so that Bluetooth is controlled by its drivers in Windows.

Solution 2

If you're not already running this BIOS version you may want to consider upgrading as it indicates some BIOS-level fixes for Bluetooth problems.

Fixed the issue where Bluetooth is disabled after turning the wireless switch off and rebooting.

Comments

[kobaltz]

Do you have a physical switch or a FN + key to enable bluetooth?

[user1037894]

@kobaltz None that I can see. I believe the physical switch at the front of the laptop controls both the WiFi and the bluetooth.

[user1037894]

I think I've upgraded much past that BIOS version because it was released on 06/04/2010 and my current BIOS was released on 09/28/2011. @gman

[user1037894]

Thank you very much for that response! I'm almost certain now that there is no bluetooth available from this laptop. There was no mention of bluetooth or module 375 in the list of the original configurations. I was given this laptop by my college for the year so I wasn't sure of its factory configurations.

[dnbrv]

Did you search for just "375"? Dell's system specs tend to be cryptic.

[Svardskampe]

If it could be any help to you, if you need a USB BT adapter, I'd advise sitecom. They are really minimal and can stay in your laptop permanently when carrying it in a bag. They also seem to be the least problematic with PS3 controllers. I wouldn't know for other hardware as I just use it for the PS3 controller. picture