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View Full Version : ActiveSync over BT, WM6, MS BT stack, XP and VISTA


kestabacsi
28th January 2008, 10:19 AM
Hello everibody! Since ~ 1 year i’m a heavy reader, but i’ve never posted before, since i could find all my answers just reading… 
But recently i bought a Universal wich i have unlocked and upgraded to WM6 – (Thanks thingonaspring, great ROM! ;) ), and lost my AS connectivity (over BT). Kept on reading, but none of the provided solutions worked.

So, here is my 2 cents, hope, it will help for others too:

XP (from SP2!)
Basically, my problem was, that my Uni allowed as outgoing ports only COM0, 4 and 5. I use a really chep BT dongle from eBay wich came with Blue Soleil 1.x as driver and software, wich allows as incoming ports only COM11, 12. I’ve tried all of the Blue Soleil drivers wich i could find ont he net, even the most recent 5.x versions. None of them provided these ports to be opened.
My solution was thet i deleted all the custom Blue Soleil drivers, and let Windows to install his – generic – BT drivers. From here my problem was solved, since it doesn’t install any predefined ports, i can install them manually, as needed, and, since i know wich ports can be opened on my PDA as outgoing ports…
So, here are the steps from scratch:
1. Delete all BT related drivers, and let Windows recognize the New Hardware and install his Generic drivers for it, reboot if necessary.
2. Open My Bluetooth Places - Bluetooth Devices select COM Ports tab. Button, and we add port(s) til we reach the number we want (my case was COM4, so i’ve added ports 3 and 4, windows adds ports one by one, starting from the hardware ports. COM3 can be deleted aftrwards), as an Incoming Port. Ont he Options tab w eset this port as discoverable, save. Ok, now we have the necessary port, but we need an incoming connection too, ont hat port, so:
3. Start - Settings - Network Connections - New Connection Wizard.
4. The wizard starts, Next - Set up an advanced connection - Next - Connect directly to another computer - Next - Host - Next – we choose our port and save our settings, be careful, the PC should remain as dicoverable!.
5. Still not enough, our PDA would make now a Serial Port profile connection, but, we need AS to work, so:
6. Fire up ActiveSync, File - Connection Settings - Allow connections to one of the following - we choose our port, everything else is allowed and on Automatic. Save.
7. Ok, our PC is prepared, let’s see the Uni, it’s far more simple: at BT settings we pair our uni with the PC, and, as expected, we have an ActiveSync profile from the PC, wich we select.
8. ComPorts tab, New Outgoing Connection – we choose our port number (if it’s not there already), Save.
9. Start – Programs - ActiveSync - Menu - Connect via Bluetooth, and success, we can synchronise and we have network too! :) :)

On WinVista (i have Vista Ultimate installed):

as described above, with a few modifications:
- VISTA doesn’t recognize the hardware (at least mine isn’t recognised) , so it installs it as Unknown device. So, we have to „refresh” it’s „drivers” manually – we won’t let Windows to search for drivers, we select manually: Microsoft - Generic Bluetooth Radio, OK, now it finds the Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator too.
- we don’t have to follow points 3 and 4.
- now we already can establish an AS connection, but, without network support. To enable this, we must select on our PC int he Microsoft Mobile Center – Mobile setting – connection settings NOT the Automatic connection, but the same as we have on our PDA at the Network connections, where it states „Programs that automatically connect to the internet should use… Usually My Work Network. The effect is immediate, we don’t have to restart anything.
- If i used VISTA, i didn’t had to add ont he PDA a new outgoing port (i didn’t have the possibility), but, it works without it.

One more observation: our PDA can have an AS connection over BT with only one PC, so, if we pair it with another PC, we loose our first pairing. So, it is advisable to leave our PC in discoverable mode.

Hope, somebody will find this useful.