Bluetooth CSR 4.0 Dongle

The Bluetooth CSR 4.0 Dongle comes with software driver CD and is compatible with Windows 10, and all prior versions of Windows. Installing the driver CD including the setup is simple and shown in this multi-page article. If you are having a driver issue such as a missing peripheral device for your Bluetooth speaker, and it is not working, then this article might bring some light and a solution that MIGHT work. I say might because I have tested it only on one PC, which had a clean basic default installation of Windows 7 64-bit.

Review

I bought this USB dongle for connecting my PC to the MS-132BT Bluetooth Speaker, and the Bluetooth Speakers Module. The dongle worked extremely well and I was very pleased with ease of driver installation and operating system integration. This particular dongle has a blue data light that I especially liked as it gives a visual indication of data transfer.

Although this dongle and its drivers work fine, I discovered one problem that appears to be with the software, and in particular Windows 7 not installing the peripheral device drivers. This issue is with the OS and will therefore occur with almost all Bluetooth dongles, however I have decided to include a solution with this one as it is the most widely used. Whilst Windows 7 recognised the Bluetooth dongle in the USB port and automatically installed the necessary drivers for that, it was unable to find the drivers for the peripheral devices. A yellow exclamation mark near the Bluetooth peripheral device usually indicates that Windows was unable to find the necessary drivers for it. I then installed the software in the accompanying CD but it did not solve the problem.

The peripheral device driver usually comes with the device that you are connecting to, unfortunately there was no driver CD accompanying my China-manufactured speaker. Android phones are able to connect and begin using them straightaway, without any additional software or configuration, therefore, I would expect my PC to operate in the same way, but it does not.

I trawled the internet for a solution but could not find any. One site had me install the Intel PROset drivers, which did not work. Another site wanted me to install a program that presumably scans the whole computer of any drivers, installs a virus, and steals passwords in the process. I then saw a whole bunch of YouTube tutorials, none of which had any solutions. I downloaded and installed a whole bunch of programs mentioned on blogs and forums, none of which helped, except make my computer slower! Thanks!

I visited the Microsoft site multiple times only to find that it simply mentions the problem with the advice to find the driver from the speaker manufacturer. The speaker manufacturer expects you to get it from the chipset vendor, and the chipset vendor sends you back to the manufacturer!

Unfortunately, this dongle does not have any discernable name to help determine the manufacturer; hence, I decided to open it to see what chipset it had. After peering through a microscope for a few minutes I was able to determine the chips used. The main Bluetooth IC was CSR8510 A10U, K816MK404, whilst the other larger IC was CHK24C64, 6TS2009PA. Hence, this is where my trail of investigation began for the search of the elusive drivers. If you have the same problem connecting your Bluetooth speakers, then this multi-page article has the solution and drivers that you can use for windows 7 64-bit, which is the computer I have tested them on. It could work for other operating systems, however as Scotty always says, I cannot guarantee it Captain!

Price/eBay

The Bluetooth CSR 4.0 Dongle can cost as little as two pounds on the auction site and it comes all the way from China. This one came in a bubble pack with a driver CD that was not required as Windows 7 automatically installed the correct drivers for it. I thought it was very good value and worth getting. You could buy a few dozens of these and have your whole organization networked without having to dig around and install wires.

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