Sony VAIO SZ Series has been one of my favorite laptops ever, and in its heydays, given the choice between a “Made in Japan” VAIO VGN-SZ650N and say anything else, I’d choose the VAIO every time.
Microsoft has released an update yesterday, titled “IVT Corporation - Other hardware - Bluetooth USB Controller (ALPS/UGPZ6),” and if you own one of these incredible machines, you should be careful with that.
VGN-SZ650N’s built-in Bluetooth is in fact an ALPS PCI-based Bluetooth adapter. Listed under Bluetooth Radios in Device Manager, Windows 7 detects it as Generic Bluetooth Adapter, and if you dig inside, it’s functioning based on Microsoft Bluetooth driver 6.1.7600.16385 (6/21/2006).
The hardware IDs for the SZ’s BT adapter are USB\VID_044E&PID_300D&REV_1915 or USB\VID_044E&PID_300D in general, with the vendor ID of 044E belonging to ALPS • Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
Installing the 38 kB update titled “IVT Corporation - Other hardware - Bluetooth USB Controller (ALPS/UGPZ6)” published 1/14/2010 will update the driver to your ALPS BT adapter, but Windows 7 default Microsoft Bluetooth Stack would become paralyzed. The Bluetooth icon will disappear from the Notification Area, and you won’t be able to use Microsoft Windows Bluetooth Stack anymore.
To fix that, the dumbest act would be to install some other stack, including Toshiba Bluetooth Stack, Widcomm Bluetooth Stack, or the bloated BlueSoleil.
So, VAIO SZ owners, stay away from the aforementioned update, hide the update, and let your Sony live happily…
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Geez, what a pain in the neck is Microsoft!
ReplyDeleteThis was automagically installed on my laptop and messed things up. I deleted the driver and reinstalled the Generic one which worked. However, the ALPS driver seems to reinstall itself on a weekly basis, a complete PITA. Anyone know how to banish it for good? I have deleted it from "C:\Windows\system32\drivers\btcusb.sys"
ReplyDeletePeteA, from Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Update\Change settings, change your Windows Update settings for important updates to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them."
ReplyDeleteOnce the ALPS driver is installed I can delete it, but how do I get back the "generic" stack?
ReplyDeleteAnyone got a fix for this without using system restore?
ReplyDelete