IR PROBLEN ON VAIO VGN-AR31M - connecting Nokia Phone

[Doctony]

I cannot connect my Nokia 6230 via the IR to my new Vaio VGN-AR31M running Vista. The remote control works so I know the IR is working. My Nokia connects via IR to my old laptop so I know it is transmitting. I get no response from the PC when I transmit from the phone. The Vista compatible Nokia PC suite 6.83.14.1 software has an IR box to tick and it reports that it cannot detect the correct hardware. I have reinstalled the driver for the Microsoft eHome IR tranceiver with no benefit. On my old pc it would only recognise the phone if I turned the transfer rate settings down in device manager but there do not appear to be any settings to adjust on the Microsoft eHome IR tranceiver.
I have been unable to transfer on Bluetooth as well. The phones will pair up ok and the Nokia PC suite tells me they have connected and shows the 2 symbols to show they are properly connected but the transfer software continues to show no phone connected and refuses to proceed any further. I suspect this is a Nokia software problem but I suspect the IR problem is a Vaio one. Anyone any ideas? Tony

[Blencogo]

Hi Tony and welcome to Club Vaio.

I'm afraid the answer is simple but not what you want to hear!

The IR port on the AR-Series of Vaios is only able to receive and can only be used for a Windows remote control. It is not a real IR port. Very few laptops have IR any more - it is considered 'old' technology and has been superceded by bluetooth.

Sorry!

[Thalamus.]

Hi Tony,

Welcome to Club vaio..

The port on your AR31M is only a receiver for your remote control, therefore unfortunately it will not allow you to send and receive to your Nokia 6230...

Edit: Afternoon Blencogo..

[Doctony]

Thanks for the speedy replies. You were right, I did not like to hear the answer. I feel conned by the spec sheet info. It looks like I will have to try and connect via Bluetooth but I have a problem there. The phones will pair up ok if I initiate the connection from the phone and the Nokia PC suite tells me they have connected and shows the 2 symbols to show they are properly connected but the transfer software continues to show no phone connected and refuses to proceed any further. I have tried to get the PC to initiate the connection as the guide appears to suggest it needs to be done in that order but my phone does not appear to receive the message. Is this likley to be a software problm on the PC or a firmware/software problem with the phone. I am using the lastest PC suite 6.83.14.1 which is supposedly Vista compatible and compatible with the Nokia 6230. Tony

[dewouhihi]

Guess the problem is in the phone. Wich firmware does it have ? push *#0000# on the phone.
The most recent software on it is 4.90 last time checked. Some earlier versions had troubles with bluetooth connecting. Try to get the latest firmware in a nokia care point.

If the phone has warranty the update is for free.


ps i work at a care point in Belgium

Gl

Dewouhihi

[Doctony]

Thanks for the reply. I am running version 4.4 on the nokia so I guess it would be worth downloading an upgrade. Looking at the Nokia forums it appears there may be a problem with using the preinstalled Toshiba bluetooth stack with the latest Vista compatible Nokia PC suite. I have not used bluetooth before so I do not understand the difference between using the Toshiba bluetooth which is enabled in the PC suite and the Microsoft bluetooth which I cannot enable in the suite. The advice seems to be to switch from Toshiba to Microsoft but I am not sure how you do this. Tony

[Doctony]

I have found the answer to the bluetooth problem. The latest Nokia PC suite is not compatible with the Toshiba bluetooth stack in Vista (it is in XP) but is comptible with the Microsoft stack in Vista. After a lot of trouble I have managed to replace the Toshiba stack with the Microsoft stack and lo and behold the PC suite allows a connection with the Nokia phone without any need to upgrade my phone. There was a warning to say the Microsoft stack may be unstable but it did allow transfer of files ok. Tony