New device in substitution won't pair with BT GPS antenna

Theemed · 10-27-08, 06:36 AM

As you know I recently received a new device from hp which solved the unanaligned screen, screen sensitivity and burned speaker problems.
Now I got another problem tho, pairing with the sirf star 3 antenna won't work.
I hard resetted the device, changed BT ID, left the antenna battery-less for a while the reinserted the battery... NOTHING.
What it does, is it finds correctly the "BT GPS SPP" device, adds a connection for it, but when you dounle click on the connection is stays idle for a while and then reports an error for the BT device not responding.
If I do the same thing with the old device (which I didn't sent back yet), after double tapping the connection, I immediately get a passkey request and the connection happens. The new ipaq is missing this step, no matter what.
Other devices seem to pair tho, like the nokia phone and the bt headset (which doesn't get anby audio btw, but has the same probem with the old 214 so it's ont cause of the substituted device).
Ideas? Keep in mind that I updated only the CF slot driver in the old device, while the new one had all of the "factory" updates by default, and I cannot test the BT connection right after the upgrade because the drivers are installed autpomatically and force you to reset no matter what.
Anyhow, no update to the rom was for BT as I recall, and the hpassetviewer reports the SAME details about the BT subsystem.

Theemed · 10-27-08, 05:07 PM

I contacted this morning the HP chat support, they are sending YET another device to me as substitution, while I yet have to send back the old one. In a short while, I'll have three ipaq 214 at home :)) But will have to part with two of them :((

Theemed · 10-29-08, 10:49 AM

I did receive today my FOURTH 214, which was supposed to solve the gps antenna BT pairing problem. So now I have three Ipaqs 214 at home, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th. The first with the burned pixels is missing since I sent it back a while ago. I even tooka picture of them as a souvenir.

The problem is that I STILL have the pairing problem with the new device!
At this point I don't know what to think, logic says it should be the antenna's problem, but the antenna CAN pair correctly with the 2nd.
So, either the 4th is defective as well in regard to BT serial services (the last two devices are very close to one another in serial number and UUID, so they may share same factory problems), or somehow the antenna can pair with the first, and is rejecting connections from the other two because they are "identical" to the first, so it expects them to BE the first, and thus to already know the password. This leads to the need of resetting the pairing tables of the antenna, but there is no reset button in it. I am trying to leave the dam thing without the battery for as long as possible to check if that erases the pairing tables or something...

EDIT:
Ok guys, I'd really appreciate your input here... more brains work better than just one.
All of the three ipaq 214 I have here can connect to a bt headset, a nokia phone, a motorola phone, and with each other. But out of the three, only the old one (with alignment issues and burned speaker) can connect to this sirf star III gps bt antenna. The other two (newest ones) simply don't go past the handshake, as they can see the device, they add it to the connections, I double tap the connection, and, while it should ask for a handshake passkey (being that the first connection) it doesn't do anything for a while, and at the end gives an error of "connection impossible blah blah the remote device is not responding blah blah or check that the requested service is available".
The same exact procedure works instead on the old device.
It would be easy to give the fault to the gps antenna, but please consider that I tested the connection in the exact same environment: hard reset, first boot, pairing. The ONLY difference from the old device and the two newest ones is that the old one only has had the CF card rom update installed (and after hard reset, none at all), while the latter two come with an "extended rom" which installs ALL updates right after first boot and then COMPELLS you to reboot, so I cannot test to see if the connection works BEFORE the updates are installed, I do not have enough time to add the connection and double click it before the reboot, and I even tried several times to do a "bluetooth speedrun" to no avail.

My opinion is: antenna does its job pretty well, and the automatic updates on the new devices are breaking somehow the bt pairing with it.
What do you think? Device's fault, or antenna's fault? And why?

FrinkTL · 10-30-08, 07:59 AM

Do all three devices have the same device name? If so, try changing the device name (just for this test) and re-trying the pairing. If you're right that the antenna "thinks" the new devices ARE the 2nd device that can pair, it stands to reason that the only mechanism by which it would think that is the device name. Try changing it and report back.

Theemed · 10-30-08, 09:12 AM

Already did that as first test... no go... right now I'm in chat with the same HP support girl who sent me the second substitution device... she's now trying to convince me it's tomtom's problem :D :D
Also, when I thought about it a second time... that doesn't make sense... because if I delete the BT connection on the first working device, next time I re-add the connection, it re-asks me the passkey... while, following that kind of logic, it shouldn't either ask the password, not connect...
BTW, it's more than 10 minutes that the support chat girl is not answering anything... if she doesn't in the next 30 mins, I think I am keeping one of the new devices for day to day use, AND the old "mute" device which at least works with navigation... I'm sending back only one.
If they ever send me a billing for the additional device, my lawyer brother is taking care of that :p

...
After 20 mins... she is sending me YET ANOTHER device!!! omg. I'll post a pic of the 4 devices together as soon as I get hold of it :o

Theemed · 10-31-08, 12:16 PM

Yes I am in fact bumping this thread.
I need more opinions by you guys... I did try to connect the new device to my brother's BT gps antenna... it frigging worked! So it's not the pda which has problems in pairing with serial BT devices, but it's somehow my antenna which is specifically REFUSING to connect to other ipaq 214's which are not the first one with which I paired it... no matter the ID name of the ipaq... I am trying to leave this antenna without batter for the longest time possible to check if it resets or anything.

Theemed · 11-03-08, 04:57 AM

Let's just say I hate to edit a post that I wrote 3 days ago... so I'm not really bumping anything, being this one already the latest thread :p
I also tried resetting the gps antenna. Well, there is not reset button nor documented reset procedure... but I think that leaving it without a battery for a day and a half should have done it...
No change, it still doesn't pair (doesn't ask for passkey at first connection) with the new devices, but does at the first try with the old defective one.

Theemed · 11-04-08, 02:46 PM

I am at the fourth device (the third one I received in substitution), the gps bt antenna has been natteryless for more tan 48hrs, and I STILL cannot pair it.
So well, I am kinda resigning, I will exchange GPS antennas with my brother.