Apple Bluetooth in (pure) Windows 7 machine

[mashakos]

Hi,

New to this forum and really like the amount of info and mods that are being achieved here!

A bit of background and the reason I'm here:
I have several computers, but the one I send my free time with at home is my windows 7 HTPC. Nothing against Mac OS (I use it on a dedicated MBP since Terminal is a vital requirement of open source development) but my personal preference where HTPC's are concerned is a Windows Media Center setup with Media Browser and a few terabytes of my ripped DVDs and Blurays from my own collection.
After getting frustrated by the spotty reception of standard RF keyboards, I decided to get a bluetooth Apple keyboard.

One area where (windows) PC hardware is sorely lacking is in the bluetooth department - or rather the drivers that come with bluetooth hardware. Not being able to use a bluetooth keyboard outside of windows is a huge PITA, especially for me as I am into overclocking and fiddle around in the HTPC's EFI regularly. Having a Mac, and having used Mac Pro's in the past, I knew that Apple's bluetooth hardware was designed to run without drivers. So I thought to myself: wouldn't it be cool to be able to rip out the bluetooth chip from a Mac Pro and somehow hook it up to a PC via usb? Problem solved!
That's when I found the wonderful thread in this forum detailing how this could be done. So I got to work getting the hardware sorted - the Apple MA687ZM/A bluetooth receiver and antenna - and figuring out how to extract the windows bootcamp drivers for the unit.

So far so good, I have the adapter successfully installed in my windows machine using bootcamp 4.0 drivers (applebluetoothbroadcominst.exe, applekeyboardinstaller64.exe), and am now typing this using my Apple keyboard.

Here's the problem: the keyboard still won't run outside of Windows!


So now I'm back to square one and was hoping for some advice.

• Would it be possible to set up the bluetooth unit -without having to dual boot from Mac OS- in a way that it switches to HID proxy mode when running outside windows so that it works in the system EFI?[/*:m:1tcw9fgo]
• The "allow the device to wake the computer" option is grayed out when using the apple bluetooth drivers, any way I can resolve this?[/*:m:1tcw9fgo]
• I noticed that if I pair the keyboard with my Macbook Pro in Windows bootcamp, all the media keys work, while pairing it with my HTPC (pure windows install) only enables the standard keyboard buttons. Would it be possible to maybe extract the bootcamp control panel software and have it run on a separate windows machine? My assumption is that the apple media keys are recognised in bootcamp via the bootcamp control panel.[/*:m:1tcw9fgo]
• Since I already have Mac OS on another system, is there maybe a way I can configure the bluetooth unit to enable HID proxy mode functionality from there and then hook up the unit back to my HTPC with the magic of being able to use a keyboard outside of windows? *fingers crossed*[/*:m:1tcw9fgo]

Would appreciate any input and am sure to stick around this great forum. I like to answer questions as well so i I find any thread where I can help I will gladly contribute.

 

[mashakos]

Update: Got the apple media keys to work!

Tried running Bootcamp 4.0 setup from the dvd but kept getting the "model not supported" error. I remember bypassing this with the older 3.2 disc but the same method didn't work here.
Decided to go back to the older bootcamp 3.2 disc with a bit of apprehension as the last time I did this (on an older dual core rig with a chipset similiar to the macbooks of the time) it ended up locking my system and I had to do a system restore.
Tip: if the same happens to you, make sure to restart in safe mode, install your motherboard drivers, disable the services mentioned below and restart.

In any case, navigated to the drivers\apple\bootcamp64.msi foder in the bootcamp 3.0 disc, ran the setup, restarted, fingers crossed ... voila! It worked!

So yeah, mute/volume/eject all work, and I even get the nifty apple overlay with sound effects when the buttons are pressed. Nice! Used sharpkeys (http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys/) to remap F13 to open the calculator and was done!

The bootcamp control panel won't run, but that's fine.


NOTE:
I noticed that after restarting, the computer paused for a good 30 seconds before launching the desktop. Narrowed the issue down to two services:
Apple Time Service
Apple OS Switch Manager
EDIT: Discovered that disabling the OS Switch Manager service also disables the eject button.

Disabled these two services, restarted and no awkward pause

Now if only I could figure out a way to get the bluetooth keyboard operational in the EFI...

 

[pahoran]

ah! great info man I really appreciate you taking the time to post this, I will build a dedicated HTPC and running windows and only to be able to bitstream DTS-HDMA and Dolby TrueHD. Its just too bad we can bitstream under OS X :

Btw how are you liking that Asus X79 mobo? Im thinking on jumping to x79 from my z68 board. Im thinking about x79-ud3 and i7 3820 hmmmm..

thanks bro!

 

[mashakos]

ah! great info man I really appreciate you taking the time to post this, I will build a dedicated HTPC and running windows and only to be able to bitstream DTS-HDMA and Dolby TrueHD. Its just too bad we can bitstream under OS X :

Btw how are you liking that Asus X79 mobo? Im thinking on jumping to x79 from my z68 board. Im thinking about x79-ud3 and i7 3820 hmmmm..

thanks bro!

My last motherboard was an intel X38. so this motherboard is literally a godsend. It took me about 15 mins to get a stable 4.5ghz overclock using only th XMP automatic profile and adjusting the cpu voltage to 1.3v
1.3v?? I neded at least 1.3875v to get 4Ghz on a lowly dual core 4 years ago (in addition to hours of research on the optimal PLL voltage,NB voltage, FSB termination voltage etc. etc.), now I can overclock a 6 core cpu to 4.5ghz without knowing what I'm doing? WOW!!

The X79 is literally heaven for overclockers. If it wasn't for the insane price of X79 components I would recommend it to any serious hardware geek.

 

[mashakos]

Just wanted to confirm from one of you cool people:
If I pair the bluetooth unit and keyboard on a mac, then connect the bluetooth unit to a pc, will the keyboard function in the BIOS on that PC?

thanks!

 

[mashakos]

anyone?

Tried installing the bluetoth module on my macbook pro and pairing the keyboard with it. Used bluetooth explorer to enable the module, it paired successfully and worked at boot (option key to select partition).
Unortunately when I re-connected the module to my pc it wouldn't pair. Which is normal bluetooth behaviour (you have to unpair the device from the one machine so it works in another).

I'm stumped. The dongle works in a mac but to make it run on a pc I have to reset the dongle and remove all pairings....

help pls... ?

 

[borob]

hello mashakos!

i'm planning to buy the same bluetooth module - because this is the only one that I can get easily in Hungary.
i was wondering if you could solve these issues and get all bluetooth functionality with this one.
If you could give a few advice for a starter it would be much appriciated.