I’m still working on my comprehensive Dell Windows 7 upgrade article, but I have enough information about the Dell “Bluetooth Keyboard & Mouse” bundle that I figured I’d post it now…

Dell had offered a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse in a number of combinations and different part numbers. The particular one I have is Dell Part Number 0YJ101 (YJ101) which includes a USB Bluetooth transceiver. Other versions of this package were targeted at notebooks that had Bluetooth built in, and therefore didn’t include the transceiver. The keyboard part number is DH953 and the mouse is DH956. [I’m including the part numbers here so people searching for those numbers find this article.]

This package was actually made by Logitech for Dell. The Dell driver was last updated nearly 2 years ago, in March of 2008 (Version 3.22, A02-00, here). Looking on the Optiplex 760 page, this package is supported through Windows Vista, but not on Windows 7.

Fortunately, a little searching on the Logitech web site finds the SetPoint software, version 4.80, here. If the link doesn’t work, search for drivers for “Cordless Desktop® LX 300” on Logitech’s web site. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of SetPoint are available.

I successfully downloaded and installed the 64-bit version on a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate x64 install. The keyboard and mouse are both recognized as Dell devices and are fully functional. After installation, SetPoint will check regularly for software updates.

The next issue I had (which wasn’t new with the Windows 7 install) was what can best be described as a “drunk mouse” – response to mouse movements would be delayed, and would then wildly overshoot the intended location. I’d had this happen under Windows XP as well, but not as often. After thinking about it for a while, I formed a theory that this was due to radio frequency (RF) interference from the Optiplex 755 chassis. The problem would get much worse when I was running software that stressed my new video card (an ATI Radeon HD5770), such as the Unigine benchmarks. The Bluetooth receiver normally plugs into the USB ports on the back of the case, right next to the video card. I unplugged it and used a 6 foot USB A/A shielded extension cable to relocate the transceiver away from the system unit and the problem seems to have disappeared. It might be possible to avoid the problem by plugging the transceiver into one of the USB ports on the front of the case, but I didn’t want it sticking out where it could get bumped and snap off.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 12:58 am and is filed under Computers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.