Does the new Intel Bluetooth driver fix the problem created by KB3172605?

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The one big problem with KB3172605 speed-up patch for Windows 7 is its uncanny ability to break Intel Bluetooth. I’ve just discovered that Intel relea
[See the full post at: Does the new Intel Bluetooth driver fix the problem created by KB3172605?]

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Slightly off topic, but over the weekend I ran Disc Cleanup and let it delete the old Update files. Got over 1GB in the first pass, but I needed a second pass for a few more MB. (I’m set at Never Check, Win 7 Home Premium).

Later that day (Saturday), I did a check for updates and found I was running OK. No problems until I did a reboot Sunday evening. TrustedInstaller said it was installing updates, and when it went to 100%, it hung.

I turned off the machine, and after running Safe Mode, it eventually succeeded in “reverting” the updates.

No major surprise, there were no updates showing in WU history (beyond MSE definitions), and the Event Viewer log showed that the mess started with TrustedInstaller taking too long.

I don’t know what caused the kerfuffle, but the fact that it happened a day after cleaning out old updates raises a flag.

It took over 15 minutes for the “reversion” to take, so it’s a heads up for anybody who gets this. This is the old disc cleanup, circa July 2009.

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Weird!

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Were you patched in full, really in full, not selected by arbitrary criteria before running the cleanup?
Are you running any third-party security “troubleware” software?

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No, not fully patched…

The current list of what’s not patched is:

Important:
KB3118312 (Security update for Word 2010)
KB3193414 (MSE)
KB3188740 (October .NET)
KB3185330 (Oct rollup)
KB890830 (MSRT)
Optional:
KB3192403 (oct preview)
KB3179930 (.NET rollup)

There are several updates hidden: I won’t list the optional or recommended ones, but the important ones are:
KB3182203 (timezone?)
KB3193713 (Silverlight)
KB2881030 (Office update)

I am running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium, alongside MSE. MWB says it’s compatible, and it has proven to be so, so far. I’ve run the pair since 2013.

This never happened to me before (or since), and this was the only time I deleted the old update patches.

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Silverlight, Office, .NET 4, anything not built-in Windows 7 do not matter for the Disk Cleanup purpose.
The hidden updates are always a potential source of problems. Ideally you should never use the hiding functioality except for testing and assessing the effect of supersedence etc.

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If this incompatibility is such a big problem, how come no-one’s rushing to test the fix?

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“This never happened to me before (or since), and this was the only time I deleted the old update patches.”

Might explain why you had the problem..as there was a lot to process.

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Good point.

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Intels new driver,Only works on newer hardware (as stated), what they have to say about older, is its broke we’re not fixing it. Uninstall updates causing problems.
See link below for confirmation, thread is now locked. As of September 28th

https://communities.intel.com/thread/104414?start=30&tstart=0

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Yep. My current strategy is to not use that portion of disc cleanup. So far, it was a one-shot problem that resolved in 40 minutes of work, with an hour or so the next day looking at the logs.

I don’t plan to un-hide the updates. Yet.

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Sure enough. There it is in black and white. Appreciate the link!

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I have to go look at my install logs and see if that was the one I tried in early October. It created a blue screen at boot and I did a system restore (first time ever) from safe mode. I was real nervous, especially with a laptop due to all the proprietary software. But it did work.

If it is a different version, I may try it if it is recommended by the Intel Driver Update Utility. However, I did find from the IDU Utility that my system takes both an Intel PROset for the wireless adapter and BT and a second update for the BT radio. I used the Intel Driver Update Utility to find both files and installed the radio drivers.

If the Driver Update Utility recommends the one at your link, I will try it with the utility first, after backing up all my files and imaging the disk.

When I did the update the first time, the Intel forum advice said to uninstall the old driver. I did that and had my problem above. I then remembered that usually the Intel driver install application is installed OVER the old driver and you select the recommended update and repair option.

I have a trip coming so will probably wait until after, since if it fails and requires a restore again, I may bypass the Windows7 death spiral and move to Linux on an SSD on the laptop.

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I posted that link here, and quoted from it, on Oct. 11:
https://www.askwoody.com/2016/windows-7-scan-speedup/comment-page-1/#comment-101975

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Found it. Thanks!

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@Bill C.,

Which “family” is your Intel thingie a part of:
1. Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family
or
2. Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family?

The latest software for Group 1 was published on Sept. 28th
(https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26311/Intel-Wireless-Bluetooth-Software-for-Windows-7-?v=t )

Group 2’s latest software is apparently from July 26th
(https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26208 )

The advice for both is still to uninstall the old driver and then install the new one.

But you described earlier that you had a problem with doing that, and I think I read another person’s description on the Intel support forum of having a problem with that.

In both those cases, the fixes/workarounds that you and the other person devised, under your own steam, depended on your having a lot of tacit knowledge about how this stuff works, which I do not have.

—–
The following guy has a 6235 thingie and he followed the advice for Group 2 but it has messed up his Bluetooth:
from Sept 28:
https://communities.intel.com/thread/106878

The advice to him from Intel was to check with his bluetooth headphones’ manufacturer to see if they had any ideas, and otherwise to consider an OS reinstall.

(There’s no way I would want to do an OS reinstall.)

—-
The following guy has a 7265 thingie and he followed the advice for Group 1 but it messed up his Bluetooth:
from August 31:
https://communities.intel.com/message/418211

Intel’s advice was: “In situations like this, Intel suggests to use the drivers provided by the computer manufacturer first”

…which is different than their generic uninstall/install instructions.

I am pretty sure that my “business” Lenovo laptop has its own weird drivers for most things, given my past experiences with trying to update its drivers in any way (even from the driver maker’s own site) other than through Lenovo’s in-built “ThinkVantage System Update” program that gets everything from Lenovo.

Anyway, that guy finally found his own fix for it (described in the last comment), and it wasn’t by following Intel’s advice.

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If one’s Intel thingie isn’t in either of the following groups
1. Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family
2. Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family,

then Intel says that it’s too old and there will be no official fix for it:

“As we mentioned, it is not possible to provide a fix for older adapters.
Bluetooth will function if you remove the updates [KB3172605, KB3161608] and prevent Windows from applying them;
or, you can proceed with the Windows updates knowing that Bluetooth will not work.”
https://communities.intel.com/message/418505#418505

If a person with an older adapter wants the Bluetooth to function, and must prevent Windows Updates from installing KB3172605 and KB3161608 in order to make that happen, then he/she probably can’t ever be in Woody’s Windows Updating Group A (because that group will eventually receive all past updates onto the computer, including KB3172605 and KB3161608).
If the Intel-Bluetooth-offending small piece from those 2 “optional” updates ever gets put into a future “security” update, than maybe the person would also find it tricky to be in Woody’s Windows Updating Group B, as well.

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By the way, I think that KB3172605 superceded KB3161608 or something like that, so I didn’t mean to imply that both would be installed now onto a system – I guess just KB3172605 would be installed going forward.

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True in both cases.

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On another thread, AskWoody.com contributor Louis has asked me what is going on with my computer now, regarding the way that installing and uninstalling KB3172605 screwed up my Intel Bluetooth.

This is a portion of my answer to him:

The bluetooth icon is still stubbornly showing up on the taskbar, even though it’s been set to “stay hidden” (it won’t obey that command).

Because trying to use the right-click menu of the Bluetooth taskbar icon froze my computer during the time that kb3172605 was installed on my computer, I have not dared to try to choose an option from the right-click menu of the bluetooth taskbar icon since then.

I haven’t used any bluetooth devices since then, so I don’t know if it even functions correctly.

I haven’t looked at event viewer since then, but I’m opening it up now…
Yes, there are still multiple Bluetooth warnings, being logged multiple times each day, that are showing in the event viewer; one of them says:
“Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted.”

Sigh.

I might have to try to fix it – to uninstall and reinstall and all that, but a few people have reported on the Intel customer support site that it’s not always smooth sailing to do that, and this isn’t an area that I know much about, so I’d prefer not to have to deal with it.

It’s a shame that my Bluetooth has been screwed up just by installing kb3172605 briefly, and that uninstalling it didn’t fix the Bluetooth.

I know that these messages were not in the Event Viewer earlier, because I take a look at it every so often and I had never seen Bluetooth problems there before (have owned the computer for about 3 years).

I do have expensive headphones that are Bluetooth-only, so I’d like to have the possibility to use them, even if I haven’t used them much recently.

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@Bill C.,

Just above, I asked what number your Intel thingie is.
However, there is no need to answer that, because when I was later doing a search of AskWoody.com to find other mentions of this problem, I came across a blogpost where you said that your Intel thingie’s number is “7260”.
(Here: https://www.askwoody.com/2016/win7-scan-speedup-patch-kb-3161608-breaks-intel-bluetooth/ )

Therefore it’s in Group 1, and the most recent Group 1 software was published by Intel on Sept. 28… which might be a newer version than you previously had tried?
If this does turn out to be an updated version of your Bluetooth thingie’s software, and if you decide to take the risk of trying it after your vacation, I hope that it works for you! Let us know on this thread how it goes.

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@Poohsticks: I have the Intel N7260 single channel (Group 1). Lenovo has not released a special driver from my searches manually or via their system update. The BT radio driver update I found and installed via the Intel Driver Update stopped the errors I was getting in Action Center and restored the working of my Bose BT speaker.

I have not been brave enough for the main PROset wireless driver, since I have a couple of travel dates coming. I can live (unwillingly) without the BT speaker, but not without wireless or the ability to boot. All my experiences with Intel network drivers (wired and wireless) has been to install over the old drivers. When I did the first install after removing the old drivers, the install failed saying it could not find the required settings followed by a blue screen on reboot.

KB3172605 superceded KB3161608 which was my BT breaker. Removing it fixed the issue. After research on the intel site I tried the forum fix and had the blue screens and did the system restore.

When KB3172605 was released, the KB said it had the same BT breakage issue, so I held off. I have heard the most recent release of that update “may” be safe, but I have also read reports of it still being an issue.

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Here is something I think is useful and helpful.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000006742.html

Note what it says. “To do an upgrade, choose one of the following options:
•Run the installer package that has the newest version of the software, and follow the Wizard instructions.
•Uninstall the software version you have on your system.
•Reboot your PC, and run the installer package that has the newest version of the software.

The installer will run and remove the software, tell you to reboot and then install the new software. This has been my experience in the past. NOTE: The installer removes the old software. I think this is where the remove the software (old drivers) first before installing new drivers originated. The old drivers ARE removed first, but by the installer, which most likely leaves the settings, and then after it reboots the machine the installer restarts and does the install of the the new drivers using the proper device settings.

The fact that my failed install after I (not the installer) removed the drivers first said it could not find the settings leads me to this conclusion.

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See my response above.

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I can confirm Intel Wireless (wth?) Bluetooth working:
– on i3165ac wlan+bt combo,
– in new HP Probook,
– under W7P 64, HP’ system image with some updates removed (lookin’ at ya 3022345),
– with new HP issued BT drv ver 19.0.1603.630 (probably repacked only) installed,
– and then topped with KB3172605.
At least small file transfer works.
Drivers’ description says: ” Fixes an issue where installing Microsoft KB3172605 on systems running Windows 7 causes the Bluetooth to stop functioning. “

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Yep, that repacked driver is key.

Per poohsticks (and as confirmed) the problem is with older drivers for Centrino Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160/1030 and Centrino Advanced-N 6230/6235/2230 .

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That seems likely. It’s also very good to know!

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@poohsticks,

Thanks for your response…I’m glad I actually was able to find it.

As for BT…my thingy, from what I can gather, is 1.0.78.20504, whatever that means. From what I’ve read here, this driver is evidently in the “older” group and is no longer supported.
So, with 2605 installed, after boot up, if I run CCleaner with Windows Error enabled I get the obexsrv, etc. crashes. That said, if I do click the BT icon in the sys tray, it does open the BT interface and shows the settings which can be selected.

Thankfully, I don’t use BT on this laptop..but if I did, it would be another reason to just look elsewhere in the future for my computing needs. MS is unreliable and no longer trustworthy.

And as far as their new Surface Studio, it will be buried by Apple. as some anon once said in AskWoody, “you heard it here first”.

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Yep, I’ll be listening this morning to see what wonders may appear.

Or maybe we’ll just get a niche machine, like Microsoft’s.

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@Louis,
The above post by me was only part of my response to you — I wrote a longer post under your original question (on a different thread) — if you didn’t see that, it is here:
https://www.askwoody.com/2016/whats-the-latest-for-speeding-up-windows-7-scans/comment-page-2/#comment-104395

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@Louis,

When you say “run CCleaner with Windows Error enabled”, what do you mean, which box in CCleaner should be checked?

If I could have CCleaner tell me, on a full screen and in a straightforward way, what otherwise I need to snorkel around in the murky Event Viewer to glean, that would be great!

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Intel has published “fixes”

(which, apparently, not every customer can get to work, and some people have run into problems after applying these “fixes” that are beyond their ken to solve on their own)

for the following adapters:

1. Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family

2. Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family

—–
However, the situation is even more of a problem for Intel Bluetooth Wireless adapters that are OLDER than those 2 families, for which Intel says there is no fix available and there never will be:

“As we mentioned, it is not possible to provide a fix for older adapters.

Bluetooth will function if you remove the updates [KB3172605, KB3161608] and prevent Windows from applying them;

or, you can proceed with the Windows updates knowing that Bluetooth will not work.”

https://communities.intel.com/message/418505#418505

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@Bill C.,

I see what you are saying, and I am not contradicting you at all, because I am totally in the dark about wireless adapters and all this stuff,

but I do have a question —

maybe it’s about the competency (or not) of Intel:

If people should treat this as an “upgrade” and an overwriting-in-place,

why, in Intel’s instructions for applying the “fix” for KB3172605 (at least for the 2 adapter families which DO have a “fix” offered by Intel), would Intel give these instructions:

—-
How can I resolve the issue?

How to install this version:

1.Uninstall all Microsoft KB mentioned above. Skip this step if the KB is not installed.

2.Uninstall any version of Intel® Bluetooth software.

3.Download the new Intel® Bluetooth software.

4.Install the new Intel® Bluetooth software.

5.Re-install the Microsoft KB as needed.

from the fix instructions at: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000022410.html
—-

and
—–
How to install
1.Download the file to a folder on your PC.
2.Uninstall previous version of Intel Bluetooth software.
3.Double-click on the downloaded file to launch installation.
from: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26208
—-

Why wouldn’t they just tell people to treat it like an “upgrade” instead of an uninstallation + new installation?

I have no doubt that you got the BSOD and other bad things when you tried the uninstallation + new installation, and I’m certain that if I tried that, my Lenovo would go nuts too (it’s got a very touchy constitution at the best of times!),

but WHY must the customers be expected to know that they should deliberately not follow the adapter manufacturer’s simple instructions for applying the fix, and should do it in an alternative way?

It’s very frustrating when things like this are so poorly handled. (From both Microsoft’s side and Intel’s side.)

—
Is there anything tricky that might be left in the machine if an upgrade-in-place occurs instead of a thorough uninstallation + new installation?

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@Bill C.,

Another question –

You say that you recently found a radio driver through the Intel Driver Update which helped your Bluetooth speaker to work again.

I believe that I’ve twice done the automated-system-review with Intel’s Driver Update website since I’ve had my Lenovo, and both times I got a message from Intel saying something along the lines of “your drivers are unique to the manufacturer and you must get them from the manufacturer’s website, Intel can’t give them to you directly”.

Do you get the same warning as I do, yet you download the generic Intel driver anyway (since you know what you are doing),

or does the system-check facility on the Intel site offer your computer their generic drivers with no warnings that they aren’t appropriate for your computer?

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I too read the instructions. When I found the BT radio software (which I never knew was even there) I looked to the obexsvr related files. From the propertied I saw my version was older, but more importantly I found that it was key to the BT radio. I do not know what it does, but it crashed. I decided it wasw lower risk to install that software than the PROset wireless driver.

As I watched inte installer work, I thought it looked like the install and works like the wired lan PROSet software. That alone restored the BT functionality. However it was the wireless software that caused the blue screen issues.

My problem may have been both, but If you do a total uninstall, it appears to wipe the settings. SInce the failed install said it could not find the settings, I saw the potential connection.

Then I found the following. Read carefully since it can be read in a number of ways.

Upgrade: To do an upgrade, choose one of the following options:

•Run the installer package that has the newest version of the software, and follow the Wizard instructions.
•Uninstall the software version you have on your system.
•Reboot your PC, and run the installer package that has the newest version of the software.

What I was missing was that the PROSet driver software uses a wizard and gives choices to install, fix or upgrade. The install softwares does that and then asks to reboot. You say yes and it reboots and does its thing and after the reboot the installer restarts automatically after boot by itself and finishes by installing the new driver.

While not on-topic, my Realtek HD Audio Driver installer works the same way.

Now, if I had not seen it run in action previously for the wired Intel lan on my gaming box, I would not have made the connection.

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Yeah, good luck removing the KB3172605/KB3161608 patches once Microsoft adds them to the cumulative update package for Windows 7 in a few months. Or supersedes KB3172605 with a new patch that has the same behavior. Then your options will be no Bluetooth or no rollup package which would leave your system extremely vulnerable. Thanks MS and Intel!

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I’ve had trouble (quite a while ago) with some intel bluetooth and EMET. Their services didn’t like certain security options that I had EMET enable by default/opt out (SEHOP if I recall correctly). I had to opt them out of it manually to keep the service from crashing / not working.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage File Execution OptionsExeNameHere.exe
“DisableExceptionChainValidation”=dword:00000001

I wonder if this update (KB3172605/KB3161608) sets SEHOP to opt out (programs that aren’t compatible with it need to opt out via complier flag, registry setting (above). (or crash/malfunction I guess).

Anyone want to test this who has bluetooth with the problem? Or perhaps debug the service and see what exception code it crashes with?

(had a submission error last time I posted this, trying again)

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FYI,

September Rollup (September 20, 2016 — KB3185278) contains “Improved support for the Disk Cleanup tool to free up space by removing older Windows Updates after they are superseded by newer updates”

My guess is it’s not been fully tested.

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GOOD NEWS for readers who have arrived on this page by clicking a link in Woody Leonhard’s excellent InfoWorld article called “How to Speed Up Windows 7 Update Scans – Forever”
(his InfoWorld article can be found at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3136677/microsoft-windows/how-to-speed-up-windows-7-update-scans-forever.html)

The link that you clicked to get here was embedded in the following sentence:
“Intel continues to not fix its Bluetooth drivers for the Intel Centrino Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160/1030 and Centrino Advanced-N 6230/6235/2230 Bluetooth devices—a big swath of Intel Bluetooth systems (see poohsticks’ firsthand report on AskWoody).”

In some very good news,
I just wanted to clarify that Intel HAS actually published a fix for both of those groups of Bluetooth adapters!

So if your computer has one of those adapters, it will probably be fixable, and you’ll be able to speed up your Windows Update scans!

The fixes for: Intel Centrino Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160/1030 and Centrino Advanced-N 6230/6235/2230
can be found on the Intel website — see below for the links:

===============
As of last week, here is where to get the latest software for those 2 Intel Bluetooth adapter families:

The latest software for the Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family was published on Sept. 28th:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26311/Intel-Wireless-Bluetooth-Software-for-Windows-7-?v=t

The latest software for the Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family is apparently from July 26th:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26208

====
Here are Intel’s instructions for applying that “fix” for KB3172605:

“How to install this version:
1.Uninstall all Microsoft KB mentioned above. Skip this step if the KB is not installed.
2.Uninstall any version of Intel® Bluetooth software.
3.Download the new Intel® Bluetooth software.
4.Install the new Intel® Bluetooth software.
5.Re-install the Microsoft KB as needed.”

that is from the “fix” instructions at: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000022410.html

===============
Some further background on the situation:

In the following discussion thread
(https://communities.intel.com/thread/104414?start=15&tstart=0 ),

Intel claims that:

a) They have a FIX for Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family
(see Comment 18)

b) They have a FIX for Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family
(see Comment 27)

c) They _never_ will have a fix for older, legacy, discontinued adapters such as 1030 and 6230.
(see Comments 31, 34, and 38)

—-
Comment number 18, posted by “Intel Corporation”, talks about how they have a fix for the Intel® Wireless 8260/7265/3165/7260/3160 family:

“We are glad to inform that the new version of Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology for Windows 7*, that fixes the compatibility issue with the Microsoft KB 3161608/3172605 is already available and can be downloaded”

—
Comment number 27, posted by “Intel Corporation”, talks about how they have a fix for the Intel® Centrino® 6235/2230 family:

“We would like to inform that the new release of Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Bluetooth® technology for Windows 7* is already available for legacy adapters, this prevents the issue with the Windows* updates mentioned in this thread.”

——
In comments 31, 34, and 38,

they say that they will _never_ have a fix for some adapters
(they are talking about adapters that are _older_ than the 2 adapter families that they mentioned earlier in that thread in comments 18 and 27 which they claim that they _do_ have a fix for):

for example, from comment 34:
“As mentioned previously, it is not possible to provide a fix for Legacy (Discontinued) Adapters,
such as the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 and Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230”

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Fixes to the bad driver list will appear in the InfoWorld article shortly. Sorry it took so long.

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