Dell Inspiron 700m internal bluetooth mod completed 6 May 2006, 03:45
Posted by Orhan in : Geeky Techy Stuff , trackbackWell, not exactly as planned, but a successful internal bluetooth addition is completed for the Inspiron 700m laptop. Although the chipset allows three usb ports, since there were no traces on the motherboard, I could not figure out where the unused usb port had its terminals. So I decided to pull a parallel line to the upper usb port. The first few figures show how the laptop is dismantled and how the usb port terminals are accessed on the motherboard.
4 wires are needed to carry the usb to another location. I used a usb receptacle just to keep the standard usb jack on the bluetooth dongle. Also, I think it is good to have a flexible system, maybe I might need it for something else in the future.
I added a power on/off switch to the +5v lead. This way I was planning to make the usb port usable while not using the bluetooth dongle. Well, it didn’t work as expected too. It turns out that I need a 3-pole switch to cut the data lines too. Anyways, having a power switch is still good for saving the battery. I am planning to change to a 3-pole switch in the future.
I figured the best place for the on/off switch is the front panel, near the optical drive bay. I opened a “window” with the help of a friend and made the switch accessible.
The usb dongle sits in the area where 700m has the wifi mini-pci card and the phone modem. Insulating it from the shiny protective sheet under the plastic cover is necessary. I used a simple tape for that.
Everything works OK for the time being. I am down to 1 usb port as of now, but it really makes no difference since I will not need one for the bluetooth!
Let me know if you have any questions..
Comments»
Hi , did you install the 3 pole switch, if so was the USB port usable when not used by BT.
What BT dongle did you purchase.
Does it come with software or what software you advise using.
Could you please give me the specs.
I have a 700m too and would really appreciate your help on this.
Thanks!!
Barry
why didnt u just add this
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MSI-BLUTOO&c=fr&pid=a9e99630dfd5a633c47885b0b97900be9ee7300284ed69e712bff26dfa3f6bfb#
Maybe I could have, but when I considered buying one (a different model) sometime ago, I read on its specifications that these mini-pci devices work only on specific laptops so I decided not to.
Besides, it was cheaper this way and a lot of fun modding the 700m
hello i have a dell laptop, model 845G, an X86-based PC; i would like to add internal bluetooth and internal wireless adapter and i have no idea of whether it’s possible, and what do i need to buy?
thanks and hope to get help from you.
I really no not know much about the 845G. If it has a mini pci slot, you might want to try kevin davidson’s suggestion.
Orhan
Does the 700m motherboard support PC3200 memory?
Yes, as long as it is DDR notebook ram it should. It will just run at 2700 I believe.
i’ve just my laptop to one of the shops here…n he happened to delete all my bluetooth internal software…is that possible?ne again i don’t have the inbuilt card reader any longer….well it started when i began to delete some components from system 32…yeah so stupid of me ehe..but please…somebody help me?any computer expert out there…
If you want to run a DDR 3200 RAM, make sure the RAM itself is backward compatible with DDR 2700. Also it’s better to match the two RAMs.
These days the prices are not much different, so if u want, u can just get the 3200 if u plan to plug it into some other laptop later.
But again, any new laptops will start to use DDR2.
hi
my bluetooth is switched off how can i turn it on again. i have dell inspiron 6000
Sorry, I don’t know. I have never used an inspiron 6000.
Hi anyone, can show me where is onboard ram ?
i read the 700m spec it can support 2 Gig.
my current 700m comes in 256 ram, i had added a 512 onto the bottom. i was thinking of shifting the 512 meg into the onboard slot
and then (if the price is good) upgrade an additional 1 gig meg easily
Jon, check this out: http://www.orhandengiz.com/blog/contact/#comment-1307
Hey i just came across your site, im looking at buying a 700m second hand.
Ive had a quick look at the datasheet (ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/29074401.pdf)
and if you look at page 45 it has some info about the usb signals.
Then if you flick to page 513 it has the ball outs for the chip, im wondering how the chip is laid out of the mainboard, can you access those ball grids? If you look at the grid, C16 is one of the ports etc.
That should mean that you can access the USB lines directly.
sendme an email if you have some questions…
-Manny
I did the exact same mod to my 700m to gain internal Bluetooth and it works like a champ. Wish I didn’t have to lose the one USB port, but I can live with it.
hi,
my inspiron 5100 internal sound card is dead and i can’t get sound either internal speakers or headphones.
when i saw this page, i thought of installing a external usb sound card(little one) into my motherboard as you did here installing a bt dongle.
do you have any idea that it could work?
and also, if i can manage to install external sound card into the motherboard, could i connect the headphone output directly to the internal speakers with wires?
thanks
Hello, finally did U install the 3 pole switch?
i have a similar project… but i found this instead of that 3 pole switch…
http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-MS201.html (watch the video) so that way just by pressing a button it will switch from the bluetooth to the other USB…
Still i was looking for those 3 pole switches and i couldn’t find them… can you post a link whit it’s description and how it works? also if you want the USB to work, do you have to stop the data from the 2 data cables? or just from 1 data cable… so that way it will be just a 2 pole switch… thanks a lot for your help.
Hey Orhan, great idea. I think I’m going to attempt it in my 700M, but I had a couple of questions. First off, and I know this is kinda the wimp solution, but do you know if any of those internal Dell Truemobile 300/350 cards will work in the 700M?
If not, I was wondering if you could give me some details about the install. What guage wire did you use to relocate the port? Also, do you happen to have a part number (maybe Digikey) of the USB port you used?
Thanks!
Hello,
I do have a Dell Inspiron 700m. after an accidental drop the mouse pad does not respond. I tried to use an USB mouse but it does not work neither. I took it apart and found a tiny crack on the motherboard at the base of the USB plugs ( broken ground and possibly more). An USB mouse being plugged in during the fall may have damage it this way. I then bought an high speed multi ports USB 2.0 Cardbus to place in my network card bay. it worked for a short while but not any more so I am suspecting it is somehow connected with the damaged USB plugs…beside this, the computer is working fine.
Any idea how I could fix this??? (retired, very limited budget)
or I migtht have to sell it as is?
Thank you in advance for any suggestion.