Problems Pairing Bluetooth Treo 650 W/ Rx400h

[RandyByTheBay]

I've searched around and found lots of threads discussing the problems transferring a phone book from a Verizon Treo 650 to the RX400h, but not much written on how to troubleshoot problems getting the two to initially pair up.

I've followed the instructions again and again. The best I can get is that my Verizon Treo 650 finds the RX400, I enter the code as instructed on the RX400 nav screen, the Treo adds the RX400 to its trusted devices, the RX400 nav screen remains displaying the instruction to enter the code, or press "cancel". The Treo 650 is never recognized by the Rx400.

Anyone have any thoughts how I can get these two to successfully pair up?

I have a brand-new Verizon Treo 650, updated with all the patches available from Verizon.

Thanks

[katzjamr]

I have a treo 650 thru Cingular. When pairing the phone as you described it never says at the end that you are successful, however the treo is actually paired and will work with the 400h bluetooth. Have you looked under trusted devices in your treo to see if it has paired with the 400h? And have you tried to use the phone with the system? The treos do work with your vehicle.

[RandyByTheBay]

I have a treo 650 thru Cingular.  When pairing the phone as you described it never says at the end that you are successful, however the treo is actually paired and will work with the 400h bluetooth.  Have you looked under trusted devices in your treo to see if it has paired with the 400h?  And have you tried to use the phone with the system?  The treos do work with your vehicle.

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Hi,

Thanks for the response. Yes, the Treo successfully pairs with the car, but not the other way around. The phone tells me the pairing was successful and lists the car in the trusted devices. But the nav screen continues to display the message telling me to enter the passcode on the phone. If I eventually press "Cancel" on the nav display and then try to dial a number on the nav screen, I get a message saying to check the mobile phone. Any phone function I try from the nav screen, I get the same message. When looking back in bluetooth settings on the nav screen, there are no phones listed. Is this how it is supposed to look?

Thanks!

[katzjamr]

I did check my bluetooth settings on the 400h and my phone is listed with my name as it is registered in the treo along with a code. I mentioned this problem at dinner tonight with people who were going to purchase verizon phones and they said verison had blocked the bluetooth function, however i would check with them before i took this as accurate information. I would call verizon, and first find someone who actually knows the treo phone features and see if they can give you an answer. It seems to me that your treo would pair with a headset you wear via bluetooth, and also should pair with your 400h.

[RandyByTheBay]

Thanks, I'll keep asking around. The phone does pair with my bluetooth headset just fine. And, I know it must be communicating with the car because I do have to enter the correct passcode in the phone when trying to pair with the car. If I enter a wrong passcode both the phone and the nav screen show an error. After entering the correct passcode the phone shows successful pairing, the nav screen continues to prompt to enter the passcode.

Perhaps I'll make a visit to the dealer and see if they might know some trick to it.

[katzjamr]

the only other thing i can think of is the nav system asking for the code 'name' that you named your treo? on my treo i had to give it a specific name, and that name also shows up on my nav system. this has come up before when i purchased third party software online for the treo, i had to enter my treo name into the download info before i could get software loaded.

[digitalfx]

After you succesfully get the Treo to see the Lexus, do the following:

1. go to "Trusted Devices" on the Treo

2. select the Lexus

3. go to the phone application and dial any phone number

4. wait

eventually the phone call will switch over to the Lexus...now your phone and Lexus are both paired. If you skip these steps it wont work.

check here for better description:

http://discussion.treocentral.com/showthre...highlight=Lexus

Edited December 19, 2005 by digitalfx

[katzjamr]

thank you digital i knew he was close and paired even tho the lexus screen didnt say it, im sure when he makes the call the connection will work. when you quicklisted your contacts into the lexus did it work even tho the contacts show locked in my screen in the treo?

[RandyByTheBay]

Thank you both for the input! I think it worked! (Yeay!).

[Shebco]

I stopped using my Treo 650 with the Lexus Bluetooth because of the call waiting bug. Anyone know if there is a recent update on a fix or workaround? My firmware in the Treo was 1.03 but I just got a replacement that has 1.04 on it and I'm curious if it contains a fix for this or not.

[katzjamr]

If you are a cingular treo user, there is a new update that does stop the disconnect because of all waiting. You can download it from Palm online. I am not aware of any fix from other carriers.

[SMErik]

If I'm reading this string right, I can now pair my Treo 650 with the 400h Bluetooth system? This would be a Christmas miracle! Please tell me it's true.

(You have to love that one of the world's most technologically advanced commercially available vehicles does not have the ability to pair with all Bluetooth devices, dock an iPod, or have XM and/or Sirius built in! Unbelievable)

When I bought the car a few months ago, I tried to make the pairing. It "worked," but it required the you go through the whole pairing process for each call you wanted to make. As this was a total pain in the !Removed!, I just bought a Razor and have been swapping the SIM card back and forth (Mon - Fri, Treo w/ Bluetooth headset; Sat & Sun and nights - Razor).

Given that everything is in my Treo, it would be great to get this working with the 400h Bluetooth. Can someone confirm that with the right upgrades to the (Cingular) Treo, this pairing will actually work the way that it should?

Thanks.

[katzjamr]

I have been using my treo 650 with the 400h since july. Follow the instructions to pair the phone per the lexus manual, (the nav manual). The caveat is that if you follow the instructions to the letter you will be paired however it will not say so on the lexus screen at the end of the process. Make a call from your treo and the system will work. The instructions in the earlier post by 'digitalfx' are great and they will also tell you how to transfer your phone book to the 400h, you will have to make a 'quicklist' first of all the numbers you want to transfer. Once your treo is paired to the vehicle it will stay that way you dont have to do it every time. I understand there are frustrations with the Lexus system and their omissions of mp3 and satellite radio however not all the bluetooth issues are their fault. Some carriers block functions from being used, and some phones work better in this regard than others. The system works well for me.

One more thing, i also have cingular and it would be a good idea for you to make sure your operating system is the newest version for the treo 650. Cingular just came out with upgrade 1.17 it is an important one because it pairs the phone better with car use and eliminates the issue of the treo disconnecting the phone call when paired with the car when a second call comes in.

[digitalfx]

Yes, I have transfered the quicklist succesfully. Just follow the directions in the link I posted earlier. The quicklist must only contain one number, no other info and no other characters including dashes.

Also regarding the call waiting bug....yes, the latest Coingular firmware (1.17) fixes this issue.

[RandyByTheBay]

As I mentioned above, I was successful in pairing my Verizon Treo 650 w/ the Rx400. However, keeping the two connected seems to be another problem. I've noticed that the two reliably connect whenever I climb in and start the car. However, they seem to stay connected only for a few seconds. If I immediately initiate a call (either from the phone or the car's phone keypad) the call will connect and use the car's hand's free mode. However after just a few seconds (seems like 15-20 seconds or so) of inactivity, the two are no longer connected. If I try to connect a call from the phone, the call goes through on the phone but will not connect to the car's handsfree system. If I try to connect a call from the car's keypad, I get an error message on the car's display to "check mobile phone".

I've noticed other posts that suggest that you need to successfully complete a call each time you start the car in order to avoid this problem. However, this doesn't seem to work for me. I can successfully complete a call within 15-20 seconds of starting the car. However, once I'm done with that call, and allow the system to sit inactive for a few seconds the two seem to disconnect and will not work together again until next time I get in and start the car again. Oh, and yes, if I'm stopped, I can go into phone settings on the car's display and "select" the phone again, and that will give me another 15-20 second window where the two will work together again, but that's not a very practical solution, particularly since I rarely know in advance when I'll be receiving a call within the next 15-20 seconds! :D

Has anyone else had this problem and found a work-around?

Thanks!

[katzjamr]

Randy: First of all once your phone is paired with the lexus it stays that way. When you get into the vehicle with your phone and start the car, in the first minute you will get a message at the top of the nav screen that bluetooth has recognized your phone. The nature of Bluetooth is that it starts and stops with each call. This would be true for a headset at your ear or the bluetooth in your navigation system. If bluetooth was 'on' all the time your battery life in your phone would be extremely shortened. I think part of the problem is you are not aware that there is a delay, when a call comes in over your bluetooth nav system and you answer it, there is a few seconds of pairing going on before your caller hears you.

You dont need to make a call each time you enter the car. The bluetooth will recognize your phone when it its withing thirty feet of the nav system. In an earlier post i asked if you have the latest operating system in your treo, they have made pairing improvements in each upgrade of that operating system. Also who is your service provider. If you tap the top left corner of your home page on the treo when it is displaying the phone pad you will see the word 'options' displayed, tap on that and hit 'phone info' there your operating system number will be displayed.

[RandyByTheBay]

My service is with Verizon. Yes, I've updated the 650 to the latest software offered by Verizon, and the phone works fine with my bluetooth headset (Motorola HS850).

You are correct, the phone and the car continue to be paired and do recognized each other. When I enter the car and turn it on, the phone connects with the car successfully and I get the appropriate message on the car's display. However, the phone only works with the car for the first 15-20 seconds after that successful connection. If I try to place a call later (perhaps while stopped at a traffic light) on the phone's keypad, the phone will connect the call, but will not use the car's hands-free mode. If I try to connect the call using the car's keypad, I get an error message on the car's display that says "check mobile phone". In other words, the car and phone will not work together after approximately 20 seconds have elapsed since they successfully connected when I started the car. If, however, I place a call immediately after starting the car it will be the two work together beautifully, however only for that call. 20 seconds or so after ending that call, the phone and car will no longer work together.

On my bluetooth headset, there is a button I push whenever I want the phone and headset to connect. There is no such button on the car. And, after the initial connection (which lasts about 20 seconds) when starting the car, the phone and car will not connect again to place or receive a call.

Am I missing something?

Thanks for continuing to try to help me get this working!

[katzjamr]

Personally if i had to bet money i would say it was a Verizon issue, they are famous for disabling certain features of phones. Call them and find the business department or someone who actually knows the functions of a treo 650, many service techs at cellular companies have no clue about treos, and ask them specifically if Verizon has disabled this feature. If it works bluetooth with a headset there is no reason it should not work with the 400h. If they have not disabled this feature then i would call Palm and tell them you want it to work or you want a new phone. It would also be useful if you know anyone in your company or acquaintances that has this phone and cell provider to see if it will work correctly. And now that i think about it it would be useful to have a friend pair thier bluetooth phone with your 400h, preferrably a different phone and carrier to see what happens.

[digitalfx]

Personally if i had to bet money i would say it was a Verizon issue, they are famous for disabling certain features of phones. Call them and find the business department or someone who actually knows the functions of a treo 650, many service techs at cellular companies have no clue about treos, and ask them specifically if Verizon has disabled this feature. If it works bluetooth with a headset there is no reason it should not work with the 400h. If they have not disabled this feature then i would call Palm and tell them you want it to work or you want a new phone. It would also be useful if you know anyone in your company or acquaintances that has this phone and cell provider to see if it will work correctly. And now that i think about it it would be useful to have a friend pair thier bluetooth phone with your 400h, preferrably a different phone and carrier to see what happens.

I dont have this issue w/ Cingular, once I get in the car the systems pair and she works. I leave my Bluetooth on the entire time I am in the car and dont notice significant battery drain. This way when I receive an incoming call it instantly connects and I answer the call from the steering wheel. I never had an issue with the pairing dropping after a period of time, even with the older firmware.

Do a search at this site:

http://discussion.treocentral.com/index.php?styleid=1

I believe there are plenty of Verizon users there with successfull bt connections. My guess is you never actualyy made the INITIAL connection successfully and it is still attempting to connect each time you get in the car. Did you follow the directions I posted earlier very carefully? If you miss one step, you are not actually pairing the units. I hade a similar issue when I first bought the car, but once I followed the directions closely I have had great success.

I would suggest deleting the phone from the Lexus and starting over.

Edited December 29, 2005 by digitalfx

[RandyByTheBay]

Thanks for the info. Yes, I believe I made a successful pairing. In fact whenever I turn on the car I get a "bluetooth connection successful" message, and I even have full functionality (make & receive calls, send contacts to car's phonebook, etc.) but only for 10-20 seconds. If I make a call within that initial 10 to 20 seconds, the call connects and uses the car's hands free system. I can stay on that call as long as necessary. After I hang up, that's it, the car and phone will not work together until I either 1) select the phone from the car's bluetooth settings screen, or 2) turn off and re-start the car. I only have the initial 10-20 second window for functionality after getting the "bluetooth connection successful" message. After 10-20 seconds expire, the phone and car will not work together - a call placed on the phone will not transfer to the car's hands free system, and if I attempt to place a call from the car's keypad I get the "please check mobile phone" message.

It seems strange to me that within that initial 10-20 second window I have full functionality. After that time passes, nothing will work. Seems like something is timing out and blocking further bluetooth connection between the T650 the car. I do have a HS850 bluetooth headset that seems to work fine. Of course, that headset has a button to push to re-establish connection with the phone any time I need it.

I have installed the latest software from Verizon on the phone. I've tried adjusting the settings for power saving options on the phone (butler, key guard, screen, etc.) with no effect.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advise.

[katzjamr]

I agree with your advice and not to put too fine a point on it, and yes my bluetooth is always enabled and paired with the car, but the nature of bluetooth is that it turns on and off with each call.

[digitalfx]

I agree with your advice and not to put too fine a point on it, and yes my bluetooth is always enabled and paired with the car, but the nature of bluetooth is that it turns on and off with each call.

well, not exactly. Yes, the connection between the car and phone "turn off", but the bluetooth function remains on and is constantly seeking another connection unless you physically turn it off on the phone.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I believe I made a successful pairing. In fact whenever I turn on the car I get a "bluetooth connection successful" message, and I even have full functionality (make & receive calls, send contacts to car's phonebook, etc.) but only for 10-20 seconds. If I make a call within that initial 10 to 20 seconds, the call connects and uses the car's hands free system. I can stay on that call as long as necessary. After I hang up, that's it, the car and phone will not work together until I either 1) select the phone from the car's bluetooth settings screen, or 2) turn off and re-start the car. I only have the initial 10-20 second window for functionality after getting the "bluetooth connection successful" message. After 10-20 seconds expire, the phone and car will not work together - a call placed on the phone will not transfer to the car's hands free system, and if I attempt to place a call from the car's keypad I get the "please check mobile phone" message.

It seems strange to me that within that initial 10-20 second window I have full functionality. After that time passes, nothing will work. Seems like something is timing out and blocking further bluetooth connection between the T650 the car. I do have a HS850 bluetooth headset that seems to work fine. Of course, that headset has a button to push to re-establish connection with the phone any time I need it.

I have installed the latest software from Verizon on the phone. I've tried adjusting the settings for power saving options on the phone (butler, key guard, screen, etc.) with no effect.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advise.

What other apps do you have on the Treo? Maybe somthing else on the Treo is causing a conflict. Do you have Blue Fang or BT Toggle on the phone?

[Shebco]

I know you don't want to hear this but I was always able to pair my 650 (Verizon) with my 400h. Yes, I had to learn the trick about initiating a call to complete the pairing but after that it would find my phone, allow me to send and receive calls etc. And, contrary to what you might have heard I was able to upload my phone book to the Lexus although I rarely used it as a lookup device to make calls.

The thing that caused me to turn off the Lexus bluetooth with my 650 was the call waiting issue which is a deal breaker for me. I now have version 1.04 on my phone but am afraid to try it again because I'm pretty satisfied with my Motorola H500 bluetooth headset now.

[RandyByTheBay]

What other apps do you have on the Treo? Maybe somthing else on the Treo is causing a conflict. Do you have Blue Fang or BT Toggle on the phone?

Hi digitalfx, thanks for the feedback. Sorry, but it took me a while before I found a spare weekend to test out your suggestion. I have installed and removed lots of software on the phone, so it was due for a good cleaning out anyway.

I completely erased the phone, doing a hard reset. I verified that the phone has the latest software updates from Verizon (updater v1.04), and did not install any new software. I took the phone out to the car and re-paired the two, successfully making the first call to complete the pairing process.

The behavior was exactly the same. When I turn the car on, the phone and the car connect and I get the "Bluetooth Connection Successful" message on the car's display. If I have the phone function displayed on the car's MFD, I can see in the upper right hand corner the icon for the Bluetooth connection "BT", and the antenna display (although signal strength is not displayed). Wait approximately 10 seconds and the "BT" and antenna icon disappear. If I try to dial a number from the car's MFD, I get the "Check Mobile Phone" message.

Trial and Error has shown that if I place a call during this initial 10 seconds after the car is first turned on, the call is successful and works through the car's audio system flawlessly. I've had conversations lasting 30 mins with no problems. The catch is that the call must be connected within the first 10 seconds after the car is started (after the car and phone connect).

So, I think this demonstrated that the problem is not due to additional software conflicts in the phone. I just had the car in to the dealer for its first 5,000 mile check-up. I demonstrated the problem to the dealer and all they could say was that the Treo 650 wasn't supported and I should get a different phone (not possible since work insists that I carry either a Treo 600 or a 650).

The few calls I have been able to place through the car audio system have been wonderful. The audio quality is so much better than on my bluetooth headset. I am really hoping I can get the problem resolved.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[JasonATL]

RandyByTheBay,

You mentioned a bluetooth headset. Is your phone set to connect to the headset in addition to the 400h (or any other devices)? If so, try removing them. I tried a headset once. I hated it. But, I did have to re-pair my phone and 400h after adding (and deleting) the headset. Since then, there have been no problems. Is the headset in the car with you?

It sounds like your phone or your 400h are timing out somehow. I haven't seen any time-out settings on my phone (Sprint PCS Treo 650) or 400h, but I wonder if they exist?

Have you had any troubles with other BT devices (headsets, computers) or any successes?

Just trying to brainstorm potential conflicts... obviously, the phone or the 400h is having an issue. The key question is, which one?