Widcomm Uninstalltion wipes out the computer. New Virus or Windows Voulnerability.

Anonymous
2010-07-09T05:33:11+00:00

VERY SERIOUS BUG/VULNERABILITY WIDCOMM BLUETOOTH SOFTWARE

Uninstalling Widcomm bluetooth software from control panel wipes out all data, programs and the boot sector on the computer.

I have tried to report this to microsoft but can't find out how. Please report this to the appropirate department.

I have windows 7 home premium. I tried to update my widcomm bluetooth software by downloading and installing the upgrade. The installation fails giving error 1935. After that the existing widcomm software becomes nonoperational. I tried to uninstall the widcomm bluetooth software from control panel the message "please wait while windows configures Bluetooth software". As it works all files from the hard drive are deleted, the desktop becomes empty, all open programs are deleted, all app data is deleted, the start menu becomes empty and finally it asks to reboot. After reboot the computer gives boot error message and does not boot up.

I had to install windows again to get the computer working. All data was lost. The anti virus was up to date and recent scans were all good. Windows was up to date. It appears that the error is from windows uninstaller some how going haywire when trying to remove widcomm bluetooth software. After restoring my computer I installed widcomm bluetooth software, copied the hard drive and tried to uninstall widcomm again. Results were exactly the same and I got screen shots from the beginning to the end. I have tried it on multiple computers with the same results (cloned the disk before)

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2011-02-05T00:50:32+00:00

Hi widcommbug,

yes, things are getting wild here...I don´t know why.

Maybe I can help you, here is what I did- and it worked:

  1. I´ve deinstalled all versions of widcomm bluetooth software with the windows program deinstallation in the system tools.
  2. I´ve restarted the PC
  3. I´ve cleaned up the registry with a tool (I do not rely on any, I´ve used registry mechanic, which is the same as Norton Utillities 14- but it works more or less)
  4. I´ve downloaded the latest version of widcomm bluethooth software here:

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f237/widcomm-bluetooth-driver-6-4-0-670-a-1197332/ 

click on "deposit files", and you´ll get version 6.3.0.7000 of Lenovo widcomm bluetooth software which is the same

as original widcomm bluetooth.

  1. Download it.
  2. Extract it to a folder
  3. Only use the file Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe out of the zip archive. Drop the rest.
  4. If you´ll click on this .exe file you´ll only get some weird screen all filled up with ????, so you´ll have to use a different way:
  5. Exctract Broadcom_Bluetooth_6.4.0.670.exe once again to a folder and then click on the file setup.exe

Then, the software will install correctly.

Well, this is weird, agreed. I found it out only a few trials. Remember, this software is leaked from Lenovo, but

it is the latest version I found, it is 100% Widcomm Bluetooth Software.

Here you have prove of what Widcomm is doing:

It does not provide the latest widcomm bluetooth software for free, but only for notebook manufacturers.

Widcomm doesn´t give a single hint on this policy on their homepage- private customers seem to be

unimportant for Widcomm- and still no amendment with the update bug in this software- really poor.

But no way to kid me.

BR

Andy

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-12-04T16:53:39+00:00

    Here we go….

    I waited a month since my last post where I experienced this issue with a brand new Dell Latitude E6510.

    This week, I purchased a backup laptop hard drive and made a duplicate image of my primary hard disk so I could begin experimenting…

    Today I logged back into Dells support site and noticed that their Wireless 375 Bluetooth application had been updated. I downloaded this latest file and attempted to run it but received a Widdcom installation error. I called Dell support (with the error on my screen) and they suggested I also download and install the Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module “driver” first. OK, this makes sense, since I attempted to install the latest application for the Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module (not the latest driver). I clicked “ok” to get past the Widcomm installation error and the installation proceeded to roll back.

    The Dell support rep and I downloaded both the latest Dell driver and application from the Dell website:

    http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&ServiceTag=&SystemID=LAT\_E6510&os=W764&osl=en&catid=&impid=

    For everyone’s reference, the versions were as follows:

    Dell Application – Applies to: Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module

    Version: 6.3.0.6900, A04               Date: 11/10/2010

    Dell Driver – Applied to Wireless 375 Bluetooth Module

    Version: 6.3.0.3102, A02               Date: 3/30/2010

    We proceeded to install the driver named: NC_DRVR_WIN_R254689.EXE

    No errors observed but installation took well over 45 minutes and during this time we observed the following:

    • Free disk space increasing
    • Icons disappearing from desktop
    • Symantec Endpoint began popping up a message stating that it could no longer find the latest virus definition files
    • Opening up the Windows explorer, we could see folders on the C drive disappearing

    When it was complete, most folders on the C drive were gone, All applications (ie. Office, Symantec Endpoint, etc. began popping up messages that they were missing files and could not start.

     My conclusions:

    • This problem is still not properly resolved or addressed.
    • This problem is repeatable given the environment on the laptop I am testing with
    • The problem is most likely not a hardware related issue but is probably related to the Bluetooth Device driver or possibly the driver in combination with a particular firmware version of the Wireless 375 device

     Next Steps:

    • I will restore my backup image to the test drive (again) and let Dell experiment with some other options: (ie. Updating the driver under safe mode, removing the driver first via the device manager, perhaps disabling the wireless Bluetooth in the Bios before attempting any of these steps).
    • I will video record these observations going forward so if no vendor takes this issue seriously, then perhaps a lawsuit may be the only way to get this issue properly addressed.

    I would suggest Widdcom take this seriously…

    If anyone else has initiated legal proceedings, please let me know and I will consider participating and providing all evidence collected.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-12-02T04:47:51+00:00

    I tried to use the oficial Broadcom/Widcomm installer/updater from https://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php but each time it fails and then it 'rollsback' to an incomplete install. I then had to use my manufacturers old version to get back to a full featured working state. I found this page http://www.driverstools.com/acer-drivers/driver-acer-aspire-5742g-notebook-for-windows-xp/ (Broadcom listed on that page) which actually is named Bluetooth_Broadcom_6.3.0.6000_W7x86_A and this completely worked for me. No errors on install no partially working bluetoth features, it just works. Hope this helps others that have been having the same problems I have been having. Cheers!

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-12-01T21:34:27+00:00

    This needs to be more visible in other forums. Other people could stand to avoid losing EVERYTHING on their computer. What a mess! I found this thread trying to figure out what I did wrong installing the WIDCOMM Bluetooth stack. Apparently, I did nothing wrong. I've never had anything like this happen before!

    I lost my files from my Toshiba Satellite 64b running Windows 7. Very bad timing.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-11-20T20:38:00+00:00

    This actually worked for me... Thanks for the link.  I had to uninstall the previous install but it worked better than the rest of the drivers I tried. Thank you very much. Oh and the uninstaller didn't wipe out my windows, it worked fine. Check for viruses, try using Hitman Pro or Malwarebytes.

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