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)

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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
    2012-01-13T03:44:10+00:00

    Can anyone confirm that using the Add/Remove Programs option in Control Panel is the way to go?  I have been reading the "success" threads and it sounds like you can remove the Widcomm Bluetooth Software with the add/remove programs applet and then run the Widcomm installer and since the software is already uninstalled it won't run its uninstaller which seems to be the cause of the issue.

    I have been wanting to update the drivers and software for the past year and a half since the version I am running is so buggy I can never use the Bluetooth functionality consistently (6.3.0.4300) but I'll be darned if I'll go through the destruction of my Windows installation again.

    Chad, unfortunately if you don't have recovery disks or a recovery partition on your HDD then you will probably be out of luck although I did have some success with running System Restore.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-01-12T19:35:57+00:00

    I have just had this very same thing happen to me. I have a Sony Vaio V-series and went to the support portion of Sony's site to download the new bluetooth driver for my Jawbone bluetooth device. During the unistall of the previous version, I started noticing all of my filed were being deleted from my desktop. I immediately stopped the uninstall and restarted my computer. The PC would not boot!!! I have a saved backup location from 5 days before the download, but I cant even get windows to run anymore. I tried all possible options to boot up the PC with Windows 7 System Restore from the recovery tools of the advanced boot options. NOTHING WORKED!!! I have noticed there are several complaints about this from over 6 months ago, yet, the driver can still be found from Microsoft and Sony support. I did not create any backup discs (I received now information about having to do this when I bought my computer.) I am on a backup PC now, and luckily, all of my company files were backed up on another computer and a cloud backup (SOS). I am at a lost as to what to do at this point. Do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows? I recieved no backup disks with my PC. I am so pisst at this point because I trusted the software on Sony's Support, and this has been an isssue for months and nothing has been done about it. If I have to get another copy of windows, will I be responsible for the cost? Any help with this matter will be truly appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Chad

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-11-24T08:53:19+00:00

    I remember experiencing this last year  on a Dell m4500.

    The triggering cause: the bluetooth installer seems to hit hard on the hdd. 

    But the problem lies somewhere else: it is the driver  for the SATA. I used the default raid setting in the bios and there was a critical update regarding data loss and the intel rapid storage driver.

    Once I installed that bluetooth installed ok. problem was solved for me.

    Hope that helps.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-11-17T22:47:57+00:00

    Same thing just happened to me today.  It deleted everything on my C drive.  How can this be allowed to happen?  Dell M4500 with 375 bluetooth module.

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