bborastero you are a complete star While I was using the windows BT to make the conection, I still had the bundled (toshiba bluestack) software on the machine - once I uninstalled it as you suggested all came right - thank you so much! I don't know if I can help you at all with your connection issues in return, but i have found the connection using the bluetooth dongle I bought from E Z robots givea a strong signal all the time, while my onbaord dell BT seems much more variable...might be worth a few dollars as a try if you are struggling?