Bluetooth in Windows 8.1 Pro Boot Camp

Question

Okay, so I've searched all over the place and found no actual solutions to my problem. There are several forums that ask this question, but then they just kind of trail off...
Here's my issue:
I have a new MBP (non-retina) and I am running Windows 8.1 Pro with Boot Camp. (Yosemite on OSX side)
I am trying to use my internal bluetooth chipset (Broadcom 20702A3) to set up a serial connection with a very simple bluetooth device that talks to an arduino. The bluetooth module is a pretty common one -- the JY-MCU. I know that it will work on my hardware because it works beautifully when I run OSX. Then I boot into Windows, and it goes kaput. Open PC Settings > PC and Devices > Bluetooth, and it will appear. I can pair with it by entering the correct code, and all looks good: the progress bar goes across, then it says "connected." Then a few seconds later, it says "paired" instead of connected. That basically means that it COULD talk to it because it knows the passcode, but it doesn't see it anymore. That's what happens when i turn off my bluetooth mouse: it says "paired" but not "connected." Turn the mouse back on, it says "connected" again. There is nothing that I can do to make the bluetooth module say "connected" again, though, short of clicking "remove device" and repeating the process. I tried BlueSoleil, but a similar thing happened (I can give more specifics, if it would help anyone familiar with BlueSoleil), and the software seemed pretty sketchy to me, so I uninstalled it. I've also tried re-downloading and reinstalling the Boot Camp drivers, but no change. I tried installing Broadcom drivers, but no luck there either -- the installer stalls because it can't find the hardware. The Broadcom driver issue has been discussed by other people trying to do similar things, but it seems that no one has been able to make anything work at all on a Mac except BlueSoleil and the Boot Camp drivers. Oh, and one other thing I tried: enabling bluetooth collaboration (Device Manager > Network Adapters > Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter > Advanced > Bluetooth Collaboraion > Enable) worked for some people who wanted to have two bluetooth devices going at the same time, but made no difference for me.
So, any ideas? I think what I'm looking for is a better driver (although I've searched all over) or a less sketchy, more reliable bluetooth manager than BlueSoleil. At this point, though, anything's worth a try, so long as it's not malware. I really would like to be able to make this work. My next try will be to buy a bluetooth dongle, and use whatever drivers come with that, but that's pretty inelegant, especially since I only have two USB ports.
Let me know if any more specifics would be helpful.
Thank you in advance,
-Rowan

Answer 1

COMPLETE SOLUTION
This solution will get Arduino bluetooth communication up and running on a MacBook Pro that has been Boot Camp-ed into Windows 8.1.
1. Use standard Boot Camp bluetooth drivers
2. Download PuTTY
3. Connect bluetooth module to Arduino.
    I used a cheap JY-MCU bluetooth module
    I used SoftwareSerial, but if you want, you can probably use HardwareSerial, although you might have to disconnect the BT module to upload sketches.
    Whatever you do, remember to connect Tx to Rx and Rx to Tx.
4. Upload this sketch to your Arduino (using a USB cord) to check serial communication (unplug the cord when you're done):
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial BTBoard(2,3); //Rx, Tx
char val = 0;
char current;
int ind = 13; //LED on pin 13
void setup(){
  BTBoard.begin(9600); //This must be set to baud rate of your BT module
  pinMode(ind, OUTPUT);
void loop(){
  while(BTBoard.available()){
    current = BTBoard.read();
    if((current != '\r') && (current != '\n')){ //PuTTY sends a carriage return (\r) and a newline character (\n) every time you press enter
      val = current;
      BTBoard.write("val is currently ");
      BTBoard.write(val);
      BTBoard.write("\r\n"); //These lines echo back the value that is stored
      if(val == '1')
        digitalWrite(ind, HIGH); //turn on the LED
      if(val == '0')
        digitalWrite(ind, LOW); //turn off the LED
  delay(10);
5. Connect your bluetooth module to your computer:
     Power up the BT module
     Open PC Settings > PC and Devices > Bluetooth
     Wait for your BT module to appear, when it does, pair with it.
     You may need to enter a passcode: try 1234 or 0000
     It may say "Connected" or just "Paired," but it doesn't really matter as long as it says one or the other
     Close Settings
     Go to the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar
     Right click on it, an click "Open Settings" (if you don't have the BT icon in your taskbar, there is probably another way to get to these settings)
     Click the "COM Ports" tab
     Take note of the name of your outgoing port (mine was COM3)
6. Start PuTTY
     Set up PuTTY as indicated by this site
     Make sure that the baud rate is the same as the baud rate of your BT module, and the same as the baud rate in the sketch above
     Make sure that the COM port is the one that you found in the last step
     You might want to save your session so you don't have to change the settings in the future
     Click "Open"!
Now when you type a 1 into PuTTY and hit enter, it should echo back "Val is currently 1" and the LED should turn on. The opposite happens when you type a 0.
If you need to restart PuTTY, unplug the BT module, wait a few seconds, plug it back in, and start PuTTY again, using your saved session. You shouldn't need to re-pair the BT module with your computer.
I hope that this helps someone out. I might post it on the Arduino forum too.
-Rowan