Sony A1 Sony A1 and RMT-P1BT not Connecting

[stevedb123]

I have a Sony A1 and purchased a Sony RMT-P1BT to trigger it remotely. On my first attempt to link the camera to the remote, the a1 was running firmware v1.10. I followed the instructions very carefully and tried to get them to pair but no success. I searched around and saw a post somewhere that I needed to update the camera's firmware.

I successfully updated from 1.10 to 1.35 to 2.01. Now I am running 2.01.


Things are worse. When I go to turn on the Bluetooth via Network > Bluetooth > Bluetooth Function > On I get the following error message:



The Wifi/Bluetooth unit has
malfunctioned.
Cannot use the wireless network
function.



What?

At least with firmware v1.10 I was able to turn Bluetooth on. Now I am completely dead in the water.

Just to confirm, I went to Network > Cnct./Remote Sht. > Smartphone Connection and I see the message:

Sets the camera "Bluetooth Function: to "On"
OK
Cancel

When I select OK, I get exactly the same message:

The Wifi/Bluetooth unit has
malfunctioned.
Cannot use the wireless network
function.

Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Do I have a hardware problem with the camera? Did the firmware upgrade somehow brick the Bluetooth functionality? Is there any other setting that might affect the Bluetooth/Wifi functionality?

Work Arounds?

are there any other ways to remotely trigger the a1 that don't rely on a Smart phone or the RMT-P1BT? I only need 10 ft of range.

Optical trigger?
Cam Ranger? (unfortunately my Cam Ranger is an older one and may not work with the A1)

A whole lot of hours have been eaten away at what should be a fairly straightforward setup.

 

[Phil Vetra]

I think you should go to the Sony A1 update page and update to version ver. 4.00 link here -

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-1-series/ilce-1/downloads

This may fix it.