I have an arduino pro mini that I have been powering through an usb breakoutboard that gives it 3.3v voltage supply. This setup works fine and my attached smirf is functional. But once I removed the usb and instead power the arduino through my raw pin using a coin cell(3.3v), the arduino turns on but the smirf is off. I recall the coincell working long ago on the arduino and smirf setup, what could be the problem here?
Assuming you have the 3.3v version of the Arduino Pro Mini you are supposed to supply at least 3.35v on the "RAW" pin in order for the regulator to provide 3.3v. If you provide 3.3v you are going to get less than that out of the regulator. The BlueSMIRF Silver requires 3.3v so what you are getting from the regulator might be too low.
Try hooking your 3.3v coin cell directly to the 3.3v pin instead of going through the regulator.
Put the 3.3V direct to the VCC pin, don't go thru the regulator.