2011 MacBook Pros can support Handoff/Continuity

[nicklad]

Were there any changes between the DP3 and DP4 kexts that might present a problem by using the older modified file?

It does not appear that any changes have been made that break anything.

You could, however, easily modify it yourself using a HEX editor to change the acceptable board ids if you are concerned about this.

 

[MacVidCards]

If anybody is interested in what Apple changed with DP3, there are now board id checks for both the 802.11n (BCM4331) and 802.11ac (BCM4335) parts in a canLoad() function in the KEXT:

__dev0x4331ValidLoadDriverBoardIds and __dev0x4353ValidLoadDriverBoardIds

[url=http://s30.postimg.org/5kmgohd31/board_id_checks.jpg]Image[/url]

OK, but here is a question. What EXACTLY does that do? I have a MP 4,1 with the 2013 iMac card. So it has BT 4.0 and WiFi AC. The 94360 chip works fine, I get the "Enable Handoff" menu choice, and I just used Continuity and AirDrop from 5S to MP.

Never modded any kexts, bone stock.

So the kext isn't being blocked from loading and I very much doubt that they included the MP board ids.

In fact, when the previous mod made the 94360 kext load on MacBooks with 94324 chips, the 94360 kext certainly wasn't being used, it just somehow enabled the features by virtue of the fact that it was loaded.

I am about to test same features on a 2008 3,1 Mac Pro, and I am 99% certain that it wouldn't be considered "supported".

I am just pointing out that if we figure out how this mechanism works it may be easier to hack.

 

[nicklad]

OK, but here is a question. What EXACTLY does that do? I have a MP 4,1 with the 2013 iMac card. So it has BT 4.0 and WiFi AC. The 94360 chip works fine, I get the "Enable Handoff" menu choice, and I just used Continuity and AirDrop from 5S to MP.

Never modded any kexts, bone stock.

So the kext isn't being blocked from loading and I very much doubt that they included the MP board ids.

In fact, when the previous mod made the 94360 kext load on MacBooks with 94324 chips, the 94360 kext certainly wasn't being used, it just somehow enabled the features by virtue of the fact that it was loaded.

I am about to test same features on a 2008 3,1 Mac Pro, and I am 99% certain that it wouldn't be considered "supported".

I am just pointing out that if we figure out how this mechanism works it may be easier to hack.

Sure, if you look at the screen shot that I posted, the checks for the board id at present only apply for the BCM4331 and BCM4353, not for the BCM4360. The driver therefore loads.

 

[MacVidCards]

Sure, if you look at the screen shot that I posted, the checks for the board id at present only apply for the BCM4331 and BCM4353, not for the BCM4360. The driver therefore loads.

Looking in the IO family kext I see Brcm4331, Brcm4360, and Brcm43224

Is 4353 in 4360?

So far the 3,1 isn't working like 4,1.

If you are right about board check, does that mean if th non-listed boards use the Airport card that there would be no WiFi at all?

 

[nicklad]

Looking in the IO family kext I see Brcm4331, Brcm4360, and Brcm43224

Is 4353 in 4360?

So far the 3,1 isn't working like 4,1.

If you are right about board check, does that mean if th non-listed boards use the Airport card that there would be no WiFi at all?

Yes, the 4353 is in the 4360 KEXT... This also applies to the BCM4331. In the case that the Brcm4360 KEXT cannot be loaded because it refuses to because of a non whitelisted board id, another compatible KEXT loaded in fallback that that is compiled from an older code base, has fewer features, embeds an older firmware version etc.

You still get Wi-Fi access therefore, but not access to the newer features that Yosemite offers.

 

[ivaren]

Soo, has anyone successfully installed a third-party bluetooth device in a macbook pro 2011 in order to make handoff work?

 

[BorderFort]

With DP4. Handoff is indeed working however you must repeat the process of replacing the IO80211 file

Hm, very strange. I'm trying this (for the first time) on DP4 and not having any luck. At first it seemed like reboots weren't causing a kext cache rebuild, so I did a full shutdown/boot-up, which definitely took its sweet time, but I can't get it to load anything but the Brcm4331.

Any thoughts? (I do have a BTLE-supporting AirPort card in my MacBook Pro.)

 

[actisys]

It seems i haven't reboot my macbook after the update DP4. Its not working now, I tried to replaced the file and redo the whole process but failed. Now end up I don't have wifi it show (No hardware installed) .. Any advice??

 

[TealShark]

I was in the same boat last night after a PRAM reset. What I ended up having to do was reinstalling DP1 (overtop my existing DP4 install), then DP2, then DP3 and loading the modified .kext, then upgrading to DP4 and re-inserting the modified .kext again. Seems to work fine now.

If someone has a more elegant solution, I'm all ears.

 

[128keaton]

I was in the same boat last night after a PRAM reset. What I ended up having to do was reinstalling DP1 (overtop my existing DP4 install), then DP2, then DP3 and loading the modified .kext, then upgrading to DP4 and re-inserting the modified .kext again. Seems to work fine now.

If someone has a more elegant solution, I'm all ears.

Did you have kext-dev-mode=1 is your boot parameters so it would rebuild?

 

[TealShark]

Did you have kext-dev-mode=1 is your boot parameters so it would rebuild?

I did. I tried the .kext posted in this thread first, and then manually hex edited the DP4 one myself just in case there was some issue there, with no luck.

I even restored DP4 back to factory freshness by re-instating the untouched DP4 .kext and starting from scratch, but no go until I restored from DP1-onward step-by-step. The card was detected but it would not show it as the 4360 (only the 4331) using the kextstat command.

EDIT: Interesting note (at least to me): Whereas before I had both the 4331 and 4360 listings in kextstat, now I only have this one:

kextstat | grep AirPort
49 0 0xffffff7f8175b000 0x5d4000 0x5d4000 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360 (900.15.2a2) <48 47 46 12 7 6 5 4 3 1>

 

[actisys]

Weird, after I re-run the process now seem okay. I can use handoff without problem but kextstat as below:-

kextstat | grep AirPort
49 0 0xffffff7f8173e000 0x5df000 0x5df000 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360 (900.14.2) <48 47 46 12 7 6 5 4 3 1>
55 0 0xffffff7f81d8f000 0x1f3000 0x1f3000 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331 (800.20.24) <48 46 12 7 5 4 3 1>

 

[Manic Harmonic]

Here is the patched kext for DP4. http://d-h.st/zIA Not sure what's been updated but it is a different version number. Untested since I don't have the card. Just follow the instructions actisys posted a few pages back.

 

[Thatindianbruh]

Can someone please try this IO80211family.kext?
http://d-h.st/2eZ

I have no way to test this because I don't have the new card. Remember to back up your original IO80211family.kext first...

First enable loading of unsigned kexts:

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

Unzip the kext, copy it into /System/Library/Extensions and make sure it replaces the original.
Then set permissions:

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext

sudo chmod -R 644 /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext

Clear the kext cache:

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

sudo kextcache -system-caches

I don't want to share what I changed right now, but if you look in the 4360 kext it's pretty obvious... If you want to know just PM me. I'm just thinking Apple is likely keeping an eye on this thread so I don't want to share it yet, especially if it works.

Let me know if this works! Note that if you don't add kext-dev-mode=1 it will refuse to even attempt loading the kext and you will have no Wi-Fi, and if you don't clear kext caches it will still use the original kext. So make sure you do both of those steps!

This won't work for me either. What do you require from me to check what's wrong?

EDIT: I hope this helps.

kextstat | grep AirPort
52 0 0xffffff7f817b0000 0x1f4000 0x1f4000 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331 (800.20.24) <51 44 12 7 5 4 3 1>

 

[Manic Harmonic]

This won't work for me either. What do you require from me to check what's wrong?

EDIT: I hope this helps.

kextstat | grep AirPort
52 0 0xffffff7f817b0000 0x1f4000 0x1f4000 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331 (800.20.24)

Apple might have done something else to prevent it from loading, another check or something.

 

[Thatindianbruh]

Apple might have done something else to prevent it from loading, another check or something.

what do you suggest I do? Also what's your Twitter handle or something. Great work on the music BTW.

 

[Manic Harmonic]

what do you suggest I do? Also what's your Twitter handle or something. Great work on the music BTW.

Actisys posted a revised method of installing it a few posts after that one so take a look at that. Apparently you need to reboot a few times during the process. I don't have Twitter but you can just pm me if you want, I have tapatalk so I get the notifications on my phone.

Oh, and thanks.

 

[nic.goodman]

Yea you just need to reboot after the initial command, and then reboot a second time after you have replaced the kext file and completed the rest of the terminal commands. And I can confirm that you have to repeat everything after upgrading to DP4 and that the original kext file works fine (haven't tried Manic's new one).

 

[Thatindianbruh]

Actisys posted a revised method of installing it a few posts after that one so take a look at that. Apparently you need to reboot a few times during the process. I don't have Twitter but you can just pm me if you want, I have tapatalk so I get the notifications on my phone.

Oh, and thanks.

I've tried it with his instructions and on number 2 where it says your wireless shouldn't work. Mine works at that stage too. Is that a problem?

I've also tried switching kexts between the new one you uploaded and the first one, still nothing.

 

[TealShark]

I've done the install about six or seven times now and I've only had the WiFi not work once (on an early 2011 17" MacBook Pro). I haven't had any issues when the WiFi still worked after that step.

 

[Thatindianbruh]

I've done the install about six or seven times now and I've only had the WiFi not work once (on an early 2011 17" MacBook Pro). I haven't had any issues when the WiFi still worked after that step.

Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 4.3.0b2 14454
Hardware, Features, and Settings:
Name: Pratik's MacBook
Address: (Mine)
Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Manufacturer: Broadcom
Transport: USB
Chipset: 20702A3
Firmware Version: v143 c5760
Bluetooth Power: On
Discoverable: On
Connectable: Yes
Auto Seek Pointing: On
Remote wake: On
Vendor ID: 0x05AC
Product ID: 0x821D
HCI Version: 0x6
HCI Revision: 0x1680
LMP Version: 0x6
LMP Subversion: 0x228F
Device Type (Major): Computer
Device Type (Complete): Mac Portable
Composite Class Of Device: 0x38010C
Device Class (Major): 0x01
Device Class (Minor): 0x03
Service Class: 0x1C0
Auto Seek Keyboard: On


Here's my bluetooth output in system info utility. Anything out the ordinary?

 

[enilsen16]

Can anyone confirm that handoff is working with BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX on a 2011 macbook pro w/ DP4?

 

[TealShark]

I can. It's working fine here for me after a reinstall overtop of my existing system, DP1 -> DP4.

 

[AlphaDogg]

I just ordered this one. I'll let you know how it goes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190817179492?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[nicklad]

EDIT: I have decided to wait until the official release of Yosemite before releasing a binary patch. Please use the patch supplied by Manic Harmonic for the moment.