MP 1,1-5,1 802.11ac, BT 4.0, Continuity, and Handoff Working on Mac Pro 2010

[ksz]

Just want to say how helpful this thread has been for me. My 2008 Mac Pro has been made up-to-date as a result of these very recent upgrades:

1. It all started with the OSXWiFi Bluetooth 4.0 / WiFi 802.11a/b/n/ac card. AirDrop and Handoff are now working with Yosemite. Was pleasantly surprised to see that this Mac already had 3 U.PL antenna cables, even though only 2 of them were used by the old WiFi card. The new one uses all 3 and receives full-strength signal from my Securifi Almond+ 802.11ac router.

2. This inspired me to add the Inateck USB 3.0 card and a 7-port powered USB 3.0 hub. I have several USB 3 devices for my 2013 MacBook Air. These devices can now be used with the old Mac Pro at full speed.

3. Couldn't stop there. Ordered two NewerTech AdaptADrive frames for mounting 2.5-inch SSDs in the Mac Pro's 3.5-inch drive bays. Replaced the startup disk with a dual 512GB SSD RAID-0 array (Crucial MX100 SSDs). Boot-up time, application start times, and general speediness have all increased noticeably.

4. The HighPoint RocketRAID 2314 (4 external 3 Gbps SATA ports) is not supported under Yosemite (was okay under Mavericks), so replaced it with the newer RocketRAID 644L (4 external 6 Gbps SATA ports).

5. Finally, added 16 GB memory to the existing 8 GB for a total of 24 GB. This provides plenty of memory for Windows and Linux virtual machines under VMWare Fusion 7.

My Mac Pro will be 7 years old in February 2015 and yet it feels fresh and up-to-date, and the CPUs are plenty fast for everything I do.

 

[mcvite]

Well done

 

[HuRR]

Anyone know how long it took for the card to arrive?

 

[ksz]

Anyone know how long it took for the card to arrive?

If you're referring to the OSXWiFi card:

Ordered on Oct 19: Sunday
Shipped on Oct 22: Wednesday from Florida by US Post Office
Delivered on Oct 25: Saturday to California

 

[HuRR]

If you're referring to the OSXWiFi card:

Ordered on Oct 19: Sunday
Shipped on Oct 22: Wednesday from Florida by US Post Office
Delivered on Oct 25: Saturday to California

Thanks. But I was referring to MacVidCards. I probably should've made that clear. Thanks though.

 

[high5ths]

Thanks. But I was referring to MacVidCards. I probably should've made that clear. Thanks though.

I ordered mine Oct 20 at 9:20pm, it was shipped Oct. 21, and the post office attempted delivery Oct 23. Pretty quick!

It works perfectly, too! The installation instructions on the MacVidCards website were great.

 

[HuRR]

I ordered mine Oct 20 at 9:20pm, it was shipped Oct. 21, and the post office attempted delivery Oct 23. Pretty quick!

It works perfectly, too! The installation instructions on the MacVidCards website were great.

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I ordered on Monday so I'm just trying to figure out if it shipped out. Did you get an email when it shipped out?

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Updated my Mac Pro 3,1 using components sourced from Amazon.com

The adapter card (seller "seaboltd"):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQAXDW8

The Apple specific WiFi / BT combo card (seller "cutekindservice"):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L35XSMS

Cost totals:
$31.98 + $18.98 = $50.96

Ordered on Oct 19th, adapter arrived today, WiFi card arrived on Wednesday (29th), both from China with the cheapest/free shipping options.

Connected the BT antenna to antenna post 3, and connected the 2 previously used antenna wires to posts 1, 2 and the spare antenna wire that Apple included for some reason was connected to the 4th post.
It was easiest to complete this removing 3 of the 4 drives in the Mac and removing the fan cage too.

Original WiFi details via lspci:

New WiFi details via lspci (you can see the Subsystem Vendor ID is an Apple ID so it is a legit card):

New WiFi from System Profiler:

Original BT from System Profiler:

New BT from System Profiler:

Installed:

 

[high5ths]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I ordered on Monday so I'm just trying to figure out if it shipped out. Did you get an email when it shipped out?

Yup, I did get an email when it shipped, with a USPS tracking number.

 

[HuRR]

Yup, I did get an email when it shipped, with a USPS tracking number.

Thanks. I ordered last week and haven't gotten an email from MacVidCards. Payment went through though. I'll try emailing them again.

 

[VovS]

The original mPCIe slot of the Mac Pro Mid 2010 does not contain the USB bus!!

Does anyone know if 2006–2007 Mac Pro (MacPro1,1 and MacPro2,1) also lack the USB bus in mPCIe slot? Or it's possible to use the adapter as is?

 

[Ludacrisvp]

Does anyone know if 2006–2007 Mac Pro (MacPro1,1 and MacPro2,1) also lack the USB bus in mPCIe slot? Or it's possible to use the adapter as is?

1,1 & 2,1 & 3,1 all have the USB bus in the mini PCIe slot. See my post above about the 3,1.

 

[VovS]

1,1 & 2,1 & 3,1 all have the USB bus in the mini PCIe slot. See my post above about the 3,1.

Yeah, I've found an answer to my question right after posting it. Sorry about that.

 

[HuRR]

So I'm a bit confused. I just got my card from MacVidCards, there wasn't an extra antenna included. I was following the directions on the website for a Mac Pro 5,1 and I don't have a Bluetooth wire to connect to where the old card was. Am I missing something here?

Almost 100% sure they sent me a 3,1 card instead of a 4,1 or 5,1 card. Sigh. Hopefully this gets resolved soon.

 

[MacVidCards]

Website issues on October 27th

First up, Hurr, we are sending you a replacement board and wire with a prepaid envelope to return the erroneous one.

Sadly, our website had an issue around 4:30PM on October 27th.

Several orders placed in the 5 minutes or so around then simply vanished off our site. Anyone else who placed an order around 4:30 PM (Pacific Time, so 7:30PM if you are in NYC, etc) and has not received their order or an email from us or got an order with wrong card, please PM me here or email us directly.

I apologize for the hassle, it appears our Weebly site couldn't deal with the influx of orders and made several of them disappear. In true bad form it took people's money and then left no record for us of the orders themselves.

 

[HuRR]

First up, Hurr, we are sending you a replacement board and wire with a prepaid envelope to return the erroneous one.

Sadly, our website had an issue around 4:30PM on October 27th.

Several orders placed in the 5 minutes or so around then simply vanished off our site. Anyone else who placed an order around 4:30 PM (Pacific Time, so 7:30PM if you are in NYC, etc) and has not received their order or an email from us or got an order with wrong card, please PM me here or email us directly.

I apologize for the hassle, it appears our Weebly site couldn't deal with the influx of orders and made several of them disappear. In true bad form it took people's money and then left no record for us of the orders themselves.

Thanks for the clarification, I have emailed you and PM you and haven't gotten a reply. Can you please PM me or email me back? I completely understand the situation. Just need some updates. Thanks again!

EDIT: If you need my order receipt, I can send that to you as well.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

First up, Hurr, we are sending you a replacement board and wire with a prepaid envelope to return the erroneous one.

Sadly, our website had an issue around 4:30PM on October 27th.

Several orders placed in the 5 minutes or so around then simply vanished off our site. Anyone else who placed an order around 4:30 PM (Pacific Time, so 7:30PM if you are in NYC, etc) and has not received their order or an email from us or got an order with wrong card, please PM me here or email us directly.

I apologize for the hassle, it appears our Weebly site couldn't deal with the influx of orders and made several of them disappear. In true bad form it took people's money and then left no record for us of the orders themselves.

Again GREAT Customer Service from MacVidCards!!!

Chapeau MVC and Cheers!

 

[HuRR]

Again GREAT Customer Service from MacVidCards!!!

Chapeau MVC and Cheers!

They've been helpful and I'm sure they are great. I just need to figure out how to get in touch with them heh. Still waiting for a response to my email and PM.

 

[crjackson2134]

They've been helpful and I'm sure they are great. I just need to figure out how to get in touch with them heh. Still waiting for a response to my email and PM.

MVC did make contact in post #293. If you can't contact him privately, and wish too, I would suggest sending him a message through his eBay account.

 

[HuRR]

MVC did make contact in post #293. If you can't contact him privately and wish too, I would suggest sending him a message through his eBay account.

Well I have emailed him and PMed him regarding the order, yesterday and today. I just would like an update and also to confirm everything.

 

[Ludacrisvp]

MVC did already basically call you out saying it was on the way...

 

[flowrider]

MVC did make contact in post #293. If you can't contact him privately and wish too, I would suggest sending him a message through his eBay account.

Actually, better thru here:

http://www.macvidcards.com/contact.html

Lou

 

[macmannate]

Ive had texting and imessage and calling working on my mac pro 3,1 since yosemite and ios8.1

 

[ntemples1]

Clarification

Hi guys, I am just trying to make sense of all this, to summarise am I right in saying the best way to get all the handoff stuff ect. working with my mac pro 5,1 is to get the card from Macvid or OSxwifi?

I am unsure as to why the USB cable is needed on the OSXwifi solution? does that plug into the USB slot on the outside? and the Macvid card doesn't need that?

thanks in advance for the advice,

cheers.

 

[HuRR]

Hi guys, I am just trying to make sense of all this, to summarise am I right in saying the best way to get all the handoff stuff ect. working with my mac pro 5,1 is to get the card from Macvid or OSxwifi?

I am unsure as to why the USB cable is needed on the OSXwifi solution? does that plug into the USB slot on the outside? and the Macvid card doesn't need that?

thanks in advance for the advice,

cheers.

Got my replacement board today. Swapped out the new Airport card from the 1,1-3,1 board to the one I received for the 4,1 and 5,1. Everything is good to go. So glad I had a magnetic screwdriver. This was a must.

Thanks MacVidCards for all the help and the customer service. I would definitely recommend and purchase from you again.

ntemples1, with regard to the cable, with MacVidCards, the 5,1 solution has a cable that connects right into the motherboard where the BT 2.1 card was. That's all. Not sure with the OSXwifi solution.