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

[missmercy]

OSXWiFi stole my money. I've sent them 5 emails now to both their sales and support emails and they don't respond.

Wow that's really bad form, they did help me when I first got the card (but only after I'd whinged about their slackness in another thread on this forum!!), but even then the email turnaround time took AGES, I reckon it was about two months of mucking about before they finally provided a solution.

I hope you paid through Paypal. Maybe you can lodge a refund claim?

My Broadcom card uses a USB connection for Bluetooth. You may want to double check the the USB connection

Am going to pull the card out and reseat this afternoon, fingers crossed it's just something simple like the USB being loose, weird that it's still working fine in Yosemite though, just not El Capitan - I suspect it's something to do with the firmware/drivers/kexts, though I've no idea how to deal with that if it is - that's why I bought a dongle just in case.

Actually does anyone know if I can use the card with Yosemite on one boot disc and the dongle with El Capitan on the other boot disc? I realise I will have to run CAT to get the dongle working on El Capitan, but don't know if I'll have to switch to the dongle and use CAT also in Yosemite.

I've uploaded the CAT system report for El Capitan, just in case anyone can help. The section saying my "hardware doesn't support Bluetooth 4.0 necessary for Continuity Current LMP Version=0, expected 6" is odd - in Yosemite the LMP version is 6.

 

[missmercy]

You may want to double check the the USB connection.

Thank you for the suggestion. I unplugged the USB and replugged, no difference - this was plugged into an internal USB. Shut down and plugged the USB into an external port (not PCI card) and voila it works!!! The only thing I can think is that the internal USB didn't have enough power???

Unfortunately though, the cable has taken my top PCI slot (the only one I had free) - had to get it out and it was the only one free, so no more expansion for the time being.

This is now what I see when I used CAT.

 

[knowhate]

.

 

[mattspace]

I am going to upgrade my 4,1 Wifi card to get Bluetooth 4.0. Does anyone have experience with http://www.osxwifi.com/ ?

the last two pages of posts seem to be people complaining about their products not working, and the company not responding to emails...

 

[cdf]

I am going to upgrade my 4,1 Wifi card to get Bluetooth 4.0. Does anyone have experience with http://www.osxwifi.com/ ?

They have two units available and I'm unsure which one to get as they both have the same model number:
http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadcom-bcm94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-with-bluetooth-4-0
http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...-with-adapter-for-macpro-2009-and-macpro-2010

I did this upgrade with their product. The second one (with the adapter) is the one that you want. Be careful with the bluetooth extension cable: the tiny male end is quite fragile (don't try to disconnect that end after snapping it in). I had no problems with osxwifi (shipping was fast and they answered a question I had right away).

 

[Squuiid]

I am going to upgrade my 4,1 Wifi card to get Bluetooth 4.0. Does anyone have experience with http://www.osxwifi.com/ ?

I would recommend you stay away from this company. There are other vendors on ebay that offer the same thing and you're less likely to be ripped off.

 

[haralds]

Sierra GM Seed #2 seems to be working nicely on my Mac Pro with updated WiFi/BTLE card.
Oddly, the MacBook Air 11 mid 2011 patched with CAT seems to have stopped, it worked with GM seed #1 and before. It does report for handoff to be enabled.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Been considering doing this for a while now, but didn't want to get in to import duties and waiting an month for something. Was looking again today and just spotted that someone in the Netherlands (where I live) is also selling an update kit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Mac-P...056845?hash=item3d1d26568d:g:n2IAAOSwqBJXXolZ

It uses a BCM94360CD, this is the same I see that OSX Wifi use.

 

[VAGDesign]

It still is very expensive the one you linked. I bought the card and the adapter for around 35€ both. Do some research and buy from China. You will wait 20 days or so, but you will receive the same product.

 

[BillyBobBongo]

It still is very expensive the one you linked. I bought the card and the adapter for around 35€ both. Do some research and buy from China. You will wait 20 days or so, but you will receive the same product.

I'll take another look...although ordering from a Dutch company makes it easier to declare my VAT.

Out of interest, what sort of import duties did you end up paying when you purchased your items from China?

 

[VAGDesign]

No import Duties when the Chinese seller declares the value below 45€ (which is true) and ship it with free shipping (Chinese Post) to your country's National Post Service.

Why to pay something 3-4times the value just to declare ~20%?
[doublepost=1474895600][/doublepost]Here, I found you the card:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Broad...AC-Wifi-Bluetooth-4-0-Wlan-card-/172268320833

And the adapter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390968179409

 

[guin]

All handoff features appear broken on my (genuine) cMP 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD wireless card in the final Sierra release.

I'm interested in hearing if anyone with the same card and a 4,1->5,1 or 5,1 has any handoff features working.

All continuity features work including cellular calls, iMessage SMS, and AirDrop.

Handoff, Universal Clipboard, Instant Hotspot, and Auto Unlock do not work.

I suspect Apple has made a change that prevents these cards from working "out of the box". Perhaps an update to Continuity Activation Tool will provide a fix.

To be thorough here are all the troubleshooting steps I've taken:

1. Clean install of Sierra (16A323) from Mac App Store
2. Clean install of iOS 10.0.2 on iPhone 5s
3. Logged in and out of all devices on iCloud multiple times
4. Checked and unchecked "Allow Handoff" on Mac and enabled/disabled Handoff on iPhone multiple times
5. Removed and re-added all devices on https://appleid.apple.com
6. Disabled SIP and ran Continuity Activation tool (v2.3)
7. Rebooted AirPort Extreme
8. Unplugging ethernet from Mac Pro and disabled ethernet devices
9. Checked physical connections.
10. Removed all other paired bluetooth devices from Mac Pro and iPhone
11. Deleted com.apple.bluetooth.plist
12. Tired various "voodoo" solutions including sending/receiving calls & iMessages, logging in/out while rebooting, disabling wifi calling, enabling/disabling bluetooth/wifi on both devices, Manually pairing/un-pairing iPhone as bluetooth device on Mac, enabling/disabling bluetooth file sharing

Notes:

• AirDrop works flawlessly and quickly both ways between Mac Pro and iPhone
• Bluetooth mouse works fine
• In Security & Privacy on Mac "Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" shows but hangs on "Turning on..."
• All handoff features worked in El Capitan without CAT
• I purchased the card and adapter from eBay but I believe OSXWIFI was selling the same card so I'm very curious to hear if other people with the same card are having issues with handoff features.

Here are the relevant system report information for reference:

 

[X--X]

All handoff features appear broken on my (genuine) cMP 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD wireless card in the final Sierra release.

I've got the same card in my MP, haven't installed Sierra yet.

Maybe it's a change they made in their bluetooth software.

ElCapitan
Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 4.4.6f1 17910

Sierra
Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 5.0.0f18

If it doesn't work anymore, they blocked that card on purpose.

Maybe we can just change/spoof the product ID of the wifi card and use an ID of a Macbook Pro broadcom card.

 

[mattspace]

All handoff features appear broken on my (genuine) cMP 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD wireless card in the final Sierra release.

All continuity features work including cellular calls, iMessage SMS, and AirDrop.

Handoff, Universal Clipboard, Instant Hotspot, and Auto Unlock do not work.

Have you checked that you're logged into iCloud with the same account you use for all of the services that use handoff? For example, when I put an AC/BT4LE card in mine, a lot of things worked in a similar fashion to yours - Airdrop, but no Handoff. Tracked it down to my iCloud login was a different AppleID / address to the one I used for Messages, Facetime etc. So all the client apps looked synced with each other, Messages showed up synced correctly, but there was nothing linking that set of synced apps to the iCloud login that synced the workspace state between devices.

 

[guin]

I've got the same card in my MP, haven't installed Sierra yet.

Maybe it's a change they made in their bluetooth software.

ElCapitan
Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 4.4.6f1 17910

Sierra
Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 5.0.0f18

If it doesn't work anymore, they blocked that card on purpose.

Maybe we can just change/spoof the product ID of the wifi card and use an ID of a Macbook Pro broadcom card.

I hope you report back when you do upgrade to Sierra. My worry is Apple added additional checks as a security feature of the new Apple Watch unlocking feature in Sierra.

Have you checked that you're logged into iCloud with the same account you use for all of the services that use handoff? For example, when I put an AC/BT4LE card in mine, a lot of things worked in a similar fashion to yours - Airdrop, but no Handoff. Tracked it down to my iCloud login was a different AppleID / address to the one I used for Messages, Facetime etc. So all the client apps looked synced with each other, Messages showed up synced correctly, but there was nothing linking that set of synced apps to the iCloud login that synced the workspace state between devices.

Thanks for the suggestion, I've read in the past that conflicting iCloud logins can cause Handoff problems. I've always been very careful to only login to my devices using my very old "x@mac.com" email address using all lowercase letters.

Just to test I logged out from my "x@mac.com" accounts on my Mac Pro and iPhone and rebooted. I then logged in on both devices using "x@icloud.com" (x being the same on both accounts; x is not my real email), enabled and disabled enable Handoff on both devices, and again rebooted one final time. Unfortunately Handoff is still not working on either device.

I had a hunch that the legacy "x@mac.com" address was causing a problem but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I would also like to note that I've had both the Mac Pro and iPhone on the exact same Wi-Fi network (5Ghz) with a 5th generation (A1408) AirPort Extreme router.

 

[nopster]

made exactly the same steps.
Same behaviour, I own a Mac Pro 4,1 > firmware upgraded to 5,1. Sierra latest version and this card.

All handoff features appear broken on my (genuine) cMP 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD wireless card in the final Sierra release.

I'm interested in hearing if anyone with the same card and a 4,1->5,1 or 5,1 has any handoff features working.

All continuity features work including cellular calls, iMessage SMS, and AirDrop.

Handoff, Universal Clipboard, Instant Hotspot, and Auto Unlock do not work.

I suspect Apple has made a change that prevents these cards from working "out of the box". Perhaps an update to Continuity Activation Tool will provide a fix.

To be thorough here are all the troubleshooting steps I've taken:

1. Clean install of Sierra (16A323) from Mac App Store
2. Clean install of iOS 10.0.2 on iPhone 5s
3. Logged in and out of all devices on iCloud multiple times
4. Checked and unchecked "Allow Handoff" on Mac and enabled/disabled Handoff on iPhone multiple times
5. Removed and re-added all devices on https://appleid.apple.com
6. Disabled SIP and ran Continuity Activation tool (v2.3)
7. Rebooted AirPort Extreme
8. Unplugging ethernet from Mac Pro and disabled ethernet devices
9. Checked physical connections.
10. Removed all other paired bluetooth devices from Mac Pro and iPhone
11. Deleted com.apple.bluetooth.plist
12. Tired various "voodoo" solutions including sending/receiving calls & iMessages, logging in/out while rebooting, disabling wifi calling, enabling/disabling bluetooth/wifi on both devices, Manually pairing/un-pairing iPhone as bluetooth device on Mac, enabling/disabling bluetooth file sharing

Notes:

• AirDrop works flawlessly and quickly both ways between Mac Pro and iPhone
• Bluetooth mouse works fine
• In Security & Privacy on Mac "Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac" shows but hangs on "Turning on..."
• All handoff features worked in El Capitan without CAT
• I purchased the card and adapter from eBay but I believe OSXWIFI was selling the same card so I'm very curious to hear if other people with the same card are having issues with handoff features.

Here are the relevant system report information for reference:

View attachment 659606 View attachment 659607

 

[kgapp]

All handoff features appear broken on my (genuine) cMP 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD wireless card in the final Sierra release.

I'm interested in hearing if anyone with the same card and a 4,1->5,1 or 5,1 has any handoff features working.

All continuity features work including cellular calls, iMessage SMS, and AirDrop.

Handoff, Universal Clipboard, Instant Hotspot, and Auto Unlock do not work.

I suspect Apple has made a change that prevents these cards from working "out of the box". Perhaps an update to Continuity Activation Tool will provide a fix.

Identical situation here except I do have a 4,1 flashed to a 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card. Under the final Sierra release version Continuity features work fine but the Handoff feature does not.

I also had identical unsuccessful results with my my attempts to get Apple Watch unlocking working.

A couple of interesting anecdotes that I will point out below:

Handoff worked 100% for me during one of the early Sierra betas. I can't remember if it was the first or second beta release but I know for sure it was working properly at that time. I had high hopes for the Sierra release version that these features would continue to be working for me.

Handoff never worked properly for me during any of the public releases of El Capitan. Handoff did work fine under Yosemite when I originally installed the upgraded BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card in my Mac Pro.

I can only assume your theory about Apple intentionally blocking support on this specific configuration is probably a likely scenario. It was always my assumption that this happened when El Capitan came out but when I started seeing it work in the Sierra beta I got excited that either I had assumed incorrectly or Apple had reversed their decision on allowing it to work.

If anyone does in fact have 100% functional Handoff working on a Mac Pro 4,1 -> 5,1 with an upgraded BT 4.0/AC WiFi card please let us know. Unfortunately, I am not particularly optimistic on this one.

 

[nopster]

made exactly the same steps.
Same behaviour, I own a Mac Pro 4,1 > firmware upgraded to 5,1. Sierra latest version and this card.

Guys, I just want you to know that I solved the problem.

Before this, Airdrop fully functionally worked.

So I decided to make a fresh install of Sierra. This time installed w/o signing in iCloud.
Disabled SIP. Then rebooted and installed CAT. Rebooted and... everything works like a charm!

Airdrop, Continuity, Hand Off, even Apple Watch unlock!

For everybody have the same problem, I suggest to try this.
[doublepost=1475008499][/doublepost]

Identical situation here except I do have a 4,1 flashed to a 5,1 with an upgraded BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card. Under the final Sierra release version Continuity features work fine but the Handoff feature does not.

I also had identical unsuccessful results with my my attempts to get Apple Watch unlocking working.

A couple of interesting anecdotes that I will point out below:

Handoff worked 100% for me during one of the early Sierra betas. I can't remember if it was the first or second beta release but I know for sure it was working properly at that time. I had high hopes for the Sierra release version that these features would continue to be working for me.

Handoff never worked properly for me during any of the public releases of El Capitan. Handoff did work fine under Yosemite when I originally installed the upgraded BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card in my Mac Pro.

I can only assume your theory about Apple intentionally blocking support on this specific configuration is probably a likely scenario. It was always my assumption that this happened when El Capitan came out but when I started seeing it work in the Sierra beta I got excited that either I had assumed incorrectly or Apple had reversed their decision on allowing it to work.

If anyone does in fact have 100% functional Handoff working on a Mac Pro 4,1 -> 5,1 with an upgraded BT 4.0/AC WiFi card please let us know. Unfortunately, I am not particularly optimistic on this one.

see my latest post. I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card

 

[h9826790]

Guys, I just want you to know that I solved the problem.

Before this, Airdrop fully functionally worked.

So I decided to make a fresh install of Sierra. This time installed w/o signing in iCloud.
Disabled SIP. Then rebooted and installed CAT. Rebooted and... everything works like a charm!

Airdrop, Continuity, Hand Off, even Apple Watch unlock!

For everybody have the same problem, I suggest to try this.
[doublepost=1475008499][/doublepost]

see my latest post. I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card

You mean everything works WITHOUT signing into iCloud?

 

[kgapp]

Guys, I just want you to know that I solved the problem.

Before this, Airdrop fully functionally worked.

So I decided to make a fresh install of Sierra. This time installed w/o signing in iCloud.
Disabled SIP. Then rebooted and installed CAT. Rebooted and... everything works like a charm!

Airdrop, Continuity, Hand Off, even Apple Watch unlock!

For everybody have the same problem, I suggest to try this.
[doublepost=1475008499][/doublepost]

see my latest post. I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card

Thank you for posting this. This gave me the confidence to take another shot at getting it working on my machine and I am happy to report that I was successful. I now appear to have all relevant features of Continuity/Handoff working on my Mac Pro 4,1->5,1 with the BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card.

In essence I did what you said without actually doing a fresh install. I simply disabled SIP, Ran CAT tool, Signed out of iCloud and restarted. Upon restart I signed back into iCloud and everything works including Apple Watch unlock (after enabling it in System Prefs).

The 4,1 Mac Pro continues to stay compatible and relevant with a bit of additional effort.

 

[guin]

Guys, I just want you to know that I solved the problem.

Before this, Airdrop fully functionally worked.

So I decided to make a fresh install of Sierra. This time installed w/o signing in iCloud.
Disabled SIP. Then rebooted and installed CAT. Rebooted and... everything works like a charm!

Airdrop, Continuity, Hand Off, even Apple Watch unlock!

For everybody have the same problem, I suggest to try this.
[doublepost=1475008499][/doublepost]

see my latest post. I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card

This solution worked for me too! Here are the exact steps I followed:

1. Rebooted into recovery mode and disabled SIP
2. Rebooted into Sierra and ran Continuity Activation Tool using option 1 "Activate Continuity"
3. After CAT completed but before rebooting I logged out of iCloud
4. Booted back into Sierra and logged into iCloud
5. Handoff features did not immediately work so I toggled enable handoff on the Mac Pro and iPhone
6. Enabled "Allow Watch to unlock your Mac" in Security & Privacy on Mac Pro and everything began working!

Just to be clear here are all the features that now work: Airdrop, Handoff, iMessage SMS, Instant Hotspot, Apple Watch Unlock of Mac. I'm seeing some weirdness with universal clipboard but it's not a big deal for me.

Is it necessary to keep SIP disabled for CAT to continue working? I would prefer to have it enabled but I can live with having it off if necessary.

Thanks to nopster and kgapp for their fast help with the problem!

 

[kgapp]

Is it necessary to keep SIP disabled for CAT to continue working? I would prefer to have it enabled but I can live with having it off if necessary.

I re-enabled SIP and it still works fine.

 

[phairphan]

Guys, I just want you to know that I solved the problem.

Before this, Airdrop fully functionally worked.

So I decided to make a fresh install of Sierra. This time installed w/o signing in iCloud.
Disabled SIP. Then rebooted and installed CAT. Rebooted and... everything works like a charm!

Airdrop, Continuity, Hand Off, even Apple Watch unlock!

For everybody have the same problem, I suggest to try this.
[doublepost=1475008499][/doublepost]

see my latest post. I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card

Thank you! I was getting a bit worried about this. Of course, the cMP community wins again in the end! Nice try, SIP.

 

[haralds]

Might have to redo the install. Everything worked without CAT on mine (updated BLE/WiFI card.)
Lastest Beta killed Handoff. Airdrop work.

What a pain.

 

[bbb555]

I can get everything happening (on the latest Sierra beta) except for Apple Watch unlock.
It unlocked only once - but have never been able to unlock since, always needing to enter the password.
Handoff, airdrop, universal clipboard all work.