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

T

Taipan

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2003
613
517
JedNZ said:
Mac Pro 2009 4,1 (firmware upgraded to 5,1).

Anyone know where to get a hold of a cable that connects the mini PCIe card (I've got an Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD in it) to the small port on the motherboard that the original Apple Bluetooth backplane plugs into? The mini PCIe card needs power to drive the BT side of the BCM94360CD.

Or failing that, anyone know of somewhere I can get the backplane cable (part number 922-8962) that attaches the original Apple Bluetooth module to the motherboard? I've seen the backplane connector for a fairly good price US$17-$29), but the shipping options are exorbitant to NZ.
Click to expand...

I can't help you with the cable as such, but I found out that the connector on the backplane is called JST GH. Note that the JST connector comes in various sizes, GH is the one you want, it has a distance of 1.25 mm between the pins. SH as mentioned above is too small. I have tried.
[doublepost=1477021116][/doublepost]
waimtrp said:
Yes, it's a prototype version , and it only work until Yosemite, not work with El Capitan or higher AFAIK .
Click to expand...

Damn. Where did you get that info?
 
S

sqhead

macrumors newbie
Aug 20, 2010
7
2
Taipan said:
I can't help you with the cable as such, but I found out that the connector on the backplane is called JST GH. Note that the JST connector comes in various sizes, GH is the one you want, it has a distance of 1.25 mm between the pins. SH as mentioned above is too small. I have tried.
[doublepost=1477021116][/doublepost]

Damn. Where did you get that info?
Click to expand...

I'm also in the process of gathering all the components to try out this upgrade. Ended up finding and ordering these connectors, hopefully it's the right one.

http://au.element14.com/molex/51021...-4way/dp/9733116?MER=bn_search_1TP_SearchNB_1

and the contacts

http://au.element14.com/molex/50079.../dp/1653820?MER=bn_level5_5NP_EngagementRec_3

Going to be a challenge to crimp those tiny contacts!
 
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waimtrp

waimtrp

macrumors member
Sep 20, 2008
96
34
Damn. Where did you get that info?[/QUOTE]

i have order one this card before at Taoboo , and tried it work at Yosemite , but not El Capitan & Sierra .. so i return it .

so beware of the "PROTO1" that mark at the card ..
 
nopster

nopster

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2009
72
20
Hi, after updating to Sierra 10.12.1 Bluetooth is not working anymore. WiFi is ok, but bluetooth icon on the bar is corrupted. Tried to resetting SMC, NPRAM, NVRAM and deleting com.apple.bluetooth.plist on /Library/Preferences.

Bluetooth seems corrupted. Even relaunching CAT tool, it says that it cannot find Bluetooth module.

I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card
 
pastrychef

pastrychef

macrumors 601
Sep 15, 2006
4,754
1,453
New York City, NY
nopster said:
Hi, after updating to Sierra 10.12.1 Bluetooth is not working anymore. WiFi is ok, but bluetooth icon on the bar is corrupted. Tried to resetting SMC, NPRAM, NVRAM and deleting com.apple.bluetooth.plist on /Library/Preferences.

Bluetooth seems corrupted. Even relaunching CAT tool, it says that it cannot find Bluetooth module.

I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card
Click to expand...

What do you mean the icon on the bar is corrupt?

Is the Bluetooth showing up in System Information (formerly known as System Profiler)?

How do you have your D+ and D- attached?
 
guin

guin

macrumors newbie
Sep 11, 2009
16
13
nopster said:
Hi, after updating to Sierra 10.12.1 Bluetooth is not working anymore. WiFi is ok, but bluetooth icon on the bar is corrupted. Tried to resetting SMC, NPRAM, NVRAM and deleting com.apple.bluetooth.plist on /Library/Preferences.

Bluetooth seems corrupted. Even relaunching CAT tool, it says that it cannot find Bluetooth module.

I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card
Click to expand...

I had this same problem and solved it by booting into the recovery partition, disabling SIP using csrutil, and then booting normally into macOS. After the successful boot I re-enabled SIP and all bluetooth functionality is still working.

Mac Pro 5,1 with BCM94360CD
 
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nopster

nopster

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2009
72
20
pastrychef said:
What do you mean the icon on the bar is corrupt?

Is the Bluetooth showing up in System Information (formerly known as System Profiler)?

How do you have your D+ and D- attached?
Click to expand...

Sorry for my rusty English, I meant this icon (see attach)

This evening I'll try @guin solution, now I'm at work with another mac.
 

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nopster

nopster

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2009
72
20
guin said:
I had this same problem and solved it by booting into the recovery partition, disabling SIP using csrutil, and then booting normally into macOS. After the successful boot I re-enabled SIP and all bluetooth functionality is still working.

Mac Pro 5,1 with BCM94360CD
Click to expand...

Thanks @guin, worked like a charm! Bluetooth is enabled again. You saved the day!
 
haralds

haralds

macrumors 68030
Jan 3, 2014
2,990
1,252
Silicon Valley, CA
nopster said:
Hi, after updating to Sierra 10.12.1 Bluetooth is not working anymore. WiFi is ok, but bluetooth icon on the bar is corrupted. Tried to resetting SMC, NPRAM, NVRAM and deleting com.apple.bluetooth.plist on /Library/Preferences.

Bluetooth seems corrupted. Even relaunching CAT tool, it says that it cannot find Bluetooth module.

I have a Mac Pro 4,1 > 5,1 with a BCM94360CD BT 4.0/AC Wifi Card
Click to expand...
I see that frequently on reboot, especially after booting another version of the OS. This means, the KEXT did not see the BT card. This is fixed by shutting down, waiting a few seconds, and rebooting. The problem has been around on 1,1 2,1, and 5,1 since Yosemite - at least based on my experience. If a simple reboot does not solve it, an SMC reset always seems to do it.
 
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nopster

nopster

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2009
72
20
haralds said:
I see that frequently on reboot, especially after booting another version of the OS. This means, the KEXT did not see the BT card. This is fixed by shutting down, waiting a few seconds, and rebooting. The problem has been around on 1,1 2,1, and 5,1 since Yosemite - at least based on my experience. If a simple reboot does not solve it, an SMC reset always seems to do it.
Click to expand...

This is the first time that I experienced this kind of problem in many years, I upgraded to BT 4.0/AC WiFi Card on september. Rebooting, SMC reset, NVRAM and NPRAM reset. Nor of these worked.

As I mentioned before, booting into recovery mode, disabling SIP, rebooting on normal Mac OS and then booting into recovery partition to re-enable SIP worked perfectly.
 
Squuiid

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,877
1,713
nopster said:
This is the first time that I experienced this kind of problem in many years, I upgraded to BT 4.0/AC WiFi Card on september. Rebooting, SMC reset, NVRAM and NPRAM reset. Nor of these worked.

As I mentioned before, booting into recovery mode, disabling SIP, rebooting on normal Mac OS and then booting into recovery partition to re-enable SIP worked perfectly.
Click to expand...
I have this happen very occasionally following upgrades but a reboot fixes every time for me.
 
T

Taipan

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2003
613
517
I have returned my apparent prototype-card and got a new one, and it does work now. Wifi and Bluetooth are recognized and working (which is very relieving, since I accidentally broke the antenna connector off the original bluetooth card).

Not all handoff features seem to be working, though. Universal Clipboard works from iOS > Mac, but not the other way. And so far I have never seen an Icon appear next to the Dock when working on a document on iOS. Surprsingly, Airdrop does work in both directions.

I am pretty satisfied, though it would be fine to get Universal Clipboard working fully. Signing out of iCloud and back in after restarting on all devices didn't help. Wifi being enabled on the Mac should suffice, even if it's not connected to my network via Wifi, right?

Thanks again for your input!
 
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B

boboxx

macrumors newbie
Nov 5, 2016
2
0
Canada
I have a Mac Pro 2009 4,1 (upgraded to 5,1) with built in BT 2.0 and would like add wifi and upgrade BT 4.0.

Running Sierra 10.12.1, what is the cheaped way to do this (I'm in Canada)? I have gone trough the thread and it seems I need to connect 2 extra cable. One is to extend the BT anthena, but I'm a bit confused to where the second one needs to connect and if it's for power or data.

Thanks!
 
pastrychef

pastrychef

macrumors 601
Sep 15, 2006
4,754
1,453
New York City, NY
The second cable is for Bluetooth data, D+ and D-. There are several ways to connect this...
  1. Connect it to the motherboard where your current Bluetooth 2.0 is connected. This would require either splicing in to the existing cable or getting a replacement cable with proper connector.
  2. Connect it to an external USB port. This would require routing the cable to the outside of the case.
  3. Connect it to a USB PCI-e card with internal header.
Once again, that cable is for data only. Do not connect power to it.
 
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B

boboxx

macrumors newbie
Nov 5, 2016
2
0
Canada
Ok that clears it up, thanks!

Is there a prefered card model to use?

pastrychef said:
The second cable is for Bluetooth data, D+ and D-. There are several ways to connect this...
  1. Connect it to the motherboard where your current Bluetooth 2.0 is connected. This would require either splicing in to the existing cable or getting a replacement cable with proper connector.
  2. Connect it to an external USB port. This would require routing the cable to the outside of the case.
  3. Connect it to a USB PCI-e card with internal header.
Once again, that cable is for data only. Do not connect power to it.
Click to expand...
 
YZFNYC

YZFNYC

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2015
19
8
Palm Bay Florida
h9826790 said:
Thanks for your suggestion. I eventually get the same card from your seller. Good quality.

Since my 4,1 didn't come with the wi-fi card and all the antennas are hidden behind the logic board. Therefore I decide to remove the whole processor cage to do the wi-fi card installation.

Because there are plenty of room for my hand to move around, the installation process is very easy. The package cable length (between the wi-fi card and BT card) is prefect.
View attachment 662418

All Wi-Fi, BT work straight after boot. Airdrop works (between Mac and iPhone, my main purpose), Siri works (all functions need location required Wi-Fi), Handoff works (a bonus for me), Auto Unlock successfully enabled (tested, and work).

What worry me most before the upgrade is the Magic Mouse connection. I use BT Explorer to monitor the connection quality, very good, stay at max.

And I take this opportunity to clean all the fans, heatsink, graphic cards etc. Everything cost me around 1 hour, a successful upgrade with some fun.

Anyway, I have absolutely no idea which antenna is which, I just randomly connect them. Luckily has good result. I don't need extreme Wi-Fi speed, my primary network still via the cable connection. All I care is the BT connection quality. And I got it right by luck.
Click to expand...

Do you know the size of the IPX connector? It's a smaller size on the BCM94360CS. I noticed in your photo that you have connection between the standard size IPX cable and the smaller ones on the BCM94360CS card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Squuiid

Squuiid

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2006
1,877
1,713
pastrychef said:
Yes, BCM943602CDP also works. As does the BCM94360CS. But both use MHF-4 antenna connectors which would require adaptors to connect to the Mac Pro 1,1-5,1s' existing antennas.

Also, I think BCM943602CDP has Bluetooth 4.1.
Click to expand...

Weird, mine has regular connectors, just like the BCM94360CD in my other Mac, and says BT 4.2 in System Report, despite the spec sheet listing the device as 4.1.
 

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Last edited:
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pastrychef

pastrychef

macrumors 601
Sep 15, 2006
4,754
1,453
New York City, NY
Wow. Cool. When I looked, the sources I read stated Bluetooth 4.1. I guess they were wrong.

I was going by pictures of the card on ifixit.com... Since you are using it with existing antennas, then, they must be U.FL.

I've fixed my post so others don't get confused.
 
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h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
YZFNYC said:
Do you know the size of the IPX connector? It's a smaller size on the BCM94360CS. I noticed in your photo that you have connection between the standard size IPX cable and the smaller ones on the BCM94360CS card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

You are correct, it's a IPX4 -> IPX1 adaptor, which is included in the package.
 
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