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

[128keaton]

as long as it is the bcm943224 thats pictured but its hard to tell with the way the website is set up.
Card that will work
this one is cheaper

Not compatible with my MacBook Pro Late 2011. Also, this guy claims its a bcm943224, but look at the pics. http://www.ebay.com/itm/WiFi-Airpor...85?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item3a8875bfe9
Is it true?

 

[UncleSchnitty]

Not compatible with my MacBook Pro Late 2011. Also, this guy claims its a bcm943224, but look at the pics. http://www.ebay.com/itm/WiFi-Airpor...85?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item3a8875bfe9
Is it true?

Thats the 94331 but yeah thats fine, also the other ones don't show your system as compatible on the charts because it was never made with them from factory, the 943224 was factory installed on the air but it is the same connector and your os has the drivers for them built in

Scratch that I didn't see that the 94331 isn't the same connector
see your pro has this

see how the 943224 is the same type of card?

 

[128keaton]

Thats the 94331 but yeah thats fine, also the other ones don't show your system as compatible on the charts because it was never made with them from factory, the 943224 was factory installed on the air but it is the same connector and your os has the drivers for them built in

Scratch that I didn't see that the 94331 isn't the same connector
see your pro has this
Image
see how the 943224 is the same type of card?

Yup, I will buy it tomorrow! Should be easy to install, I've done hard (iPhone 4 screen replacements, ugh.)
Mine is in a 'holder'

. But it looks exactly the same. Really happy now. Costs roughly the same for a dongle, why not go internal? Hehe.

 

[MacVidCards]

Absolute best practice is to go on iFixit and compare exact models.

Biggest concern is number of antenna connectors

The Air usually has fewer than Pro, it uses a 2 stream WiFi while Pro uses 3.

Should have same number of connectors if at all possible, otherwise may take some trial and error before you get BT on right connector.

If you compare the above two photos, one has 2 connectors, the other has four, those would not be a good match.

 

[MacProSector]

Do you happen to know if the conversion card is an M.2 to mpcie? The size is hard to tell from pictures. I have a 08 MP and have a 2013MBP airport card but need that conversion card. from my understanding you don't need to solder with the 08s because they ran usb power natively. Thanks for any help

Thanks for reading my article! I guess the port of the 2013 MBP Airport is the same to that of the iMac Card. So I guess the conversion card in my article could work. But I am absolutely sure.

 

[128keaton]

Absolute best practice is to go on iFixit and compare exact models.

Biggest concern is number of antenna connectors

The Air usually has fewer than Pro, it uses a 2 stream WiFi while Pro uses 3.

Should have same number of connectors if at all possible, otherwise may take some trial and error before you get BT on right connector.

If you compare the above two photos, one has 2 connectors, the other has four, those would not be a good match.

The eBay link and the one picture I posted are the same. The photo is from a late 2011 13" if you look further into that guide, it shows you the card which looks exactly the same.

 

[Fangio]

Subscribed!

Hope you guys did see what flowrider has discovered here.. this tool may come in handy in future

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1733267/

works in Yosemite

^^^^Yep, thats what it says, but it's not true. The change is retained until you change it again.

Lou

where to get Hardware IO tools: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19092789#post19092789
direct d/l: https://idmsa.apple.com/IDMSWebAuth...//downloads/index.action?name=for%20Xcode%20-

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Subscribed!

Hope you guys did see what flowrider has discovered here.. this tool may come in handy in future

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1733267/

works in Yosemite

Does that mean you can get continuity to work with a USB dongle?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^If you mean does a USB dongle work. The answer is yes, if the dongle works on a Mac. See my posts in this thread and the thread referenced above.

Lou

 

[MacVidCards]

MacProSector, I could use your help. I have come to the conclusion that in current Yosemite builds "Airdrop" is only allowed to work between OSX and IOS if you have a newer AC wireless card. I have posted in Yosemite section but while 500+ people have viewed the thread, nobody has taken 30 seconds to check.

Basically, if Airdrop is limited to old version you will only see "connect to old macs" at bottom of window. If your machine is capable of connecting with IOS devices you will see 2 clickable blue links at bottom of window. One lets you choose whether you are seen by everyone or just pre screened people. That is on left side at bottom.

The one that is more interesting is on the right. On a machine that can talk to both IOS AND OSX it says by default "not seeing everyone?" Or something like that.

If you click on it, it lets you choose to be visible to older macs. From my limited testing the definition of "older" is actually based entirely on wireless cards. When I put a "n" wireless card I lose ability to see IOS devices. When I use an "AC" card I get the option.

Can you please verify? Any finder window will have Airdrop in left panel, click and see what options show up.

If I am right this will become more important to people as the official OS's roll out.

 

[128keaton]

MacProSector, I could use your help. I have come to the conclusion that in current Yosemite builds "Airdrop" is only allowed to work between OSX and IOS if you have a newer AC wireless card. I have posted in Yosemite section but while 500+ people have viewed the thread, nobody has taken 30 seconds to check.

Basically, if Airdrop is limited to old version you will only see "connect to old macs" at bottom of window. If your machine is capable of connecting with IOS devices you will see 2 clickable blue links at bottom of window. One lets you choose whether you are seen by everyone or just pre screened people. That is on left side at bottom.

The one that is more interesting is on the right. On a machine that can talk to both IOS AND OSX it says by default "not seeing everyone?" Or something like that.

If you click on it, it lets you choose to be visible to older macs. From my limited testing the definition of "older" is actually based entirely on wireless cards. When I put a "n" wireless card I lose ability to see IOS devices. When I use an "AC" card I get the option.

Can you please verify? Any finder window will have Airdrop in left panel, click and see what options show up.

If I am right this will become more important to people as the official OS's roll out.

Thats an interesting development, huh.

 

[Richdmoore]

MacProSector, I could use your help. I have come to the conclusion that in current Yosemite builds "Airdrop" is only allowed to work between OSX and IOS if you have a newer AC wireless card. I have posted in Yosemite section but while 500+ people have viewed the thread, nobody has taken 30 seconds to check.

Basically, if Airdrop is limited to old version you will only see "connect to old macs" at bottom of window. If your machine is capable of connecting with IOS devices you will see 2 clickable blue links at bottom of window. One lets you choose whether you are seen by everyone or just pre screened people. That is on left side at bottom.

The one that is more interesting is on the right. On a machine that can talk to both IOS AND OSX it says by default "not seeing everyone?" Or something like that.

If you click on it, it lets you choose to be visible to older macs. From my limited testing the definition of "older" is actually based entirely on wireless cards. When I put a "n" wireless card I lose ability to see IOS devices. When I use an "AC" card I get the option.

Can you please verify? Any finder window will have Airdrop in left panel, click and see what options show up.

If I am right this will become more important to people as the official OS's roll out.

Is there an adapter that can turn one of the current apple ac cards into usb?

I know when I added a Caldiget thunderbolt dock, it put the extra dock's Ethernet into the control panel, alongside the built in Ethernet. I wonder if having 2 wifi systems is possible, and if that would open up these features?

Of course, the next step would be finding some kind of adapter to put an apple wifi card into. Also, the price for two usb dongles might not make it economical.

Doing internal swaps might work for a few macs, but I am not brave enough to open up an imac to change out components.

Too bad apple doesn't make this easy to upgrade the computers via usb.

 

[MacVidCards]

Is there an adapter that can turn one of the current apple ac cards into usb?

I know when I added a Caldiget thunderbolt dock, it put the extra dock's Ethernet into the control panel, alongside the built in Ethernet. I wonder if having 2 wifi systems is possible, and if that would open up these features?

Of course, the next step would be finding some kind of adapter to put an apple wifi card into. Also, the price for two usb dongles might not make it economical.

Doing internal swaps might work for a few macs, but I am not brave enough to open up an imac to change out components.

Too bad apple doesn't make this easy to upgrade the computers via usb.

Don't know any way to put Apple Wireless card to USB. BT is designed to be on USB so it is relatively easy.

Pretty funny of them to refer to anything pre-2013 as "Older Macs".

 

[Richdmoore]

Don't know any way to put Apple Wireless card to USB. BT is designed to be on USB so it is relatively easy.

Pretty funny of them to refer to anything pre-2013 as "Older Macs".

The only other thing I can think of is a thunderbolt device that would provide an apple bridge to bluetooth & ac wifi. There are several thunderbolt to pci card adapters on the market. The really bad news is that a thunderbolt expansion chassis costs at least $400, if it even would work!

Hopefully apple will expand the support to not require ac wifi, and the current limitation is simply due to not having time to fully write the drivers/ktext for older n wifi to support all the functions. The next beta should be out in a few days, right?

If we get to the public beta, and there is still no direct support by apple to allow n wifi to access these features, we probably won't see it at all.

Of course, if apple were to release an official upgrade hardware dongle via usb/thunderbolt, or an official upgrade service to the internal hardware for less than $100, I would be happy with that solution as well.

 

[128keaton]

Somehow, I lost the ability to check if my Dongle is Handoff compatible:

Suggestions?

 

[128keaton]

Thats the 94331 but yeah thats fine, also the other ones don't show your system as compatible on the charts because it was never made with them from factory, the 943224 was factory installed on the air but it is the same connector and your os has the drivers for them built in

Scratch that I didn't see that the 94331 isn't the same connector
see your pro has this
Image
see how the 943224 is the same type of card?

The one I bought didn't have BLE/4.0, it was the EXACT same card in my system, so don't buy what I got. Its gonna be more expensive to send it back, just gonna wait for a software hack.

 

[dxnmb5205]

I'm also a Chinese user
I bought the exact same card as your mac pro's for my iMac 2011.
The wifi ac is working just fine, but I'm not trying to take the risk of messing around the wires inside my iMac
Now I'm waiting for the usb dongle rebuild from the Apple's original card.
Fingers Crossed

 

[MacVidCards]

Somehow, I lost the ability to check if my Dongle is Handoff compatible:
Image
Suggestions?

You have DP1 BT software

----------

I'm also a Chinese user
I bought the exact same card as your mac pro's for my iMac 2011.
The wifi ac is working just fine, but I'm not trying to take the risk of messing around the wires inside my iMac
Now I'm waiting for the usb dongle rebuild from the Apple's original card.
Fingers Crossed

Can you look under USB inside system profiler and see if it sees 1 BT adapter or two?

Someone posted that iMac of a similar era could see PCIE USB.

 

[Richdmoore]

I'm also a Chinese user
I bought the exact same card as your mac pro's for my iMac 2011.
The wifi ac is working just fine, but I'm not trying to take the risk of messing around the wires inside my iMac
Now I'm waiting for the usb dongle rebuild from the Apple's original card.
Fingers Crossed

Did you do an internal install on the 2011 imac? So just to understand, you have ac wifi now, but no bluetooth 4.0, correct?

Which 2011 imac do you have, the 21.5" or the 27"?

Did you have any issues with the placement of the card inside the iMac, or need to modify any antennas or connectors? Are the mounting holes the same, or did you need to use something like foam tape to hold it in?

 

[dxnmb5205]

Did you do an internal install on the 2011 imac? So just to understand, you have ac wifi now, but no bluetooth 4.0, correct?

Which 2011 imac do you have, the 21.5" or the 27"?

Did you have any issues with the placement of the card inside the iMac, or need to modify any antennas or connectors? Are the mounting holes the same, or did you need to use something like foam tape to hold it in?

Now i have the ac wifi but no bluetooth 4.0

I own a 2011 21.5 (12,1) iMac. The problem is the same as the 2010 mac pro - the mpcie slot don't have the usb transfer, so that's why MacProSector had to do with the wires just to make it has a usb transfer for bluetooth to work.

There's three antennas inside my iMac for the wifi card, as long as the bluetooth don't work, there's no need to connect the bluetooth antenna. And the card just hold there with the monitor on top of it, so i didn't apply any kinds of foam tape or glue.

I think the reason why external usb dongle didn't work for those who tried the IOGEAR is that it's not the apple original card, while all the bluetooth connection inside macs go through usb, I think it's worth to take a shot

 

[Richdmoore]

Now i have the ac wifi but no bluetooth 4.0

I own a 2011 21.5 (12,1) iMac. The problem is the same as the 2010 mac pro - the mpcie slot don't have the usb transfer, so that's why MacProSector had to do with the wires just to make it has a usb transfer for bluetooth to work.

There's three antennas inside my iMac for the wifi card, as long as the bluetooth don't work, there's no need to connect the bluetooth antenna. And the card just hold there with the monitor on top of it, so i didn't apply any kinds of foam tape or glue.

I think the reason why external usb dongle didn't work for those who tried the IOGEAR is that it's not the apple original card, while all the bluetooth connection inside macs go through usb, I think it's worth to take a shot

I agree with you, the iogear usb bluetooth is not recognized as official apple, so it most likely locks all the features out. A usb made with an official apple card sounds like it is should allow you (with the all ready installed ac card) to complete the needed hardware.

Let me ask a couple more questions.

1. Did you use the iMac 2013 wifi card? Did you need a converter listed in the first post, or does the 2011 iMac have the needed slot for the 2013 ac wifi card without the adapter? sorry, it is hard for me to tell from the online pictures if the connector is the same or not.

2. Looking a a tear down from ifixit, there are 3 cables for wifi (one all black, 1 black with 1 white stripe, and 1 black with 2 white stripes.). The ac/bluetooth card has 4 terminals. Which terminal did you attach each wire to? Which one was left bare?

3. Do you think that unplugging the existing bluetooth board would be advisable, so it doesn't conflict with an official apple homemade usb bluetooth?

Thanks, very hesitant to open up my iMac, but it might be the best option and this kind of info is good to know.

 

[dxnmb5205]

I agree with you, the iogear usb bluetooth is not recognized as official apple, so it most likely locks all the features out. A usb made with an official apple card sounds like it is should allow you (with the all ready installed ac card) to complete the needed hardware.

Let me ask a couple more questions.

1. Did you use the iMac 2013 wifi card? Did you need a converter listed in the first post, or does the 2011 iMac have the needed slot for the 2013 ac wifi card without the adapter? sorry, it is hard for me to tell from the online pictures if the connector is the same or not.

2. Looking a a tear down from ifixit, there are 3 cables for wifi (one all black, 1 black with 1 white stripe, and 1 black with 2 white stripes.). The ac/bluetooth card has 4 terminals. Which terminal did you attach each wire to? Which one was left bare?

3. Do you think that unplugging the existing bluetooth board would be advisable, so it doesn't conflict with an official apple homemade usb bluetooth?

Thanks, very hesitant to open up my iMac, but it might be the best option and this kind of info is good to know.

1. Yes I'm using a 2013 iMac card. You do need a converter in order to plug it into your iMac.

2. The antenna without any strip stands for 0, one strip for 1, two strips for 2.
There's numbers on the wifi card with numbers on it and 3 stands for the bluetooth.

3. I'm not sure about that. I've read the previous forum says that there's no need to do that, but I'm not so sure. I'll tell you when my usb dongle arrive. Don't worry about the operation, they're both extremely easy (compare to my fusion drive installation)

Hope these infos help

 

[Richdmoore]

1. Yes I'm using a 2013 iMac card. You do need a converter in order to plug it into your iMac.

2. The antenna without any strip stands for 0, one strip for 1, two strips for 2.
There's numbers on the wifi card with numbers on it and 3 stands for the bluetooth.

3. I'm not sure about that. I've read the previous forum says that there's no need to do that, but I'm not so sure. I'll tell you when my usb dongle arrive. Don't worry about the operation, they're both extremely easy (compare to my fusion drive installation)

Hope these infos help

Thank you, it's extremely helpful and useful information. I am still hesitant to open up the iMac, but good to know that it isn't as bad as I imagine it to be.

May I suggest you post this info in a new post under the iMac section of this forum, as this thread is posted under the Mac Pro it will probably be overlooked by those iMac owners who want this information.

Great work, this makes me hopeful that I can keep my iMac updated as well when Yosemite is released this fall.

 

[Richdmoore]

Any changes in the new beta? (Really hoping wireless n and 3rd party dongles will now work for airdrop/other features vs replacing the wifi card...)

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Any changes in the new beta? (Really hoping wireless n and 3rd party dongles will now work for airdrop/other features vs replacing the wifi card...)

No more info's on continuity/airdrop in system report in DP3!