At this point I think it's highly likely that the adapter card is the issue. I'm going to order the internal converter that everybody ordered and see how that goes.
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MP 1,1-5,1 802.11ac, BT 4.0, Continuity, and Handoff Working on Mac Pro 2010
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can be the case in the adapter PCIe? its connector is short and maybe it is suitable for a motherboard with windows but not suitable for a mac pro? for example, a connector for an adapter ssd blade is longer.
but someone here is using the adapter in the PCIe slot and everything works for them
or maybe the problem is that the wifi + bt card is not level in the slot, at an angle
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I reseat my wifi card, and I tried in a different mac pro with a different version of os. Same thing, nothing shows up in pci proprieties. I'll let you know if the mini-pcie converter works or not.
let me know. My package with an adapter for mini PCI(to original connector) was lost and it is not clear whether to order again or wait
I have a small problem with my 4,1->5,1 and hopefully someone can help. I installed the newer Wi-Fi/BT card from MacVidCards, with the Broadcom 20702B0. Everything works great, even continuity, but for some reason AirDrop will not function. It was fine under 10.10, 10.11, and 10.12 but starting with 10.13 I started having this issue. It was not a big deal, as I could just switch to the older AirDrop to transfer between computers but today I needed to transfer a file from my iPad and my Mac Pro would not appear. My iPad is currently on iPadOS 13 (although this was happening before the beta was installed) and my Mac Pro is running Mojave 10.14.5.
I bought a BCM94360CD Airport Extreme Wifi card including a PCI adapter for my 4.1 Mac Pro. I swapped out the old Wifi card and connected the 3 antenna cables to the new card the following way:
Unfortunately it isn't working. I can't turn on Wifi and this is what my system report shows:
What did I do wrong?
- Cable 1 -> Pin J0
- Cable 2 -> Pin J1
- Cable 3 -> Pin J2
Unfortunately it isn't working. I can't turn on Wifi and this is what my system report shows:
What did I do wrong?
Hi there, I'm about to go through with this upgrade and had a question regarding bluetooth range / handoff. I have to have my computer in another room, and have relied thus far on a usb BT dongle (which works just fine, although no handoff of course). I am assuming that even with this new card I will still need some sort of BT range extension, but I can't quite wrap my head around how that works. Here are my thoughts:
If I get a new bluetooth 4 usb dongle in addition to the card setup, is this redundant? Does one bypass the other? Part of me hopes the dongle will just work as an "extension" of the card, and I will be able to retain the handoff capabilities that come from the card. I have read in this thread that a dongle by itself will not work with handoff, but I have not read about anyone trying a dongle strictly as a range extender in addition to the new card setup. Since this rig wires the bluetooth to usb, can I assume a usb dongle would somehow share in whatever is going on there? Or would it be entirely separate / unrelated? (Please forgive my ignorance on this subject. . .)
At the end of the day if I can't do handoff I will survive. Also thanks so much to everyone for all of the great info / hard work!
Chase
If I get a new bluetooth 4 usb dongle in addition to the card setup, is this redundant? Does one bypass the other? Part of me hopes the dongle will just work as an "extension" of the card, and I will be able to retain the handoff capabilities that come from the card. I have read in this thread that a dongle by itself will not work with handoff, but I have not read about anyone trying a dongle strictly as a range extender in addition to the new card setup. Since this rig wires the bluetooth to usb, can I assume a usb dongle would somehow share in whatever is going on there? Or would it be entirely separate / unrelated? (Please forgive my ignorance on this subject. . .)
At the end of the day if I can't do handoff I will survive. Also thanks so much to everyone for all of the great info / hard work!
Chase
It looks to me like you have the antenna cables connected in the wrong order. Mine are
3 = J0
1 = J1
2 = J2
(For completeness, I have BT = J3)
That can make a difference in reception, however the inability to turn on WiFi may be a different issue. Did you reset SMC and NVRAM after installing the new module?
My understanding is that the system will transmit/receive over one of the devices, but not both simultaneously.
I achieved "BT range extension" by doing an external antenna mod, and it keeps handoff. If interested, check my sig.
I reconnected the antenna cables and performed a NVRAM reset. The card is now able to connect to my WIFI, but turns itself on and off again every 2 seconds. The vendor offered me a replacement. I guess the card may be broken.
Just out of curiosity: How to know how to connect the antennas? I couldn't find any official documentation on this.
That is odd behavior. Getting a replacement from the vendor may be the best troubleshooting step in this stage.
I bought my card several years ago and I seem to recall it came with a simple sketch indicating the proper connections. Also I read several forums where the same connections are spelled out, and I vaguely recall at least one of them indicating the information came from an Apple technician. It may be the internet echoing itself, but it seems more like a consensus than an echo. Sorry, I don't have an official source to cite!
Some people swap the WiFi connections around and seem happy with their signal. Some people even connect one of their WiFi antennas to the BT socket in order to gain better BT signal performance. Apple hid the BT antenna right alongside the PCIe slot covers, which makes the 2.4 GHz BT signal prone to interference from expansion cards operating at similar frequencies, and in general it's proven to be an overall poor location for that antenna. The WiFi antennas seem to be a little more forgiving in their locations.
Wait a second ... are you saying I can just use one of the 3 WIFI antennas and connect it to J3 to use it as a Bluetooth antenna? Will the WIFI signal be affected by this, as the signal strength is lower?
I wanted to use Bluetooth 4 as well, but couldn't find a U.FL extension cable for the Bluetooth antenna. As I don't want to use an external antenna and would like to have an internal solution, attaching a WIFI antenna to the Bluetooth pin could maybe just work?
First time post: I will introduce myself later
I'm changing my old Mac Pro 4.1 bluetooth unit already. The old one is the BCM94322MC, the new one I bought is the BCM943602CDPAX_1.
But they look very different and connections (wiring and slot) are also different.
Have I ordered the wrong one?
Thanks
TL;DR
Since you don’t want to use an external BT antenna, then connecting one of the WiFi antennas to J3 might just work for you.
In the very slim chance that the WiFi function manages the antennas with some sense of priority, I suggest sacrificing the antenna attached to J2.
======
I’m not suggesting it’s ideal to pick an arbitrary antenna connection arrangement; for whatever reason, the 5,1 Apple Technician Guide places emphasis on having antenna cables connected in the correct order (even without stating what that order is…)
The nuance I was trying to point out is that some users achieve better signal behavior by deliberately rearranging the connections. The results depend upon where the cMP is situated and in relation to whatever devices are communicating with it. Because antennas are involved, the kind and shape of nearby materials, reflections, neighboring electronics and their degree of shielding, interference from competing signals — all of these affect signal quality.
In the cMP, the three WiFi antennas terminate at the bottom of the case, You may have noticed a plastic cover there when looking at the bottom (outside) of the case. Apparently this plastic cover facilitates passing the signal. The case is, after all, a big aluminum cage. The WiFi antennas lay next to each other, so it’s hard to know just by looking at them what affect the connection order has. With experimentation some have gotten a better signal, others not. Other options including getting the cMP out of a corner, off the floor, and rotated until signal improves. Sort of like fiddling rabbit ears on a TV set. I’ve read where some users choose to leave the case open.
The BT antenna is tucked up by the PCIe expansion plates. I’m attaching an image from the tech guide (shows the antenna partially pulled out from its slot). If you examine the outside perimeter of the PCIe expansion area you’ll notice it has a plastic lining. I suppose the designers believed this would allow BT signal to pass through, but commonly it is inadequate.
You can see where creative minds went with this: Sacrifice 1/3 WiFi antenna to act as a BT antenna and see if the overall situation improves. Yes WiFi will probably suffer, but maybe not noticeably, and if BT improves then hooray.
First time post: I will introduce myself later
I'm changing my old Mac Pro 4.1 bluetooth unit already. The old one is the BCM94322MC, the new one I bought is the BCM943602CDPAX_1.
But they look very different and connections (wiring and slot) are also different.
Have I ordered the wrong one?
Thanks
I'm not familiar with that card, and searching through this forum thread I found no mention of either BCM943602CDPAX or BCM943602CDPAX_1 except for your post. The BCM943602CD is known to work, so perhaps yours is just a newer variant.
The original BCM94322MC fit directly into the mobo. Newer cards require a miniPCIe adapter which then fits into the mobo socket. Here is an example of what one looks like.
There are 2 type of adapters One with the USB power for the Bluetooth on the right side and one on the left side. For the
BCM943602CDP you need the USB power to be on the left side:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...0-keep-updating.1748061/page-30#post-24173394
I have the 602CDP and my adapter card has a plug on the right side for the BT and it works just fine? The only problem with the card is because of the plug, the wifi card doesn't sit flush. You can screw it down but it doesn't sit flat. Still not sure if its causing issues or not, I may just get one like you posted and solder the BT cable I have in.
I found that the hard way. I ordered the card adapter for BCM94360, which of course needs the usb on the right side because of the shape of that card:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...0-keep-updating.1748061/page-50#post-27486575
TL;DR
Since you don’t want to use an external BT antenna, then connecting one of the WiFi antennas to J3 might just work for you.
In the very slim chance that the WiFi function manages the antennas with some sense of priority, I suggest sacrificing the antenna attached to J2.
Thank you very much for all the input. As soon as I get the replacement from the vendor I will do some experimentation.
i can confirmed switch between the BT antenna J3 with WiFi J2 work great , WiFi affection not noticeable ( my feeling) , but BT mouse won't lag anymore , working smooth , i recommended for anyone which suffer Bt signal interference( with USB 3.0 card)/weak signalTL;DR
Since you don’t want to use an external BT antenna, then connecting one of the WiFi antennas to J3 might just work for you.
In the very slim chance that the WiFi function manages the antennas with some sense of priority, I suggest sacrificing the antenna attached to J2.
======
I’m not suggesting it’s ideal to pick an arbitrary antenna connection arrangement; for whatever reason, the 5,1 Apple Technician Guide places emphasis on having antenna cables connected in the correct order (even without stating what that order is…)
The nuance I was trying to point out is that some users achieve better signal behavior by deliberately rearranging the connections. The results depend upon where the cMP is situated and in relation to whatever devices are communicating with it. Because antennas are involved, the kind and shape of nearby materials, reflections, neighboring electronics and their degree of shielding, interference from competing signals — all of these affect signal quality.
In the cMP, the three WiFi antennas terminate at the bottom of the case, You may have noticed a plastic cover there when looking at the bottom (outside) of the case. Apparently this plastic cover facilitates passing the signal. The case is, after all, a big aluminum cage. The WiFi antennas lay next to each other, so it’s hard to know just by looking at them what affect the connection order has. With experimentation some have gotten a better signal, others not. Other options including getting the cMP out of a corner, off the floor, and rotated until signal improves. Sort of like fiddling rabbit ears on a TV set. I’ve read where some users choose to leave the case open.
The BT antenna is tucked up by the PCIe expansion plates. I’m attaching an image from the tech guide (shows the antenna partially pulled out from its slot). If you examine the outside perimeter of the PCIe expansion area you’ll notice it has a plastic lining. I suppose the designers believed this would allow BT signal to pass through, but commonly it is inadequate.
You can see where creative minds went with this: Sacrifice 1/3 WiFi antenna to act as a BT antenna and see if the overall situation improves. Yes WiFi will probably suffer, but maybe not noticeably, and if BT improves then hooray.
View attachment 845044
thanks for your suggestion
thanks for your suggestion @sailmac
Glad to see that working for others too. I've been running that way for 2+ years now and BT and WiFi both work great.i can confirmed switch between the BT antenna J3 with WiFi J2 work great , WiFi affection not noticeable ( my feeling) , but BT mouse won't lag anymore , working smooth , i recommended for anyone which suffer Bt signal interference( with USB 3.0 card)/weak signal
thanks for your suggestion
thanks for your suggestion @sailmac
Yeah, that save the money to purchase those external antenna , and need to install it at the expansion slot, it’s hard for someone to do it if all PCIe are occupied already
Also keep the MacPro in a “clean shape “ as it’s original designed
✌
Haha I dont know why but for whatever reason last night this thread popped into my head and I went 'Oh yeah he was talking about the same thing' hahaha.
That actually made me open up the Mac last night because for whatever reason my Wifi just went out and completely stopped working yesterday. Its been REALLY spotty the last couple of weeks and has trouble staying connected for any length of time. A week ago I thought maybe its because the card is still kinda bouncing in the adapter so I screwed it down as far as it could go without snapping it. This seemed to be awesome until just this week when it went back downhill, and yesterday all of sudden it just stopped doing anything (while I was online just fine before). It would connect to the router, but couldn't get internet access. Safari wouldn't pull anything up, or Mail, but I could ping Apple with ridiculous like 1 second response times and about 3/4 of the pings not responding. Opened it up at like 11pm, of course just breathing in the same room as it popped the bottom antenna off AGAIN. As I tried to put it back on, I noticed it wouldn't snap like normal and was always coming back off. Turns out at some point I mashed open one side of the connecter. It would still go together but it no longer snaps and holds. Had to go back to my stock card now. Theres one 602CDP down haha. I think this time Im just going for the 60CD so it will sit in the adapter properly and hopefully just work. I should've bought the one I had saved last month on eBay that went for $20 before my job ended!
Ok I received my BCM94360CD replacement from the vendor as the first one was faulty. I connected the antennas the following way, to get bluetooth functionality over one of the WIFI antennas.
1 = J1
2 = J3
3 = J0
Wifi is working fine so far, but I can't get bluetooth to work. After I installed the new Airport card, I pulled the plug from the original bluetooth module. But now I don't get any bluetooth at all. As I don't have another cable keyboard, I can't even reset the SMC.
Is there anything I need to do first in order to get the Mac Pro to switch from the original buetooth module to the new one on the Airport card?
1 = J1
2 = J3
3 = J0
Wifi is working fine so far, but I can't get bluetooth to work. After I installed the new Airport card, I pulled the plug from the original bluetooth module. But now I don't get any bluetooth at all. As I don't have another cable keyboard, I can't even reset the SMC.
Is there anything I need to do first in order to get the Mac Pro to switch from the original buetooth module to the new one on the Airport card?
I know it may look unattractive, but I use extenal antennas with my BCM94360CD. The gain is huge..
https://www.ebay.es/itm/223118484748
https://www.ebay.es/itm/223118484748