Airport Wires... where should the connector go?

[john.burn]

Hi, hope someone can help - apple in the UK don't seem to know and the local service centre have no idea!

I was adding another hard disk to my mac pro and noticed that wire 2 which comes from the airport card on the system board was flapping around in the case - it was not connected to anything - is this how it should be, or, should the connector actually be connected to anything? All 3 wires (2 airport and 1 bluetooth) are connected the the communications board itself - it's the other end of wire 2 that is not plugged into or onto anything.


Thanks,


John.

 

[hollerz]

Does everything work allright?

 

[Carniphage]

Don't worry.

The Mac Pro was designed with 802.11n in mind so it has four internal Antennas. Three for 802.11n and one more for Bluetooth.
These antennas appear as labelled wires. (1,2,3,BT) just underneath hard drive slot 2.

The Airport Card that finally shipped with the Mac pro, only needs two antennas. So one is spare.

Make sure that the spare wire has a bit of transparent sleeving on the end - to make sure it doesn't flap into the motherboard and short circuit something important.

C.

 

[dkoralek]

Don't worry.

The Mac Pro was designed with 802.11n in mind so it has four internal Antennas. Three for 802.11n and one more for Bluetooth.
These antennas appear as labelled wires. (1,2,3,BT) just underneath hard drive slot 2.

The Airport Card that finally shipped with the Mac pro, only needs two antennas. So one is spare.

Make sure that the spare wire has a bit of transparent sleeving on the end - to make sure it doesn't flap into the motherboard and short circuit something important.

C.

The Mac Pro wasn't just designed for 802.11n compatibility, the module is actually 802.11n, provided that you apply the enabler. Which makes me wonder if all three wires should be connected to the module.

cheers.

 

[Carniphage]

The Mac Pro wasn't just designed for 802.11n compatibility, the module is actually 802.11n, provided that you apply the enabler. Which makes me wonder if all three wires should be connected to the module.

cheers.

You sir, are wrong.
Why else would it have four antennas?

 

[dkoralek]

You sir, are wrong.
Why else would it have four antennas?

Hunh? I didn't say that it wasn't designed for 802.11n. You said the Mac Pro was designed for 802.11n, but the module is not 802.11n. The module is, in fact, 802.11n provided that you apply the enabler (pay for it on it's own, or get it free with the purchase of the new 802.11n base station). Either 802.11n (at least the way that Apple distributes it) does not require three antennas, or the unit should actually have all three wires attached.

cheers.

 

[Carniphage]

Hunh? I didn't say that it wasn't designed for 802.11n. .

Erm. Yes you did. When you wrote this sentence....

The Mac Pro wasn't just designed for 802.11n compatibility, the module is actually 802.11n, provided that you apply the enabler.

The Airport module that is standard on the Mac Pro is, and always has been, based on the Broadcom IntensiFi chipset. Which is a draft 802.11n module.

It just so happens to have only two antennas and not three. The Airgo module which Apple use in the Mac book, has three. When the Mac Pro shipped, the n-features were disabled by the OS.

The n-enabler is not so much an enabler, its more of an un-disabler.

C.

 

[WildPalms]

Carninphage, you sir, are 100% correct. Good job with the write up by the way, I was about to type up pretty much what you said. Good to see others in here who know what they are talking about.

 

[dkoralek]

Erm. Yes you did. When you wrote this sentence....



The Airport module that is standard on the Mac Pro is, and always has been, based on the Broadcom IntensiFi chipset. Which is a draft 802.11n module.

It just so happens to have only two antennas and not three. The Airgo module which Apple use in the Mac book, has three. When the Mac Pro shipped, the n-features were disabled by the OS.

The n-enabler is not so much an enabler, its more of an un-disabler.

C.

Sorry to be rude, but you sir can't read (and were rude to boot). I had it "wasn't JUST designed for..." emphasis added by me. You implied that it was designed for something but then wasn't given a card that was compatible. I was stating that it was in fact both designed for it and was actually given a card that was 802.11n (which you implied that it wasn't) and simply had these features not enabled within the software. But I guess you read what you wanted to read and not what I actually wrote. You then wrote that 802.11n USED three antennas and implied that because this one only has two that it isn't 802.11n. But thank you for clairfying that just because this card doesn't have three antenna connections doesn't make it 802.11g (which is what I believe was implied by your post) and sorry for evidently misreading what you were saying.

cheers.