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Continuity Activation Tool CAT working on 10.12 Sierra
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Are you sure you posted this to the appropriate thread?
[doublepost=1472776268][/doublepost]
You posted the same problem over in the "everything about Sierra" thread and didn't get any responses, so you copy/paste it in here. Nice. That's called duplication of effort. You should create a new thread within the Sierra forum and post your problem there - not try tacking it onto another thread.
Pretty sure your issues have NOTHING to do with CAT.
Yes I am sure. I was trying to ask whether this security update in any way prevents the modification of kexts to recognize the cax cards as we are trying to do using CAT. Anyway, I went ahead and installed the update, and will boot into recovery, disable sip, and re-run CAT tomorrow to answer my own question.
Ok, to be pointed. What security update?? This is the Sierra (not El Cap) thread - I haven't seen any security update (and there's no mention of one on the Dev news site or in the Dev forums).
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I know this is a Sierra thread, but to give an idea of what I do to update EC....I run CAT to remove all kext mods and reboot. Then update the OS and run CAT again. Works every time for me.
Ok, back to Sierra....
Mine "broke" the other day. Was working fine at night (and days before), the next morning, go to unlock, nope. And couldn't get it working again. Tried taking the BT and 80211 kexts back to Sierra vanilla, repatching. Removed all systems from iCloud, re-enrolled, nada. (but, pretty apparent from the logs that this bundle has a lot of iCloud issues).
MacBook Pro 17" 2008 (4,1), mCard 2.0 using BCM2046 for BLE, BCM4360 for 802.11AC.
CAT diags screen:
Errors related to unlocking attempts:
error 23:06:29.736053 -0400 kernel UserEventAgent is not entitled
error 23:06:29.941234 -0400 wirelessproxd Failed to start a scan - central is not powered on 2
error 23:06:30.083541 -0400 wirelessproxd Failed to start advertising - peripheral is not powered on 2
error 23:06:30.083626 -0400 wirelessproxd Advertising failed to start for client identityservicesd type 12 with error: CoreBluetooth is currently powered off
error 23:06:30.084778 -0400 identityservicesd Continuity advertising failed to start of type: 12 with error: CoreBluetooth is currently powered off
error 23:06:30.096375 -0400 sharingd Did fail to start advertising for Activity (The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.identityservices.error error 200.))
Tried whitelisting my Board ID in the IO80211Family.kext's BCM PlugIn, but the system wouldn't take it.
Any thoughts?
MacBook Pro 17" 2008 (4,1), mCard 2.0 using BCM2046 for BLE, BCM4360 for 802.11AC.
CAT diags screen:
Errors related to unlocking attempts:
error 23:06:29.736053 -0400 kernel UserEventAgent is not entitled
error 23:06:29.941234 -0400 wirelessproxd Failed to start a scan - central is not powered on 2
error 23:06:30.083541 -0400 wirelessproxd Failed to start advertising - peripheral is not powered on 2
error 23:06:30.083626 -0400 wirelessproxd Advertising failed to start for client identityservicesd type 12 with error: CoreBluetooth is currently powered off
error 23:06:30.084778 -0400 identityservicesd Continuity advertising failed to start of type: 12 with error: CoreBluetooth is currently powered off
error 23:06:30.096375 -0400 sharingd Did fail to start advertising for Activity (The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.identityservices.error error 200.))
Tried whitelisting my Board ID in the IO80211Family.kext's BCM PlugIn, but the system wouldn't take it.
Any thoughts?
So I know a lot of peeps in here are wanting to use the Apple Watch unlock feature (I don't have an Apple Watch), however I was curious about how Handoff/Airdrop are running? I have a late 2011 MBP on EC and it's been pretty solid. I will eventually upgrade to Sierra, but just curious how Continuity is running (minus Apple Watch).
The MBP I replaced the internal Airport card with the Quickertek m-card 2 (thought it should have been the m-card 3 as the MBP actually has 3 antennae).
Once I get the GM, I'll try using USB adapters to get my 2012 Mac Mini working with the feature as well. (it's the one that's pretty much the same chipset as what you have going on).
Ok, so now with the GM, my MacBook Pro 2008 (4,1). Out of the gate, the system wasn't reporting the bluetooth functionality correctly with this card. When I ran CAT, option 1 (which supposedly ONLY patched for "ContinuitySupport", it did on subsequent boot properly report the lower firmware revisions and that BLE was supported. However (as I saw with DP8/PB7) this state would't persist a subsequent reboot - and it didn't.
I then (because I thought CAT was doing more than it stated with option 1, did option 1 again - to tool said it did nothing, then I did option 5 (Disable Auto Check App). Then I rebooted.
When I booted back up, system reporting shows the BT with the lower firmware revision, proper chipset info and support BLE (as before when it was working) - but, funny enough, CAT is reporting the opposite - saying that the firmware is the higher (incorrect) revision and that continuity features are not supported.
It's at this point that I enabled the unlocking with Apple Watch. It enabled it quickly (about a minute...maybe less). Tested and confirmed that it worked.
I then restarted the system to see if the configuration would stick....and it has.
Edit: Scratch that. There's something running after you boot up that's changing the state of the BT support. It's changed back to the higher firmware revision and no BLE support. Need to find a way to get these values to stick to the working ones.
So, now I use have to wait for my time machine backup on my 2012 mini to finish and I'll upgrade it to the GM (and give CAT a whirl to get it going there as well)
Stay tuned....
I then (because I thought CAT was doing more than it stated with option 1, did option 1 again - to tool said it did nothing, then I did option 5 (Disable Auto Check App). Then I rebooted.
When I booted back up, system reporting shows the BT with the lower firmware revision, proper chipset info and support BLE (as before when it was working) - but, funny enough, CAT is reporting the opposite - saying that the firmware is the higher (incorrect) revision and that continuity features are not supported.
It's at this point that I enabled the unlocking with Apple Watch. It enabled it quickly (about a minute...maybe less). Tested and confirmed that it worked.
I then restarted the system to see if the configuration would stick....and it has.
Edit: Scratch that. There's something running after you boot up that's changing the state of the BT support. It's changed back to the higher firmware revision and no BLE support. Need to find a way to get these values to stick to the working ones.
So, now I use have to wait for my time machine backup on my 2012 mini to finish and I'll upgrade it to the GM (and give CAT a whirl to get it going there as well)
Stay tuned....
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I'm very close on the 2012 Mac Mini I think. I just need to know what the CAT tool does to "patch ContinuitySupport" - is anyone familiar with the code?
Verifying ContinuitySupport... Print: Entry, ":Mac-031AEE4D24BFF0B1:ContinuitySupport", Does Not Exist
NOT OK. Unknown state. Your Mac might not be compatible.
I think if I could find out where it's checking and inject my board ID, I might just be able to get it working....everything else from a continuity standpoint is working now (system report is happy - all bluetooth features are working).
Brcm4331 (wifi) and Brcm20702 (BLE 4.0) chipsets on the 2012 mini.
Edit: Using the force option with CAT doesn't get it to patch continuity with my BoardID either. Heh. Should I hex edit CAT to inject my board ID into it?
Any ideas?
Verifying ContinuitySupport... Print: Entry, ":Mac-031AEE4D24BFF0B1:ContinuitySupport", Does Not Exist
NOT OK. Unknown state. Your Mac might not be compatible.
I think if I could find out where it's checking and inject my board ID, I might just be able to get it working....everything else from a continuity standpoint is working now (system report is happy - all bluetooth features are working).
Brcm4331 (wifi) and Brcm20702 (BLE 4.0) chipsets on the 2012 mini.
Edit: Using the force option with CAT doesn't get it to patch continuity with my BoardID either. Heh. Should I hex edit CAT to inject my board ID into it?
Any ideas?
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wow, so you actually HAVE the modded card from those guys. I heard they might not even be in business. Might need one of those cards, if we can get cont. working with it!
Oh wait, those are for the 'newer' MBP, I need to unicard which is twice the price. :/ kinda steep to unlock my mac with my watch.
Oh wait, those are for the 'newer' MBP, I need to unicard which is twice the price. :/ kinda steep to unlock my mac with my watch.
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Heh. For the 2012 mini, I just need the CAT guys to add support for this system (or for someone to tell me what they're patching with PlistBuddy, so I can do it myself).
I think if I had my Board-ID ok'd for Continuity, the feature would show up (which means it would also show up for you with the CAX card). The mini's still running the stock AirPort Broadcom card it came with from Apple.[doublepost=1473441272][/doublepost]
Also, regarding Quickertek and their mCards (again, mine is a 2008 MBP 17"). The card was only $79US for mine.
What system are you looking to put one of these into?
Their support thus far has been almost non-existent. They did tell me the card is actually using the BRCM4360 chipset (for both 80211 as well as BT). It doesn't sound like they've done much testing with Sierra yet.
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Mine is the early 2012 17" MBP, so I guess its the Ucard which is $149.
which means its a completely different type of connector rather than just a smaller interface board.
which means its a completely different type of connector rather than just a smaller interface board.
Don't you mean late 2011?
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...4-17-late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html
Have you looked to see if that one uses the ribbon connector or is one of the slot adapters?
Edit: Yep, it's the ribbon cable. Damn.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+17-Inch+Unibody+AirPort+Board+Replacement/9589
Edit2: The CAX card will work in your MBP - it's only $30 - http://www.ebay.ca/itm/121557237197
I guess you're looking at the QuickerTek card hoping you don't have to patch so much with CAT?
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Ok, I'm pretty sure that where CAT patches ContinuitySupport is here:
/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist
Unfortunately, my mini doesn't have a ContinuitySupport false value, so it's not there that I'm getting hung up.
There's another check somewhere that the system is doing. Think I need to dig through the IO80211family.kext some more....see if there's something in there that I'm missing.
/System/Library/Frameworks/IOBluetooth.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SystemParameters.plist
Unfortunately, my mini doesn't have a ContinuitySupport false value, so it's not there that I'm getting hung up.
There's another check somewhere that the system is doing. Think I need to dig through the IO80211family.kext some more....see if there's something in there that I'm missing.
Mines a '2012' because the 2.5ghz model was only added in early 2012 which was the last 'update' and even that wasn't 'announced'. So I've heard it called both late 11 and early 12.
I already have the CAX card, had that for, 2 years now? Had to buy a second one when apple removed it in favor of the ax card because it went to service :/ that pissed me off.
I'm hoping to get AC so my Apple Watch can unlock it. Again, for $149 that's a bit steep
Yep, I wondered if you were talking about the same system or a different one (saw your posts in the El Cap CAT thread).
I'm going to keep digging. I'm not buying that we have to have AC for this to work. All of the other continuity bits are enabled on my 2012 Mac Mini.
Heh...unless there's someone here that actually knows what Apple might be doing that requires AC support?
Edit: Especially as the Watch only support 802.11b/g/n. Not buying that the Mac has to have an AC radio.
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hey guys, i've got an early 2009 mac pro that i firmware upgraded to 2010 (4,1 -> 5,1) and was running 10.11.6 with the CAT patch and hand-off was working correctly as I upgraded to an OSXWIFI 802.11AC card with BT4.
today, i decided to install the sierra final release -> which was a straight upgrade over my 10.11.6
but now, even though CAT says all is fine, hand-off isn't working.
i've tried to uninstall CAT and reinstall (SIP is disabled) but with no luck.
tried CAT 2.4(beta) as well
any ideas would be appreciated - don't really want to go back to 10.11.6 via a TM restore
today, i decided to install the sierra final release -> which was a straight upgrade over my 10.11.6
but now, even though CAT says all is fine, hand-off isn't working.
i've tried to uninstall CAT and reinstall (SIP is disabled) but with no luck.
tried CAT 2.4(beta) as well
any ideas would be appreciated - don't really want to go back to 10.11.6 via a TM restore
Hi folks, i'm currently held a MacBook Pro 2011, and replaced WifiBT card when 10.10 released, used to be good for years...
last Friday, i'm upgrade to 10.12 GM, all gone except iPhone SMS forward(and it's just single direction work, which is iPhone send to mac). Although app icon can pass from iPhone to mac, but when u click it, just show hand off failed after a while. No Mac to iphone/ipad icon appear anymore, also, FaceTime audio phone call died.
And for sure, CAT reported everything is okay...(which is not true)
before install the GM all worked perfect on 10.11.6 (even with latest security patch)
so we have to digging around what apple do in this release, maybe more check in cloudpaird or something like that
of course, apple doesn't like to give detail log about continuity and handoff....
last Friday, i'm upgrade to 10.12 GM, all gone except iPhone SMS forward(and it's just single direction work, which is iPhone send to mac). Although app icon can pass from iPhone to mac, but when u click it, just show hand off failed after a while. No Mac to iphone/ipad icon appear anymore, also, FaceTime audio phone call died.
And for sure, CAT reported everything is okay...(which is not true)
before install the GM all worked perfect on 10.11.6 (even with latest security patch)
so we have to digging around what apple do in this release, maybe more check in cloudpaird or something like that
of course, apple doesn't like to give detail log about continuity and handoff....
@bbb555, @GalaxyMu
Getting all of the continuity bits working properly on Sierra (especially the unlocking with apple watch) can be a royal PITA! It's mind boggling sometimes how sticky Apple's made all of these little bits. And, yes, thus far, it appears if you don't have 802.11AC supported by your wifi card, you won't be able to get the unlocking w AW feature working.
You should be using the beta (2.4) build of CAT (it was stated previously that any/all updates would be made to this tree until Sierra is released to the public).
CAT can have issues whitelisting your system in the Sierra IO80211Family.kext file. It seems to have issues on some systems. If you patch your system, then run the diagnostic and it says that it hasn't yet whitelisted your model, then you need to force it. (navigate to where you have the tool, Open Package Contents, then Contents/Resources) there you will find the contitool.sh shell script.
Navigate to that path in terminal and issue the command sudo ./contitool.sh -f that forces CAT to patch everything in your system, regardless of its internal checks.
Unfortunately, in order to get all of the bits (once you're properly patched) to work, can often require you to logout/login to Apple's cloud in multiple ways (iCloud, messenger, FaceTime - each has their own login). Toggling the handoff feature (System Preferences, General, Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices) as well as on your devices (iPhone, both Utilities, Settings, General, Handoff as well as Messages, Text Message Forwarding) - and again, toggling your logins for iCloud, iMessage & FaceTime for all of your devices.
It REALLY shouldn't be this awful to get a feature like continuity to work, but Apple's made far too many hooks and checks into their cloud....and all of the ducks have to be in a row. (and our ability to see which duck isn't is almost non-existent).
Once you have it working, it works pretty darn well. Then we get to deal with this fun again the next time we update (many say if you uninstall CAT, then update, then re-apply CAT, you'll have greater success with updates).
Getting all of the continuity bits working properly on Sierra (especially the unlocking with apple watch) can be a royal PITA!
It's mind boggling sometimes how sticky Apple's made all of these little bits. And, yes, thus far, it appears if you don't have 802.11AC supported by your wifi card, you won't be able to get the unlocking w AW feature working.You should be using the beta (2.4) build of CAT (it was stated previously that any/all updates would be made to this tree until Sierra is released to the public).
CAT can have issues whitelisting your system in the Sierra IO80211Family.kext file. It seems to have issues on some systems. If you patch your system, then run the diagnostic and it says that it hasn't yet whitelisted your model, then you need to force it. (navigate to where you have the tool, Open Package Contents, then Contents/Resources) there you will find the contitool.sh shell script.
Navigate to that path in terminal and issue the command sudo ./contitool.sh -f that forces CAT to patch everything in your system, regardless of its internal checks.
Unfortunately, in order to get all of the bits (once you're properly patched) to work, can often require you to logout/login to Apple's cloud in multiple ways (iCloud, messenger, FaceTime - each has their own login). Toggling the handoff feature (System Preferences, General, Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices) as well as on your devices (iPhone, both Utilities, Settings, General, Handoff as well as Messages, Text Message Forwarding) - and again, toggling your logins for iCloud, iMessage & FaceTime for all of your devices.
It REALLY shouldn't be this awful to get a feature like continuity to work, but Apple's made far too many hooks and checks into their cloud....and all of the ducks have to be in a row. (and our ability to see which duck isn't is almost non-existent).
Once you have it working, it works pretty darn well. Then we get to deal with this fun again the next time we update (many say if you uninstall CAT, then update, then re-apply CAT, you'll have greater success with updates).
@bbb555, @GalaxyMu
Getting all of the continuity bits working properly on Sierra (especially the unlocking with apple watch) can be a royal PITA!
You should be using the beta (2.4) build of CAT (it was stated previously that any/all updates would be made to this tree until Sierra is released to the public).
CAT can have issues whitelisting your system in the Sierra IO80211Family.kext file. It seems to have issues on some systems. If you patch your system, then run the diagnostic and it says that it hasn't yet whitelisted your model, then you need to force it. (navigate to where you have the tool, Open Package Contents, then Contents/Resources) there you will find the contitool.sh shell script.
Navigate to that path in terminal and issue the command sudo ./contitool.sh -f that forces CAT to patch everything in your system, regardless of its internal checks.
Unfortunately, in order to get all of the bits (once you're properly patched) to work, can often require you to logout/login to Apple's cloud in multiple ways (iCloud, messenger, FaceTime - each has their own login). Toggling the handoff feature (System Preferences, General, Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices) as well as on your devices (iPhone, both Utilities, Settings, General, Handoff as well as Messages, Text Message Forwarding) - and again, toggling your logins for iCloud, iMessage & FaceTime for all of your devices.
It REALLY shouldn't be this awful to get a feature like continuity to work, but Apple's made far too many hooks and checks into their cloud....and all of the ducks have to be in a row. (and our ability to see which duck isn't is almost non-existent).
Once you have it working, it works pretty darn well. Then we get to deal with this fun again the next time we update (many say if you uninstall CAT, then update, then re-apply CAT, you'll have greater success with updates).
really thanks for the advice, and beside CAT, I was the first wave to manually edit all the kext files after replaced the wifi-bt module. at that time cloudparid and other stuffs works OOB, but time after time Apple made change to the Continuity mechanism, thank god we got CAT, and it really improved every time to fight with us and nailed it for the old machines.
I don't know why this time CAT doesn't make its job done well, but I believe it well get better
Agreed. I know they'll get it updated and add some of the newer systems as well. I'm still not convinced that 802.11AC is required myself, but we need someone to figure out what that missing piece is. What, specifically, is Apple doing that suggests that protocol is needed. There's some feature of those NIC's - if we can only find out what it is, we may be able to get it working on the older BroadCom chipsets.really thanks for the advice, and beside CAT, I was the first wave to manually edit all the kext files after replaced the wifi-bt module. at that time cloudparid and other stuffs works OOB, but time after time Apple made change to the Continuity mechanism, thank god we got CAT, and it really improved every time to fight with us and nailed it for the old machines.
I don't know why this time CAT doesn't make its job done well, but I believe it well get better
Thanks for the reply @fischersd
I went ahead and rebuilt my Mac Pro - realising since I've been doing upgrades since Mavericks I thought it would be best to do a proper clean build for Sierra (2nd time round).
After the clean build and CAT 2.4beta, continuity worked nicely, so my OS was probably to blame here.
I ran through your advice of a force CAT patch via terminal and now everything comes up as OK which is great.
Though Apple Watch auto-unlock still failed to unlock (even with the option selected)
If only Apple wouldn't just discount users with older Macs that are still powerful enough to work with today's OS's and apps.
I went ahead and rebuilt my Mac Pro - realising since I've been doing upgrades since Mavericks I thought it would be best to do a proper clean build for Sierra (2nd time round).
After the clean build and CAT 2.4beta, continuity worked nicely, so my OS was probably to blame here.
I ran through your advice of a force CAT patch via terminal and now everything comes up as OK which is great.
Though Apple Watch auto-unlock still failed to unlock (even with the option selected)
If only Apple wouldn't just discount users with older Macs that are still powerful enough to work with today's OS's and apps.