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MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 - new PCIE Bluetooth Wifi card - not recognised

MNissen

MNissen

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 10, 2021
103
44
I've got a Mac Pro 5,1 with Sonoma via Open Core legacy patcher.

Never had Wifi or Bluetooth, having obsolete cards.

I removed the obsolete cards and installed the new PCIE Bluetooth/Wifi card and now can't see it.

This is the card "BCM943602CS Wireless Card Adapter" Link

These are the instructions I used for removing the old cards - Link

I made sure the red and black wires from the new PCIE card were connected as per the instructions. - no joy

Any ideas? Or alternatives?

I also tried one of those $4 USB dongles and can't see that either.

Cheers

MNissen
 
Can you give me a link for this? as it was sold to me as OSX 10+
 
have you reverted root patches and cleaned the nvram?

Bluetooth works for me with an Asus BT400 USB dongle in Sonoma, btw.
 
I have the BCM943602CS as well, this card can definitely work in Sonoma via OCLP. I tested this on my own cMP.

Anyway, if the card is working, you should able to use the BT mouse / keyboard in the OpenCore boot picker. Which is independent to any OS.

So, if your BT is working at boot picker, but then stop working inside Sonoma. Then it should be software issue. As Macscharauber pointed out, if you haven't revert the root patches, then the newly installed most likely won't work. This is one of the known issue for patched OS.
 
Thanks all,

did the root patchers etc

disk first aid gives me :

warning: container has been mounted by APFS version 2235.60.6, which is newer than 1412.141.1
and
warning: disabling overallocation repairs by default; use -o to override

so I'm thinking I'll format the disk and start again, currently booting off Catalina via Dosdude's patch, which enables me to use Bootcamp on another disk.

Catalina does't see the new bluetooth card either.

Aah well, let's see how this goes...
 
MNissen said:
so I'm thinking I'll format the disk and start again, currently booting off Catalina via Dosdude's patch, which enables me to use Bootcamp on another disk.

Catalina does't see the new bluetooth card either.
Click to expand...
If the Catalina system files were patched by Dosdude patcher to enable the legacy BT, then it may be the reason why it doesn't work in Catalina as well.

If you have boot screen, you can simply hold Option key to boot (If you only have OC boot screen, then do NOT hold Option key to boot, but simply let the cMP to auto load the OC boot screen), and check if your BT mouse / keyboard is working in the startup manager. As long as this works, then the problem is just software issue.

However, if that doesn't work, then highly likely is something hardware related.

Anyway, there are many versions of APFS, and the older one doesn't compatible to the newer one. And once the newer macOS touched the an APFS container, that APFS container may show up some error in older macOS.
 
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I'm not getting a thing, holding the option key.

After seeing red lights on the processor board, I moved all the Ram dimms around and resolved that.

Removed that fancy PCIE bluetooth/Wifi card and legacy WIFI and Blutooth cards from the board. This has left me with:

1 SSD with Catalina via Dos Dude, Bootcamp and Win 10 on another SSD - both of these boot and work fine but I still can't get any screen with the option key.

So the plan is - Back up Catalina via Dos Dude with CCCloner and then approach this Open Core Legacy Patcher lark from year 0. Fresh everything

And I've tried to reset PRAM/NVRAM and tried Recovery and SMC, two different USB keyboards.

Pfft

Works fine in Catalina, maybe it's time for a new Mac Pro...

I'll update if I get it working again

I do have a time machine back up of OCLP Sonoma so maybe there's hope.
 
Last edited:
Once again thanks for the help.

But, Bluetooth Card + Sonoma ≠ :)

I started with a blank SSD and put Ventura on - bluetooth doesn't work, PCIE card, or the $4 USB dongle.

Upped the Ventura to Sonoma - same - no-good .

But I discovered something, in the faffing about doing installs and such, Catalina via DosDude will pair via $4 USB dongle to Magic Keyboard2 and Magic Mouse2 if:

I wait until the sytem has fully booted then plug the keyboard in, with lighting cable to charge it, then it connects via bluetooth when I unplug the lightning cable, same with the mouse. This pairing is sticky and survives reboots.

Happiness.

no more above Catalina for my Mac Pro 5,1.
 
MNissen said:
Once again thanks for the help.

But, Bluetooth Card + Sonoma ≠ :)

I started with a blank SSD and put Ventura on - bluetooth doesn't work, PCIE card, or the $4 USB dongle.

Upped the Ventura to Sonoma - same - no-good .

But I discovered something, in the faffing about doing installs and such, Catalina via DosDude will pair via $4 USB dongle to Magic Keyboard2 and Magic Mouse2 if:

I wait until the sytem has fully booted then plug the keyboard in, with lighting cable to charge it, then it connects via bluetooth when I unplug the lightning cable, same with the mouse. This pairing is sticky and survives reboots.

Happiness.

no more above Catalina for my Mac Pro 5,1.
Click to expand...
this screenshot is from a german os, but you will get the words and the idea.

Asus BT400 USB dongle is doing Bluetooth in the latest Sonoma OS

Bildschirmfoto 2024-01-06 um 13.50.24.png
 
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Now that my 5,1 is up and at 'em, with the bluetooth working perfectly, I'm wondering what about WiFi?

I'm hoping that the kind and helpful folk here, will be able to recommend a USB or PCIe, wifi adapter that I can use.

For ref: Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1, 48Gb Ram, Sonoma (via OCLP) 14.3.1

🙏
 
What results I have found, suggest that this one might be suitable: "Intel AX210S Wi-Fi 6E".

I wonder if AX210NGW is the same..

it seems to have 2 aerial connectors - from memory there is only one aerial wire on the 5,1 board



Screenshot.png
 
Yes - you are right I was thinking of the bluetooth.

I wonder if any one has used the AX210NGW

Or if there are other cards that work with Sonoma.
 
MNissen said:
Yes - you are right I was thinking of the bluetooth.

I wonder if any one has used the AX210NGW

Or if there are other cards that work with Sonoma.
Click to expand...

Not an officially supported Wi-Fi/BT card by Apple, no Apple drivers, and the card connector is M.2 1216, you will have to use a PCIe slot with an adapter card to connect it.
 
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Thank you, worth considering, though all this, just to get my apple watch to log in, seems overkill.

I might wait for the next rendition of OCLP and see if the WIFI situation changes.
 
MNissen said:
Thank you, worth considering, though all this, just to get my apple watch to log in, seems overkill.

I might wait for the next rendition of OCLP and see if the WIFI situation changes.
Click to expand...
Yes, I was using Hackintosh, and a lot of PCs come with it, I think the current still a good option for macOS 14, the people who working on the task are very nice,
 
They replied, but with boilerplate, vague, language that specifically, did not mention Sonoma compatibility. No hope there I'm thinking.

I've ordered a couple of cheap USB Wifi Dongles, in the hope that maybe one of these might work. I'll post here If I have any luck.
 
Both BCM943602CD and BCM943602CDP are supported with OCLP + Sonoma, these are the factory AirPort Extreme of iMacs from 2013 to 2017. With Mac Pros works best if you connect the USB D+ and D- to a hub, to avoid the OHCI issue.

While the cards are not supported with Sonoma anymore, Apple supports it up to Ventura, OCLP re-added it and works.
 
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I’m not sure what I did, but accidentally updated macOS from Ventura to Sonoma via automatic update.

After the reboot, neither Bluetooth or WiFi were working anymore. But then I ran the OCLP and restarted, Bluetooth and WiFi were active and connected again.

I never thought I would see Sonoma on my macoro5,1 but it is and everything is working like it should.
 
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