Possible dead airport card in MacPro 5.1, what are my options?

[Macshroomer]

I still need to do a couple of re-sets like P-ram, etc. but as it stands right now, I think the wifi card on my MacPro 5.1, 3.33 ( 3.46 ) is toast. My connection has been getting pretty slow over the past month and then today I noticed my screen was dark and could not be woken back up. So I did a hard restart and now the wifi signal indicator is greyed out and says hardware not found when I click on it.

Aside from getting a replacement card which there seem to be plenty of, what are my options for this in possibly upgrading it to a faster one without some form of hack?

Faster is always better but I can live with the standard speed as this is generally not on the web, only for SW updates and such.

 

[glenthompson]

Since most Mac Pros stay in one place why not hardwire it with 1000BaseT? A lot faster speed than WiFi. My philosophy is to hardwire any device that sits in one place all the time.

 

[Macshroomer]

Since most Mac Pros stay in one place why not hardwire it with 1000BaseT? A lot faster speed than WiFi. My philosophy is to hardwire any device that sits in one place all the time.

It's on a second floor and the router / cable is on the 1st floor and this simply has no way of changing, so it has to be wireless. I think I am just getting another of the same card since this machine does not do any web, streaming, etc.

 

[rawweb]

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to upgrade it to Wifi AC/Bluetooth 4 for added continuity/handoff benefits I'm more than happy with my MVC upgrade: http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p33/Wifi_AC_and_Bluetooth_Airport_Card.html

Before you do that though, try reseating the card. It's just a mini pcie card, maybe it just needs to be reseated.

 

[glenthompson]

It's on a second floor and the router / cable is on the 1st floor and this simply has no way of changing, so it has to be wireless. I think I am just getting another of the same card since this machine does not do any web, streaming, etc.

I've found creative ways to run ethernet cable so it's not visible. However if you don't want to go to the trouble you could also use a Airport Express as a network extender and plug its ethernet port into the MP. At $100 it's a fairly low cost and easy solution.

 

[h9826790]

Airport Express will limit the speed to 100Mb/s. Homeplug may be a better option.

 

[nigelbb]

It's on a second floor and the router / cable is on the 1st floor and this simply has no way of changing, so it has to be wireless. I think I am just getting another of the same card since this machine does not do any web, streaming, etc.

I don't see what makes running an Ethernet cable impossible. You can get flat cables that can be tucked into the edge of a room between wall & carpet. In one house I lived in I just dropped a cable out the first floor window & back in the ground floor window.

 

[Neanderphil]

I still need to do a couple of re-sets like P-ram, etc. but as it stands right now, I think the wifi card on my MacPro 5.1, 3.33 ( 3.46 ) is toast. My connection has been getting pretty slow over the past month and then today I noticed my screen was dark and could not be woken back up. So I did a hard restart and now the wifi signal indicator is greyed out and says hardware not found when I click on it.

Aside from getting a replacement card which there seem to be plenty of, what are my options for this in possibly upgrading it to a faster one without some form of hack?

Faster is always better but I can live with the standard speed as this is generally not on the web, only for SW updates and such.

Try this

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/802.11ac_Mac_adapters.html#edimaxAC450_OSX

http://www.asus.com/Networking/PCEAC68/

No official support, but it's supposed to be plug n play.

 

[Macshroomer]

I don't see what makes running an Ethernet cable impossible. You can get flat cables that can be tucked into the edge of a room between wall & carpet. In one house I lived in I just dropped a cable out the first floor window & back in the ground floor window.

Well, you can't see what the problem is because you don't live here, it's simply not an option.

 

[rawweb]

Well, you can't see what the problem is because you don't live here, it's simply not an option.

Have you tried my recommendation of reseating the card?

 

[nigelbb]

Try this

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/802.11ac_Mac_adapters.html#edimaxAC450_OSX

http://www.asus.com/Networking/PCEAC68/

No official support, but it's supposed to be plug n play.

The Edimax USB widget doesn't work in El Capitain. An updated driver is promised. AFAIK no USB WiFi device supports El Capitain.

 

[Chung123]

There is a Broadcom BC943460MC AC wifi card for the 5,1 you can find on eBay.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/broadcom-bcm943460mc-ac-wifi-card-for-mac-pro.1878172/

It doesn't have bluetooth, however.

I've had it since June and have been really happy with it. (No longer works with 10.12 and above)

 

[scott.n]

You can also use the Airport cards from iMacs. My go-to card for adding wifi to 2009 Mac Pros is part number 661-5946, the card from the 2011 21" iMac. This is the only official Apple card that I know of that can use all three of the Mac Pro's wifi antennae.

 

[Neanderphil]

The Edimax USB widget doesn't work in El Capitain. An updated driver is promised. AFAIK no USB WiFi device supports El Capitain.

My bad, I had meant to link to a review of the AC68 which is at the top of that post.

Here is the fixed link. http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/802.11ac_Mac_adapters.html

I just got an Archer T9E PCI card. http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-11_Archer-T9E.html

It's working perfectly at the moment out of the box in El Capitan. I don't have an AC router yet but my N 5Ghz speeds jumped from about 160Mbps to 300Mbps.

 

[slobolam]

There is a Broadcom BC943460MC AC wifi card for the 5,1 you can find on eBay.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/broadcom-bcm943460mc-ac-wifi-card-for-mac-pro.1878172/

It doesn't have bluetooth, however.

I've had it since June and have been really happy with it.

can support airdrop? no need upgrade BT?

 

[tommy chen]

better you buy a BCM943460CD or BCM943602CDPAX_1
needs different adaptors!

best option for a cMP with wifi AC and BT 4.0 (4.2 at the pax) works for airdrop or handsoff

the original BT card is only BT2.0 and no airdrop or handsoff!

 

[edgerider]

was in the same boat, finally went with a 2000mb/s CPL ethernet adapter that work so well that I since bougth another one for the Imac of my kids, and one other kit for a computer doing timelapse where the camera has to be over 300 feets away from the computer and simple rj45 ethernet was not reliable enough, and wifi so slow that I would loose the conexion with the camera all the time.... I love those CLP adapter, because they are super easy to use, and just work as good as a regular ethernet cable and because it works so much better than wifi.
it use your home electric cable to transport two 1GB/s ethernet signal.
plug one adapter to the power plug on witch your box is , plug the ethernet cable to the adapter and the box, plug the other adapter to the macpro plug, and to the ethernet port of the macpro, and call it a day...

 

[Chung123]

can support airdrop? no need upgrade BT?

That card no longer works with 10.12 Sierra and above. I am back to my OEM Airport Card and using a EW-7822ULC, Edimax AC1200 USB dongle. Works well on Mac OS Mojave for AC speeds. No airdrop though.