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Wifi AC & Bluetooth Airport Card for Mac Pro 4,1 and 5,1

Received the module today and got installed.
Cables were indeed tricky to connect.
BT is working fine, with my trackpad fully recognized.

On the WiFi side however, I get only about half the speed I used to get with the original: 78Mbps i/o 145Mbps on the 2.4GHz band (I have the latest Airport Extreme).

Can't even connect anymore to 5.0GHz band. I get an exclamation mark and the reported speed is 7Mbps.

Checked the antennas connections on the module and they are all fine (well connected and no short-circuit).

Any clue?

BTW: I also don't get the handoff check box in General Settings under Yosemite PR1
 
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I'm definitely no expert, but it sounds like one of the antennae isn't connected properly on the WiFi section. Contact MVC directly, he responds quickly to help requests.
 
I would reseat the card and check those antenaes connections. Can you look in System Profiler under WiFi and post a screenshot?

Did you put BT on J3?

really does sound like multiple connectikns aren't snapped on properly.

They are really difficult if you have large fingers, I find that frequently I'll be putting last one on and knock off a previous one
 
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Thanks for your reply.
Where exactly would I find this parameter?

----------

BT works fine.
BT antenna is connected on the 3rd connector, I followed your guide.
 
Look in system profiler and you will see wifi

Did you connect all 4 antenaes connections?

Sometimes 3rd wifi antenaes is stuffed in back of cabinet, can use the clear cover from it on BT antenae
 
Yes the 4 antennas are connected (3rd wifi antenna was hidden behind behind original wifi module).

Was posting from iPad, connection was way too slow in 10.10.
Now I'm back on 10.9.4, wifi connection is much better than in 10.10 (but still not going above 60-70Mbps).

My system is in French... :eek: Is it under System Preferences/Network?
 
Here are pictures I took before starting back the mac pro
default-photo-big.jpg


default-image-big.jpg


Edit:
Is this what you were mentioning?
default-capture-ecran-2014-big.png

default-capture-ecran-2014-big.png
 
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Managed to get screen shots under 10.10 PR1

Getting barely 1Mbps...
default-capture-ecran-2014-big.png

default-capture-ecran-2014-big.png


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Unmounted the card to check again the connections. They're in place and firmly attached :(

Last post for tonight... I give up
 
The grey tape is holding in a screw

You need to use the screw to hold card down

We started including an extra screw because someone lost theirs

Pull off the tape
 
Update

Update:

Received my order for the Mac Pro 3,1 (2008) version of the adaptor and controller on Monday afternoon (Thanks for the fast shipping MacVidCards!). Upon initial install the card was not detected. I tried re-seating the card and the adaptor without success. Reached out to MacVidCards support and they were very helpful. Before giving up and asking for an RMA I decided to try one more time to reseat everything.

For the MacPro 3,1 (2008) I'd recommend actually removing the CPU heat sync shroud and the front Fan module (two screws) as this makes connecting the antennas MUCH easier. You can then connect the antennas before seating the controller. Remove the 6-pin PCIe GPU power cables before attempting to seat the controller as the release clip will likely interfere with properly seating the card and may knock some antennas loose. Once you have the new controller installed carefully seat the 6-pin PCIe GPU power cables and re-install the front fan module , heat sync shroud and the rest of your hardware and HDDs.

On a side note, if you had any Bluetooth devices previously paired (keyboard, mouse, etc.) you will need to pair them to the new Bluetooth controller as the Bluetooth address will have changed. Keep this in-mind as you may need a wired keyboard & mouse.

Thanks again MacVidCards!
-PopinFRESH
 
MacVidCards said:
malcbo,

remove the grey tape from card, it is holding a screw in the hole

use that screw in that hole to screw card down

I am 99% sure your connection problem is because the card isn't seated all the way

Then use the grey tape to wrap the BT antennae extension. (Brass connector that meets old antennae)

http://www.macvidcards.com/wifi-and-bluetooth-card-installation-in-a-41-or-51.html
Click to expand...
Re-did the whole montage from scratch.
Removed the tape and fixed the card with the screw.
I even connected the antennas as per tags (1/2/3 to J0/J1/J2 respectively).
Reset the PRAM.

BT is still fine. Trackpad connects immediately upon starting.

However, I'm still getting very poor wifi reception under Yosemite PR1 (fresh install): 5Mbps at best.

Under Mavericks, reception is better but still about 50% less than with original card.

What went wrong? :(

default-photo2-big.jpg
 
malcbo said:
Re-did the whole montage from scratch.
Removed the tape and fixed the card with the screw.
I even connected the antennas as per tags (1/2/3 to J0/J1/J2 respectively).
Reset the PRAM.

BT is still fine. Trackpad connects immediately upon starting.

However, I'm still getting very poor wifi reception under Yosemite PR1 (fresh install): 5Mbps at best.

Under Mavericks, reception is better but still about 50% less than with original card.

What went wrong? :(

Image
Click to expand...

Looking at that pic, the iMac card looks slightly askew in the adapter board. Try loosening the black screw a touch and straightening it.

The other guy having trouble yesterday got perfect function by reseating.

The guy who posted the long thread also noted that sometimes reseating cards fixes issues.
 
Dam customs have had mine for a week now... Patience is not my strong point...
 
This may have been answered before but has anyone used this upgrade and got airdrop on Yosemite and ios7 working? Or will airdrop only work from ios8 to Yosemite?
 
malcbo said:
I'll try that and post back.
Click to expand...

Update from where we left...

Unmounted the whole setup and re-did all for 3rd time... (also disconnected the wifi/bt module form the adapter as suggested by MVC).

I managed to improve wifi reception in my office... by installing my old airport extreme to extend the wifi (I had never needed that before).
Reception is much better under Mavericks.

BUT, to my great deception, it does not improve at all the reception under Yosemite. I have biggest difficulties in the world to connect to my network, having the diagnostic window piping up to help me solve the problem. Which it can't anyway.

I'm gonna now re-install original wifi and bt modules and see how it behaves under 10.9 and 10.10...

Before entering Apple world (back in 2009), I used to deal a lot with PC hardware for myself and for relatives, and I feel frustrated by this experience as every other "mod" I did to my Mac Pro so far (USB 3 card, CPU/ram upgrade, SSD) went well on first try...
 
malcbo said:
Update from where we left...

Unmounted the whole setup and re-did all for 3rd time... (also disconnected the wifi/bt module form the adapter as suggested by MVC).

I managed to improve wifi reception in my office... by installing my old airport extreme to extend the wifi (I had never needed that before).
Reception is much better under Mavericks.

BUT, to my great deception, it does not improve at all the reception under Yosemite. I have biggest difficulties in the world to connect to my network, having the diagnostic window piping up to help me solve the problem. Which it can't anyway.

I'm gonna now re-install original wifi and bt modules and see how it behaves under 10.9 and 10.10...

Before entering Apple world (back in 2009), I used to deal a lot with PC hardware for myself and for relatives, and I feel frustrated by this experience as every other "mod" I did to my Mac Pro so far (USB 3 card, CPU/ram upgrade, SSD) went well on first try...
Click to expand...

Please contact us from the website. If card is genuinely bad we'll send another.
 
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