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

I'm happy to report back that MVC's solution is now working as expected on my cMP 4.1!

WiFi now works equally in Mavericks and Yosemite. I'm even getting better connectivity, outpacing the effective bandwidth I had with the original card, and Handoff is also available.

1st received WiFi/BT card was apparently faulty. I received a replacement one from MVC and got it installed so much quicker than the 1st time.
 
malcbo said:
I'm happy to report back that MVC's solution is now working as expected on my cMP 4.1!

WiFi now works equally in Mavericks and Yosemite. I'm even getting better connectivity, outpacing the effective bandwidth I had with the original card, and Handoff is also available.

1st received WiFi/BT card was apparently faulty. I received a replacement one from MVC and got it installed so much quicker than the 1st time.
Click to expand...

Congrats. I'm glad that got sorted out quickly.
 
ibarnett said:
Posted in another thread, really belongs here :)
I have just combined the MVC kit with this solution for antenna:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904437/
Now everything works a treat!
No magic mouse problems at all.
Click to expand...

Heh, following your lead to this thread: I have an Inateck 4 port USb 3.0 card installed in my Mac Pro, so I'm planning on doing something similar to what you've done, combining the MVC kit with the external antenna solution. I'm considering a tweak though, and if anyone can wave me off if it's a dumb idea, please feel free. I'm low on PCI slots to sacrifice to the external antenna pigtail, but I do have one of these installed:

http://www.newertech.com/products/pcieesata.php

Since there's plenty of unused space at the left side end of the card's plate, I'm planning on drilling the hole for the pigtail there, and save myself from having to give up a slot for the antenna. Would I be risking shorts or other problems by doing this? Any input from someone more knowledgeable than myself would be greatly appreciated.
 
Shows out of stock for the Mac Pro 4,1 & 5,1, are they going to be getting more in or is it only the external USB adapters from now on?
 
will buying the mvc usb dongle enable handoff without having to get wireless ac? dont really need ac as i have my mac pro connected to ethernet
 
^^^^No, you need both Wireless AC and BT4.0. I have the dongle, but my Wireless is N. Although, I am hoping someone comes up with a software solution.

Lou
 

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We'll have some up later today.

Sorry it takes so long, we don't just throw parts in a bag. I build each one by hand, soldering wires in a shielded sleeve and epoxy onto board. Then each one is tested.

Anyway, more up in a couple hours.
 
MacVidCards said:
We'll have some up later today.

Sorry it takes so long, we don't just throw parts in a bag. I build each one by hand, soldering wires in a shielded sleeve and epoxy onto board. Then each one is tested.

Anyway, more up in a couple hours.
Click to expand...

Understandable, thanks for providing this awesome service to the mac community :cool:
 
Mac Pro BT pin outs

This is aimed at the MacVidCards boys, I bought the Broadcom card and converter from ebay separately, but would really, really appreciate if you guys would tell me the pin outs for the connector on the Mac Pro 5,1 system board

I know that out of the block of four on the connector the top two (as you look at the machine standing upright) are supplying power to the BT card, but I can't seem to find the polarity of those pins anywhere, would you share.. Pretty please.. :):)
 
FreddyMiller said:
Mac Pro BT pin outs

This is aimed at the MacVidCards boys, I bought the Broadcom card and converter from ebay separately, but would really, really appreciate if you guys would tell me the pin outs for the connector on the Mac Pro 5,1 system board

I know that out of the block of four on the connector the top two (as you look at the machine standing upright) are supplying power to the BT card, but I can't seem to find the polarity of those pins anywhere, would you share.. Pretty please.. :):)
Click to expand...

So, now its not for sale anymore?
 
Does anyone know where I can buy one of these cards. I've been waiting for a long time to get my hands on one.

Can I buy one fully assembled or do I need to buy parts and assemble a working card myself?

Thanks!
 
Steve Expat said:
Does anyone know where I can buy one of these cards. I've been waiting for a long time to get my hands on one.

Can I buy one fully assembled or do I need to buy parts and assemble a working card myself?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I installed this one last night:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/252365308998

It came with everything I needed, just had to follow the instructions and plug it in. Those antennas are a pain to connect but my 4,1 Mac Pro now has Bluetooth LE and WiFi AC.
 
suderman said:
I installed this one last night:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/252365308998

It came with everything I needed, just had to follow the instructions and plug it in. Those antennas are a pain to connect but my 4,1 Mac Pro now has Bluetooth LE and WiFi AC.
Click to expand...

Hi, I bought The cards separately and I'm wondering how to mount them and what other parts I need. Can you please post the instructions you followed? Thx
 
Steve Expat said:
I saw that on ebay. You bought from them and everything was cool?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yep. Very similar to MacVidCards, although I think MacVidCards is slightly easier to install (based on his instructions on his website). The only difference is that this card has the gold connectors on the other side, which is a touch more annoying, but still totally fine. It came with an extra bluetooth antenna, which was nice, because I accidentally snapped the end off the first one... those gold connectors are finicky!
 
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ShawnF said:
I saw this being sold on ebay by MacVidCards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261539736448?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

According to the product specs:



Sounds interesting. I emailed the company asking if they had installation instructions and they said there were working on it.
Click to expand...
I have one installed and it shows correctly in System Report but the Magic Mouse has been erratic to the point of being unusable since the installation. I switched over to a Logitech USB mouse, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the upgrade, as I connect to Internet via Ethernet.
 
GregoryOrme said:
I have one installed and it shows correctly in System Report but the Magic Mouse has been erratic to the point of being unusable since the installation. I switched over to a Logitech USB mouse, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the upgrade, as I connect to Internet via Ethernet.
Click to expand...

That's expected, USB 3.0, BT, and Wi-fi 2.4GHz are all interfering each others. USB 3.0 has cables, so no big deal. But Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and BT sure will be affected.

If possible, disable the 2.4GHz network from the router side will help. Or at least manually set the channel (as large as possible. e.g. Channel 11 or 13).

I bet if you are not connecting to any 2.4GHz wi-fi, and the USB 3.0 is not in use (if you have it installed). The magic mouse should work OK (of course, it still depends on how far your mouse to the cMP, and how you connect the antenna, etc).

Anyway, my solution is to buy a ipx -> SMA cable, and a SMA antenna, then make sure the antenna is at a good place to catch the magic mouse signal.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ittently-disconnecting.2025450/#post-24146998

In this case, I can use the USB 3.0 / 2.4GHz Wi-Fi without any trouble.
 
As h9826790 has stated, 2.4GHz Wifi can have drastically negative affects to Bluetooth. On my card, if I connect to a 2.4GHz network, my Magic Mouse becomes nearly unusable. On a 5GHz, network, the Magic Mouse performs beautifully. My mouse is only about 3 feet away from the antennas.
 
h9826790 said:
That's expected, USB 3.0, BT, and Wi-fi 2.4GHz are all interfering each others. USB 3.0 has cables, so no big deal. But Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and BT sure will be affected.

If possible, disable the 2.4GHz network from the router side will help. Or at least manually set the channel (as large as possible. e.g. Channel 11 or 13).

I bet if you are not connecting to any 2.4GHz wi-fi, and the USB 3.0 is not in use (if you have it installed). The magic mouse should work OK (of course, it still depends on how far your mouse to the cMP, and how you connect the antenna, etc).

Anyway, my solution is to buy a ipx -> SMA cable, and a SMA antenna, then make sure the antenna is at a good place to catch the magic mouse signal.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ittently-disconnecting.2025450/#post-24146998

In this case, I can use the USB 3.0 / 2.4GHz Wi-Fi without any trouble.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the prompt and informative reply. I have long had USB 3.0 on this machine and had zero problems with earlier versions of Bluetooth, so it was not really making sense to me, but I am willing to try whatever it takes to solve the problem. By the way, the Mac Pro does not connect via Wi-Fi but by Ethernet; I have Wi-Fi turned off on the Mac Pro, but there is a Wi-Fi presence with an AirPort Extreme about 10 feet away in the same room. The AirPort Extreme does not seem to allow disconnecting the 2.4 but I do have it set manually to the highest channel made available (11). I can test the system with no USB 3.0 devices; to be honest, for what I am using it for at the moment (Lightning cable, audio processor, Apple extended keyboard, and MIDI, it would make no difference). I have in the past used a USB 3.0 external hard drive, but it went bye-bye, and I have not replaced it seeing as how I have internal backups and cloud backups.

I know nothing about ipx>SMA but I appreciate the link, and I am sure I can find other resources.

Greg
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pastrychef said:
As h9826790 has stated, 2.4GHz Wifi can have drastically negative affects to Bluetooth. On my card, if I connect to a 2.4GHz network, my Magic Mouse becomes nearly unusable. On a 5GHz, network, the Magic Mouse performs beautifully. My mouse is only about 3 feet away from the antennas.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. As I noted in another post, the Mac Pro itself is not connecting to Wi-Fi at all, as it has an Ethernet connection. I would think the mouse is just near end of life, but it worked well on another computer (Mac Mini) in the same area and the recent update to Bluetooth 4.0 would make the situation quite coincidental.

Greg
 
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