18 replies to this topic

[slave-zeo]

I'm looking for a PCI or PCIe network card that supports the NATIVE airport drivers. Im not sure what chipset apple uses in real macs so any suggestion would be great. It'd also be great if it worked in Lion

Thanks in advance.

[LatinMcG]

pci-e mini adapter to pci-e x1 add a laptop card in it like AR5B91 or BCM94321

DO NOT GET BCM94321COEX2 its special plug for apple only.

[slave-zeo]

LatinMcG, on Jul 13 2011, 02:28 PM, said:

pci-e mini adapter to pci-e x1 add a laptop card in it like AR5B91 or BCM94321

DO NOT GET BCM94321COEX2 its special plug for apple only.

Purchased a pci-e mini adapter to pci-e x1 and a AR5B91 for about 15$ total. We'll see how everything works monday when everything gets here

One more question the AR5B91is 802.11 draft-n will it still connect to a regular 802.11n router and whats the speed on the AR5B91.

[LatinMcG]

its working with N 150 wnr1000 v3 .. fast.. full isp speed 28mbps as if i was on lan cable. havent tested if its 300 speed.

[mikeriv]

I should have my parts in tomorrow! I will post back with results.

Im going to be using one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_1669wt_1115

Installed into one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...517087585220811

[LatinMcG]

mikeriv, on Jul 13 2011, 10:42 PM, said:

I should have my parts in tomorrow! I will post back with results.

Im going to be using one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_1669wt_1115

Installed into one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...517087585220811

careful with some of the hong kong's are not true apple and are substandard quality = get hot and fail eventualy sooner than 1 yr.
but should work fine.

[mikeriv]

Posting wirelessly from the setup posted above! Confirmed working with no tweaks what so ever in Lion GM but I would assume Snow Leopard would be the same. Also  have native support with the airport utility which i like.


*Edit: Working in Snow Leopard too!

[slave-zeo]

I am hoping mine works as simply too. I got the AR5B91 based card because it was only $4.65 USD with free shipping. Hopefully I *don't* get what I pay for and it works ok

[LatinMcG]

should work..i only had problems so far in asus 1000he ..seems dsdt isssue with irq numbers.
yep vanilla all way from 10.6.3+
this card even got around atheros issues for older cards in dell laptops.. Error: offset_100 fffffff ( empty rom section)

i made a bcm94321 for friends desktop..works fine too. but i use linux and  bcm94321 isnt in linux.. download due to broadcom no open source cant distribute driver binary in linux.. until this year.
atheros is  compatwireless driver in linux = works

[slave-zeo]

Got my card and adapter yesterday and put it all together (was a pain in the ass to get the ants to fit under the shielding). Works like a charm. Uses the built in wifi drivers and configuration interface. This makes me so happy

Only weirdness is none of my other computers with network shares show up in the network browser (or finder's side bar) and the computer with the wifi card doesn't show up to other computers. Also, I had to manually set my WI-FI network's name (not a big deal). BUT the internet works like lightning on it. Soooooo fast compared to B/G.

Any ideas about the network shares weirdness?

[dolan]

mikeriv, on Jul 14 2011, 03:42 AM, said:

I should have my parts in tomorrow! I will post back with results.

Im going to be using one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_1669wt_1115

Installed into one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...517087585220811

If I were to get this set up, would this work in windows? I'm planning to dual boot windows and would be great if it worked in both

[LatinMcG]

dolan, on Jul 21 2011, 04:52 PM, said:

If I were to get this set up, would this work in windows? I'm planning to dual boot windows and would be great if it worked in both

yes.


slave-seo . you might have to fake subvendor 0x8F (apple ar5b91) with the ar9285 fix.

[dolan]

LatinMcG, on Jul 23 2011, 04:25 PM, said:

yes.


slave-seo . you might have to fake subvendor 0x8F (apple ar5b91) with the ar9285 fix.

Cool thanks, I just bought:
http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_2619wt_1139

and

http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_1367wt_1247

I hope it works, its items from Hong Kong, they have a reputation for making fake goods.
11-23 days delivery omg. lol

[deckert]

Quick question, does the Mini PCI-E to PCI-E Wireless adapter need to be a 3 antenna version or is a 1 or 2 antenna one OK to use?

[LatinMcG]

works fine with 2 antenna . one i have is 3 antenna but card has 2.

[dolan]

Ok, the PCI-E wireless adaptor came through to the post today, and so did my Mini Wifi card for macbook

Question is, how do I insert it in each other? There seems to not be any slots or any form of connection :S

[Harrobbed]

mikeriv, on Jul 14 2011, 04:42 AM, said:

I should have my parts in tomorrow! I will post back with results.

Im going to be using one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...#ht_1669wt_1115

Installed into one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/...517087585220811

Just ordered the same set. I grew really tired of the ASUS 138g V2.

I will report back when I get the card.

[dolan]

Ok, I got it to fit inside...
Problem is, the signal is too weak (no cut mod, antennae are inside the case)
How did you solve the issue? Is there a way to extend the antennae?

And... for some reason this card only works on windows, on osx it messes up... It crashes on the airport window, and doesn't really allow me to select my network, even though its meant to work out of the box?
Faulty card? Or am I doing something wrong

[LatinMcG]

dolan, on Sep 27 2011, 08:53 AM, said:

Ok, I got it to fit inside...
Problem is, the signal is too weak (no cut mod, antennae are inside the case)
How did you solve the issue? Is there a way to extend the antennae?

And... for some reason this card only works on windows, on osx it messes up... It crashes on the airport window, and doesn't really allow me to select my network, even though its meant to work out of the box?
Faulty card? Or am I doing something wrong

try different slot.
i put one in same exact mobo u got and no issues with BCM94321MC apple original.. or atheros non apple AR5B91 from a Gateway
likely u got the wrong smbios.plist entries that made 10.6.8 mess up.