JimInChicago Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 17" MBP clean install from Lion to El Capitan finds no wireless card even after resetting and erasing hardware info stored. Lion install finds it with no problem. Apple high-level techs after a week are still trying to find a solve. I can't go back to Lion. Is there a USB wireless card that works well with El Capitan clean installs? Other suggestions? Jim in Chicago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronxteck Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 did they make you reset pram? on a "cold boot" (meaning computer off) hold down these 4 keys command option p r then hit the power button. hold the 4 keys till you hear a tone 2 times it should reboot while your holding it down, then release them and let it boot to desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 We DID reset the PRAM and did it again today. They also had me take out the battery, unplug it, and hold in the power button. Nothing seems to cause the new OS to find the factory wireless card. I am attaching the system info file just in case someone knows what to look for.. No, I cannot as the system here told me I am not permitted to do that type of file. I have tried a clean install on an external 500gb SSD, a 500gb drive, and now my 1TB internal drive with Lion on 1 partition (which uses the wireless card fine and the second partition with the lateest El Capitan. Please help. (and how do I reply to a specific comment?) Jim in Chicago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Booting with El Capitan that section finds nothing. Booting with Lion I get: Software Versions: CoreWLAN: 2.1.3 (213.1) CoreWLANKit: 1.0.3 (103.2) Menu Extra: 7.2 (720.1) configd plug-in: 7.4.1 (741.1) System Profiler: 7.0 (700.3) IO80211 Family: 4.2 (420.3) WiFi Diagnostics: 1.0.2 (102) AirPort Utility: 6.3.1 (631.4) Interfaces:en1: Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86) Firmware Version: Atheros 5424: 2.1.14.9 MAC Address: 00:17:f2:4d:08:d2 Locale: FCC Country Code: US Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165 Status: Connected And that is the card the factory put in when they built it. I even tried a clean install of Lion, made sure the wireless worked and then upgraded the new OS over top of it. Then no card was found, again. The attached file is compressed. Thanks for telling me that! Jim in Chicago El Capitan Internal clean install MacBook Pro.spx.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 What a wonderful response, Herve' and thanks so much. Yes, I cannot imagine the Apple tech teams did not have the info. I had worked up to level 4 I think and had spent hours talking, emailing with them and trying all kinds of things with many steps. But, to the point, I have a spare card by Broadcom. . Can you tell from the attached if the latest rev of OSX would even see it? If not how can I get one of the cards you listed OR a USB known to work? I am over 70 now and this is getting a bit beyond me. I now have a 1TB SSD ready to drop in so I will have it apart anyway. Thanks so much. My wife says to replace this Mac as it is 8 years old now but I love the 17" screen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Progress! Today I put in the new 1T SSD, the wireless card, and even during just the clean install the wireless symbol was visible in the upper right! Problem now is that the driver, I think, is the wrong one because it has off and on confused and will not join any network because it thinks it is off. In "network" I click on "on" and it still shows up off but all the correct networks show up! Just cannot join. Is that driver over here: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Apple_BCM94321MC? How can I ID the driver get and install it. Sorry but most of this is way over my head but I feel we are getting SO close. (thanks to you and this forum) Jim in Chicago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronxteck Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 try redoing the pram reset since you replaced hardware or you can try the smc reset following apples guid here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luki1979 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 What OS X you installed? On older macs sometimes you need to turn off the wireless restart computer and enable wireless again. It should join now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Clean install of El Capitan on a new 1TB SSD. Tried that suggestion but the card never would turn fully off. The bars in the little icon at upper right would dissapear but still showed 2 of 12 networks to join even tho I could not join. And the network settings always showed off. So I reset the PRAM and then took off battery and hit the power button and it then would connect the wireless' Problem is its only good for about 10 minutes and then turns off and disconnects! Any ideas on this one? Anyway, it takes a village for sure but this forum did it! I am considering this solved BUT I must log off and sign back in to get the wireless to work again. There has to be a way to keep it working. If not, maybe someone knows of a USB card that would be reliable. Jim In Chicago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Apple BCM94321MC : vendor/device id 14e4/4328, based on BCM4321 chip. It was supported in Yosemite and I see device id 4328 listed in El Capitan's AppleAirPortBrcm43224 Broadcom driver, so it should work straight away in ElCapitan. Try it out, just swap it with the old Atheros card. For the other models I mentioned, there's the well-known auction web site... As you have seen up top, the card now is found and is working. After about 10 minutes it disconnects and shuts off and I must log off and log back in to get it to work again. Progress may be slow but I AM optimistic. Any ideas on how to keep it working? You WERE the person who led me here where I have found so many good suggestions and also showed me the other database like site where all the info is. For that I thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimInChicago Posted February 26, 2016 Author Share Posted February 26, 2016 Herve' you just nailed it! The router is less than 1 week old and was given to us by our cellular phone company to allow for fewer disconnected calls. Made by Asus it has pages and pages of options but the defaults have it with one SSID for both speeds which works great for everything but the Mac. I made them separate and it stayed connected all night! Then I closed the lid to move it and it slept but stayed connected! I can connect to either speed perfectly. In order to reconnect after making those changes I did have to reset PRAM but only once! You have been spot-on with every suggestion over the past two weeks! This 17" MBP with this wireless card and the swap over to a 1TB SSD is amazing and I would not trade it even for a new one. All of this is due to my great luck in finding you, the websites you sent me to, and the people here who were kind enough to help. Thanks so much. I will be sharing this story over and over. I will be making some contributions when I return from a vacation in 10 days. Thanks to all! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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