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ASUS A8JS

MonkeyMac

By MonkeyMac,
in Hardware Components and Drivers

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ninetto
ninetto
Posted
Posted
Has anyone tried this PCI-E card with the A8Js?

 

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=GN-WI01GT

 

It's based of of the atheros...

 

Hello, I would stay away from that Gigabyte mini PCIe card... although I am not using an ASUS A8j no one I have seen on this forum has been able to get this one to work with OSX... check for example

this or do a search.

 

Kind of a shame as I popped this card into my laptop and it works fantastic in XP and no bios problemos.

 

regards,

n.m.

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
Hello, I would stay away from that Gigabyte mini PCIe card... although I am not using an ASUS A8j no one I have seen on this forum has been able to get this one to work with OSX... check for example

this or do a search.

 

Kind of a shame as I popped this card into my laptop and it works fantastic in XP and no bios problemos.

 

regards,

n.m.

 

I had one myself and may get another as it works great in linux and in windows. It has great range and can go 108Mbps with a compatible router. I haven't had any luck in OSX, but I certainly prefer it to the intel card. Not bad for $26.

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demenion
demenion
Posted
Posted (edited)

I just installed OSX on my A8Js.

 

Is there a installer to get the sound working?

 

I tried the kext posted above but it still did not enable QE/QI support.. maybe I didn't do it right :)

Edited by demenion
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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted

I just wanted to report my tests with various wireless cards. For others curious the wireless card's architecture is Mini Pci Express (minipcie) and the card is located under the hard drive panel next to the hard drive. This does not void your warranty!!

 

From my last laptops experiments I had a AR5006EX and Dell TrueMobile 1390.

 

I started with the Dell (Broadcom chipsets play very well with osx86). The laptop will NOT boot at all with this card installed! DO NOT GET ONE IF YOU HAVE AN ASUS!

 

Next comes the Atheros AR5006EX. The system booted with this card and to my surprise osx86 reported that it had detected an Airport card!!! The airport utility was up in the corner and I was able to scan networks!! You can even toggle the wireless and bluetooth with the Fn-F2 key.

 

So wireless in OSX86 is very easy to enable on this system--you just need the right card. My only problem is that my AR5006EX card is a very early version and has some bits screwed up--other AR5005-AR5006 cards I've played with don't have this problem--it does not connect to networks in windows or linux either. If you find a retail version of the AR5006EX then you should be able to easily get wireless in OSX86. I should also let you know that the range and speed of Atheros cards is a hell of a lot better than the intel cards. I encourage the rest of you to try out some Atheros cards. They are available on eBay and from some retailers. I believe Lenovo has one too.

 

I am either going to get a card off of eBay or try out the Gigabyte GN-WI01GT (only $26 and I had one in my last notebook--an amazing card and 108Mbs! It could see more networks than any network card.) I already know it plays very well with Windows and Linux.

 

If you have any questions at all please feel free to ask here or PM!

 

This really only leaves getting QE/CI.

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ForestCat
ForestCat
Posted
Posted

I'll throw in my experience w/ wifi on my G1, which may or may not be applicable to the A8J. I'm running 10.4.7

 

stock intel 3945:

OSX86- I couldn't pull it off, to my knowledge no one else has either.

Linux (Kububtu)- It's working with the intel drivers & wpa_supplicant, but it periodically disconnects, seems like the card/driver gets hung, killing & restarting the driver works.

XP Pro- Works

Vista Ultimate- Works

 

Lenovo 11a/b/g (Atheros AR5006EX):

OSX86- Only needed to replace the 80211 kext w/ the 10.4.5 version. Works well, connects w/ wpa, LED is NOT working.

Vista Ultimate- Works fine with the ms drivers. WPA yes, LED No

XP- No. Code 10. Perhaps impossible in this laptop.

Linux- Don't know. If I can't get the card to work in XP, it's useless to me, and I've spent about 20 hours smashing my head and every driver combination I could find against it.

 

Does anyone know if there is something fundamentally weird about either Asus or Lenovo MiniPCI Express slots? I don't know about about the A8J, but the G1 CMOS setup is absolutely devoid of any functionality more advanced than setting the date, drive type & boot order. I wish to God that there was some type of utility available to access some "hidden" BIOS tweak functionality on this laptop.

 

In any event, if I can't get it working, and the place I bought it is going to charge me a restocking fee, I'll sell them (yes, 2...don't ask) here at a loss rather than give these companies their damn restocking fee. It'll be a few bucks cheaper than you can buy it for, plus you won't be lied to about it being "in stock" or the shipping date...

 

I'd rather get the card working in XP, and the LED working everywhere, though. Thanks for any advice/experiences.

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted

I've read others have had problems with getting the Gigabyte GN-WI01GT working in OSX86. I had one with the ASUS Z96Js and I couldn't get it to detect the card in any way, shape or form. I also couldn't get it to detect the AR5006EX that was easily detected with the A8Js mentioned above. This leads me to believe that the issue has been simple a motherboard issue so I've placed an order for a GN-WI01GT this morning. Its chipset is somewhere around AR5005GS or something, but it is Atheros. I'll test it out with the 10.4.8 kext, the 10.4.5 kext and the recent 2007 Airport Extreme update. I'll post here with the results.

 

I was concerned at first about the fact that this card is capable of speeds of 108Mbps (and yes, it is fully functional with Windows XP and Vista--I've tested it), but I've read others have had success with 108Mbps in OSX86.

 

Wish me luck

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ForestCat
ForestCat
Posted
Posted

I found your old laptop on ebay googling for GN-WI01GT ;-)

 

Does anybody have that card in stock in the US. I'm also in the northeast, and I want to get my hands on one of these asap, so I can get this working & get on with my life...

 

P.S. any luck with this card in Linux?

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
I found your old laptop on ebay googling for GN-WI01GT ;-)

 

Does anybody have that card in stock in the US. I'm also in the northeast, and I want to get my hands on one of these asap, so I can get this working & get on with my life...

 

P.S. any luck with this card in Linux?

 

Actutally, ewiz.com has it for a mere $26. I haven't seen that good a price anywhere else. Sadly, I'm pretty sure it ships from CA (I too am an East Coaster.) I will post my results once I get the card.

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
So...lets break this down, correct me if I'm wrong

 

Works:

Wired Lan

USB

Sound (with tweaking)

 

Doesn't work:

 

Wireless (needs another card)

Video (needs a 512mb compatible driver)

Webcam (unimportant)

anything else I missed?

 

I'd say that's accurate. I get 1440x900 resolution with MacVidia 1.0.81, but no QE/CI. I used an installer package to get audio and I don't get anything from the headphone jack. Could some one test this on theirs?

Thanks.

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
Seems correct... Though I think both wireless and video is close

Wireless is confirmed working with a Lenovo card and the 10.4.5 IO80211Family.kext. I ordered a Gigabyte wireless card and will report with results relating to it when it arrives.

NVidiaEFI is the way to go for video. It should hopefully be figured out soon.

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Stanbey
Stanbey
Posted
Posted

Damn! I'm frustrated! I've been struggling for a day or so to get OSX 10.4.7 (JaS) running on my Asus A8J.

 

It hangs during boot, both in normal mode and -x mode.

 

The last thing it logs is:

 

Mar 8 11:57:26 kextd[25]: 0 cached, 221 uncached personalities to catalog

VGA: family specific matching fails

Matching service count = 0

VGA: family specific matching fails

VGA: family specific matching fails

 

Does anyone know why this isn't working for me? What boot options are you guys using to get the thing to boot?

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
Damn! I'm frustrated! I've been struggling for a day or so to get OSX 10.4.7 (JaS) running on my Asus A8J.

 

It hangs during boot, both in normal mode and -x mode.

 

The last thing it logs is:

 

Mar 8 11:57:26 kextd[25]: 0 cached, 221 uncached personalities to catalog

VGA: family specific matching fails

Matching service count = 0

VGA: family specific matching fails

VGA: family specific matching fails

 

Does anyone know why this isn't working for me? What boot options are you guys using to get the thing to boot?

 

Does the CD hang during boot or did you get it installed? If you got it installed, what custom packages did you install with it? Any graphics packages? I ask because these haven't worked for anyone. I've installed from the 10.4.7 JaS DVD before on this machine and it went fine.

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted

I would just like to let everyone with a A8Js know that I have wireless functioning flawlessly in OSX86 10.4.8, Ubuntu Linux (Feisty) and Windows (XP and Vista drivers available). It is an Atheros AR5BXB6 108Mbps SuperG Mini PCI Express. Very low power consumption, high speed, XR..all the good stuff. Extremely simple to install (only one screw to remove!). I got it on eBay for $39.99 shipped from Florida. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

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demenion
demenion
Posted
Posted
What did you get for it, if you don't mind my asking?

 

$1380 USD with 2 gigs of ram.

 

Haha, I am actually going to be going back to Asus.

 

I am in Taiwan right now and the laptops here are a lot cheaper then the US.

 

Going to be picking up a V2JE, it has a ATI X1450 256mb so hopefully i can get QE/QI working.

 

MrFuzzemz -

 

Can you use the fn hotkeys to disable wireless when you have the atheros card in?

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MrFuzzemz
MrFuzzemz
Posted
Posted
MrFuzzemz -

 

Can you use the fn hotkeys to disable wireless when you have the atheros card in?

 

I can. Wireless works great with this card.

If only we had QE/CI.

 

I doubt you will have much trouble with the ATI card--Diabolik has installers for many cards

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry329211

Check out his site listed in his sig.

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JohnathanKong
JohnathanKong
Posted
Posted

It seems that everyone is getting sound working, but I can't get it working. I am using the AppleAzaliaAudio, and editing the IOHDAudioCodecVendorID and the IOPCIPrimaryMatch as mentioned in the other posts, but I get nothing. OSx86 sees the audio card, but I get no sound from Jack or speakers. Is there an install package that I can use?

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agraek
agraek
Posted
Posted

I have a possible fix for the video card.

 

As of two days ago, someone on the MacVidia Project forums found a way to edit the VGA Bios of a 512MB video card and have the ram read correctly. From there on it's just as simple as using the right drivers (NATIT/NvidiaEFI).

 

However, when trying to extract the VGA Bios, we ran into several problems: The biggest of which is that the native graphics card (7700go) on the A8Js doesn't have a VGA Bios of its own -- It's built into the Bios of the whole laptop. Seeing as you are flashing the entire BIOS of the Laptop, if something goes wrong you now have a bricked A8Js.

 

While we did only extract and modify the VGA Part of the Bios, anything could go wrong. THAT'S WHY I HIGHLY SUGGEST AGAINST USING THIS METHOD. (I myself have not tried this option yet.) If you are the much more practical type, then I would suggest waiting! It's only a matter of time before we see 512mb Software/Driver support, and as you should know, software/drivers rarely ever make your computer completely unusable and salvageable.

 

However, if you don't care that the following steps could brick your laptop and you feel competent enough to flash the bios on your laptop, then read on:

 

1) Read at least the first post at the MacVidia forums on this subject here.

 

2) Create a USB Key that is capable of booting into DOS. Easy steps are located here.

 

3) Download the AFlash utility from the ASUS Website. (Main, Mirror1, Mirror2.)

 

4) Download the "fixed" Bios attached to this thread.

 

5) Place both AFLASH2.EXE and the fixed Bios onto your bootable USB Key.

 

6) Restart you computer and press escape twice when the ASUS Logo shows up. This should bring you to the boot loader.

 

7) Choose "Boot from USB Device"

 

8) **BEFORE YOU FLASH YOUR BIOS, LET ME RECOMMEND 2 THINGS** a) In the event that something goes wrong, and the entire laptop is not bricked (just the video adapter) I RECOMMEND THAT YOU LEARN HOW TO USE AFLASH BLINDLY. If it's just the video adapter that messes up, things are still able to be saved. REMEMBER, THESE STEPS ARE UNTESTED. b ) http://biosrecovery.com/

 

Run AFLASH2 and dump the current BIOS onto your USB Key. Name it something like "backup." Next, follow the directions for flashing your bios.

 

9) AFLASH should now verify that the file you wrote from, and the file that's now in the memory are the same.

 

10) Reboot, cross your fingers, pray to god, and hope your karma is good. Once you restart the computer, IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, THERE IS A CHANCE THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOUR LAPTOP.

 

Remember, in theory, all we did was extract the VGA Bios, so that should be all that's affected. There have been plenty of reported successes with other people and their 512 Video card. gotoh on MacVidia did all the modding himself, he even modded the bios for our A8Js's. I highly recommend you take a look at the thread in step 1, as a back ground check.

 

I do not take ANY credit for this fix... Just the writeup you see above. All the work here is props to gotoh on MacVidia.

 

However, I cannot stress enough that these steps are untested. Any of the steps you follow in this thread, you do so at your own risk, and that this process has a very high risk factor to it.

 

Good luck! And happy flashing.

A8JsvAS_fix.211.zip

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