MithrilFox Posted April 9, 2009 Share Posted April 9, 2009 Here's a unique situation. I realized that when I boot normally without any flags, my Airport comes up saying "No Airport card installed." I can't turn it on via the Network Preferences even though it's there as an option to "Turn on." Clicking "Turn on" does nothing. If I type "-f" at the Darwin bootloader prompt (to skip the configuration file), it boots fine and my Airport works flawlessly. I've tried deleting NetworkInterfaces.plist, using the bcm43xx_enabler.sh script to install, no luck. I tried using OSX86Tools Download&Install feature for my wireless card, still doesn't work. I've switched my wireless card's id to "1" and "en1," still doesn't work. Any ideas why I have to type "-f" at the boot prompt to get wireless working? Tech info: Using a Buffalo desktop PCI wifi card, WLI2-PCI-G54S Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4318] (rev 02) Installed OS X Leopard via the boot-132 method using an original retail DVD and updated to the latest OS via Software Update. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastowl Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 repair permissions should stop the -f Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1128989 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithrilFox Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 repair permissions should stop the -f Thanks for the reply. I've tried permissions repair but with on success . This one has me stumped, tried everything I could think of. Just not sure why the -f flag allows it to work. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1129661 Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekreid Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 How about delete /System/Library/Extensions.mkext and then repair permissions? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1129675 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithrilFox Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 How about delete /System/Library/Extensions.mkext and then repair permissions? Yeah, I've tried that. Tried deleting NetworkInterfaces.plist too. Just can't figure it out. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1129758 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobb1x Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 My bcm4311 wireless didn't work at the beginning, i had everytime to enable it manually then connect to the preferred network. the solution was to erase any network card from the preference panel/network then add manually an Airport device type.(with the plus sign) Your problem seem different but try this anyway. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1129995 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithrilFox Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 My bcm4311 wireless didn't work at the beginning, i had everytime to enable it manually then connect to the preferred network.the solution was to erase any network card from the preference panel/network then add manually an Airport device type.(with the plus sign) Your problem seem different but try this anyway. Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried about 4 times to erase the Airport from the list and add it, but every time I erase it, hitting the "+" icon doesn't even give me the option of adding an Airport connection... there isn't one available in the list. Anyone else have any idea why this is so confusing? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1130313 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevescotia Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Just noticed your post after I posted almost an exact same problem... also with Boot 132 and Retail 10.5.6. Apologies to all for asking same question again - my brain is pretty fried. Don't suppose you've hit on a solution Fox? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1134942 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithrilFox Posted April 18, 2009 Author Share Posted April 18, 2009 I haven't . I just went through my 10th session of trying to fix the issue, completely uninstalling the card, deleting kexts/plists, changing the PCI slot of the card, installing a new version of Chameleon bootloader... NOTHING works. I still have to type -F every single time, or it shows up as "No Airport card installed." Any suggestions? Anyone able to clarify exactly what the "-f" flag is doing? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1135848 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevescotia Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 As far as I know the -f flag forces system to reload the drivers. I booted into single user mode (-s) without the -f flag and deleted the extensions.mkext and also the com.apple.kext.info from the caches folder in extensions. I think the -f flag does much the same thing. It then booted and recognised card no problem so it seems to be something to do with cached drivers, although I have to admit I'm at the limits of my fairly limited knowledge. Out of interest, we seem to have cards with the same chipset and are using Boot-132 method. Are there any other similarities? I have a Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DSR3 board and am using a Boot-132 disk from here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...mp;#entry917398 I was ultimately hoping to get the kexts etc into an EFI installed Chameleon 2.0 but I'm getting out my comfort zone and need to work on how to modify the Boot-132 disc for my graphic card to use EFI strings and solve the Airport bug before I get to that point. In essence I want to get a perfect 132 disc and go from there. Anyway, I'm heading off topic. Does anyone perhaps know, generally, why something would need the -f flag at every boot? At least in my experimentation I realise I don't need any enablers, the card works natively, but only with the -f flag at boot. I'm rambling - a new puppy is depriving me of sleep just now! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1136218 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithrilFox Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 As far as I know the -f flag forces system to reload the drivers. I booted into single user mode (-s) without the -f flag and deleted the extensions.mkext and also the com.apple.kext.info from the caches folder in extensions. I think the -f flag does much the same thing. It then booted and recognised card no problem so it seems to be something to do with cached drivers, although I have to admit I'm at the limits of my fairly limited knowledge. Out of interest, we seem to have cards with the same chipset and are using Boot-132 method. Are there any other similarities? I have a Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DSR3 board and am using a Boot-132 disk from here http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...mp;#entry917398 I was ultimately hoping to get the kexts etc into an EFI installed Chameleon 2.0 but I'm getting out my comfort zone and need to work on how to modify the Boot-132 disc for my graphic card to use EFI strings and solve the Airport bug before I get to that point. In essence I want to get a perfect 132 disc and go from there. Anyway, I'm heading off topic. Does anyone perhaps know, generally, why something would need the -f flag at every boot? At least in my experimentation I realise I don't need any enablers, the card works natively, but only with the -f flag at boot. I'm rambling - a new puppy is depriving me of sleep just now! Interestingly, when I manually do everything that the -F flag supposedly does, the Airport still doesn't work. I have to use the -F flag. I can delete the extension caches, and then repair permissions all I want... without the -F flag, it doesn't recognize that I have an Airport card. I'm using the boot132 method, but I have a different mobo (Asus P5K-V). I have an ATI Radeon HD 3870. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1136943 Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevescotia Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I have it working! Although I'm still not sure of exactly what the problem was... I had previously downloaded a pre-made Boot-132 ISO but decided to try and make my own. I knew I had no issues when I installed with iPC installation disk rather than Boot-132 and I knew what options I selected with it so I used Pacifist to extract the Kexts from the various installation packages on the iPC disk and created my own Boot-132 disk with them (using PCWiz GUI for Slimbuilder). I was also able to throw in my own com.apple.boot.plist with EFI string for my graphic card. I really wasn't expecting it to work but I am now restarting with no flags and Airport showing up no problem. If I put in my old Boot disk it reverts back to needing -f flag. Obviously you have different Motherboard and I don't know if you created your own disk or not but if not, give it a go. If yes it might be worth revisiting the Kexts you used. Sorry I can't be more specific - I'm not sure what exact kext would have been the problem - I'm not experienced enough for that level of troubleshooting. Hopefully it'll give you a clue though. Steve Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/161334-i-have-to-type-f-at-darwin-bootloader-for-airport-to-work/#findComment-1140537 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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