Broadcom FullMAC Wi-Fi support on macOS Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe without root patches

[Austere.J]

2 minutes ago, deeveedee said:

 

I wonder if you can use the same technique employed by BrcmPatchRAM.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I honestly prefer not to. The current approach allows me to easily switch between firmware files during research and development.

[deeveedee]

@Austere.J I understand completely.  Nice work.  This is impressive!

[Austere.J]

16 minutes ago, vinegar said:

 

of course now that you've asked that, it'll be 3,000 reboots before I ever encounter it not working again.

 

Interesting. I also have a DW1830, but it's the bluetooth that did not work occasionally when running macOS Ventura.

 

8 minutes ago, vinegar said:

suppose i should note there are no "bcmc" dmesg or log lines when the DW1830 IS working, either:

% sudo dmesg | grep -i bcmc

% log show --predicate 'process == "kernel"' --last boot | grep -i bcmc            
% 

 

 

The default msgbuf is small, so you need DebugEnhancer to increase its size and dump the log after you reach the desktop.

[schrup21]

3 hours ago, Austere.J said:

Interesting. I also have a DW1830, but it's the bluetooth that did not work occasionally when running macOS Ventura.

off topic but you might take a look at this issue: 

https://github.com/acidanthera/bugtracker/issues/2505 

btlfx bootargs might fix or partially fix this 😉

[schrup21]

9 hours ago, vinegar said:

i'm seeing some continuity features work like universal clipboard and handoff, but not airdrop, camera, mirroring, and hotspot

I would say they only work partially (at least for me)

-from iPhone to Mac: e.g. photos aren't always transmitted successfully at the first try

-from Mac to iPhone:  neither clipboard nor handoff is working

[kgp]

13 hours ago, Austere.J said:

This is a requirement from Apple's new Wi-Fi driver, which uses the IOMapper instance for DMA memory allocations.

Theoretically, it is possible to get rid of IOMMUs, but given how deeply coupled they are, this would involve a lot of research and patching.

 

If VT-d must be disabled for your production systems, I suggest you stay with macOS Sequoia or wait for OCLP to support Tahoe.

As I stated in the repo and the thread, BCMC is a prototype and is not intended for daily use in production systems.

 

Shocked to learn that IOMMUs are not available for such a high-end motherboard. Did you try to upgrade to the latest BIOS or contact ASUS for support?

 

Hi @Austere.J ,

 

many thanks for your quick reply to my fundamental question above. Really amazing and incredible what you achieved so far..

 

1.) I am using latest official BIOS 4701 and yes, I already contacted ASUS regarding the missing IOMMU/VT-d implementation of the X550-AT2 NICs on the WS X299 Sage/10G, but as expected and at least officially, they don’t provide any support or solution for macOS-related issues.

 

2.) I assume that many users are in a similar situation and depend on DisableIOMapper=true for Ethernet access, not only on X299 but also on other platforms where NIC drivers fail with AppleVTD enabled.

That’s why I think it would be worth considering a DMA-based Apple Wi-Fi patch that works without AppleVTD/IOMMU.

 

3.) Of course, this would only make sense if you succeed in enabling all continuity features – and especially AirDrop – with your patch. I guess this latter point would be of particular interest to all users relying on your solution.

 

Many thanks for your genius and hard work, anyway! 

 

KGP

Edited October 2, 2025 by KGP-iMacPro

[deeveedee]

I tested this solution with my old Broadcom BCM 94352HMB (BCM4350 0x14E4).  The AppleBCMWLANCompanion.kext loads in Tahoe, but as stated in this thread, unable to connect via WPA/WPA2.  Just reporting in case this helps.

[deeveedee]

I have an HP 10th Gen Intel Laptop that I'm thinking about installing a BMC943602CS for working Wi-Fi in Tahoe without root patches.  Since I'd like to boot  macOS / Windows / Linux,  Is anyone currently using BMC943602CS for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in Windows 11 and Linux and if so, does it work well?  Thanks.

[Stefanalmare]

18 minutes ago, deeveedee said:

I have an HP 10th Gen Intel Laptop that I'm thinking about installing a BMC943602CS for working Wi-Fi in Tahoe without root patches.  Since I'd like to boot  macOS / Windows / Linux,  Is anyone currently using BMC943602CS for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in Windows 11 and Linux and if so, does it work well?  Thanks.

I have DW1830 (BCM43602) in a dell vostro 5490. For windows I use dell drivers and for ubuntu BT OK, but WIFI is a bit tricky. Use brcmfmac.

Edited October 3, 2025 by Stefanalmare

[CloverLeaf]

@deeveedee What is the exact model of your HP? I have EliteBook G7 laying around and Tahoe runs fine.

[deeveedee]

@CloverLeaf I'm not home now and won't be back for a bit, but I can check when I get home.

 

@Stefanalmare Have you tested your DW1830 with AppleBCMWLANCompanion?

Edited October 3, 2025 by deeveedee

[Stefanalmare]

11 hours ago, deeveedee said:

@CloverLeaf I'm not home now and won't be back for a bit, but I can check when I get home.

 

@Stefanalmare Have you tested your DW1830 with AppleBCMWLANCompanion?

I'll do tonight and report.
Update: It works on latest sequoia. csr-active-config 00000000, SecureBootModel Default, and of course, no AMFI help.

Update 2: It works on latest Tahoe. Doesn't arrive to login with SecureBootModel Default, but is OK with csr-active-config 00000000. However if you need sound VoodooHDA or AppleAlc you need to lower csr-active-config. Also same {censored} with AppleVTD and network.

Edited October 4, 2025 by Stefanalmare

[deeveedee]

@CloverLeaf My laptop is an HP Elitebook 850 G7 with i7-10610U.  I currently have only Windows 11 and Ubuntu on it, but this conversation is tempting me to dig up my OC EFI and tweak it for Tahoe (it was last running Sonoma with itlwm Wi-Fi I think).  If I could have Broadcom Wi-Fi without root patches, I'd switch to Broadcom just for fun.

 

@Stefanalmare Thank you for reporting your test results. 

Edited October 4, 2025 by deeveedee

[schrup21]

18 hours ago, deeveedee said:

I have an HP 10th Gen Intel Laptop that I'm thinking about installing a BMC943602CS for working Wi-Fi in Tahoe without root patches.  Since I'd like to boot  macOS / Windows / Linux,  Is anyone currently using BMC943602CS for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in Windows 11 and Linux and if so, does it work well?  Thanks.

 

Apart from macOS, I use my BCM94360CS under Windows and occasionally under Ubuntu 22.04 (on a separate USB stick). I have not had any problems on either device.

Ubuntu uses the brcmfmac driver and I got the same RX/TX rate as under Tahoe (my Router shows ~ 600 / 450 - much lower as under Windows or macOS's native Broadcom support under Ventura). Edit: under Ventura my WiFi Router shows max. 1300 / 1300 mbit 

 

dmesg under Ubuntu:

sudo dmesg | grep brcm
[    5.832708] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[    5.948814] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie for chip BCM43602/1
[    6.073536] brcmfmac 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.FUJITSU CLIENT COMPUTING LIMITED-LIFEBOOK U749.bin failed with error -2
[    6.194968] brcmfmac 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt failed with error -2
[    6.195393] brcmfmac 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.clm_blob failed with error -2
[    6.195441] brcmfmac 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txcap_blob failed with error -2
[    6.780166] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_process_clm_blob: no clm_blob available (err=-2), device may have limited channels available
[    6.780170] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_process_txcap_blob: no txcap_blob available (err=-2)
[    6.781203] brcmfmac: brcmf_c_preinit_dcmds: Firmware: BCM43602/1 wl0: Nov 10 2015 06:38:10 version 7.35.177.61 (r598657) FWID 01-ea662a8c
[    6.913115] brcmfmac 0000:02:00.0 wlp2s0: renamed from wlan0
[   15.541104] ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_inetaddr_changed: fail to get arp ip table err:-52

 

Edited October 4, 2025 by schrup21

[CloverLeaf]

12 hours ago, deeveedee said:

@CloverLeaf My laptop is an HP Elitebook 850 G7 with i7-10610U.  I currently have only Windows 11 and Ubuntu on it, but this conversation is tempting me to dig up my OC EFI and tweak it for Tahoe (it was last running Sonoma with itlwm Wi-Fi I think).  If I could have Broadcom Wi-Fi without root patches, I'd switch to Broadcom just for fun.

 

Oh cool, I have the 840 G7. Just keep in mind that the internal mic will not work. Depending on the model I've seen some people can't get the camera working as well., the rest is working fine. Fitting the 4302 will be a bit of a challenge, depending on the converter you have.

[Anto65]

This is what I see at the end of the verbose

 

 Couldn't alloc class "AppleBCMWLANCompanion" 

 

Even though I get positive output with the command
kextstat | grep bcmc

Spoiler

 

with the second :   sudo dmesg | grep bcmc ... nothing

 

The card in question is a BCM4350 , DW1820A , 0x14E4, 0x43A3 

 

Spoiler

 

   

 

 

 

It should be among the compatible ones or am I doing something wrong ?

 

Tried both with DisableIoMapper / DisableIoMapperMapping on / off ...nothing

[schrup21]

56 minutes ago, Anto65 said:

The card in question is a BCM4350 , DW1820A , 0x14E4, 0x43A3 

 

It should be among the compatible ones or am I doing something wrong ?

 

 

maybe you'll have to walk the debug way? DW1820A should be supported...

I also used a DW1820A in the past, and I remember that my card was so problematic: sometimes it was somehow "blocked" and only worked again after I completely turned off the power to my laptop (with also disconnecting the battery) - doesn't mean that this could be the case for you 

 

[Anto65]

8 minutes ago, eSaF said:

I am in the process of trying this to get WIFI on Tahoe.

I have ordered a supposedly compatible BCM943602CS Card and PCIe adapter.

 

I am hoping after putting it all together, it will be just a matter of plug and play like the Fenvi.

I made a promise I wouldn't spend any unnecessary money on the Hack being as this is the last macOS for us but here we are. 

 

I'm sure it works for you. We tried it with a user on macOS86 with BCM943602CS ( mine is BCM4350 0x14E4, 0x43A3 🙃 )
and it worked... we need to solve the LAN problem.

[Anto65]

1 hour ago, schrup21 said:

 

maybe you'll have to walk the debug way? DW1820A should be supported...

I also used a DW1820A in the past, and I remember that my card was so problematic: sometimes it was somehow "blocked" and only worked again after I completely turned off the power to my laptop (with also disconnecting the battery) - doesn't mean that this could be the case for you 

 

 

Quote

 

I think we are not ready for this yet... in the meantime I disabled the card from the bios 😁 and restored the config.

[jlrycm]

@Austere.J and/or anyone else that tested the kext in Tahoe: will the kext work in Tahoe with VT-D enabled in BIOS but patching the DMAR table to remove reserved regions and dropped the original DMAR table as explained in Dortania. Right now, that's the only way my i-225V ethernet card works in Tahoe. AppleIGC kext does not work in Tahoe with VT-D enabled in BIOS.

[Irish_Man]

4 hours ago, eSaF said:

The one thing I am apprehensive about is the possibility of AirDrop not working as reported hence the reason I was holding off.

 

Having Wi-Fi working on the others in the system and not Tahoe, twisted my arm to go this route.

I also ordered the same wifi chip but i still hesitate because of AirDrop, but i will try as soon as chip arrives

[schrup21]

7 hours ago, jlrycm said:

@Austere.J and/or anyone else that tested the kext in Tahoe: will the kext work in Tahoe with VT-D enabled in BIOS but patching the DMAR table to remove reserved regions and dropped the original DMAR table as explained in Dortania. Right now, that's the only way my i-225V ethernet card works in Tahoe. AppleIGC kext does not work in Tahoe with VT-D enabled in BIOS.

If you have AppleVTD enabled (AppleVTD is found in IORegistryExplorer), BCMC will work - otherwise not. 

 

without VTD (regardless of deactivated in BIOS or OC config), BCM doesn't get initialized, no "Bringup firmware..." 

Spoiler

AppleVTD enabled
kextstat | grep bcmc
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded
No variant specified, falling back to release
   59    0 0xffffff80040c7000 0x5b000    0x5b000    science.firewolf.bcmc (1.0.0) 7F320FB1-EF4D-3F15-BA08-296E03FD3A22 <55 19 9 7 6 3 2 1>

sudo dmesg | grep bcm            
[    0.862282]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: AppleBCMWLANCompanion 1.0.0 (bef853e) starts on Darwin 25.1.0.
[    0.862286]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: Build Date: Sun Sep 21 06:58:17 UTC 2025.
[    0.862288]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: Copyright (C) 2023-2025 FireWolf @ FireWolf Pl. All Rights Reserved.
[   21.291730]: bcmc: Object *AppleBCMWLANChipConfigurator::fetchProperty(const char *) const [Object = OSData] Error: Failed to find the device property [bcmc-chip-otp].
[   21.291738]: bcmc: Object *AppleBCMWLANChipConfigurator::fetchProperty(const char *) const [Object = OSData] Error: Failed to find the device property [bcmc-user-otp].
[   21.293249]: DK: AppleBCMWLANBusInterfacePCIe-0x1000006d7 waiting for server com.apple.bcmwlan-1000006d7
[   21.349201]: DK: IOUserServer(com.apple.bcmwlan-0x1000006d7)-0x1000006d8::terminate(AppleBCMWLANBusInterfacePCIe-0x1000006d7) server exit before start() instantiated 1
[   22.311672]: 000022.311672 wlan0.A[187] [ik] setupFirmware@8711: Bringup firmware bringupBCM, called ..., rv[0x00000000]/'success', bcmInterfaceState[1]

 

AppleVTD disabled
kextstat | grep bcmc 
Executing: /usr/bin/kmutil showloaded
No variant specified, falling back to release
   59    0 0xffffff80040c7000 0x5b000    0x5b000    science.firewolf.bcmc (1.0.0) 7F320FB1-EF4D-3F15-BA08-296E03FD3A22 <55 19 9 7 6 3 2 1>

sudo dmesg | grep bcm
[    0.892189]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: AppleBCMWLANCompanion 1.0.0 (bef853e) starts on Darwin 25.1.0.
[    0.892193]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: Build Date: Sun Sep 21 06:58:17 UTC 2025.
[    0.892196]: bcmc: void AppleBCMWLANCompanion::start() PInfo: Copyright (C) 2023-2025 FireWolf @ FireWolf Pl. All Rights Reserved.
[   21.316233]: bcmc: Object *AppleBCMWLANChipConfigurator::fetchProperty(const char *) const [Object = OSData] Error: Failed to find the device property [bcmc-chip-otp].
[   21.316245]: bcmc: Object *AppleBCMWLANChipConfigurator::fetchProperty(const char *) const [Object = OSData] Error: Failed to find the device property [bcmc-user-otp].
[   21.317331]: DK: AppleBCMWLANBusInterfacePCIe-0x1000006d1 waiting for server com.apple.bcmwlan-1000006d1
[   21.379128]: DK: IOUserServer(com.apple.bcmwlan-0x1000006d1)-0x1000006eb::terminate(AppleBCMWLANBusInterfacePCIe-0x1000006d1) server exit before start() instantiated 1

 

[cloudy]

I have a question that may be related to this issue, or perhaps even off-topic. Can BCMC and Mykextinstaller live together? Because BCMC requires a clean installation, and Mykextinstaller requires KDK installation, they seem to be conflicting. Currently, I can use Wi-Fi, but not audio. What do you think?

[schrup21]

3 hours ago, cloudy said:

I have a question that may be related to this issue, or perhaps even off-topic. Can BCMC and Mykextinstaller live together? Because BCMC requires a clean installation, and Mykextinstaller requires KDK installation, they seem to be conflicting. Currently, I can use Wi-Fi, but not audio. What do you think?

BCMC doesn't require a clean install - I guess @Austere.J meant this as a recommendation as his motivation for an alternative Broadcom WiFi implementation was "beeing not very fond of modifying the root volume" 

Neither OCLP-Mod Root Patch nor AppleHDA via MyKextInstaller harms BCMC.

I'm currently using AppleHDA via MyKextInstaller and BCMC is working fine - but I started BCMC with OCLP-Mod Root Patch enabled (forgot to disable it) and this worked either.

[cloudy]

Thanks schrup, I will try it again later.