Wireless card ID's

[Forged]

Looking at buying a Broadcom wireless card (OSX compatible) for my ThinkPad X230i.
This laptop has a BIOS whitelist which prevents the use of non-Lenovo wireless cards. It is NOT possible to remove this whitelist through modded BIOS or other means.
I know that it is possible to change the product/vendor ID's of the wireless card through modifying its firmware. So I have three questions:
1. If I change the product/vendor ID's of the wireless card to those of a Lenovo wireless card, will the system boot?
2. OS X will not use the card if its product/vendor ID's are wrong (because I changed them). Can I use Clover to inject the correct (Apple) ID's in order to get Airport working?
3. If I modify the card's ID's to something completely different to the original ones, will it still work in Windows/Linux? If not, is it possible to inject the correct ID's using something like Clover or another solution?

Thanks

 

[the-darkvoid]

1. If I change the product/vendor ID's of the wireless card to those of a Lenovo wireless card, will the system boot?

If you re-brand the card using EPROM/SPROM programming it should.
Rehabman is doing this for an Atheros card in his HP laptop.

2. OS X will not use the card if its product/vendor ID's are wrong (because I changed them). Can I use Clover to inject the correct (Apple) ID's in order to get Airport working?

If you use FakePCIID you can make OS X see the card for what it really is (despite being rebranded).
Once again Rehabman does this for his rebranded Atheros card.

3. If I modify the card's ID's to something completely different to the original ones, will it still work in Windows/Linux? If not, is it possible to inject the correct ID's using something like Clover or another solution?

You could run Windows / Linux with a modified DSDT (Not through Clover though), but if the driver checks the PCI configuration space directly (OS X drivers do, most likely linux also) you are out of luck.
In Windows it might also be possibly by modifying the .inf file of the driver.
But the subject is out of scope here and I haven't seen anyone mention trying this.

 

[Forged]

Interesting. So I should be able to get wireless working properly on either OS X or Windows/Linux, but not both.
Thanks

 

[demonknight9]

Interesting. So I should be able to get wireless working properly on either OS X or Windows/Linux, but not both.
Thanks

I tried to do this. I have a TinkPad L430 with the bios whitelist and without the possibility of removing it by bios flashing.
I changed an Atheros 9285 to an Intel 6205 so I can bypass the whitelist and use the method mentioned above.

Changing the id's went well, the atheros card now has the same id's as the intel one but it still does not bypass the whitelist. The only possible difference is that the rev numbers are different.

I would be careful if I were you, make sure all the id's are correct, including the rev number! Because if they are not correct it will be very difficult to revert once it is modified as linux will not see the card without major modifications to the code used for recovery.

I haven't managed to do mine. I tried everything so it's a bin job. I will have to try and get another atheros and try the same procedure again but this time I will modify the rev number also.

It is an extreme rebrand

 

[RehabMan]

Interesting. So I should be able to get wireless working properly on either OS X or Windows/Linux, but not both.
Thanks

Depending on the rebrand required, you may be able to get the driver working on Windows.

But an extreme rebrand such as Atheros as Intel, the driver will not work on Windows. Or even a minor rebrand such as the AR9280 as AR956x that I'm using on my Lenovo u430...

For my system, I just use USB WiFi on Windows.

 

[teachme1967]

Depending on the rebrand required, you may be able to get the driver working on Windows.

But an extreme rebrand such as Atheros as Intel, the driver will not work on Windows. Or even a minor rebrand such as the AR9280 as AR956x that I'm using on my Lenovo u430...

For my system, I just use USB WiFi on Windows.

Hi RehabMan,

I have Qualcomm Atheros AR956x wireless, can I rebrand it to one of the supported Atheros supported cards ?

if yes ... how ?

My system is as follows:
- Toshiba Satellite Pro L50-A531
- intel core i7-4700MQ Haswell architecture
- Intel HD 4600
- Nvidia Geforce 740M
- 8 GB RAM
- Qualcomm Atheros AR8171/AR8175 Ethernet
- Qualcomm Atheros AR956 Wireless adaptor
- OSX El Capitan 10.11.3

BTW, thank you RehabMan for your great support in helping me in previous posts to:

- cleaning and patching my ACPI files
- activating my intel HD4600 to full QE/CI
- disabling discrete Nvidia graphics device
- enabling power management
- Brightness Control & brightness up/down keys

 

[RehabMan]

Hi RehabMan,

I have Qualcomm Atheros AR956x wireless, can I rebrand it to one of the supported Atheros supported cards ?

Rebranding does not help you. AR956x is not supported.

If your laptop has a whitelist, you can rebrand an AR9280 as AR956x (so it passes the whitelist), then use FakePCIID to enable it in OS X. I did that for a while on my u430 until a BIOS update from Lenovo allowed BCM94352HMB.

 

[teachme1967]

Rebranding does not help you. AR956x is not supported.

If your laptop has a whitelist, you can rebrand an AR9280 as AR956x (so it passes the whitelist), then use FakePCIID to enable it in OS X. I did that for a while on my u430 until a BIOS update from Lenovo allowed BCM94352HMB.

Pardon my ignorance ...
but how can I figure whether my laptop has a whitelist or not ...

and if it has ... how can I rebrand an AR9280 as AR956x ... details are appreciated

 

[RehabMan]

Pardon my ignorance ...
but how can I figure whether my laptop has a whitelist or not ...

Install a replacement WiFi card and you'll find out.

Suggestion: purchase both BCM94352HMB and AR5BHB92 (or AR5B195 if you need BT).

and if it has ... how can I rebrand an AR9280 as AR956x ... details are appreciated

See my u430 guide. It is covered in detail there.

 

[teachme1967]

Install a replacement WiFi card and you'll find out.

Suggestion: purchase both BCM94352HMB and AR5BHB92 (or AR5B195 if you need BT).



See my u430 guide. It is covered in detail there.

Prompt as usual RehabMan ... thanks for the guidance