[Guide] Airport - PCIe Half Mini v2

[jaymonkey]

But look at the differences between my setup for this hardware and yours, I will say that the ACPI injects you're doing are not needed at all.

Like me and my laptop my DSDT is old and i did most of the patching a about 4 years ago ... I haven't really kept up with more recent dsdt patching and methods so thought i'd try a few clover ACPI injects just in case it might help to improve stability. Some are recommend in the 1st post of this thread.

Question: If you do use a clover ACPI DSDT patch/inject does it replace the existing code in the DSDT or some sort of merge of the two, for example I know for sure that my DSDT has the DTGP method (one of the first things i added) all that time ago.. if i select clovers ACPI DTGP inject will it completely replace the code that i manually put in the DSDT ? .... I'm assuming yes but it would be good to know for sure that this is the way it works.

Will try removing them all as i'm reasonably sure my DSDT is pretty much there it and give it a whirl ....

Thanks RM
Cheers
Jay

 

[VioletDragon]

AC network doesn't work for me using the same Card thought it was the Router as my old router was passed it bought a new one AC networks doesn't even connect for me using BCM94352 also changed the Area code to UK still doesn't work.

 

[RehabMan]

Like me and my laptop my DSDT is old and i did most of the patching a about 4 years ago ... I haven't really kept up with more recent dsdt patching and methods so thought i'd try a few clover ACPI injects just in case it might help to improve stability. Some are recommend in the 1st post of this thread.

Question: If you do use a clover ACPI DSDT patch/inject does it replace the existing code in the DSDT or some sort of merge of the two, for example I know for sure that my DSDT has the DTGP method (one of the first things i added) all that time ago.. if i select clovers ACPI DTGP inject will it completely replace the code that i manually put in the DSDT ? .... I'm assuming yes but it would be good to know for sure that this is the way it works.

Will try removing them all as i'm reasonably sure my DSDT is pretty much there it and give it a whirl ....

Thanks RM
Cheers
Jay

It is a bad idea to edit your DSDT manually and use the same/similar option in Clover "Fixes".

 

[jaymonkey]

AC network doesn't work for me using the same Card thought it was the Router as my old router was passed it bought a new one AC networks doesn't even connect for me using BCM94352 also changed the Area code to UK still doesn't work.

@VoiletDragon,

I've been using AC WiFi (867Mbs) for almost two years with no issues (in the UK) but router firmware can be very finicky.

I'm using a Asus RT-AC86U router but not with latest firmware, the older firmware allows a bit more manual setup of the routers radios in AC mode (specifically the upper AND lower channels) where as the newer firmware only allows you to use preset combos of upper and lower frequencies.

I also disable OSX's 802.d Beacon which helped getting AC wifi working (at least for me) however this is only really needed if you have a lot of other wifi networks around your location (that are not your networks), i wrote about this issue in this thread sometime ago but cant find the link right now but here is the patch i'm using to disable the 802.d beacon.

            <dict>
                <key>Comment</key>
                <string>Disable 802.1d Beacon</string>
                <key>Disabled</key>
                <false/>
                <key>Find</key>
                <data>
                JMgFAABrEA==
                </data>
                <key>Name</key>
                <string>AirPortBrcm4360</string>
                <key>Replace</key>
                <data>
                JMgFAAD//w==
                </data>
            </dict>

This issue of the AC network dropping down to 300Mbs after a sleep/wake or wifi power cycle has only started since 10.11.4

Cheers
Jay

 

[VioletDragon]

@VoiletDragon,

I've been using AC WiFi (867Mbs) for almost two years with no issues (in the UK) but router firmware can be very finicky.

I'm using a Asus RT-AC86U router but not with latest firmware, the older firmware allows a bit more manual setup of the routers radios in AC mode (specifically the upper AND lower channels) where as the newer firmware only allows you to use preset combos of upper and lower frequencies.

I also disable OSX's 802.d Beacon which helped getting AC wifi working (at least for me) however this is only really needed if you have a lot of other wifi networks around your location (that are not your networks), i wrote about this issue in this thread sometime ago but cant find the link right now but here is the patch i'm using to disable the 802.d beacon.

            <dict>
                <key>Comment</key>
                <string>Disable 802.1d Beacon</string>
                <key>Disabled</key>
                <false/>
                <key>Find</key>
                <data>
                JMgFAABrEA==
                </data>
                <key>Name</key>
                <string>AirPortBrcm4360</string>
                <key>Replace</key>
                <data>
                JMgFAAD//w==
                </data>
            </dict>

This issue of the AC network dropping down to 300Mbs after a sleep/wake or wifi power cycle has only started since 10.11.4

Cheers
Jay

I'll try that patch you've just put up. Problem I'm having is OS X won't see AC networks but connects to 5Ghz networks just fine. I think it's a OS X issue because I'm using a official apple/Wifi/Bluetooth card from a iMac 2013 which supports AC but doesn't see the AC networks neither.

 

[Veron]

Problem with BCM94331CD

1. Cant get working AirPort or Hangoff, BT shows as "no support". Somehome it did manage to get support for Airport, but did not work (by changing smbios to imac13,2)
2. 10.11.4/gigabte z87-hd/f8/i5 4570/gtx770
3. Whitelist clover patch + kext for bt (first try was without anyhing, same with patch or kext)
4., 5., 6., 8. Attached

I'm bit lost what to do, please help with advise what to try. Thank you!

 

[jaymonkey]

Looks like the wifi speed issue on 5Ghz (after sleep/wake) is also effecting real Mac's .... quite a few reports of the same issue on mac forums .. I guess its another undocumented Apple feature (bug) in 10.11.4 ... hopefully 10.11.5 will resolve the issue.

Cheers
Jay

 

[shaveblog]

I seem to be missing something here.

I just replaced an older Atheros 9280 with a BCM94360HMB I bought on eBay for $35 complete with three antennas. The very first time I booted up with the BCM94360HMB I got full speed AC and BT, without editing or adding anything aside from
BrcmFirmwareData.kext and BrcmPatchRAM2.kext which were already in Clover's kext folder from when I was using a GMYLE BT chicklet.

For reference, this is a Z77N-WiFi with i3-3225, Clover of course, OS X 10.11.4.

So my question is, why is anybody still wrestling with this? If your board takes a PCIe Half Mini and you're not on food stamps, why not just score a 94360 for cheap and solve your AC and BT issues in one fell swoop? They're sold on eBay and Amazon. Everything Just Works. AC's full speed, even with the three antennas inside the Mini-ITX case. BT's rock solid reliable, unlike the GMYLE chicklet. The system still sleeps and wakes perfectly, and I get full AC speed every wake.

Are there issues with this stuff that affect newer boards but don't affect Ivy generation hardware like mine? I don't understand all these somersaults to get AC and BT working properly when such a cheap and chapter-closing card is so widely available now.

I freely admit I couldn't care less about Handoff, which is good because OOB the 94360 doesn't care about it either. If you really need Handoff and it's not just a nerdquest to get it working with 3rd party bits and bobs, I don't know what to tell you because I've never even vaguely needed Handoff. Dropbox and iCloud take care of all my Mac/iOS syncing as instantaneously as I can imagine anyone ever needing. I edit a file or add a calendar event here and it's on all my other devices in under a second. What does Handoff improve on over that?

Tell me what I'm missing. I'm honestly curious. I have no plans to replace any of the 7 Ivy rigs I've got running at the moment, but I would like to know if there are issues with post-Ivy boards before I order another half dozen of these cards.

(edited to remove references to AirDrop not working OOB because on further examination it does work OOB)

 

[shemo]

I seem to be missing something here.

[...]

So my question is, why is anybody still wrestling with this? If your board takes a PCIe Half Mini and you're not on food stamps, why not just score a 94360 for cheap and solve your AC and BT issues in one fell swoop?

Well, my Broadcom BCM94360 does not work with OSX (10.11.3)
seems genuine - the manufacturer codes look ok to me. I suspect "country code issue" (need PL, the card currently seems to be set to X0), but no luck trying to solve it so far

 

[liumizhou]

Is BCM94350zae supported? How can I get it work?