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Trying to get WiFi working on Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha

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UniNerd

UniNerd

Joined
Apr 30, 2017
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3
Motherboard
Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha Z170
CPU
i7 6700K 4.0GHz Quad Core
Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS

Guides I've (mostly) followed:
  1. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...og-maximus-viii-hero-i7-6700k-gtx-980.197284/
  2. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...pha-i7-6700k-gigabyte-980-ti-waterfor.189242/
  3. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...o-alpha-i7-6700k-32-gb-ram-gtx-980-ti.219776/
I pretty much have my system up and running fairly well:
  • Sierra 10.12.4 running
  • GeForce 1080 Ti (Pascal) with NIVIDA Web Drivers being used
  • Uses iMac 17,1 system definition (didn't know I should have kept to iMac 14,2 until I already went down the road of making it work with 17,1)
  • Shutdown properly
  • iMessage/App Store working
The only issue I'm having is with getting WiFi and Bluetooth working. Alpha is different with just the plain Hero motherboard in that it comes with onboard WiFi. My issue is that none of the guides I'm reading as well as any of the searching I've been doing, make it clear how one goes about enabling. There are threads on getting expansion cards working but not onboard wireless.

Does anyone have any guidance how I do this A) with my motherboard or B) in general? How do I find out what the wireless chipset is on my board? Once I know that how do I enable it?

Sorry this is fairly new to me and I'm learning as I go along (as most are on here)
 
Hacky
ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA |  i7 6700K |  GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition
1. Figure out what exactly the chipset it is. If it's not supported, swap it out. You can either go to the mobo's driver download section for wifi to have a general idea, or i would simply just take a look on the actual NIC on your mobo, which most likely has some hardware info on the sticker.

2. If it can be enabled, doens't mean all the functionality such as hand-off, continuity etc... Some NIC like BCM94352z requires a few kexts and patches to make BT and dual band Wifi working.

3. If you want something that works OOB and have all the functions, you should probably look into some sort of adapter + a native support BCM chip, such as BCM94360 and all its variation. 94360CD 943602CS 94360CS2
There's also the Fenvi T919 which is a 94360CD. Go to the post install network section, you can find plenty info there.
 
I did some more research after posting. Booting into windows allowed me to see the driver that Windows is using (it's working without any issue) and it reports as Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A. Upon more research I'm leaning towards it being specifically QCA6174A.

My gut is thinking that it isn't supported and I'll have to do as you suggest and get an adapter. Even though I came across some posts on Insanely Mac in the last few days of people getting some kexts working for Atheros.
 
Hacky
ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA |  i7 6700K |  GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition
UniNerd said:
I did some more research after posting. Booting into windows allowed me to see the driver that Windows is using (it's working without any issue) and it reports as Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A. Upon more research I'm leaning towards it being specifically QCA6174A.

My gut is thinking that it isn't supported and I'll have to do as you suggest and get an adapter. Even though I came across some posts on Insanely Mac in the last few days of people getting some kexts working for Atheros.
Click to expand...
I have limited knowledge in Atheros NIC.
IMO, for an adapter+BCM combo that's under $50. I really think on a desktop environment, it's not worth the hustle to try to patch unsupported NIC where they're rarely on par with a native supported one.
 
UniNerd said:
I did some more research after posting. Booting into windows allowed me to see the driver that Windows is using (it's working without any issue) and it reports as Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A. Upon more research I'm leaning towards it being specifically QCA6174A.

My gut is thinking that it isn't supported and I'll have to do as you suggest and get an adapter. Even though I came across some posts on Insanely Mac in the last few days of people getting some kexts working for Atheros.
Click to expand...

Not supported. Better to go with a Genuine Apple WIFI/Bluetooth Combo Card which is Native.
 
This sounds like the problem I had with my Gigabyte H97N motherboard which came with an Intel WiFi/BT4 card. If you want to keep your PCIe ports open, you can look at what did to replace the Intel card with an iMac WiFi/BT4 card (see link in my signature block). It might help you see what you're getting into. BTW, my iMac WiFi/BT4 card and adapter card work w/o a problem.
 
Yeah I decided to buy a Fenvi FV-T919 from Amazon but while it was in transit it seems it got shipped back from "damage" and the product page for the card has disappeared. Now I'm unable to find it on Amazon and Newegg :problem: a little suspicious to say the least. Nonetheless I think I'm going to look at getting another card as GhostHitWall summed it up the best since this is a desktop I'm not too picky to getting it working thus will probably just grab another PCIe card and throw it in.

Thanks for the help and advice...and Stork thanks for your guides they have been instrumental to my tackling this project until Apple decides to release a real Mac Pro (hopefully)
 
Hacky
ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA |  i7 6700K |  GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition
UniNerd said:
Yeah I decided to buy a Fenvi FV-T919 from Amazon but while it was in transit it seems it got shipped back from "damage" and the product page for the card has disappeared. Now I'm unable to find it on Amazon and Newegg :problem: a little suspicious to say the least. Nonetheless I think I'm going to look at getting another card as GhostHitWall summed it up the best since this is a desktop I'm not too picky to getting it working thus will probably just grab another PCIe card and throw it in.

Thanks for the help and advice...and Stork thanks for your guides they have been instrumental to my tackling this project until Apple decides to release a real Mac Pro (hopefully)
Click to expand...

Have you ever considered a Genuine Apple WIFI/Bluetooth Card? Something like this is also Natively Supported. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ABWB-WIFI...077982?hash=item5d6138e85e:g:yG0AAOSwFMZWqrs2
 
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