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Rebranding the Atheros 928x cards - The guide

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Good news for me that it works on Windows too without any adjustments.

Yes, only more radical rebrands cause problems for Windows.
Rebrands that change only subvendor/subdevice don't cause such issues...
 
Help. The signature doesn't change, even with successfull message from the writer!

I downloaded eprom tool and did the entire process on a Atheros AR5B195:

I tried to fake two signatures:
8086:0085:8086:1311 (intel centrino 6205 whitelisted on a Thinkpad T430)
168c:002b:17aa:30a1 (RehabMan wrote above, so why not?)

received successfull message after write (/w512) but ... after reboot the signature is still he same, the old one:
168C:002B:1028:0205 (****!)

The Atheros card is for a Thinkpad t430.
I'm using a pcie of an old sony vaio with Windows 7 as SO

Below the steps that i did:
1 Executed the dseo13b.exe to disable drivers signature.

Then running as administrator the cmd:
2 Dumped the signature with the command -> atheros_eeprom_tool64.exe /r512
3 Found, patched and saved the hexadecimal signature with HEX Tool
4 Wrote the new signature with the command -> atheros_eeprom_tool64.exe w/512
5 Received successfull message from the terminal
6 Roboot the System

But, the signature is still the same... Did i forgot something?
Do you have any idea?

PS: I didn't installed the atheros driver on the OS to make the patch, only read the signature as an anonymous card...
 
Help. The signature doesn't change, even with successfull message from the writer!

I downloaded eprom tool and did the entire process on a Atheros AR5B195:

I tried to fake two signatures:
8086:0085:8086:1311 (intel centrino 6205 whitelisted on a Thinkpad T430)
168c:002b:17aa:30a1 (RehabMan wrote above, so why not?)

received successfull message after write (/w512) but ... after reboot the signature is still he same, the old one:
168C:002B:1028:0205 (****!)

The Atheros card is for a Thinkpad t430.
I'm using a pcie of an old sony vaio with Windows 7 as SO

Below the steps that i did:
1 Executed the dseo13b.exe to disable drivers signature.

Then running as administrator the cmd:
2 Dumped the signature with the command -> atheros_eeprom_tool64.exe /r512
3 Found, patched and saved the hexadecimal signature with HEX Tool
4 Wrote the new signature with the command -> atheros_eeprom_tool64.exe w/512
5 Received successfull message from the terminal
6 Roboot the System

But, the signature is still the same... Did i forgot something?
Do you have any idea?

PS: I didn't installed the atheros driver on the OS to make the patch, only read the signature as an anonymous card...

Use Linux to do the rebrand, not Windows.
 
I tryed on Linux but madwifi or another methods didin't worked.

So i read the entire 25 pages of this post and discovered my error on windows!
I didn't installed the driver for the wifi of a Ar5b195

So i rebranded as RehabMan said with Lenovo Sub id's : 168c:002b:17aa:30a1

Worked fine and recognized on El Captain running on a Thinkpad T430 with Toleda ARPT Kext

Thank you, HackBook Pro is now completed!
 
Hi there!

So I got myself a Lenovo X230 with integrated mPCIe Intel WiFi and ordered an Atheros AR9280 card.
As I realized the whitelist-Problem, I followed this guide which is intended for AR9285 and describes how to rebrand AR9285 to Intel in favor of bypassing the whitelist:
https://github.com/nouatzi/AR9285-rebranding

Unfortunately, in my case, the AR9280 PCI_ID (8C16:2A00) only occurs once in the EEPROM dump (There is one quite similar block: 8C162900) but I don't think it's safe to overwrite. When I try to flash eeprom, there is no change in detection.
Followed the guide 1:1. So does anybody know, whether there are some AR9280-specific differences?

Please find the Screenshots attached.

Thanks in advance! :)

Best, Phil
 

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Hi there!

So I got myself a Lenovo X230 with integrated mPCIe Intel WiFi and ordered an Atheros AR9280 card.
As I realized the whitelist-Problem, I followed this guide which is intended for AR9285 and describes how to rebrand AR9285 to Intel in favor of bypassing the whitelist:
https://github.com/nouatzi/AR9285-rebranding

Unfortunately, in my case, the AR9280 PCI_ID (8C16:2A00) only occurs once in the EEPROM dump (There is one quite similar block: 8C162900) but I don't think it's safe to overwrite. When I try to flash eeprom, there is no change in detection.
Followed the guide 1:1. So does anybody know, whether there are some AR9280-specific differences?

Please find the Screenshots attached.

Thanks in advance! :)

Best, Phil

AR9285 is 168c:002b, not 168c:002a.
 
AR9285 is 168c:002b, not 168c:002a.

Well this was not the main problem as I have the AR9280 (168c:002a). However, it is all working now (I think it suddenly worked when I changed the eeprom range to 0 to 3256 instead of 0 to 512. But no guarantee/recommendation here - just tried it several times with 0 to 512 range and as it didn't work, I tried to expand the range.
And after all, thanks to your answer in this thread, the FakePCIID process in macOS worked just like a charm.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ino-n6205-into-ar5b95-and-fake-pci-id.203658/

Thanks a lot & wish you a nice sunday!
Phil
 
Well this was not the main problem as I have the AR9280 (168c:002a). However, it is all working now (I think it suddenly worked when I changed the eeprom range to 0 to 3256 instead of 0 to 512. But no guarantee/recommendation here - just tried it several times with 0 to 512 range and as it didn't work, I tried to expand the range.
And after all, thanks to your answer in this thread, the FakePCIID process in macOS worked just like a charm.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ino-n6205-into-ar5b95-and-fake-pci-id.203658/

Thanks a lot & wish you a nice sunday!
Phil

I must have read your post incorrectly and thought you had an AR9285.

Probably the mods you made to iwleeprom were not correct or iwleeprom has changed since the guide was written.
(assuming you followed the Linux guide)
 
and if I want a BCM wifi card in a Probook 4430s? I have Catalina installed and a patched Atheros, but wanted to upgrade to a BCM. I saw in past there where modules to whitelist the cards and a DSDT patch. Any newer solution for a Broadcom card? thx
 
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