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Broadcom WiFi/Bluetooth [Guide]

Anybody had success with running DBT-122 USB bluetooth dongle on Monterey? It works "out of box" on 10.5.8 Macosx Leopard.
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We are hacking in more modern times at the moment, If you wish to come aboard adjust your needs to something more oriented to the present era of hacking, at least as far as your hardware is concerned.

Greetings Henties
 
We are hacking in more modern times at the moment, If you wish to come aboard adjust your needs to something more oriented to the present era of hacking, at least as far as your hardware is concerned.

Greetings Henties
how unromantic :lol:
 
  • PCIe/x1: BCM94360CD - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (3 antennas)
  • PCIe/x1: BCM94331CD - native WiFi and BT4LE
  • M.2: BCM943602BAED/DW1830 - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (3 antennas)
    • Laptop issues/solutions, see jaymonkey/Post #138
  • M.2: BCM94360CSAX - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (3 antennas)
  • M.2: BCM943602CS - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (3 antennas)
  • M.2: BCM94360CS2 - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (2 antennas)
  • M.2: BCM94352Z/AzureWave AW-CE162NF/DW1560 - supports WiFi/ac and BT4LE
  • M.2: BCM94350ZAE/DW1820A - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE
  • Half mini: BCM94360HMB/AzureWave AW-CB160H - native WiFi/ac and BT4LE (3 antennas)
  • Half mini: BCM94352 HMB/AzureWave AW-CE123H - supports WiFi/ac and BT4LE
Can you add in the supported Operating Systems for these cards? For example, that first one, Mountain Lion - Current
Above it, or below it, or something like that
 
Hi All -

I have a Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 6 with an Intel 8265 still in it.

I haven't opened it yet (it's new to me ... we're in the under-72-hours new phase) but I currently have 13.1, Ubuntu 22.10, and Win 11 Pro on there, all working great.

I have an Intel 8265 in there. When I google for pics of that card, it's a 3-prong (the interface to the motherboard) card with 2 antenna hookups on it.

In my spare stuff box, I have a Dell 1830 (3 antenna hookups) on it. Is there any sense in hooking it up to see how well it will work? Will it be a usable experience, or is it a complete waste of time? Is there any difference in the 3 antennas (given I only have 2 antenna wires) in which 2 I should plug in and use?

Currently I'm using 2.2 of airportitwlm and the 8265 works perhaps every other reboot. It's usable, but certainly not great. Even if the 1830 had poor range, it would be a better experience (if it booted consistently...) compared to this Intel card.

Any thoughts?
 
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Until there is a new 'Stable' version of Airportitlwm.kext released for Ventura you will not be using the Intel card with any regularity.

In order to use the Dell 1830 card, you would need to add another antenna to your laptop to make full use of the DW1830 card. Running the card with only two antenna would not be ideal, as it would cripple the throughput.

Laptop antenna can be obtained from Amazon and eBay, for little expense. Something like this would probably work.

  1. Assuming the two cards use the same connector key it should be a straight swap.
  2. Plus, connecting and threading the new antenna cable to a reasonable location on the edge of your laptop, i.e. away from any hot surfaces/vents.
The current WiFi/BT antenna will be routed and stuck to the rear of the display/Lid. Copying that process would be a lot of hassle, and likely to cause more issues taking everything apart and then reassembling the laptop, after the new antenna has been positioned.

Also I am not sure the new antenna cable will pass through the existing cable paths, as they don't usually leave any spare room for additional cables, i.e. where the hinges join the display/Lid to the base. So placing/sticking the new aerial along the side of the laptop is the easiest and most logical method.

This is something I have done with a number of laptops, i.e. removing an old WiFI/BT card and replacing it with a Broadcom based card that has one or more antenna, compared to the original Intel/Killer/Realtek Wifi/BT card. Even done the same on a few old iMacs when updating the WiFi/BT card to a newer model for Handoff, Continuity etc.

The important aspects when undertaking something like this are as follows:
  • Make sure the new card fits in the connector,
  • That the new card can be secured to the laptop using the original screw fixing. Sometimes the new card requires an extension piece so the card can be fixed and supported correctly. This shouldn't be the case with your old and new cards. But it is something to be aware of when using half-mini WiFi/BT cards.
  • That the existing and new antenna cable connectors work with the connectors on the new card.
You will need to remove the Intel kexts and then add the Broadcom WiFi/Bluetooth kexts from Acidanthera, those recommended for macOS Ventura.



Hope this is helpful.
 
OK, so I opened the notebook, replaced the 8265 with a DW1830, and am trying it out now.

With NO kexts, wireless works, but BT doesn't, saying third party dongle. Honestly, this is all I need, but in always striving for a more complete solution (for BT), here's what I did:

1. Removed airportitwlm, rebooted - all worked great
2. Added brcmpatchram3, bluetoolfixup, and brcmfirmwaredata, in that order, at the bottom of OC87's kext/add in OCAT, 2.64, with my OC87.
3. Consistently I got "couldn't alloc class applekeystoretest" at bootup
4. Removing the three kexts 'fixes' the issue.

Am I doing something wrong? Based on what I read in brcmfixup that's what one is supposed to do for MacOS 12+...? Do I need airportbrcmfixup in there too, first?
 
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