How To: Build your own "Real" Airport Card

[Mr. Meoff]

I was totally successful with this build however my card makes a significant amount of noise... Anyone have this problem or has anyone resolved this problem? Is it possible to somehow shield the airport card? (The noise I am referring to is static like coming thru my speakers)

 

[eelhead]

I was totally successful with this build however my card makes a significant amount of noise... Anyone have this problem or has anyone resolved this problem? Is it possible to somehow shield the airport card? (The noise I am referring to is static like coming thru my speakers)

I don't have that noise nor have I ever. Been nice and silent.

 

[timemute]

Just ordered these. Ill let you know if they work....as generic as it gets!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 4287wt_905

don't buy from this buyer!!!
i bought one, sent to me in a week time, but is malfuction!! led light at the back is not on and never can receive any wireless signal. Email to buyer but no reply!

without a choice now i have to buy another one:
http://cgi.ebay.com.my/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... SA:MY:1123

will update you guy after i receive and test it.

finally my diy airport working!!

and i'm running fcp!!

 

[bigwiger]

Just built an Airport Extreme card using the chipset model AR5BXB112 and a generic mini-pice to 1x pcie adapter (manufactured by Hoter and purchased here :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TIK8UG.)

This is the chipset used in the newest iMac and Mac Pro models. Wanted to let people know that it works OOB* in both Lion and Snow Leopard. First time I've had a working wifi card in over 9 months (my old tp-link wn781nd card never connected to my current addresses router.)

*OOB - meaning out of box after assembly, of course

 

[moarfish]

Just built an Airport Extreme card using the chipset model AR5BXB112 and a generic mini-pice to 1x pcie adapter (manufactured by Hoter and purchased here :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TIK8UG.)

This is the chipset used in the newest iMac and Mac Pro models. Wanted to let people know that it works OOB* in both Lion and Snow Leopard. First time I've had a working wifi card in over 9 months (my old tp-link wn781nd card never connected to my current addresses router.)

*OOB - meaning out of box after assembly, of course

Does it run at 450M Link Speed?

 

[bigwiger]

Does it run at 450M Link Speed?

To be honest, nowhere close. I'm getting about 130M, using 2.4GHz frequency and n/g/b support. Though how much of that is the router and other externalities and how much is that the card, not entirely sure. Runs fast enough for me though.

 

[henrygale]

It may be a long time before we can (ever) get the 4322 with the ID 4357 to work. I don't think you can get the 4322 to be 'backward' compatible with 4321. (Mistake on my part when buying the card).

I'm having trouble with my DIY airport card. I have an Apple 4322 and adapter that eelhead linked to in one of his earlier posts. How can I check my ID number?

In Windows 7 and Lion I am getting a very slow transmit rate (1-5) whereas my 10v sitting right next to it (with a rebranded 4322 half card) is getting 54 transmit rate. Don't know why..I will try assembling the DIY card again and switching antennas, but I'm not sure how much good that will do. What firmware are you guys using on your cards?

Also, a few more questions...
1. My rebranded 10v card is listed as AirPort in System Information but my DIY card is listed as Wi-Fi even though both Card Type is AirPort Extreme. Any reason why?
2. My DIY card has country code of X0 but my 10v card shows US...
3. With my DIY card, while I was installing SL (when I was installing Lion), my Wi-Fi signal varied from 2/4 to 4/4. However, in Lion the signal is constantly showing up as 4/4 when I know it shouldn't. It has not dropped a bar once...is this a Lion issue? Do your bars move up or down?
4. The LED on my DIY card doesn't flash or light up...should it?

Thanks!!

my router is a wrt54gs so it only capable of G speeds

 

[Kapaaian]

Couple questions. Having weird problems.

Got the pci-e to mini adapter, along with the card. First Q. Does it matter what antenna attaches to which terminal? And the follow up up, what antenna orientation should be used? all straight up, fanned, etc?

I was running into problems with the antennas being too close to my monitor outputs, so I tried moving it from the 1x pcie to a 4x further down, but that seemed to keep it from getting any ip address. Then I tried using HDMI and VGA instead of DVI and VGA, which oddly fixed my second monitor problem, but also resulted in a no internet connectivity error.

I'm wondering if the absolute best option is actually buying an airport express and using it to extend my network (does anyone know if that works if your airport extreme is in bridge mode. Uverse modem has to assign IPs.) Or would some like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833998060

Be a good option to get away from the monitor cords?

 

[bigwiger]

Kapaain- Mobos are designed to interact with the software in a specific way, so the placement of cards can affect there ability to work within an operating system. I really don't know too much about the nuts and bolts, but I do know that what you're experiencing is not that uncommon. The x1 slot(s) on your mobo was designed for such peripherals as wifi cards (meaning their placement within the architecture of the mobo's circuitry) so you should try to keep it there and make it work with your monitor outputs.

As far as antenna placement goes (fanning that is,) I think it is pretty arbitrary. However, with my router, I once had both of the antennas point up like an American football goal post, and started getting really spotty signals. Then I moved the antennas to point away from each other, and the wifi was strong again. I think the signals it was sending were cancelling each other out, but that should be more of a transmitter problem than a receiver problem. However, for your system, just make them work with your monitor outputs and get as much space between them as you can (for additional coverage.)

 

[tcresien]

So i've bought 2 pci-e adapters, and 2 cards in the last month and none of them seem to be working right. It says i have 4 bars but the highest transfer rate i've received is around 80kb/s. It's mostly around 30kb/s. I know theres something seriously wrong. One of them was an off brand card, and now i have an Apple branded one. Am i just getting the wrong pci-e adapter?