Contribute
Register

Mac App Store access with NullEthernet.kext

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi - like several others, I have a genuine MacBook Pro (early 2013, Mountain Lion) with a broken Airport card. I can use a Thunderbolt Ethernet adaptor or USB WiFi to get internet access, but these are not built in, so as a result App Store / iCloud access doesn't work.

I've read through many guides on this topic, both here and elsewhere. My broken Airport card still shows up on the PCI bus, so it seems like NullEthernetInjector should work to fix this issue. I've installed the injector, and successfully got it to work as en0, but it doesn't show up as IOBuiltin.

I've tried with both of the PCI values shown in the "compatible" field of the original IO Registry record, putting each of these in the IOPCIMatch field for NullEthernetInjector. After the usual restart and plist clearing process, both separate options seem to work, and the fake device loads (as en0), but neither option makes it show up as IOBuiltin in NetworkInterfaces.plist.

I've attached the ioreg file after applying the injector, showing that it is indeed attaching to the device (no other ethernet devices are connected at this point).

RehabMan and others - do you have any idea why this is the case, and what else I could try?

Thanks in advance for the help!


P.s.: It took a while to figure out how to get the IOPCIMatch values (e.g., from IORegistryExplorer), and that the two parts of this value needed to be swapped for the IOPCIMatch field. Maybe these hints could go in the readme for NullEthernet?

Attach ioreg without NullEthernetInjector.kext installed.
 
Hi RehabMan - many thanks for taking a look. IOReg without NullEthernetInjector.kext is attached.

Your Ethernet is without a PCI identity (behind a PCI bridge... that is why it shows ethernet@0 instead of an ACPI identity).
So... you can't make that look built-in...

But your OP talks about broken WiFi, not broken Ethernet.
There is no WiFi on the PCI bus (eg. really broken), so you won't be able to attach NullEthernet to that either.

You could still make it work by hacking your Mac (with Clover), such that you can make the required ACPI changes.
But you're probably better off fixing the WiFi hardware...
 
Ah, ok - thanks for the help. I've got a very minimal understanding of this, so thought the Ethernet must somehow refer to WiFi (as the laptop doesn't have an ethernet port).

I've already replaced the WiFi hardware, with no luck. Sounds like it's time to look into hacking!
 
Ah, ok - thanks for the help. I've got a very minimal understanding of this, so thought the Ethernet must somehow refer to WiFi (as the laptop doesn't have an ethernet port).

I've already replaced the WiFi hardware, with no luck. Sounds like it's time to look into hacking!

Your ioreg shows that ethernet@0, 14e4:16a3 to be "NetXtreme BCM57786 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe"

https://pci-ids.ucw.cz/read/PC/14e4/16a3
 
I have no idea where that is from - there's no ethernet port and I have nothing else connected. Odd!
 
I have no idea where that is from - there's no ethernet port and I have nothing else connected. Odd!

Probably has something to do with your broken WiFi.
Bad firmware flash?
Did you try SMC reset?
 
Yes - I tried SMC reset at various points during the life of this issue with no luck. No firmware flashes for a long time (way before this problem started).

As replacement Airport cards are fairly cheap, I'm going to try another one just in case I managed to get a faulty replacement the first time, but if that doesn't work it looks like there might be something up with the logic board and/or connector, so will have to look into using Clover to fix this.
 
Hello. First of all: thank you for you work.
I have a question. I'm a big dumbass, because I've done an absolutely dumb thing. I don't have any PCI-E card installed, I'm using TP-LINK WN823N V1 as my USB Wi-Fi adapter. I've done everything as said in your guide (or I do think so), my USB adapter is now en0, but the problem is: before going by your guide I didn't have the Ethernet drivers installed (forgot to check them when I were setting up my Hackintosh). And, well, I installed them after the procedure.

Well, the Appstore still has the error and I guess I've done a terrible mistake. What do you think?

My motherboard and my CPU are ASUS B-150 PRO and Core i3-6100 respectively

UPDATE:
Pardon my extra stupidity, fixed, everything working! Probably it will be useful for someone:
 
Last edited:
hello, i think i have the same problem that should be fixed with NullEthernet.kext but I am to ignorant to do it, is there a a way a rookie can do anything about it. I used the kext wizard to instal the NullEthernet.kext but then I have no idea what to do.
Sorry and thanks a lot. I am attaching my ioreg.
 

Attachments

  • MBook13.ioreg
    3 MB · Views: 130
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top