[solved] Atheros bluetooth problems on High Sierra

[OPAEU]

Hi there,
I've recently bought a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth card (AR5B195) for my Inspiron 5421 hackintosh (to have a better Wi-Fi and a Bluetooth option on macOS). I've installed it on the laptop and its fully working out of the box (using WifiInjector.kext for Wi-Fi trough) except for one thing: the Bluetooth on/off switch is not working (on keyboard and on system preferences, since the option is grayed out. I think I've read somewhere that it is impossible to enable the power management for Atheros cards this way. So, I'm wondering if there's a fix or workaround for this issue.

 

[RehabMan]

Hi there,
I've recently bought a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth card (AR5B195) for my Inspiron 5421 hackintosh (to have a better Wi-Fi and a Bluetooth option on macOS). I've installed it on the laptop and its fully working out of the box (using WifiInjector.kext for Wi-Fi trough) except for one thing: the Bluetooth on/off switch is not working (on keyboard and on system preferences, since the option is grayed out. I think I've read somewhere that it is impossible to enable the power management for Atheros cards this way. So, I'm wondering if there's a fix or workaround for this issue.

See FAQ for recommended Broadcom BT/WiFi hardware.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...faq-read-first-laptop-frequent-questions.html

 

[OPAEU]

See FAQ for recommended Broadcom BT/WiFi hardware.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...faq-read-first-laptop-frequent-questions.html

I've seen it, but, unfortunately, Broadcom cards are very hard to find in my country (and also hard to import). The only ones I could find were incompatible with macOS/my laptop. So, as the only good one I could find was this AR5B195, I want to know if a workaround for this problem exists.

 

[OPAEU]

EDIT: As seen in the FAQ it is really impossible to enable native bluetooth power management for this card, but it seems possible to turn it by ACPI with a fn + FXX key combination. I just don't know how to enable this on RehabMan's VodooPS2Controller.kext. If I can get some help on this it will be appreciated...

 

[RehabMan]

I've seen it, but, unfortunately, Broadcom cards are very hard to find in my country (and also hard to import). the only ones I could find were incompatible with macOS/my laptop. So, as the only good one I could find was this AR5B195, I want to know if a workaround for this problem exist.

The limitation you mention is expected with the hardware you are using.

 

[OPAEU]

The limitation you mention is expected with the hardware you are using.

So, no workarounds to disable bluetooth and save battery (like turning macOS bluetooth module off)?

 

[RehabMan]

So, no workarounds to disable bluetooth and save battery (like turning macOS bluetooth module off)?

None that I know of. Of course, I use mostly Broadcom, so I haven't really looked for a solution.
I suspect that feature is just not implemented in the drivers.

 

[OPAEU]

None that I know of. Of course, I use mostly Broadcom, so I haven't really looked for a solution.
I suspect that feature is just not implemented in the drivers.

I've done some more tests/research and found out that my bluetooth isn't even working. It just shows on system preferences, but can't find any devices.

 

[RehabMan]

I've done some more tests/research and found out that my bluetooth isn't even working. It just shows on system preferences, but can't find any devices.

Perhaps you did not connect the antennas properly.
Test on Windows.

But your kextcache output from post #1 indicates you failed to install the required kext: IOath3kfrmwr.kext.

 

[OPAEU]

Perhaps you did not connect the antennas properly.
Test on Windows.

But your kextcache output from post #1 indicates you failed to install the required kext: IOath3kfrmwr.kext.

I've installed Windows to test it there and it surprisingly started working on macOS. Strangely, installing this kext you recommended make Bluetooth even disappear from the system preferences, breaking Bluetooth functionality completely.