Z87N-WIFI & H87N-WIFI...Mavericks 10.9.2...Bluetooth...WIFI

[davidmwd]

View attachment 87078

This is the combo wi-fi/bluetooth half mini card that comes with the Z87N-WIFI and also the H87N-WIFI. Do yourself a favor before you install and rip it out!!!!!!!!!!

We all know the wi-fi card will never work and the forum is littered with posts from people trying to get the bluetooth working. In my opinion it's not worth the hassle.

I purchased an AR9280 for wi-fi from amazon and installed it into the half-mini slot on the motherboard. Works like a charm. Natively supported in OSX. Did not need to install any kext, drivers, patches etc. Install the hardware and it works OOB. Also, the AR9380 works natively but I have not tried that one.
See other wifi options and ideas here

I also purchased a GMYLE USB Bluetooth 4.0 adapter (10m version) from Amazon for $10. Also works like a charm.

 

[boro057]

Is the GMYLE just plug and play? I've had a hell of a time not getting the z87n-wifi bluetooth working and recently got a iogear gbu521. Also not working. All I see is the bluetooth attempting to scan with my apple keyboard and mighty mouse not showing up. Would the mobo bluetooth interfere with the iogear? Would it help to simply remove the wifi/bluetooth mini card and then try the usb bluetooth? Is it possible to disable it in the bios? I've been at this for a few days now and tried trashing the bluetooth plist, rebuilding the cache in DPCI Manager, setting the XCHI to enable in bios. Not sure what else there is to try. Maybe another bluetooth dongle.

 

[davidmwd]

I'm not sure if there is a way to disable the card in the bios. That would be interesting. Let me know what you find out.

The bottom line for me is that the combo card is cancer and cancer should be removed. The GMYLE worked right out of the box immediately (plug it in and go). It did however break several days later when I changed it from one usb port to another and I suspect that OSX was confused about who the bluetooth boss was.

I like to keep things as simple and vanilla as possible so I don't have to dick around with plists and rebuilding cache, etc. It just makes for trouble down the road when you update your software etc.

So my solution was to remove the card and do a fresh install. I plugged the dongle in after I had finished with MultiBeast and it was fine. Bluetooth has been running flawless since. Both Magic Pad/Mouse, wakes from sleep, can turn the bluetooth on/off...perfect.

One note: I did experience some lag on my magic mouse so I started playing around with XCHI settings but now I've attributed the lag to the dongle being too far away from my mouse so I ran a usb extension cord from computer to behind my monitors and the dongle sits behind the monitors. Someone else in the forum had this same issue with the lag and fixed it with proximity.

Is the GMYLE just plug and play? I've had a hell of a time not getting the z87n-wifi bluetooth working and recently got a iogear gbu521. Also not working. All I see is the bluetooth attempting to scan with my apple keyboard and mighty mouse not showing up. Would the mobo bluetooth interfere with the iogear? Would it help to simply remove the wifi/bluetooth mini card and then try the usb bluetooth? Is it possible to disable it in the bios? I've been at this for a few days now and tried trashing the bluetooth plist, rebuilding the cache in DPCI Manager, setting the XCHI to enable in bios. Not sure what else there is to try. Maybe another bluetooth dongle.

 

[coolqf]

The bluetooth on the Z87N-WIFI actually works, so if you want to use the USB bluetooth, it's better if you remove the combo card 1st. I personally use the AzureWave AW-CE123H. If you do end up buying this wifi, feel free to PM me and I can help you to get it working.

Here's the post I used to get it working:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/network/104850-guide-airport-pcie-half-mini-v2.html

It was easy; just install the kext the post provides.