Mac Pro - Airport - Bad Signal / Packet loss

[adun9002]

Mac Pro Bluetooth Resolved

I had the same issue with Bluetooth. I was so excited about the Wireless keyboard and mouse then I got them and couldn't believe how horrible they worked. Technical support gave me the typical run around troubleshooting tips. I swear if they tell me to turn the mouse off then back on one more time.

I switched the #1 wire with the BT wire. Problems solved. I now love my wireless desktop.

It's easy to tell that there are two long wires and two short. The short go to the Airport Card and one of the others goes to the Bluetooth chip.

 

[Carniphage]

Swapping wires does not resolve Airport issues

With 4 wires and three terminals, it is easy to see how they can be mis-connected. And I think bluetooth prefers to be connected to lead 3 and not lead BT.

But different arrangements of wires does not improve the performance of the Apple Airport module in the Mac Pro. At best the unit delivers about 450kBytes / sec of throughput (in or out).

C.

 

[Carniphage]

Mac Pro Airport Extreme Wierdness

Airport Cards being fitted to Mac Pros are marked BCM94321MC - These are Broadcom Intensi-Fi modules which are Draft 802.11N devices. Which presumably is why they need two antennas.

On OS-X the drivers are numbered 4.80.46.0 - the latest boot camp has a Windows driver 4.80.53.1

The card manifests the same problem under both environments.
Inconsistent ping times - Connection speed varying all the time. Never getting more than 460kBytes per second.

This same chipset is sold as the Linksys WPC300N for PCs - And some of those users are reporting similar problems. A newer driver 4.80.28.7 - seems to be solving some issues.

 

[msryan]

You guys are lifesavers

Folks,

I can't tell you how much I appreciated finding this site when I came home with my brandnew macpro tower today. The "geniuses" at the Apple Store installed the airport card I requested. Need I say more? Suffice it to say that I am eternally in your debt. I am particularly grateful to Spanky Deluxe and Scoopz for the information and photos of correct wire placement.

 

[Macinposh]

Exactly the same problems here.

Laggy airport (max upload speeds I´ve seen have been 100kb/s,down about 200) that has a really ****** range of about 1m/strenght bar.
So it is useless after being moved 4meters away from airport express...

The BT has been effing since day one too,looses keyboard and gets the laggy mouse effect once in a while. Cant connect properly with BT telephone either.

Have been living with those problems now for 10 months, decided that it is time to get rid of them tomorrow...

The only problme is that if i remember right, I didnt seem to have any number/BT tags on the wires.

Question is: Is there any risk of changing the wires? I mean,frying stuff and stuff?

 

[Macinposh]

Edit : Now installed the iStumbler to both iBook and MP. Both show the same signal strength at the same distance,36%. BUT,the macpro has a constant signal noise of 13% and iBook 0%. Living in the middle of nowhere without a microwave and cordless phone helps. So apparently the macpro generates its own noise inside the chassis.Intresting.

Also,the MP has its tendency of showing 4bars when wireless is applied,then gradually over next 2-10mins it lessens untill it looses connection.
Upload speeds are around 30-900B/s... Occasionally 40KB/s on a 1MB line...

Noice.


Edit:As above,as my cables apparently are unmarked,is there any possibility to frying stuff if connected imporperly? Not that it would matter to the connection speed...