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MP 1,1-5,1 WiFi Card for Mac Pro 3,1?

hartleymartin

hartleymartin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 15, 2016
207
47
Sydney, Australia
Hi, is there a WiFi card that will work with the Mac Pro 3,1 that has native support in macOS 10.12 Sierra? My Mac Pro never had an internal WiFi card and I have been using a cheap USB dongle, but it has a rather annoying utility which pops up every time I boot and relies on the USB2.0 port on the rear.

It isn't terribly important, but I do use my Mac Pro as a Media File server for my Samsung TVs using Serviio, which seems to rely on the WiFi for some reason despite one of them being connected to the same network via Ethernet.
 
My research shows that Apple no longer supports Mac Pro 3,1 e.g. Internet searches and a call to Apple Support. Can't upgrade a Mac Pro 3,1 to use Sierra they said.
 
Kingmanarts said:
My research shows that Apple no longer supports Mac Pro 3,1 e.g. Internet searches and a call to Apple Support. Can't upgrade a Mac Pro 3,1 to use Sierra they said.
Click to expand...
I'm running Sierra on my Mac Pro 3.1, look through the forums here. (-;
 
I am running Sierra using a couple of patch tools. It runs perfectly fine, but my Mac Pro never came with an internal WiFi card and I would like to kit it out with one.
 
^^^^The Posters Systems on page 3 certainly look saucered and blown to me!

Lou
 
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All I see is a bunch of Sierra OS screen shots and a bunch of problems. I tried installing the firmware and it said I didn't need to install it yet Sierra wouldn't install. I am leary of running some random patch program.
 
^^^^Then don't do it. But there are at least 4 folks in that thread running 3,1 cMPs without issue. I'm done arguing with you. You indicated you had done research. Your research entailed calling Apple. Sierra has been made to work on a 3,1 - End Of Story. Have a GOOD day!

Lou
 
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hartleymartin said:
Hi, is there a WiFi card that will work with the Mac Pro 3,1 that has native support in macOS 10.12 Sierra? My Mac Pro never had an internal WiFi card and I have been using a cheap USB dongle, but it has a rather annoying utility which pops up every time I boot and relies on the USB2.0 port on the rear.

It isn't terribly important, but I do use my Mac Pro as a Media File server for my Samsung TVs using Serviio, which seems to rely on the WiFi for some reason despite one of them being connected to the same network via Ethernet.
Click to expand...
You need to buy the following Broadcom BCM94360CD (which is made for a newish iMac I believe) card, this is WiFi AC and bluetooth 4.0 combo card.
And an adapter to allow you to plug this into the mini-pcie slot on the motherboard of your MP3,1. Even if you had no WiFi when purchased new you will have this slot above the CPU heatsinks / below HDD bay 2 and there will be 4 antenna wires typically tucked in behind the top of the motherboard, 3 will be used for WiFi and 1 for BT, the original WiFi card only used 2 wires for WiFi and 1 for BT 2.0 as a separate card.

As the BCM94360CD is an original Apple part there is no need for driver (kext) changes it will work out of the box.

These are the two parts I bought back in October 2014 and have had zero issues with the card since being installed.
I updated to macOS Sierra as well using the unsupported thread. This card does give handoff and continuity functions in 10.10 / 10.11 in a 'supported' release, it still works in 10.12 as an 'unsupported' release.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQAXDW8
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L35XSMS

I did use the 'random patch program' but there are manual methods around this if you have newer hardware laying around or if you know how to make the modifications yourself.

You need this:
51aG3Q0GtjL.jpg

and this:
61GLYqrW4jL._SL1000_.jpg


This is what it will look like when you've installed it.
The adapter + WiFi card and the 4 antenna wires connected to it.
9R4ubnQ.jpg
 
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Thanks. I'll look into getting those.

I've sourced those two parts on eBay. Once they get here, hopefully I do have proper internal WiFi support.
 
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hartleymartin said:
No joy. Perhaps I have the antennae wires hooked up incorrectly? Does it matter which antennae attach to which terminal?
Click to expand...
Does the new Bluetooth card show up in system profiler?
Did you remove the original Bluetooth card from the motherboard?

If the card doesn't show up on the USB bus then the antennas won't matter. But J3 is the Bluetooth antenna on the card.
 
I removed the original BlueTooth Card on the motherboard and put it into my other (2006) Mac Pro.

The card is a combined WiFi and Bluetooth one. I have full wifi but bluetooth does not show up in the system settings for some reason.
 
I had to install some kernel extensions to get the Bluetooth to work on my 08 Mac Pro with the same card. It was pretty straight forward. I can send the link to the site I found it on later, but a google search should pop it up.
 
outonmybike said:
I had to install some kernel extensions to get the Bluetooth to work on my 08 Mac Pro with the same card. It was pretty straight forward. I can send the link to the site I found it on later, but a google search should pop it up.
Click to expand...

If you have a link with instructions, that would be most appreciated!
 
Does continuity, handoff, Airdrop, WiFi, BT work under Sierra for a macPro 3,1 using a “BCM94360CD” adaptor ?


Some of these have the USB jumper, what is this USB jumper used for exactly ?


Example the OSX WiFi one uses the 2 pin header


http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadcom-bcm94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-bluetooth-4-0-with-adapter-for-imac-2007-and-imac-2008


Yet some of the generic ones seem to omit the USB jumper ? Why? Does this omission change anything ?
Accordingto this the 3,1 has USB integrated into the PCi slot?

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...0-keep-updating.1748061/page-12#post-20291244

Are there any issues with windows integration? Win XP over bootcamp/Parallels ?

What is the best most popular option for one of these cards and adaptors to run on a 3,1 with Sierra ?


Is there anything to be wary of if we desire full compatibility?
 
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rotarypower101 said:
Example the OSX WiFi one uses the 2 pin header


http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadcom-bcm94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-bluetooth-4-0-with-adapter-for-imac-2007-and-imac-2008
Click to expand...

That's a 2008 iMac kit, not a 2008 Mac Pro kit, which I think is why you are seeing an inconsistency.

Also, it's not a jumper, it is a connector used for a cable to run across to the other side of the computer for USB on the 4,1 and 5,1. But the 1,1 through 3,1 don't need to connect anything to these pins since they already have USB in the slot itself. This is why some kits for the earlier Mac Pros don't have the connector at all.
 
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