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Model A1312 / Mid 2010 / 3.2 GHz Core i3 or 2.8 & 3.6 GHz Core i5 or 2.93 GHz Core i7, ID iMac11,3

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Wireless Airport Card Replacement with New 802.11ac

iMAC Intel 27" EMC2390

Can I swap out the original wifi card for an Intel 7260 card that gets 802.11ac? The connectors look the same but the intel card has Bluetooth on it as well, would this be an issue?

I run nothing but windows on my imac now.

It sure would be nice to get gigabit wireless as I am upgrading to an SSD hard drive.

Thanks in advance!

Beantwoord! Bekijk het antwoord Dit probleem heb ik ook

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Hi, do you know if the card BCM94360CS2 is suitable for the iMac 27" late 2010?

Many thanks in advance.

Stefano

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BCM94360CD Is the card that people are using on 09,10 and 11 iMacs. Osxwifi sells a kit for your model that's $170 USD. Personally I think that's crazy. You can find all the parts you need to upgrade much cheaper on eBay or amazon

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It seems that I have mixed up something totally. ;) The BCM94360CS2 is only a 2x2 MIMO combo card (with only two antenna connectors) and is therefore NOT really suitable for upgrading an iMac! (It reaches max. 867Mbps WiFi speed.)

In contrast, the BCM943602CS and BCM94360CSAX runs in 3x3 MIMO mode, - they will reach on the 5 GHz band up to 1.3 Gbps. However, on these card three U.FL female to MHF4 male plug antenna adapter cables (see my post) are needed. The BCM94360CD has four normal U.FL connectors, so no antenna adapters are needed. Well, on the BCM94360CD it is (strongly) recommended to install a fourth antenna. This will be a HARD task, - especially at an Unibody iMac (with aluminum backside).

Regarding the cost, it is possible to get also at the Unibody iMac line an 802.11ac & BT4.x upgrade for approx $30. But as already mentioned, at least soldering of one cable is required. I think it was the USB power. So these crazy expensive "upgrade kits" may be for some people a good alternative. ;)

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I am about to purchase this http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadcom-bc...

and wanted to know if someone else has purchased it and installed it successfully. It seems like it's the perfect kit with all necessary parts.

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What is the newest Airport Extreme wifi card I can install in my Early 2008 iMac 8,1?

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The connectors are proprietary but they seem to be using the same design. Check for physical size to see if the card fits or not.

If the card fits, the chances for antenna mismatch is actually not so much. 802.11ac use the same RF band with 802.11n@5Ghz.

But the problem is that it is not worth the effort, yet. There is no such application that requires 802.11ac

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Thanks Tom! For the $25 bucks for the card I think I might give it a try. I only want to go into the iMAC once, replacing the HD for an SSD and getting gigabit wireless will make the I7 iMAC good for lots of stuff for the next few years. I will report back when I try it if it works.

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Paul, I agree with Tom. It's just not worth it. Even though you're trying to take advantage of doing this while you're upgrading your system with a SSD. I would wait. If you really need faster WiFi their are better external options.

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Has anybody had any luck with the upgrade?

I am looking to do this as well, would this bring certain features like Handoff and AirDrop the AirPods Menu?

Myself, I would be wanting to do it on my iMac 21.5" Mid 2010.

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While the hardware may be capable of the features you mentioned (cannot confirm one way or the other), the 2010 imac is only capable of running up to high sierra which does not support them.

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Well, I have done it, - finally! :) I have upgraded successfully a 24" iMac 7,1 and a 24" iMac 9,1 with an original 802.11ac & BT 4.0 Apple Broadcom BCM94360CSAX combo card. So far I can say the WiFi and Bluetooth functionality is working perfectly (and independently from each other) under Mac OS X and Windows 7 & 10. The original two 802.11n and the Bluetooth antennas can be reused (with adapters), - although they are of course not 802.11ac optimized.

Okay, what's needed?

  • an Apple Broadcom BCM94360CSAX combo card, approx $10.- on ebay

OR

  • an Apple Broadcom BCM943602CS (BT 4.1) combo card, approx $17.- on ebay

AND

  • a compatible Apple “pseudo-NGFF” to mini PCIe adapter (it is usually named as BCM94360CD to mini PCIe adapter), approx $4.- on ebay
  • 3x U.FL female to MHF4 male plug antenna adapter cable, approx $3.- per piece, so total $9.- on ebay
  • a 10mm to 12mm washer (to hold Apple “pseudo-NGFF” to mini PCIe adapter at its position)
  • a small piece of electrical tape (for isolating one side of the washer)

Note, - the washer is not needed if you buy a (compatible) adapter with two "mounting jut" (left and right). My adapter had only one "mounting jut", - at the wrong side.

However, - regarding the hardware cost this will give a total of around $30 per 802.11ac & BT4.x upgrade.

Why I have chosen the BCM94360CSAX card? Simply answer, because it has only 3 antenna connectors! The BCM94360CD would also work but it has 4 antenna connectors. So on an iMac, there would be one antenna too little. (Installing a fourth antenna can be a very hard task.) Regarding the antennas it was unclear for me in which order these should be connected to the new BCM94360CSAX card. On the installed card I decided me for:

  • 5Ghz antenna, white or gray cable on ALU, black on PLASTIC models, J0
  • Bluetooth antenna, blue cable on ALU, black on PLASTIC models, J1
  • 2.4GHz antenna, black cable on ALU, grey on PLASTIC models, J2

Update: 20.12.2016: My first antenna config seems according the several Apple 802.11ac upgrade threads not "right". Well, as of 2019, this config seems not the better one. ;-)

  • white cable (topmost connector) J0
  • black cable (lowermost connector) J1
  • blue cable (middle connector) J2

Update: 10.08.2019: Although it worked for me quite good, the above mentioned second config is not the optimal one. The really best Antenna configuration for our Apple iMac line computes is my first selected configuration, this is confirmed here. The middle J1 connector is always for Bluetooth, and not J2. Keep in mind that the cable colors can vary between the iMac models.

This relatively simple 802.11ac & BT 4.x upgrade will work for any 2006, 2007, 2008 & (early) 2009 Aluminum iMac computer.

All more recent Unibody Aluminum iMacs (late 2009 and above) needs unfortunately, like some Apple Mac Pro models, a special ("version 3" labeled) mini PCIe adapter with external USB cable. This makes the whole upgrade process MUCH more complicated. To "strip down" the mini PCIe slot design at these newer iMac models is a totally stupid & myopic decision. Really weak Apple! :(

So much for that... Nice to know, - the minimum Mac OS X version will be different. Because of the needed 802.11ac drivers the lowest supported OS will be 10.8 Mountain Lion, recommended is Mac OS Mavericks 10.9 and later.

IMPORTANT note, - there (may) exist furthermore also a software issue on the 2010 and 2011 iMac model range. The 802.11ac upgrade will also work, but you will run into problems with the OS X Internet Recovery feature. As a result you will have at every startup a strange error message. It seems that the OS X Internet Recovery which is incorporated into the EFI firmware is not able to recognize a 802.11ac card. As a workaround you can make a firmware downgrade below iMac EFI Update 1.8 which will remove the whole OS X Internet Recovery feature. The following models are most likely affected by that annoying problem: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202313

Some last words to the (2015) BCM943602CS combo card. Main difference to the BCM94360CSAX combo card is support for Bluetooth 4.1. The BCM943602CS card will NOT work under OS X Mavericks 10.9, - it needs OS X Yosemite 10.10 or later. There exist also no official Windows 7 support from Apple for that combo card. The available Windows 10 drivers seems to have currently some stability issues (as of December 2016).

For more information regarding the installation check my pictures, - sorry for the bad photo quality. ;)

Update: 30.07.2019: I have clarified the naming of the Apple “pseudo-NGFF to mini PCIe Adapter”. It may looks somewhat like a standard M.2 NGFF connector but it is NOT the same. Therefore a normal M.2 NGFF to mini PCIe adapter will (most likely) NOT work.

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This is great Clemens! How about making a full IFIXIT guide out of it so others will be able to leverage what you learned. It's quite easy! Just follow the guide builders help system: Create you own guide

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Thanks Dan for your fast feedback. Well I think these photos are mostly too less professional for an official ifixit guide. Maybe someone other who has the time and effort will do that even more accurate. ;) My intension was primarily to try this out and also to demonstrate that an 802.11ac upgrade with original Apple hardware works fine at the iMac model range. That should now be proved. ;)

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Clemens, your under estimating your self ;-}

Your pics are fine here, they get the point across. One doesn't need to have pro quality imagery to be a helpful guide. It could even be in German! If that would be easier for you.

Go for it!

Tue es!

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greatest post ever!

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If Ifixit gave people incentives to create guides, (like a percentage of parts sales) I'm sure there would be a guide for everything by now.

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It seems that the situation has changed during the last months. There exists meanwhile the possibility to install an original Apple BCM94360CD, BCM94360CSAX or BCM943602CS 802.11ac & Bluetooth combo card into an older Aluminum iMac. With that solution you will obtain at yours old iMac 802.11ac WiFi and full Bluetooth 4.x functionality.

You have just to look for the right Apple pseudo-NGFF to Mini PCIe adapter. There are several sellers on ebay that offer “BCM94360CD upgrade kits”. Because it’s an original Apple card it will work out of the box in Mac OS X, - at least in more recent versions like Mavericks and Yosemite. Under Yosemite you will also get the new Continuity & Handoff OS features.

Keep in mind that with only two antennas (in 2x2 mode) you will only reach approx. 867 Mbps and not full 1.3 Gbps performance. The third antenna will be used for the new Bluetooth 4.0 function of the BCM94360CD card; - the old Bluetooth module has to be removed. Of course you can add a fourth antenna to get the maximal (3x3) 1.3 Gbps 802.11ac performance. On an iMac computer it should be possible to install a further aerial but that may be not so easy.

The simplest 802.11ac (3x3 antenna config) upgrade can be realized with the BCM94360CSAX or BCM943602CS combo cards. They will internally shift between Bluetooth and 802.11ac. With the three available antennas of an iMac it should be possible to reach (near) 1.3 Gbps WiFi performance. More information can be found at my second answer to this 802.11ac upgrade question.

It is important to note that this “simple upgrade” possibility belongs primarily to the Apple iMac line computers. They seem to have “normal Mini PCIe slots” which incorporates also USB functionality. Well, this is true for the Aluminum iMac model range.

Note, several MacBooks and MacPro computes do not offer USB functionality on their Mini PCIe slots. To enable also the Bluetooth 4.0 function of the Apple 802.11ac & Bluetooth combo card you need in such cases a special Apple pseudo-NGFF to Mini PCIe adapter. With that you can apply through an external cable also USB functionality to the 802.11ac & Bluetooth combo. Coming from the adapter, this cable has to be connected to the old Bluetooth module connector on the PCB which is in fact an embedded USB port.

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Hello. Can anyone confirm what version of Bluetooth is required for Mac Unlock using an Apple Watch? I'm excited to get Handoff, Continuity, and AC Wifi for my 2010 iMac, but the killer feature for my wife (it's her machine) would be opening her Mac with her Apple Watch. She has an Original Apple Watch Sport running the latest watchOS 3. I wanted to use the BCM94360CD card for its fourth antenna, but it seems to only support 4.0 and I'm afraid of choosing the wrong card without 4.1 support if that is required. Any help would be useful.

Thanks in advance to the ifixit community. I already replaced/upgraded a failing HDD in my iMac thanks to the help and guides found here and the ease of that job made me confident enough to tackle this project too!

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I installed the BCM94360CD card on a mid-2011 24" iMac some time ago and it works perfectly for most things. From what I've read, copy on iMac and paste on an iPad or iPhone (I tried) and opening with the Apple Watch won't work on pre -2012 models. I've checked on System Preferences under Security & Privacy and the "Auto unlock with Apple Watch" option is missing.

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You will have to figure out which framework works with this and edit it like I did here: replacing X7900 to T9300 for macOS Sierra install Is it worth it?

with the core brightness.frameworks to get nightshirt to work on older macs. Just because macOS Sierra is running doesn't mean that all functions of it will work unfortunately.

Alternatively, you could use clover boot loader with a smbios that tricks your Mac into thinking it's a newer model year and it will work then. But this can affect other things like USB ports and stuff. It's worth a try. I installed Clover on my 2007 iMac to make it think it was a late 2013 in order to get nightshift to work before I figured out how to edit the frameworks to have a 2007 model year work natively

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After further research I may have misspoke here. It seems people upgrading to BT 4.0 and 802.11ac were getting it to work. Although they were useing BCM943602CS and BCM94360CSAX cards. Did you follow Apple's procedure in order to enable auto unlock?

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Preparing to do the upgrade on my 27" 2010 iMac. Already ordered the Wi-Fi/BT card, the BCM94360CD. Found the U.FL extension cable for the BT antenna on data-alliance.net. Figured 18" would be plenty. The adapter card with USB I'll pick up on eBay. What I'm not figuring out is the additional antenna. How should it terminate? I'm finding plenty of U.FL to RP-SMA cables online, but I know that's definitely Not what I need here. I thought the antenna would simply terminate with no additional connector. Is that the case or should I be looking for something else? Again, thanks in advance.

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Great post!!! I have a 20" 2007 iMac that I am about to upgrade the x7900 core2extreme that I put in it a few years ago to a E8135 out of a 2008 iMac so I can install macOS Sierra.

Im also going to follow this guild to upgrade the wifi/BT card. This is the only post I have found about doing this on a 2007 model. So thank you.

Ill post pics of the cpu and wifi card swap if anybody wants to see them.

Thanks again,

Nandor690

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[I have a 2007 imac 20"] - If you have pictures of your install of the combo card / adapter and any tips, I would be very appreciative. Updated my main CPU to a 9300 and installed the combo card ( BCM94360CS) and adapter but although my wifi works, my bluetooth function is not registering in ElCapitan anymore. I even tried changing the antenna leads (J1 & J2) but this did not work. Any suggestions since you had the same setup? Thanks for any help.

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I upgraded my imac 2007 with a Penryn T9500 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo, a Samsung EVO 860 and the BMC943602CS airport card. Under El Capitan everything works great, the old imac seems really fast but under High Sierra and Mojave (dosdude1.com) bluetooth is “not available” and the sound incl. keyboard volume control is messed up. There is a strange echo and artificial click in the overall sound, which is synchronous to the rythm of the music and which sounds like the speakers are broken or their membranes touch something on every beat. This is only on speakers, headphone sound is fine. And yes, I installed all of dosdude’s patches for the 7,1 platform. Any thought, ideas?

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The audio board from the 2009 A1225 is not compatible, one the flat cable connector is wider than on the 2008 and 2007 models.

What worked for me was a downgrade of AppleHDA.kext to the El Capitan version (v. 274.12) instead of dosdude’s Legacy Audio Patch, sound is back to normal. Reg. bluetooth, that is fine too with 10.14.4 and dosdude’s patch tool 1.3.

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Making the switch to wireless ac is worthwhile and the best way to go about it is just as you are doing by updating one device at a time as the opportunity presents itself. Since wireless ac is compatible with all previous forms of wifi, interconnectivity will not be a problem. There is one issue with using the Intel 7260 card in your specific computer, though. I have read somewhere that the 7260 will only work on Intel Haswell-based computers. I believe it even mentions that on the Intel web site.

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Kenneth, Sorry the testing I've now done show Apples current implementation is not leveraging the full throughput the 802.11ac standard offers. You see the number of streams is the key here. The current offerings only offer dual streams not the full three stream implementation to gain the full bandwidth. Because of that it makes no sense upgrading current 802.11n systems. There are also other issues here per a given system that also effects things. In all cases you're not getting what you think. Don't forget the limit of your link is the pathway and the far end devices ability to send or receive information. Current residential internet services can't supply the needed bandwidth and the far end server drives are often behind a firewall that packet shapes to limit a given sessions bandwidth so no one user consumes the available servers resources. Bottom-line here is unless you have your own high performance server hanging off its own 802.11ac AP there is not enough gain to upgrade currently.

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Yes, in time this will change, but not now. Save your money, better options will be coming that will be worth upgrading your current 802.11n devices and network services.

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Interesting topic, - but even if the card will fit physically, the main problem with the Intel 7260ac card is the missing driver support in Mac OS X. So far I know there is currently absolutely no Intel Wi-Fi driver available.

Therefore, on an iMac you will only get you Intel 7260ac card working under Linux or Windows operating system, - not Mac OS X. That doesn’t make a lot of sense for me. However, it makes absolutely sense if you are using a “Mac OS free” iMac computer…. ;)

Well I can confirm that the Intel 7260ac card (with Bluetooth 4.0) does NOT require an Intel only or Intel Haswell-based system. I installed it at an Acer Aspire One 721, AMD Athlon II Neo CPU based Netbook. It works with latest Intel drivers absolutely perfect!!

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Not following you here Clemens, Intel is not the maker of the WiFi board.

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Hi Dan, My English is not perfect, but the question was "Can I swap out the original wifi card for an Intel 7260 card that gets 802.11ac?" For me that sounds like Paul would try to replace his existing original 802.11n Wifi card by an Intel 7260 802.11ac card. Is this misunderstood?

As mentioned it should work, physically. So far there is no EFI firmware lock against foreign / non-apple hardware parts in yours iMac. (Never tested) For example, HP has such restrictions in their laptop firmware.

However, I can confirm that a 2007 iMac Apple (Broadcom) Airport card is compatible with a 2006 iMac. First iMac has EFI64, second EFI32, - the card is still working perfectly under Mac OS X and Win 7.

But as I mentioned, - you will run with any Intel 7260ac chip based card into heavy driver troubles under Mac OS X.

The following (single band) 802.11ac card will probably work, - it's Broadcom BCM4360 based. (http://www.unex.com.tw/product/daxb-81) AND, most important, there exist a driver hack for Mac OS X.

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I think you mixing things here. Depending on the iMac series you will have a PC Card or mSATA or now the M.2. In this model its a PC Card. But just because you have a standards based interface does not mean the OS can access the board. This is where the addressing is defined by the systems firmware (EFI). Different board manufactures use different addresses. While the same vendor may reuse the same address so as an example Broadcom different series boards will have the same memory address but it will be different than Intels' board. So swapping over between different Broadcom boards is more likely (Apple may even ask them to give them a special bd as well which they have in a few cases). Lastly, as you noted the OS drivers are an issue. Does Intel offer a OS-X driver (or did some one hack one together)? Not that I know of. So the bottom line here: I don't see this as a workable solution. And as you pointed out the antenna limitations also limit the benefit. Don't waste your time and money.

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Hi Guys, I know this is an older post so I apologize for hijacking it. I bought an Early 2009 iMac, 24", 2.66Ghz. I removed the WD 1TB hdd and replaced it with a 2TB SSHD. As above I would also like to possibly update my wifi card. I have a 240mb Fiber Optic connection. With unlimited downloads. At the moment this iMac is getting between 17mb and 24mb speed. My phone gets 50mb over the wifi, and my laptop which is an Acer Aspire 5750 gets 90mb speed. So if I put a gigabit wireless card in this iMac will i get better than 24mb. Thanks for the help.

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Sadly your system only has two antennas (2.4 & 5.0 GHz). So you really can't add the needed antennas to gain the full ability of 802.11ac. Here is a good reference to help you out: Wikipedia - 802.11ac. I would just get a AirPort Express unit to connect your system into locally via Ethernet. Then have it connect over WiFi to your Fiber modem. That way you can get the full benefit of 802.11ac (what your modems AP offers).

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I have just upgraded to wifi AC and Bluetooth 4 using the kit from osxwifi.com and the ifixit and osxwifi guides. Awkward but straightforward and everything is working perfectly, including continuity, etc. Also, mouse, keyboard etc are working much better.

I am retired with no special computer skills so anyone should be able to do this if they follow the instructions to the letter and are patient, especially with the screen data cable which is the only real problem for me.

I have a mid-2011, 21.5" iMac with 500GB SSD (upgraded using fixit guide) 20GB RAM and macOS Sierra version 10.12.3 Beta.

Perhaps it's wishful thinking but my computer seems to be faster with these upgrades than the equivalent newer models. It's certainly a cheaper way of enhancing performance.

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were you able to get handoff, continuity, and airdrop to iphones when upgrading the card?

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Which wifi card did you upgrade to? Also, Do you know which location you put each antenna cable on the new card? Thanks!

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Handoff, continuity etc work fine. Copy and paste to and from another device don’t. Open with Apple Watch apparently doesn’t work either but both these issues are reportedly due to being a pre-2012 model. I used the BCM94360CD card. I’m not sure which antenna connected to where but I followed the guides and encountered no problems. A word of warning. The screen data cable and the antennae are very delicate and could be easily damaged. If I find the guide I will post an image.

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I just upgraded my iMAC 20" Early 2008, using the 802.11ac & Bluetooth BCM94360CSAX combo card (I also removed the original BT board), and it worked perfectly. I now proudly have a Transmission rate of 867Mbps on my old Imac, versus ~300Mbps previously :)

thank you for sharing your experience !

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Hi Olivier Biot, - thanks for this feedback! Question, how and on which band you have tested the performance and what's your router?

According to the Wikidevi website (https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom_BCM94...) the BCM94360CSAX is like the BCM943602CS able to reach in 3x3 MIMO mode at the 5 GHz band speeds up to 1.3 Gbps. This is the same speed like the BCM94360CD has. However, because of it's fourth antenna the BCM94360CD can simultaneously run with 3x3 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.x. The BCM94360CSAX and the BCM943602CS will most likely fall back to 2x2 MIMO when BT 4.x is used on the same time.

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Hi Clemens,

Note that as in the original explanation I also used the J2 connector for bluetooth, so yes it runs in 2x2 MIMO.

My router is a Netgear Orbi, with MU-MIMO and beam forming enabled, and i'm using the 5Ghz/80Mhz band. Reported TX Rate in OS X is 867Mpbs, and doing an internet speedtest I reached ~104Mbps, that is the maximum of my ISP Cable connection.

hope this helps,

cheers.

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Thanks for the fast replay. Well, after searching the web I am not really wiser. ;) As mentioned, Wikidevi and several other sources defines the BCM94360CSAX as 3x3 MIMO capable with up to 1.3 Gbps performance. If that's really true, then the J2 connector is not Bluetooth-only, - it will be also used for the third 802.11ac (5 Ghz) stream. It is important to note that the max. stream capability has nothing to do with the MU-MIMO technique of the "second wave" 802.11ac standard (finalized in 2016). However, other websites defines the BCM94360CSAX as only 2x2 MIMO compliant, - totally confusing. The MacBook Pro 15" Retina (Late 2013) (which contains the BCM94360CSAX) is sometimes advertised as 1.3 Gpbs 802.11ac capable. Unfortunately there exist no official Apple documentation regarding the MIMO capability of their products, - very disappointing. :(

Update to my comment: According to the following article from The Register the MacBook Pro 15" Retina (Late 2013) is definitively capable to support 3x3 MIMO with 1.3 Gbps. This belongs then also to the BCM94360CSAX combo card! (At the screenshot it can be seen that BT was disabled for testing, - that may be a reason?) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/06/...

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Well i did not have to go through all these considerations, since anyway my early 2008 iMac only have 2 built-in

wifi antenna, and since i wanted to anyway benefit from the bluetooth 4.0, so more than satisified with the result on my side ! Best of luck for your search/attemps on your side !

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No worry Olivier, - I say thanks for yours feedback! And if you have the time and effort then just disable Bluetooth (in OS X) and check if the WiFi will connect at 1.3 Gbps to yours Netgear Orbi router. ;) :D

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I could not get the antenna adapter cables to mate with the WiFi card.

I may have the wrong size of U.FL adapters for this project.

The HiRose U.FL catalog shows five or six size options. Any idea on size required for the antennas on the various aluminum iMac models?

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Tried again just now. One of the adapters fits ok, "just works", second one is marginal, the third one no way just falls right off.

U.FL connectors are designed to fail first on the "female" part, the one that is on the cable. That's a good design for a setup like this, where you don't want to connect/disconnect after installation... because you don't want the part soldered to your computer to fail. That would be bad.

SO: I think I may have squished at least one of these adapters. I tried to be very careful. I have re-assembled cell phones and laptop wifi parts before, but this piece was really difficult.

SO ORDER SIX OF THE ADAPTERS, FOLKS.

Also I just ordered another WiFi card from the eBay. If it turns out to be very different experience I will post update here.

(Would still be nice to know how to specify the U.FL connector size.)

So much help from this guide and the comments here, seriously I thank you all.

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Hi Boyd, - the antenna adapter should be always of the MHF4 size. For that upgrade described here three female U.FL to MHF4 male adapter are needed. This is fundamental important, - any other size will NOT fit. Be aware, - there are several very similar connectors which are all described as M.FL. Unfortunately M.FL is a fully misleading term because it stands for different connector sizes. Some are just minimal larger, others are just minimal smaller. So, again as mentioned, - anything other then MHF4 will NOT fit.

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I'm really glad I found this thread. I got an early 2008 imac 24". I already bought a BCM94360CD card. But I got two questions. First, I can only find u.fl to mhf cables of 8 cm length on ebay - would that be long enough for an early 2008 imac 24"? Or is there another source for purchasing longer cables? I can only find this one seller on ebay.

Second, I don't know which miniPCI express to M.2 adapter to buy. There is always something about keys, and I don't get from which side to count the pins. Does the BCM94360CD have 6 pins or 12 pins, i.e. do I need an adapter for key B or key E, or something different? Would appreaciate hints! Thank you.

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The BCM94360CD card needs the same M.2 adapter like the BCM94360CSAX and BCM943602CS cards. Just search on ebay for "BCM94360CD BCM94331CD adapter card" and you will find A LOT. There is one for $5.98 with two mounting holes. This will be a prefect choice, - no washer is needed with that M.2 adapter model. Regarding the BCM94360CD card you do NOT need any antenna adapter. The BCM94360CD card uses the same U.FL connectors like the old 802.11n cards. Well, because it has a fourth connector an additional antenna is recommended. But don't ask me where to install it in the iMac, - I have absolutely no idea. ;)

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Thank you, Clemens, for your fast reply! I mixed up the letters yesterday, sorry for my mistake. It says on one side of the card BCM94360CS, and on the other side it says BCM94360CSAX. It also has only 3 antenna plugs: J0, J1, J2. The position is like on the photos in your guide.

So would this M.2 adapter work? https://goo.gl/q0Fdp5

Also this means I need antenna adaptors? The only seller I could find on the internet is this one: https://goo.gl/VYKxHj

But I am worried the cord might be too short. Maybe I am searching for the wrong terms or maybe German google is not the right choice for searching. Any hints on if those adaptors I linked would work? Or another site that sells adaptors with longer cables? Thanks in advance! =)

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here is what I bought on my side for the BCM94360CSAX :

antenna adaptor : http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/U-FL-female-P...

airport card adapter : http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/New-Mini-PCI-...

I put this in an early 2008 20" model, and the antenna cable adapter were more than enough, so no worries on your side, they should be long enough.

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@denization

These are exactly the right parts, - perfect / perfekt! :) I would recommend these for the original ALU iMac line (2007 - early 2009). The other M.2 adapter posted by olivier.biot has only one mounting hole (on the upper left), so there is a washer needed (as seen on my photos).

The standard length of the antenna adapter is between 6 to 10 cm and this is really far enough. For the original ALU iMac line no longer length is needed! If you still want longer antenna adapter cables then you can specify this during the purchase, - just write ebay seller bydpete a message.

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thank you for your support, clemens and olivier. i just ordered all the parts and am looking forward to installing the new wifi card. probably in one month from now... when everything will have arrived hopefully. i will repost on my success/failure =)

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Hello, I just launched in the upgrade of my iMac 20 '' mid 2007. I ordered the wifi card BCM94360CSAX, as well as antenna adapters and wifi card adapter. The Bluetooth works correctly but the wifi does not work, it looks but can not find a network. I'm in wifi 2.4 GHz at home, do you have a solution?

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Hi Seb, - which Mac OS version you have installed? At first you should check the antenna config and the connection of the adapter cables. I have upgraded several original ALU iMac computers and have never noticed such a behavior. If the symptom still persist also with other / different access points then your BCM94360CSAX card may be faulty. There are many ebay sellers which offers this card, - some are described as new / unused others as refurbished. So it may be possible that you get a faulty one. :-( Furthermore there are different labeled BCM94360CSAX cards, - some include Chinese letters at the front. Therefore it could be that not all BCM94360CSAX cards are genuine Apple. ;-)

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Hi Clemens, so I just did several tries to find the right one. I find a combination where wifi and bluetooth works correctly (handoff ...) J0 = WHITE, J1 = BLUE, J2 = BLACK.

everything is working

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Again Hi Seb, - interesting, that was my original antenna config! I changed it then to the other one. Reason: Several other 802.11ac upgrade threads mentioned that J2 should be always Bluetooth. Whatever, it could be that there were some variability in the manufacturing process. As a consequence not all antennas will work with a 802.11ac card. The 5Ghz WiFi technique seems to be much more susceptible then the 2,4Ghz BT / WiFi one.

Whatever thanks for this hint! Will not this alternative antenna config in my thread. ;-)

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Hi Seb & Clemens. In the midst of 2007 imac 20" upgrade also. Installed new 9300 cpu. installed wifi card BCM94360CSAX, as well as antenna adapters and wifi card adapter. El CApitan starts well. Problem is opposite of Seb - using J0 = WHITE, J1 = Black, J2 = Blue (like Clemens said), my wifi works fine but my bluetooth is non functioning (not available). Removed original bluetooth module from logic board also. I imagine this was needed. Is there any solution you could think of to get Bluetooth working again? DO I try Seb's antenna pattern above (J1 = Blue, etc.)? If I do switch them, how hard is it to unclip the snap connection on J1 and J2 on the connectors? If I don't use bluetooth, other than hooking up peripherys, are there other newer functions that use bluetooth that I would be missing out on? Because if it is too hard, I will just use a USB dongle type keyboard. ANy ideas/help appreciated. Thanks all.

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(Also, there is a thread under https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/802... that says that you might be able to reinstate bluetooth by taking SIP on and then off, etc. - problem is that DOSDUDE sierra patch tool requires SIP to be off at all times for teh patch to work. So I am guessing that this solution will not work) ??

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has anybody ever had bluetooth problems after the upgrade of the wifi/bt card and sierra? i use a logitech bluetooth keyboard and mouse and get some stuttering/lag of the cursor from time to time. same setup as before the upgrade, where it never occured.

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Maybe @nandor690 can help here. Until now, - I have never installed Sierra at an original ALU iMac line. This could be also a GPU driver related issue. So far I know the old Radeon HD 2x00 series is not officially supported by Mac OS Sierra. You could try to use the Save Mode of OS X and see if that brings somewhat.

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thanks for your reply. i see. so far ive unfortunatelly not had the chance to plug in a corded keyboard to try save mode :/ ive got an nvidia graphic card tho.

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What version of macOS Sierra are you on right now? Still having same issue?

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Im on 10.12.5 and yes, still having the same issue. kind of annoying =(

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Hi, I did the osxwifi upgrade at the beginning of the year and, so far, I haven’t had any WiFi/bluetooth problems. I am currently running High Sierra beta 6. My only problem is, as the ambient temperature is close to 40 Centigrade during the day, I occasionally have overheating problems, especially when using video. I installed smcFanControl which works well but is noisy so I have ordered a Sanyo San Ace B76 blower fan which I will attach externally over the warmest vent to suck the heat out. This should be a much quieter option.

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I did essentially the same upgrade (20” iMac 7,1 completed Dec 2018, but I used the BCM9430CD Wifi/Bluetooth card - not that it should make any difference ) and have had no such problems with sound (I’m using Mojave now, but I did go through Sierra and High Sierra previously) . Occasionally, the computer will boot up and show “Bluetooth unavailable”, but I run the maintenance actions in Onyx and then its ok.

Only suggestion I can make is to re-run the “Post Install app” and see if that improves anything and try Onyx as well.

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I find the sound problem really annoying in a mac that works quite well as a video streaming client. I found the audio board 820-2364-A of the 2009 imac in the bay . I’ll get back to this thread, if that does the trick.

Reg bluetooth I did both fresh install of Mojave and upgrade from High Sierra and re-ran post-install several times - all with experiment character. As soon as I have Mojave bluetooth is gone. I got around that with an ext iogear usb dongle.

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Paul zal eeuwig dankbaar zijn.
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