[How To]Atheros AR5212 based cards, now w/ Leopard

[consolation]

the solution..... I took all other device ids and only left mine in there and it worked fine after that in fact I am posting on Leopard!

 

Can anyone confirm this? My machine goes into an endless reboot cycle when I try this....

[JohnnyBGoode]

Doesn't work for me. I tried everything that you did guys but my Netgear wg311t just won't work with Leo. (I tried the neikous and the Alucard69 way) My card is not recognized at all. (no airport device).

neikous> which modifications did you do exactly? Just the string line?

[neikous]

JohnnyBGoode since we have the same card, I could send you my kext file for wireless -- I took the 10.4.8 IO80211 kext and modified it with what the post says (device id 13) - Then I had to do the following in order to get it to enable the wireless card:

You just need to edit the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist fileedit the string <string>en0</string>to <string>en1</string> (or en2 if you have other network cards i guess)and string <key>IOInterfaceUnit</key><integer>0</integer>to <key>IOInterfaceUnit</key><integer>1</integer> <--- this number shall reflect the one used in the other.. so if you have en1 it shoud be 1 and en2 should be 2 and so on.Then just reboot and check your network settings. It should find a new Airport card.

Are we allowed to attach kext files to posts or is that against the rules?

neikous: that's what I did, but the system complained the kext wasn't installed properly. But then I tried the chown again, like cyclonefr said, and it actually worked :)But there's this other problem now I can't use the WPA encryption - doesn't matter if I type the right password or not, it doesn't let me connect to it: "Connect failed". But if I connect to my neighbor's router (which doesn't use any encryption) it let's me in.

Yeah I will need to check WPA encryption on mine - I just used WEP and hoped that WPA would work as well. I'll let you know if it works for me.

[Alucard69]

Can anyone confirm this? My machine goes into an endless reboot cycle when I try this....

Wow really? That sucks. Anyways my method works but if you turn off Airport it will freeze still but if you restart it will be fine. I did leave something out that might be important but I don't know. I already had a preferred network with a WEP key setup already when I changed my kext file to have just my device in it. I am going to attach the Info.plist for AirportAtheros with the device id 168c,13 for you Consolation for you to try. Maybe your file is messed up. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you. That file is exact same as mine but its your device id and not mine.

[chipxsd]

Just did a fresh install of Leopard, and it turns out modifying the original .kext (leaving only my own device in the array) works, including wep and wpa encryption enabled routers. No more freezing issues.

 

btw: my card is TP-Link TL-WN651G

 

<array>

<string>pci168c,13</string>

</array>

 

edit: I take that back ... it doesn't work as it should. As soon as I rebooted the machine, it wouldn't boot back in Leopard - the machine just froze during loading the leopard, and then it reset it self.

 

Then I modified the .kext (from 10.4.8), so the card wouldn't been recognized, it booted back in 10.5.

[Alucard69]

Just did a fresh install of Leopard, and it turns out modifying the original .kext (leaving only my own device in the array) works, including wep and wpa encryption enabled routers. No more freezing issues.

 

btw: my card is TP-Link TL-WN651G

edit: I take that back ... it doesn't work as it should. As soon as I rebooted the machine, it wouldn't boot back in Leopard - the machine just froze during loading the leopard, and then it reset it self.

 

Then I modified the .kext (from 10.4.8), so the card wouldn't been recognized, it booted back in 10.5.

Wow Leopard is really picky. The real question I have is if this were in a real mac would it do that same odd things? Mine only froze so far once after I put only one device in the info.plist and thats when I tried disabling to see if I could reenable it reliably and it froze the second I hit Turn off. Just now booting into leopard it took a second to find my wireless network and I click on the airport symbol up top and it let me go to manually put the stuff in. While I was doing that it found the network just fine. Very Odd. Tiger never did this too me.

[consolation]

Had a play using tiger framework, with the tiger kext; I got it to connect to a wpa network that it "trusted" i.e. remembered. Downside: preferences crash, and no way to select a new network. OS sees the card as not turned on and the icon menu does not work, however it will dhcp etc. Thought about adding more Tiger, then decided against it. We might need a new approach... any ideas?

[se_dony]

consolation:

 

not perfect but fair enough!

can you post a "howto" and/or your modified extensions?

 

i tried removing all but my device id in the original leopard extension and removing the Code* files.

both didn't work for me

[chipxsd]

There 'is' another way, but no one would put that much effort in it, to make it work ...

 

Ath5k binaries have already been reverse engineered so people could make a driver for other platforms (like linux, openbsd ...). You can find the source code for those drivers at the madwifi project.

 

Here are a couple of resources for start:

- http://madwifi.org/browser/ath5k/trunk (I think this are the sources for the atheros linux driver)

- http://developer.apple.com/documentation/D...ace_/index.html (this is the interface that needs to be implemented for the OS X driver)

- http://iwidarwin.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/iwi4965 (here's an example of the Intel PROSet 4965a wireless driver)

 

I know that's a long shot, but this could be useful for other (future and past) kernels too.

[chipxsd]

I don't know if others found out a way to connect to a secured wireless connection with the Tiger kext? ... but I think I have found a solution:

 

You have to use the 'Assist me' -> 'Diagnostics', to connect to your secured connection, it worked fine for me. I took the liberty to include screenshots in this post, so you can see how I did it...

 

This image show my computer connected to an unsecured wifi connection (apparently my neighbor's access point, not mine)

 

This is the network I want to join (that's my AP with WPA/PSK enabled)

 

If I try to join this network, it doesn't work (Connection failed, though the password is right)

 

I had to use the System Preferences -> Network -> Assist me... -> Diagnostics -> AirPort -> ... to get me connected to my access point

 

Here you see me connected to my secured wifi connection

[consolation]

chipxsd that's a work of bloody genius, but, can you confirm that you are running the leo kext? I can get this to work, but only if I use the 10.4.8 kext. Oh, and my task bar icon doesn't work. If I try to use the leo kernel I get a hanged system.

 

Notice the bar icon on the sceenshot.

 

Anyhow, I'll update the first post to reflect this method when I have a moment.

 

screenie:

[chipxsd]

Sorry to disappoint you, but as I said, I'm using Tigers kext.

 

The only thing I did with the kernel extensions was, I disabled the 10.5's IO80211Family.kext by renaming it's directory name from .kext to something else (.kext.disabled), and copied the 10.4.8's kext into the /extensions directory.

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 12 03:50 GeForceGA.plugin

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 12 03:51 GeForceVADriver.bundle

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 10 06:48 I2CGPIO.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Sep 29 07:05 ICAClassicNotSeizeDriver.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Sep 29 07:11 ICAFWKodakProDriver.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Aug 9 2006 IO80211Family-Tiger.kext - this is the 10.4.8 kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 10 06:48 IO80211Family.kext.disabled - this is the 10.5 kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 10 06:48 IOACPIFamily.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 10 06:45 IOADBFamily.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 3 20:42 IOAHCIFamily.kext

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Oct 3 20:42 IOATAFamily.kext

But I think this has got nothing to do with the success of 10.4.8 kext connecting to secured wifi connections.

 

ps: and one problem still remains, it doesn't connect automatically when you boot in to the system

ps2: how did you get your system profiler to work? Mine crashes immediately when I run it. And if I run it in shell (system_profiler), it gives me a 'Floating point exception'

[consolation]

Sorry, I misread your post. Your method works with the 10.5 framework + 10.4.8 kext. The system profiler is probably a problem with AppleSMBIOS.kext, I'm using 1.0.11 - which I think is Paulicat's latest. The link is in here.

[se_dony]

chipxsd:

 

 

thanks for the awesome tip! it works for me using the 10.4.8 extension (my card is a tp-link wn651g)

 

many thanks

[oSxFr33k]

CAn I get kext also be extracted fromt he Jas 10.4.8 DVD? When you say kext 10.4.8 I have to assume its from a tiger version 10.4.8? Is this correct?

 

Anyhow now that I think about it, its correct if its an unpatched DVD but I guess if its patched, Jas, Uphuck or whever coudl be using a kext version they know that will work and may not necessarily be the kext version yoru tiger version is?

 

I will have to assume Jas 10.4.8 is using IO80211Family.kext version 10.4.8?

 

I see my Netgear ar5212 but I cannot turn the card on. I am not using any security on my router for now.

 

 

 

 

EDITED ABOUT 2 hours later:

 

I have tried everything, even tried Consolation's link and no go. My airport is turned off. When I open NEtwork from Preferences, it should

say New port found and it never does. I click on turn airport on and it just won't.

 

I wonder since I used a modified version of BrazilMAC's post patch if it has broken airport?

 

Its for P5K or P35 users and after installing it it boots leopard up in like 10 seconds. FAST!!

 

Here is the link:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=68698

 

 

Any other suggestions other than installing BrazilMAC's version instead?

 

With BrazilMAC's post patch, I get two annoying errors, hpet and localhost that repeats to the point that it will drive you mad.

 

 

 

EDITED another couple hours later:

 

Finally fixed:

 

I have fund out if you have this PCI Netgear Wireless card you should disable all Lan's and any onbaord USB wireless on your MB before you install Leopard or after you install it, disable them.

 

I had to disable them after I installed Leopard. One of the lans still showed up so this is what I did. I turned DHCP to OFF. Thats the Key once I did that I saw my airport turn on or I was able to turn it on after a reboot.

 

Once I did that, I rebooted then right clicked on the airport icon on the top menu bar and was able to connect to my linksys router. I went back into network from the preferences icon. I turned the lan from off , back to DHCP, rebooted and still had a working Wireless.

 

Changing the en0 and 0 to en1 and 1 or en2 and 2 did not solve the problem alone. It was a combination of changing en0 to en1 and switching the lan from the network dhcp to off. I cannot explain why it worked this way but it did and hope it helps people who have a similiar MB as mine.

 

I did switch kexts as well, but that alone did not solve the problem either but you have to switch kexts or your system freezes when you try to connect using the default Leopards IO80211Family.kext.

 

The APpleSMBIOS.kext that consolation gave a link to did not solve the problem either. I had to put my default back because sleep mode froze using that smbios.

[Mac R0cketman]

I have a WG311T working with consolations method but when i restart my computer the computer does not detect the airport card then i have to first put the 10.4.5 kext which makes it detect the card but cant turn on then put the 10.4.8 kext and then finally it works but after restart i'm again back to square 1 any help would be appreciated

 

P.S. : Can someone please PM me Leo's IO80211Family.kext pacifict is unable to open leo dvd and i was dumb enuf not to backup

[sziggle]

I don't know if others found out a way to connect to a secured wireless connection with the Tiger kext? ... but I think I have found a solution:

 

You have to use the 'Assist me' -> 'Diagnostics', to connect to your secured connection, it worked fine for me. I took the liberty to include screenshots in this post, so you can see how I did it...

 

using my tiger IO80211family.kext, i found the same method to work, but (and it's a big but...) i have to do this every time i turn on my machine. it will always reliably connect through the network diagnostics application when i run through the manual process that you posted screenshots for, but it will never automatically connect like it ought to once you have successfully connected and stored the password in the keychain. this is definitely related only to secure access (and i have only verified it with WPA and WPA2 -- i haven't tried WEP). i can automatically connect to an unsecured network without problem.

 

i have been reading posts on the apple discussion boards and although there seem to be a number of different wifi related issues with leopard that many people are confusing with each other, there are definitely people posting about this particular issue who have apple hardware, so i don't think this is necessarily a hackintosh-only problem...

 

if anyone knows a fix that will persist through a reboot, please post!

[chipxsd]

sziggle: I thought that too, Mac users must have the same problems like we do, because it's generally the same chipset with the same microcode, only it has different Device Id, and even that can be changed with some hardware modifications / flashing.

[sziggle]

The new kext method

 

.For 10.5.0, follow the same procedure, but edit the /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AirPortAtheros.kext

 

warning:w leo a lot of computers get this problem -consider this a "work in progress":

 

Unverified solution (please post here if you can confirm)

 

i can confirm that on my rig, editing the stock 10.5 kext to include my hardware string results in a kext that crashes leopard just before the login screen appears.

 

still looking for a way to have leopard and my hardware automatically connect to a WPA secured wifi network without having to manually go through the network diagnostics method that chipxsd posted.

[neikous]

very nice chipxsd - i will test this with WPA when I get home

 

thanks

[oSxFr33k]

Read my Post above on how I solved it. You have to use the leopard kext file modify it then make sure you see the airport then after that put in a 10.4.8 atheros kext file thats modifed with the correct Device ID etc. Only reason I have to use the 10.4.8 kext is because the leopard one crashes the system when I try to connect to the linksys router (My Network).

 

I also had to disable all LAns and built in USB wireless which my board has and then turn off my LAN DHCP to off and once I did that I was able to turn my Airport on. One of the built in lan's still showed up even though I disabled it in the Bios.

 

Here is an interesting reply to one of my posts saying you have to make sure the PCI version of another kext is correctly entered in the atheros kext or at least that is how I take it?

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...st=#entry495757

[Mac R0cketman]

I have a WG311T wifi card when i use

 

10.4.5 IO80211Family.kext - Airport is detected but i cannot turn on

10.4.8 IO80211Family.kext - Airport is detected works fine but is no detected on reboot (then it is detected again only if i first put the 10.4.5 kext then the 10.4.8 kext)

 

My dev id is 168c,5a

 

Please can anyone help me and i was stupid enough not to backup the original kext which i need to test so please can some please help me and PM me the original 10.5 kext

 

Thanks in advance

[oSxFr33k]

I think there is more to this. See this thread. I never new you had to make sure you had all the versions numbers of the string inside the plist match the version number that is referenced in that kext plist to the version number of those kexts files in system profiler.

 

Sounds confusing but have a look at this link:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...rt=#entry495757

 

Read my replies and read my first post.

 

Anyhow try this. Turn DHCP to off on the lan card if it shows up the en0 or whatever then reboot. Then see if you can turn on the Airport card. If you can then go ahead and change the lan back to DHCP and all should work. This is how I did it.

 

It did work with the default leopard kext IO80211Family.kext but when it connected it froze Leopard. SO I swapped it with a 10.4.8 and everything works. Mine is not a 5c its 13.

[consolation]

if anyone knows a fix that will persist through a reboot, please post!

 

I guess you can work around that by recording a script with the automator and adding it to start up items.

[BoBo]

I may have found the solution.

 

I think you need to have

 

10.5 IONetworkingFamily.kext

10.4.8 IO80211Family.kext

 

Many people who install Leopard run Brazilmac postscript which will change IONetworking to a different version.

 

I used the Make Bootable Disk + ToH method so all of my kexts were originals (unless of course ToH replaced them before making the ISO).

 

The Airport Icon Reports that it is off, but I'm posting this right now so...???