Installing an Apple Airport Extreme Card in a Intel Mac Pro is not considered by Apple to be a user installed option so you’ll find little or no instructional help from Apple.
It’s not a job for the timid. You’ll need a steady hand and patience. It will also help if you have small fingers. It’s difficult mainly due to the cramped space and small parts involved.
I purchased my intel Mac Pro from Apple as a refurbished unit and it didn’t have the 802.11b/g/n Airport Extreme Card installed as a factory option. I wanted this capability, so I purchased a compatible Airport Extreme (802.11n) from FastMac and did it myself.
Disclaimer: Here’s the procedures I followed. Use them at your own risk. It worked for me but I’m not responsible for any damages you might do to your computer.
Instructions for Installing a Airport Extreme Card in an Intel Mac Pro:
1. Lift the rear latch and remove the side panel of the Mac Pro.
2. Place the Mac Pro on it’s side on a desk or workbench where you can have easy access. Note the location where the new Airport Extreme Card will be installed.
3. Remove hard drive bays 1 & 2 to give yourself some extra room. The latch in the back that was used to remove the side panel will have to remained released to remove the drives bays. The drive bays pull straight out once this latch is released.
4. Note the mounting points for the Airport Extreme Card. The card slot is spring loaded so when you put the card in the rear of the card will be elevated above the two rear mounting tabs.
5. Gently push the Airport Extreme Card into the mounting slot leaving the rear slightly elevated.
6. Carefully press down the rear of the card and insert the two mounting screws. A small magnetic screwdriver may be of help here. Locate the two WiFi antenna leads stored in the area above the cards mounting location and attached them to the two antenna post on the card. There will also be a bluetooth antenna lead in that same area. Inserting these screws and attaching the antenna leads is the most difficult part of this install due to the limited space and the small size of the parts involved. Be patience and careful not to force things.
7. Slide the two hard drive bays back into their correct slots. Double check everything and remount the side panel.
8. Reconnect the Mac Pro to the keyboard, mouse, monitor and network and boot. On the Apple Menu check “About this Mac” to confirm that the Airport Extreme card is being recognized.
9. Go to System Preferenced/Network and configure your new Airport Extreme card.
10. Download and install the Airport Extreme Enabler from Apple in order to use the card in 802.11n mode. Reboot you Mac Pro.
11. You’re finished! Enjoy your new WiFi capabilities.
Technorati Tags: airport, airport+extreme, mac, mac+pro, apple, install
{ 134 comments… read them below or add one }
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Its certainly not “easy” to fit these cards, as some people in the Apple store will tell you, but it IS possible. I’ve just done it successfully, but it was a couple of frustrated hours work.
My advice – try and READ MOST OF THIS TREAD before starting – and a lot of people have helped with constructive responses. It helps tremendously.
Here are my tips… I fitted it on a 2×2.66 GHZ Dual Intel
SCREWING DOWN THE CARD
The card screws are TINY, and its easy to lose them behind the board. If you don’t have a magnetic screwdriver put a slip of paper at the top of the Motherboard to stop them slipping behind. Put the first one through the hole in the card first, this might help to position it in place and then screw it in.
LOCATING THE LEADS
For me they were directly above where the card is fitted, but they are quite difficult to find because they are black leads and are TAPED down – find the small black tape first. Obviously be careful not to pull anything too hard because the drive leads are here too. When you find and pull this tape, the leads will pop out, its easier than it looks at first.
CONNECTING THE LEADS
I found that for me it was easier to screw the card in FIRST and then attach the WiFi antenna leads. This was because the leads are very short. For me it worked using leads 2 and 3, so it probably doesn’t matter which leads you connect.
Connection can be done by carefully placing the lead connectors (small circular receivers in the side of the wire ends) over the circular areas on the card first. Move them until they make contact with the receiving area, and then try and hold them in place. You do need small hands for this. Then using a screwdriver CAREFULLY apply pressure, keeping the screwdriver at 90 degrees, making sure it doesn’t slip. They will click into place with a slight snap.
This thread was very helpful.
It took me less just three minutes to install and get it working.
My solution:
1). Remove front fan housing. Two screws need to be removed. One is obvious on the board, the second is near the base of the machine over the cpu’s. Its literally just under the lip of the plastic of the the fan housing. This is the key to an effortless and easy install.
2). Clip antenna cables to airport card.
3). Place card in slot and screw down.
4). Replace fan housing with two screws.
5). Connect back up cables and boot up! Bingo…
Cheers,
Colin
This allowed room to use both hands
Many thanks. The little connectors are hard work, but a small coin on my thumb seems to have done the job.
Cheers for the thread! Although at the moment its unfortunatly not helping!
no matter which configuration I have the leads I have no airport????
Mine is a Mac Pro 2.8 early 2008 Quad core xeon.
the card has three antenna and i think ive tried every which way (which took a while) and still nothing. The model of my card is
Apple AirPort AR5BXB72 802.11N 300Mbps Mini PCI-E
which has a
Atheros 8th generation XSPAN* 300Mbps chipset
(whatever that is)
really dont wanna take it to apple……its miles
any ideas welcome!!!
to add to this when i try and run the network enabler I get an error message which says ‘you dont have sufficient hardware to run airport enabler’ !!!
What?!?!!?
Rang apple…..they cant help!
What?!?!?! again
@pt: The errors you’re getting have nothing to do with the antenna cables. Even if you left them all disconnected you should not get an error, just a very weak Wifi signal.
It sounds like a card problem. Is your card the correct one for your model of Mac Pro? Do you know the card is good (where did you get it)? Is the card fully seated in the card connector?
If you answer yes to those questions then…
Have you ran software update with the card installed to see if there are any Apple s/w patches that may be required?
Bought a card on Ebay and installed the card … the best thing i tried was ( for connecting the wires 1&2 (3 = BT ) to align the connector on the base ( where it goes in ) and then lift the side where the cable is and then press gently down ( no force ). if the tilted side goes first it grabs the rest so to speak.
i have a 2007 macpro btw!
This worked for me like a charm since i had to (dis)connect acouple of times because i wasnt sure in what order to place the connectors.
i tried to install the Nsoftware but no luck, something about; This volume does not meet the requirements for this update. beats me … well figure it later.
CHEERS 4 this thread ~ GREAT help.
follow up;
the number 2 wire goes ontop number 1 in my case, it gave me better signal.
but was suprised ( as mentioned earlier in this topic ) that my macbook saw way much more WIFI spots.
@Daniel: Thanks for the info about your installation.
Thanks to you, I’ve just managed to install the card without breaking my girlfreind’s MAC.
GREAT!!!
Just popped my card in, thanks for the how-to… my only tip would be to use a set of needle nose pliers to position the contacts in place and a screw driver, just for an accurate pressure point, to lock in to place… It took me about 10 minutes. Thanks again!
I just received my card ordered from Amazon, but it didn’t come with any antennas. Any advice? Are those easy to get hold of or should I return?
@BH: The cards that install into Mac Pros don’t come with antennas. The antenna wires are built into the Mac Pros, usually stuffed along the edge of the motherboard. Please read all the previous comments.
I have a card from my G5 that I was hoping to use in my new Mac Pro. Guess it’s only 8.02/11 g and not “n” – does that mean it’s not going to work???
Hi Earl,
Thank you for this handy install guide. I bought my mac early 2009 with an airport option but my dealer didn’t install it, he just suplied the card seperate (which I didn’t notice before I came home).
Now I tried to find install information on the card, but no luck on the apple site. After some googling I found this and installing it was a snap, works like a charm now. So thanks again!
@Simon Glas:
When I first installed an airport card in my Mac Pro I couldn’t fine online help so I created this guide from my experience to help others.
Glad it was helpful for you!
Thanks for all the information. With your good advice the installation was a breeze. 10 minutes to install and get online.
Thanks! With your instructions, I completed this install in about two minutes!
Thanks Earl, your a bloody hero!!:)
Worked first time, although I had to use antennas 1 and 3 as 2 didn’t want to attach itself? But hey-ho it works anyway! Although proper fiddly!
thanks for the info…
Fantastic information. I followed the advice given with great success. However, it took me about half an hour to complete the job. Firstly, the antenna wires were quite hard to find – they are indeed tucked along the top of the motherboard and were taped down with black tape, so look for the tape. A pair of tweezers will help a lot. Secondly, I bought my airport card from a supplier on Ebay and unfortunately it didn’t come with the mounting screws. I had to use a couple of very small screws from an old Sony digital camera. If you are buying a card from Ebay, be sure to check that it comes with the screws. I had a hard time trying to find screws in various electrical goods that were small enough for mounting the card. Good Luck!
@Phil, Coyote, Squibn, Mark V, Dan:
I’m glad you found this information to be helpful. Thanks for your comments and the information concerning you experiences.
You guys are great! Thanks for the good words.
Just installed mine. A couple of things that made it easier for me: Put something sticky on small Phillips screwdriver to hold screw in place (I used a glue stick), then lower screw into the computer and screw the card on place. Fish around for the antenna wires gently with tweezers. Remove the black tape. On my Mac Pro, there was only one way to attach the antenna wires; the short one would only reach the top terminal, and the longer one reached the bottom. I used tweezers to orient the antenna wire connector into the right place, then pushed the connector home using the small screwdriver.
I just installed mine. Thanks for the help. I bought a new Mac Pro at the Apple store and they just handed me the box and said nothing of being installed by the store or whatever. When I opened the package at home and read the disclaimer I was quite unnerved. But a quick internet search got me this site and the helpful posts. Took me about 10 minutes and I was up and running. Thanks!
Bought a card on amazon, was super excited to install with your guide, turns out i didnt get the right card! Could someone please send me a link for the exact card used in the guide?…
that would help me out soooo much!
For anybody that has three wires, I just found out from apple that wires 1 and 3 should be used and 2 should be tucked away. The bluetooth adapter has its own wire BT.
Thanks for the tips. Just got a card from apple to install. Your posts have answered for me why there is no antenna, I have checked I have the install screws and now am well armed to install. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your sharing of info about this.
Worked Perfectly. I removed the front fan (thx Colin) and it made it a lot easier. Mine had three wires and I used 1 and 3 as posted by Jack. Took me about 10 minutes total. Thanks for the post Earl.
I have now installed the new Airport card in 266Mhz Dual MacPro, all working well. (even with my 1999 Airport base station!). Hardest part (as described in posts above) was getting the antenna wire clips attached to the card. To all who intend to do this, and I reccomend it as a self install, read all of these posts before starting!
Thanks for the information Earl. Much appreciated.
Awesome. Thanks for the guide and thanks to all for the helpful comments. It took me a looong time because of those pesky connectors. in the end, a small screwdriver helped push them in (thanks to C Mathisen). Finally…that satisfying ‘click’.
If you don’t have a magnetic screwdriver, just rub one on a strong refrigerator magnet. worked out great!
Good luck!
I found this article and follow up very useful to install my card. I agree with everything others have contributed. Fitting the card was fairly easy, but attaching the cables was another matter. Still it worked first time. I used cables 1 &3.
Regards john
Earl,
This was an AMAZING article and got me through the ENTIRE process.
Very well written and very appreciated!
Much Respect,
Robert (London, UK)
Thanks everyone for your feedback and comments here–much appreciated. I’m glad this post/article and comments have been of help to people!
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