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
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it worked…. awesome helpful info…
thanks
The photos were perfect and the instructions were very good, thank you. I even got the screw back out after dropping it inside. Also there were 3 wires numbered 1,2,3. Since the antenna posts were numbered j1,j2 I matched the wires to the posts, leaving #3 unconnected. The airport card is not being found after startup?!!? I will try to take it out and re-insert it in the card slot. Any advice? Thanks.
I had it worked after 30 min of trying different cables
for one installing the card is easy but then you have to deal with antenna cables.
you have 4 cables: 1,2,3 and BT
clearly BT is used for bluetooth.
I got the card working only after inserting the wire 1 on the top and wire 3 in the bottom.
Leave cable number 2 covered with the plastic and pushing back above the mother board
Thanks Siroos, I didn’t see the link to all the comments until after I tried it. I will try what you suggest and report back. Kevin
you have 4 cables: 1,2,3 and BT
clearly BT is used for bluetooth.
I got the card working only after inserting the wire 1 on the top and wire 3 in the bottom.
Leave cable number 2 covered with the plastic and pushing back above the mother board
I switched the 2 & 3 wire. Now the 1 & 3 are hooked up, but the airport card is not being found still. Does it automatically mean the card is bad? Or am I missing some installation procedure? Thanks.
Just curious has anyone tested that FastMac card with the original 2006 Mac Pro? I should have asked before I ordered the card
Called the service people who weren’t any help, (too technical to do by phone) but they set up an appt. and I took it to the Apple store. (fortunate there is one so close) They said there was some file that saves/keeps the info that there is no card installed. It took an OS reinstall to fix it. Writing this through my home network now. Working great!
I’m bummed guys. I was excited to install the card myself using these instructions but before i bought the card I tried to find the wires. Guess what? I can only find the BT wire. Those other ones must be tucked away to far for me to see. I didn’t want to pull too hard on them and break something. Oh well, back to old-school cables.
to Mark; In the second photo there are two arrows indicating the hard drive bay is removed or empty. I removed the single hard drive. I found my wires near the arrow on the right. They looked like they are wrapped together with a bundle of other wires, looking a bit like a car wiring harness. The Apple store told me the wires numbered 1,2, and 3 are the antenna wires and to try different combinations if my network reception is poor. So far I haven’t had to try it.
I read at a different website to use the wires labelled 2 and 3.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=237916
I just tried connecting Wire 2 and Wire 3, leaving wire 1 unconnected and it works very well. I use bootcamp and it plays well in Vista as well
Hello everybody, I just succesfully installed the airport card in my Mac Pro thanks to this article. Thank you very much. I just wanted to add this information:
I was a little nervous about installing the card since I hardly have any experience with these kind of procedures. I had to do it myself because transporting the computer and not having it around for a long time was simply not an option. Installing the card should be done very carefully and with much patience. Using a small set of pliers to put the screws in the holes befor screwing them in worked very well for me. I however did not succeed in connecting the antenna wires to the card after screwing it to the motherboard. So I unscrewed the card again and gently wiggled the antenna wires to the card with my fingers so that I could feel what I was doing. Afterwards I installed the card again and it worked fine. I connected wire 2 to the top connector and wire 3 to the bottom one. WiFi reception is the same as with my MacBook Pro.
Good luck,
Peter
Pretty pissed of right now. I’m at the Apple Store (Tampa, FL) and was about to purchase the WiFI card for my Mac Pro. He was about to take my credit card and the idiot I am asked, “is it hard to install” so he went in the back to ask the genius and he said, “sorry I can’t sell this to you” UGH… Apple expects you to bring your HUGE Mac Pro to a store. What really eats me up is the card here at Apple cost $50. If I buy the card from the link above mentioned link its $90
Does anyone know a cheaper place to buy it?
Thanks,
Colby
Colby,
Just use this USB dongle. Works for me!
http://www.afterthemac.com/
Hi All. Very interesting! I bought mine with the airport card installed some two years ago. Had a “missing airport card” once or twice after I move house, but after yesterday “No Airport card attached” seems to be here to stay. I tried various remedies from the net. Some suggested I zap the PRAM, I did. No luck here. Some suggested, to do the following:1) Close all apps 2) Delete the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ folder 3) Restart. I did. Nothing! I tries de-installing the card as in the above procedure suggested and cleaned the contacts and reinserted the card. The antennae connections on mine is 1 and 3. Still no luck. I can reinstall Snow Leopard, but that’s a lot of effort and the card could be faulty?? Any suggestions, as our Mac agent is a very long way off?
Which wires to use?
My factory installed airport card in my Mac Pro has the wires 1, 3 connected to the card. Wire 3 is located at the bottom (Close to the CPU’s). Wire 1 is located at the top (Close to the Hard Drive bays). I had this same question when installing an airport card into a different Mac Pro so I opened one up which came factory installed to verify the installation.
These things are also a bear to snap onto the airport card. Use good lighting and a magnifier of some kind if possible. Also take extreme care to seat the connector and not damage the inner contacts on the wires, they are easily bendable \ breakable. I also attached the wires to the card BEFORE the card was seated into the motherboard connector, I found it much easier.
Nice one! All working well with as good a signal as my macbook.
Post regarding very tricky job are bang on..you can’t help being all fingers and thumbs!
One tip found: I kept the mac vertical instead of laying it down on a bench and constructed a ‘tray’ of stiff white paper first and place it under the Airport location, the first screw went in fine second dropped onto the tray instead of down into the machine!
I also found the torch tip essential.
Thanks to all!
Cheers
MattG
UK
Works beautifully!!! Many thanks for the excellent instructions. Like others I was happy to find your post after frustrating experience with Apple salesman who offered an USB plug in, which was clumsy and barely could pickup the signal from my wireless router.
One hint. I found that the antena terminals on the card I received from FastMac were marked I, II, III, which took the guesswork out of the process.
Zenon
Zenon, glad you found these instructions and comments helpful and congratulations on the install. Regards
Hi, everybody. Earl’s instructions and photos, and everyone’s feedback, have been a godsend.
Me, Mac Pro purchased late March 2007. 2 x 3 GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon.
Last night I went to the nearest Apple Store (NYC, Broadway/68th or 69th St.) and asked about purchasing the Airport Extreme card. Talked to the manager, who explained (in a very friendly manner) why the only option was to bring the computer into the store, and techs would do a free installation after card purchase. He said that the main concern was customers destroying their computers, which seemed valid. He said it would involve removing a circuit board, but I countered (thanks to this site) that that wouldn’t be necessary, that the antenna wires were just behind it, and I could probably get to them relatively easily. He seemed a little surprised that I might actually know how the installation would go (again, all thanks to this site).
I asked about the other alternative, purchasing the AfterTheMac 802.11n Mac USB Wireless Adapter, and he said that should work, but the store didn’t sell it or any non-Apple wireless adapters, and suggested I try Best Buy, a few blocks down the street.
I went there but was told that the store doesn’t sell anything Apple-compatible.
So back to the Apple Store, where I tracked the manager down again and asked: if I brought the Mac Pro to the store, how long it would take for installation (this was the last of the alternatives, as, like the most of us, I didn’t want to do that). He said around 2 hours, if the store had the card in stock.
He then asked which Mac Pro I had, and without the precise details, we were able to guesstimate which would be the proper card for it. I asked if the store had it in stock, could I purchase it, just to make sure I had it, then, if needed, bring the computer in at some later time.
For some reason — maybe he realized I might know what I was doing (ha!), he said that would be ok, and 10 minutes later, I was out the door with the $49 package. It’s identified as:
MB988Z/A
Airport Extreme Wireless Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro
Came home, re-entered this site and read through every comment, a little concerned that my model number matched none of the others.
I have a tiny flat-screwdriver but found that it could turn the Philip screws, but today I tried to find a tiny Philip screwdriver in a hardware store; no luck. The store, though, did have a small Bent Nose pliers, and the end was smooth, so I bought that.
Home, opened up the beast; after HD removals (I have 3 installed), I tried to remove the fan cover but decided against it. Also laid the Mac Pro on its side, as Earl had done. That proved to be the best approach for me — dropping either the card or the screwdrivers would have a far less dire result that way.
First thing I did was see if the card fit into its slot. It did. Phew. I had the right model. Then took it out and began the process of attaching the antenna wires.
The antennae were extremely easy to access — they were already sticking out from behind the circuit board. And “2″ and “3″ were even more accessible than “1″ and “BT.” So while the vote here seemed split between fastening “2″ and “3″ vs. “1″ and “3,” I went with what was more easily in front of me, “2″ and “3.”
Because “3″ was longer, I went about trying to attach that first. Tried it with the pliers. No dice. But after a number of attempts, I tried it with just my thumb and first finger, and eventually heard that heavenly “click.” One down.
“2″ took a considerably longer time, but after around 15 minutes, the two-finger approach found the “click.” I think it’s the angle that matters — finding that magic 90° mark seems to do the trick.
Then inserted the card into its slot. No problem.
Time for the screws, and here’s where the pliers did their job: instead of trying to place the screws in their holes by hand, I used the pliers to grab each screw and slowly, carefully, position them into their respective holes. Trick is to just place them in their holes while the card is still raised. When both are in, then begin screwing them in, alternating a little at a time to each until they’re both fully fastened.
All done, everything back in place. Time to boot up and see what happens.
As mentioned, I have several drives. One boots with Tiger 4.11, another with Snow Leopard, 6.2.
First booted the Tiger. Selected “About This Mac” and then “AirPort”: “No information found.”
Drat. I’m thinking, maybe it should have been “1″ and “3″ after all.
Then booted the Snow Leopard. “AirPort” lit up. Information galore. Installed!
No idea if it’s the particular card that’s compatible with Snow Leopard but not with Tiger, or if Tiger requires “1″ and “3″ but Snow Leopard is a go with “2″ and “3.”
But it works, at least in SL, and the next step will be to set up activation w/i Systems Preferences. Haven’t done that yet; what was more important was to have the card recognized.
None of this could have happened without the net experiences of everyone here, so drinks are on me when we all get together for the big Airport Extreme Card Installation Reunion next year.
Thanks to all!
Don
Very helpful, many thanks. Installation wasn’t as hard as I expected after talking to various ‘experts’. My Mac Pro (early 2008) had 3 antenna, plus bluetooth, which was a bit odd, but I connected numbers 1 and 3 and it seems to work fine. The satisfaction when the second antenna pops down onto it’s mount . . .
thanx a million .. my wifi indicator doesnt show any activity though . hmmm i ll check after having installed the n updater
The instructions and comments here are great and I figured I wouldn’t have any trouble. Except…When I started to install I discovered I had no screws. I had gotten a card cheap on eBay. Does anyone know what screws are needed and where I might obtain them?
Thanks.
Gary,
I had the same problem. Ordered the card from ebay, but no screws. Not sure if you have an old laptop or other computer around but these small screws are used a lot for various computer parts. I used the casing screws from an old laptop to do the trick. Hope that helps.
Success! Thanks to the suggestion of JRC I purchased some laptop screws and they did the trick. It *is* fiddly to get everything in place.
In my case (the original Intel MacPro model) the only label on the antenna wires was a 3 with two wires coming out of it. I attached the shorter to the upper post and the longer to the lower and I’m getting great reception. I did attach the longer to the card before inserting it in the slot as recommended by Don Giller. I tried the same with the shorter and eventually gave up, attaching it after seating the card. As Don said, the 90° mark is critical. I happened to have on hand a good pair of forceps with an angled grip. I held the wire with it and pushed the clip down with a chopstick. I don’t think I could have done it without the forceps. My hands are too big.
Thanks to everyone for the info and for giving me the confidence to try it. I’ve got extra screws, having had to buy 15. If anyone needs some, email me and I’ll be glad to send a couple.
Gary
getting my card in the mail tomarrow and sweating thinking about this installation lol, dont wanna mess anything up or drop any screws
oh yeah I ordered a new “Apple Airport Wireless Card for Mac Pro – Network adapter – 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n (draft)” is this card ok to use with the 2009 mac pro? you can see the card here http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Wireless-Card-Mac-Pro/dp/B0012YYITW/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1 I sort of blindly purchased it hoping it was the right one. Ill be getting it tomorrow.
oh damn, i just received the mac pro airport extreme upgrade kit and i read that if i ever want to utilize my warranty in the future i need to have the receipt that states the card was installed by an apple certified technician. looks like ill be bringing it to the apple store after all.
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