01-27-2010, 05:17 PM

I have a PCI expansion chassis that connects through my Expresscard 34 slot, and it's worked without any issues with Macbook Pro 1st and 4th generation notebooks. But it will not work on a Macbook Pro 5.1.

I was about to assume an Expresscard hardware malfunction. But then the manufacturer of the chassis called to say that their product is compatible with all 1st-thru-4th generation Macbook Pros, and with all 5th generation Macbook Pros versions 5.2 and later. But it is not compatible with the 5.1. They gave no explanation as to why - just that they simply don't support it.

Can anyone tell me what is so unique about this one particular build of Mac that it would have a problem interfacing with this same hardware (that works on every other Mac?) And if so, can you think of any kind of repair or workaround that might be plausible, other than buying a whole new Mac?

For time-tested hardware to not work with one particular build (not even a particular generation, but a particular build) seems less like a compatibility issue and more like an out-and-out hardware malfunction. Is the 5.1 just a bad model?

Hoping to geet some feedback, before I commit to buying a whole new Macbook Pro.

05-22-2012, 09:31 PM

I know this post is old, but I just ran into a similar problem and I wanted to see if you were able to resolve the issue.

Is this something Apple did to the Macbook pro 5.1 model that they don't want to admit?

Thanks!
-Ryan