Help finding 'upgraded' Airport card for MacBook Air Late 2008

[Elphaba]

Hi.

So I dropped my MacBook Pro down the stairs (with my 12.9" iPad Pro), and I don't have the money to replace them right now.

I need to continue my iOS App development, so I tried to pull out my old Late 2008 MacBook Air, but I can't install Xcode 9 et al on it.

I found this site:

http://dosdude1.com/sierrapatch.html

Which allows me to get it on it (yay!) however it disables my WiFi Card.

I have the dongle, but it's a pain in the ***, so I read on this amazing guy's site that it's possible to replace the A1237 and A1304 WiFi Card with a different Airport card that is supported by High Sierra and fits in the Late 2008 MacBook Air.

I already consulted iFixIt - nothing there of any help.

I've spent the last 90 mins looking, googling and trying to find which card this could be - could someone please help?

Thanks!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If it's a different card, it must likely be one of the newer MBA's. So go through iFixIt or any other site that has tear downs of the MBA's and see what WiFi part they have available for it and that might be your answer.

 

[pm-r]

I've spent the last 90 mins looking, googling and trying to find which card this could be - could someone please help?

Thanks!

Why not try and use one of the USB Wi-Fi dongles instead of Apples airport card. They may even work faster and better.

Or is that what you said you already have, and if so, how new is it???




- Patrick
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[Slydude]

Why not try and use one of the USB Wi-Fi dongles instead of Apples airport card. They may even work faster and better.

Or is that what you said you already have, and if so, how new is it???


- Patrick
======

In my experience many of those dongles include siftware that doesn't laways keep up with OS updates. The last one I had did not have drivers for whatever OS I was running at the time. I had to track down driver software not deom the manufacturer's site but from the chip manufacturer.

 

[pm-r]

In my experience many of those dongles include siftware that doesn't laways keep up with OS updates.

That's why it's best to do a bit of research and maybe some like this one could be helpful — and work. :Blushing:

Here's a Decent Wi-Fi Adapter That'll Solve Your Mac's Busted Wi-Fi Problem
https://lifehacker.com/heres-a-decent-wi-fi-adapter-thatll-solve-your-macs-bus-1794426956

It might be reliable and not just some money making ad as some can be.

Maybe the OP could checkout some of the used Mac parts places such as:
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/xcart1/_search.php?is_hc=Y&mode=search&q=Airport+card
or ifixit.com

or many others…


PS: Have the connections to the existing Airport Card been checked for proper contact after such an extreme drop??

And yes they can be tight and need a lot of force to make a proper connection, especially with the antenna connection as I recall.





- Patrick
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