Tag Archives: WiFi: no hardware installed

fixed : 10.7.5 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280

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I must admit the title might be a little misleading, since I have not had anyone claiming problems like the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error with the Atheros AR9280 AirPort-card and MacOSX 10.7.5 yet, but still…

…that is probably due to the fact that the MacOSX 10.7.5 updater doesn’t overwrite the IO80211Family.kext system extension. So if you are upgrading from an earlier version of MacOSX 10.7 “Lion” which you had already ‘patched’ for use with the Atheros AR9280, you won’t get any (new) issues…

Anyway…

If you do get the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error after upgrading to MacOSX 10.7.5 (e.g. from MacOSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” or earlier), you can just do the same ‘patch’ of reinstalling the old IO80211Family.kext system extension. Instructions for doing so can be found here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/1074_refuses_to_see_atheros_ar9280/

Enjoy !

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fixed : 10.8 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280 (same error as in 10.7, including alternative solution !)

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Question :

After installing OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” on my Mac which has an Atheros AR9280 AirPort-card, I am not able to get any WiFi-connection, and when I click on the (piece-of-pie shaped) AirPort-icon in the upper menubar in the Finder, it indicates “WiFi: no hardware installed”. How can I fix this ?

Answer :

—- updated answer ——

if you get a “WiFi: No Hardware Installed”-error, get the KextUtility for OSX 10.8 and install the Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3

—– original answer ——

Thanks to Thomas and Josh, I can now present to you the solution to the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error in OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” :

if you encounter the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error after installing OSX 10.8, do this :

– go to [your hard disk] –> System –> Library –> Extentions –> IO80211Family.kext

– CTRL-click on the IO80211Family.kext and select “Show Package Contents” from the pulldown menu

– then go to Contents –> Info.plist and drag the Info.plist to the Desktop

– CTRL-click on the Info.plist (the one on the Desktop) and select “Open with –> TextEdit” from the pulldown menu

– then, inside the Info.plist file, find and delete these line (found near the end) :

<key>OSBundleRequired</key>
<string>Network-Root</string>

– then select File –> Save to save the edited version of the Info.plist on your Desktop

– then, drag the Info.plist from the Desktop back onto the original version that is in System –> Library –> Extentions –> IO80211Family.kext –> Contents

– in the warning window that pops up, click on “Authenticate” and type your administrator login and password

…that should be it !

now your AR9280 should be recognized by OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion”, and the “WiFi: no hardware installed”-error should be gone

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FYI :

the original solution by Thomas (based on the directions from Josh) can be found here :

https://macmanusnl.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/10-7-3-refuses-to-see-the-atheros-ar9280/#comment-446

fixed : 10.7.4 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280 (same error as in 10.7.3)

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Question :

After the update to OSX 10.7.4 the “WiFi : no hardware installed” error is back on my Mac that has an Atheros AR9280 AirPort card, how can I fix this ?

Answer :

The solution is the same as in OSX 10.7.3 :

(Re)install the “Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3″ you can download here :

https://macmanusnl.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3-zip.doc

Note : after downloading the file “edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3-zip.doc” you need to rename the file to “edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3.zip” and double-click it to unzip. To install follow the instructions as lined out in the “CAUTION ! (Read Me).txt”-file

The latest version of the .kext-installer that’s needed can be downloaded here :

http://cvad-mac.narod2.ru/Kext_Utility

or here :

KextUtility for OSX 10.8

TIP : your Atheros AR9280 AirPort card and AirPort network are automatically detected when you restart in Rescue Mode… so restart with the ‘CMD’ + ‘R’ keys pressed (‘Rescue Mode’), then use Safari (listed as ‘online help’) to go online and download both files from the links above. If you get a warning that there’s no space in your download folder (because you’re in Rescue Mode), just go into Safari’s preferences and change the download folder to a USB-stick or external hard drive. Now do a normal restart and install the old .kext file and restart afterwards. Done.

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————————–

Some background info for those interested :

What is installed by the 10.7.4 installer :

IO80211Family.kext (v4.1.2)
– including these Plugins :
AirPortAtheros21.kext (v4.3.1)
AirPortAtheros40.kext (v5.0.4)
AirPortBrcm4331.kext (v5.3)
AppleAirPortBrcm43224.kext (v5.0.1)
IO80211NetBooter.kext (v4.2)

…which gives the “no hardware installed” error yet again on systems with the Atheros AR9280 AirPort-card…

What I’ve tried and didn’t work :

1- normal restart with ‘reopen windows when logging back in’ unchecked ; still the same ‘no hardware installed’ error

2- repair disk permissions, followed by a full shut down with ‘reopen windows when logging back in’ unchecked, followed by a normal startup ; still the same ‘no hardware installed’ error

3- installing the OSX 10.7.4 Client Combo Update (from Apple.com) ; still the same ‘no hardware installed’ error

fixed : 10.7.3 refusing to see the Atheros AR9280

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UPDATE [2] :

Easiest fix so far (thanks to delifruit on InsanelyMac.com) :

(Re)installing the “Edited Atheros Kext for Lion*3″ you can download here :

https://macmanusnl.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3-zip.doc

Note : after downloading the file “edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3-zip.doc” you need to rename the file to “edited-atheros-kext-for-lion3.zip” and double-click it to unzip, after that download the Kext Utility using the “kext-installer for Lion (Kext Utility by cVad)”-link included inside the unzipped folder ; to install follow the instructions as lined out in the “CAUTION ! (Read Me).txt”-file

the latest Kext Utility can be downloaded here :

KextUtility for OSX 10.8

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——————————

UPDATE [1] :

Apple seems to have acknowledged this problem, and has withdrawn the basic 10.7.3 update ; everyone will get the 10.7.3 combo update now :

http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/04/apple.fixes.lion.upgrade.issue.with.combo.switch/

And there’s a special fix for iMacs that have WiFi-problems since the OSX 10.7.3 update (but… it’s a iMac-only fix…) :

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1501

I hope this fixes thing for all of us 😉

——————- ORIGINAL POST BELOW —————————-

The Atheros AR9280 was seen as a genuine AirPort-card by OSX…

…in 10.6 Snow Leopard

…and in 10.7 Lion it could even do AirDrop…

…until 10.7.3 that is…

10.7.3 for some mysterious reason lost it’s ability to detect the AR9280 at all…

…the AirPort-icon in the menubar is blank, and it lists “WiFi: no hardware installed”…

Oddly, when restarting the Mac mini in ‘Rescue mode’ (pressing Apple(CMD)+R during startup), AirPort instantly connects using that same AR9280 card… ???!!

…but that doesn’t last if you start up 10.7.3 the normal way.

So… after a lot of fiddling around I found the solution is quite easy :

Start by downloading the special .kext-installer here :

http://cvad-mac.narod2.ru/Kext_Utility

1- then… reinstall the IO8211Family.kext from 10.6 Snow Leopard and reboot (you can get that .kext-file from the Snow Leopard installer DVDrom)

if you only need WiFi-connection, that will do, but…

…if you also want to use AirDrop, you need to do step 2 also :

2- only after doing step 1, you will be able to successfully reinstall the IO8211Family.kext from 10.7.2 (the previous version of Lion ; the .kext-file you can get from your TimeMachine backup)

It is mind boggling why this works because :

– directly reinstalling the IO8211Family.kext from 10.7.2 onto the version in 10.7.3 doesn’t work – for some reason you need to downgrade to the Snow Leopard version first…

– the IO8211.kext from 10.7.3 appears to be exactly the same as the one from 10.7.2 ; they have the same version number (4.1.2) and have been created and modified at the exact same date…

…only thing is : this doesn’t seem to be an as stable solution as sticking with 10.7.2