Adding Bluetooth and Wireless to a Mac Pro
From Mac Guides
The Bluetooth and Airport Extreme modules for the Mac Pro are available from Apple stores and although they are supposed to be store fit only, they have also been allowed to sell them as user installable modules.
Contents |
Step One
Unplug the computer. Unlock the case door using the latch at the rear of the computer. Note that this workaround does not apply for early 2009/2010 Mac Pro.
Step Two
Remove the case door.
Step Three
Locate the Bluetooth and AE location under the second SATA drive bay.
Step Four
Remove the drive bays and free the four antenna cables labelled 1, 2, 3 and BT from behind the logic board / behind the optical drive bays.
Step Five
Connect the antenna as follows:
- Antenna '1' connects to the bluetooth module (if present)
- Antenna '2' connects to the upper airport module (if present)
- Antenna '3' connects to the lower airport module (if present)
- Antenna 'BT' remains unconnected
If the antenna are connected incorrectly then the performance of Bluetooth and Wireless will be negatively affected.
WARNING: A lot of Mac Pros were shipped with the antennas incorrectly connected which led to many users to have Bluetooth connection problems. They were incorrectly connected as follows:
- Antenna '1' connects to the top connector of the AirPort module
- Antenna '2' remains unconnected
- Antenna '3' connects to the bottom connector of the AirPort module
- Antenna 'BT' connects to the Bluetooth module
While the wireless signal worked fine this way, Bluetooth performance was seriously hampered.
Step Six
To finish, tidy up the wires, re-insert the SATA drives, put the case door back on and lock the case.





