Penryn MBP: 802.11 card not working

Question

Level 1

5 points

Penryn MBP: 802.11 card not working

Hello everyone,
I have recently installed Windows with Boot Camp on my new Penryn MacBook Pro, and have not found any way to get my Broadcom 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter to work (the Airport Card). I have tried with three different versions of Windows.

_Windows XP Pro SP2_: Installs fine, until I launch the Apple Software Update for Windows which is supposed to install all the necessary drivers. When the installer reaches the point marked "Broadcom wireless" (just after "Atheros wireless"), Windows crashes with a blue screen of death that is only displayed for a few seconds before automatically rebooting. After this, each time Windows tries to boot, it crashes before finishing. The OS is corrupted. Only "Safe Mode" works but provides no help.

_Windows XP Pro SP3_: same as above.

_Windows Vista Ultimate SP1_: Works fine, the Apple Software Update installs all the drivers. Bluetooth, Ethernet etc are operational, except the Wireless card. The device manager interface sees a Broadcom Network Adapter but says it cannot work with error type 10 (Device cannot start). It also informs the user that the driver being used was published in 2006 and that the vendor is Microsoft. Using Vista's function to auto update the drivers only tells the user that the drivers seam up to date. Searching Broadcom's website one can find no apparent drivers to download.

I have tried with several different Leopard Install disks and also by downloading the Apple Software Update software in a zipped package.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro Penryn, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 15 inch

Posted on Mar 25, 2008 12:44 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 26, 2008 1:09 AM in response to xApple

Not a helpful reply, just wanted to say I am experiencing the exact same thing. Disabling it through safe mode was the only way I could get back into Windows.

In addition to this problem I also cannot seem to get my audio working in Windows. I supposed some updated Windows drivers are going to be needed.

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Answer 2

xApple Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2008 5:35 AM in response to zerosandohs

Ah so apparently the Penryn MBPs have a different Airport Card type...
What OS were you using ? I suppose Windows XP SP2 ? You are telling me there is a way to "uncorrupt" the Windows installation by deactivating the wireless card in safe mode ? What do you do exactly ?

So in the end you only have half the Apple drivers installed, right ? Since the installer crashes at the "Broadcom wireless" part... Do you think there is a way to get all the drivers separately and only install the "good" ones ? Maybe one could "unbundle" the Apple Software Update package...

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Answer 3

Mar 26, 2008 8:07 AM in response to xApple

Just want to chime in with a me too! I am in the same boat on my new MBP with only half the drivers installed (Fortunately ethernet works!). I am hunting for Broadcom drivers that will work. I have also had no luck trying to run the other installers individually. I'll let you know if I figure something out.

Geoff

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Answer 4

Mar 26, 2008 9:46 AM in response to xApple

This forum is for troubleshooting Apple Software Update for Windows, a software package for Windows designed to update Apple products that run on Windows.

Questions regarding using Windows on a Mac through Boot Camp are probably better asked in the Boot Camp forums:

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=237

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Answer 5

Mar 26, 2008 11:13 AM in response to xApple

Using WinXP SP2. After going through a few installations and realizing what the problem was, I did this:

Booted into OSX. Using VMWare Fusion I booted windows in OSX through a VM and then installed the bootcamp drivers. Since VMWare changes all of the windows devices to run through emulation mode, the broadcom adapter didn't crash the bootcamp driver installation. Then once all of the bootcamp drivers were installed I reboot the machine into Windows using Safe Mode, disabled the broadcom wi-fi adapter in Device Manager and then booted into Windows normally.

No more blue screens. I am having some other issues though like I mentioned (no audio and the trackpad only basically works... no right click ability. My keyboard shortcuts for audio and backlighting don't work in Windows either).

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Answer 6

Mar 26, 2008 7:19 PM in response to xApple

I managed to figure out what the problem was for me. I had taken my MBP home and had left the installation discs at work. So after I installed Windows at home I used my retail Leopard disc that I bought for my iMac to load the bootcamp drivers.

When I got to work today I used the "MacBook Pro Mac OS X Install Disc 1" disc and the bootcamp drivers loaded correctly. I noticed that there was a build number on the bootcamp installer splash screen so Apple must update the bootcamp drivers with every release of new machine with updated hardware.

This means that you have to match the bootcamp driver disc to the machine.

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Answer 7

Mar 27, 2008 3:11 PM in response to otterfish

Otterfish is right! I was using an older Leopard DVD but I tried to install the bootcamp drivers with my disc that came with the hardware and now everything is working perfectly. Thanks for figuring that one out Otterfish!

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Answer 8

Mar 27, 2008 11:05 PM in response to xApple

Hi everyone,

I've got a slight variation of the problem discussed here.
The wireless adapter on my MBP (in XP under boot camp) picks up my Wireless connection at the office and home, but sometimes just dies unexpectedly. I haven't noticed a pattern, the only thing i can figure out is it does that when there is data going through.
I died twice yesterday - once copying large file across the network (3gig) and second time downloading FireFox update from their site.
Also XP (again under boot camp) just hangs when I try to adjust any of the Advanced wireless settings for the card - e.g. change the preferred band to use like 802.11g or 802.11a.

I have looked though various forums but can't find similar problems.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
PS. My MBP is one of the newer generation with multi touch track-pad.

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Answer 9

Apr 3, 2008 1:55 PM in response to xApple

Had the same problem with a Penryn MBP on loan from Apple for evaluation... it was shipped with a retail Leopard disc. Apple overnighted a set of machine-specific(gray) install discs and all now seems to be OK. I did have to remove the Broadcom and Marvell drivers using Add/Remove programs and rerun the Boot Camp installer before I got wireless and wired network connectivity.

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Answer 10

avocade

Level 1

4 points

Apr 28, 2008 6:19 AM in response to zerosandohs

You mean the driver's for the Penryn is on a Windows-partition on the Install DVD 1 itself?

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Answer 11

May 1, 2008 8:27 AM in response to otterfish

Amen. I have an IMac and a new MBP and made the mistake of using the wrong install disk. I of course was frustrated because many drivers were not working. Thanks for the solution. Now all is well: trackpad works, audio works, Wifi works.

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