2008 Mac Pro Bluetooth

There would be three main approaches.

1. A USB adapter
2. A PCIe card
3. A card compatible with Apple's original slot, obviously this includes Apple's own genuine card

I will not discuss options 1 and 2 as they have been covered adequately here already but there is a company specialising in selling 100% compatible cards for Apple's slot. They are in fact the same card as Apple used either in the Mac Pro or more likely in slightly newer iMac models.

The benefit of this approach is that being a genuine Apple card it is fully compatible with Apple's operating system using the built-in Apple drivers. It also means it can add full support for newer Apple networking features like Continuity, Handoff etc.

I fitted one to my Mac Pro 2010 model.

It is a very fiddly job due to the small delicate internal cables involved and having to remove temporarily the CPU tray but can be done.

See - https://www.osxwifi.com/product/mac-pro-2008-31-2007-21-2006-11-apple-broadcom-bcm94360cd-802-11-a-b-g-n-ac-with-bluetooth-4-0/

The above seems to be the correct model for your Mac.

From a different website the following gives you a better idea of the process of fitting it but I would presume OSXWifi would give you their own instructions. (I bought my own from a different source.)

See - http://www.macvidcards.com/wifi-and-bluetooth-card-installation-in-a-31.html

I think I missed the boat on this one. I have replaced the wifi/bluetooth card in a Mac Pro before, and it is do-able, and it did work, however it's a right pain in the........ due to various things..... teeny screws that tend to get lost (magnetic screwdriver helps with that, maybe take out your hard drives first) and antenna connectors that are also tiny and somewhat fragile, requiring a lot of fiddling around to get them to stay connected to the posts on the card...I've heard that if you don't get good results for bluetooth, you can try swapping which antenna wire is connected to the bluetooth post on the card. I haven't seen any PCI-E cards available, about the only one I saw was from osxwifi. they also offer an external bluetooth antenna, which although it takes up one slot at the back of your mac Pro, doesn't take up a PCI slot at all.

anyways, that's my 2 cents on that one

good luck

john b

https://www.amazon.com/Airport-Extreme-BCM94322MC-Wireless-MB988Z/dp/B010JP3HFK/

This is an improvement over the original Mac Pro 2008 card. It has a connector for the second Bluetooth antenna cable, which isn't used by the original card. It also runs up to Mojave if you update the Mac Pro firmware and graphics card.

Hello,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Apple-Bluetooth-Module-A1115-For-Mac-Pro-2006-08-iMac-2006-07-MA687ZM-A-/283735573200?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10#viTabs_0

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/Mac_Pro/Bluetooth_MacPro_install/Bluetooth_MacPro_install.html

Might try someting like this...

https://www.newegg.com/asus-usb-bt400-usb-2-0/p/N82E16833320166?item=N82E16833320166&source=region&nm_mc=knc-googleadwords-pc&cm_mmc=knc-googleadwords-pc-_-pla-_-network+-+bluetooth-_-N82E16833320166&gclsrc=ds

[Link Edited by Moderator]

I haven't checked but it'd be such a waste of PCI to use it for the incredibly slow BT! :)

Only found Mini PCIe card.

https://www.thetechlounge.com/best-bluetooth-adapter/

You're welcome, great news, & good luck! :)

Great to hear, thanks.

We're far more limited on the Mac end, even moreso for the earlier cMPs...

For the 2008s...

https://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/mac-pro-8-core-early-2008-3.0-ghz/hard-drive-controller

For the 2010s...

https://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/mac-pro-12-core-mid-2010-2.93-ghz/hard-drive-controller

https://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/mac-pro-12-core-mid-2010-2.93-ghz/video

Thanks Malcolm! :)