[HELP!] 5Ghz Wifi Driver for Bootcamp Windows 7 (Macbook Pro 13" 2015)

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Level 1

8 points

[HELP!] 5Ghz Wifi Driver for Bootcamp Windows 7 (Macbook Pro 13" 2015)

Hi,

I am running Windows 7 64 bit on my Macbook Pro 13'' 2015 and have experimented with numerous drivers but am unable to find one that enables me to connect to the 5Ghz band on my router.

The 2.4Ghz connection is consistent and quite stable except for certain areas of the house where a 5Ghz signal would be optimal. I have a fibre optics plan and have been extremely frustrated by this driver induced bottleneck. When connecting over WiFi, my other mobile devices easily reach speeds of just over 300 mb/s whereas my Macbook does not even reach 100 mb/s in the same locations.

Please can somebody point me to the correct driver so I can enjoy the speeds I've paid for. I've read every guide I could find and have tried uninstalling and reinstalling sooo many Broadcom drivers to no avail (though this DID cause the name of the device in device manager to change to "...Full Dongle Adapter #8" at one point though now it's "#3"??; might need some help with cleaning up the registry as reinstalling does not fix this naming convention).

None of the drivers I've tried have the supposed "5Ghz preferred band" setting in advanced properties. I've tweaked and tweaked and tweaked settings of several different Broadcom drivers but have experienced no change other than at one point not being able to see my network at all!

See attached screenshot (below) for info. Current driver I'm running is "1.400.87.0 (26 Nov 2015)".

I'm at the end of my tether with this issue and will be supremely grateful to anyone who can help.

Many thanks.

---

Additional info:

Chip is BCM94360CS (Broadcom; 100% capable of 5Ghz connections)
WiFi router is Google Wifi (mesh); 2 nodes; 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz are combined on one SSID
Other than one unidentified PCIE and one Portable Device in Device Manager, all other devices are operational; Windows 7 runs perfectly save for the slow WiFi
My desktop achieves the expected speeds of over 900 mb/s download and upload via ethernet connection (so the ISP is not the issue)
I reached out to Broadcom directly for a driver but they told me to ask the manufacturer (ie Apple)

MacBook Pro 13", OS X 10.11

Posted on May 14, 2020 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 14, 2020 7:51 AM in response to MFLW

Do you get proper performance when booted in macOS?
The driver version seems to be incorrect. You can verify the original driver version supplied by Bootcamp. When Booted in macOS, run BC Assistant -> Action -> Download and check Bootcamp.xml for the version that was supplied by Bootcamp. You should have 7.35.x.x drivers.
Has any hardware been modified on this Mac?

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 16, 2020 11:47 AM in response to MFLW

On a 2013 15-in rMBP, the PID is 0x134. The drivers package is Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5640, with the following

Post Date: Feb 11, 2014

File Size: 925.6 MB

System Requirements

MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Early 2014)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch & 15-inch, Mid 2014)
MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2013)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch & 15-inch, Late 2013)
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Late 2013)
Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, 64 bit

Can you try the Broadcom drivers from this package? You may want to remove all Broadcom drivers, uninstall the card, and cleanup the DrvStore using pnputil.exe before you try to install this one.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 15, 2020 5:03 AM in response to MFLW

Run BC Assistant -> Action -> Download and use a USB2 flash drive to download the BC drivers package for W10. Look in the Drivers -> Broadcom folder. We need to check what is available before we decide the next steps.

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 17, 2020 1:47 PM in response to MFLW

Can you post the exact PID/VID as seen in Windows Device Manager?

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 19, 2020 7:55 AM in response to MFLW

Do you have control over Channel Width? It is currently at 80mHz. Can you test with 20 and 40 mHz?

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 14, 2020 2:53 PM in response to MFLW

2013 and later Macs have had 802.11ac support. Can you post the PID/VID of the BT/WiFI card? Your model has no certified drivers for W7 and a W10 driver for the 2015 model may not install correctly.

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Answer 7

MFLW Author

Level 1

8 points

May 14, 2020 8:06 AM in response to Loner T

Hi,

Thank you for your prompt response!

Yes, I get proper speeds in OSX (just checked and it's 5 times my Windows speeds from the same spot).

I tried your suggestion of verifying the original drivers but it seems like the assistant isn't properly set up? I can't proceed when I press continue and the action does not say "download and check Bootcamp..." but only "download support software". I've attached 2 screenshots below.

As for hardware, nothing has been modified.

---

As an aside, thank you very much for your help Loner T! I feel almost honoured lol, since out of the countless guides and forum posts I've read, I remember your name quite distinctly! I hope we can solve this annoying problem.

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 14, 2020 10:14 AM in response to MFLW

Ah, for W7 the drivers are in Install Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support. You mention 2015 Mac, but 2015 Macs do not support W7. Can you verify the year/model of your Mac (do not post the serial number)?

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 17, 2020 8:33 AM in response to MFLW

MFLW wrote:

I cannot find the specified driver to test under "Have Disk". Are the cards the same / similar?

Your card is capable of .11a/b/g/n/ac. The 2012 models are .11a/b/g/n cards. The 2013 models are the first Macs to get .11ac. 2012 drivers are too old for your 2015 Mac.

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 17, 2020 10:55 AM in response to MFLW

The 5G band can run in .11ac/n and be .11b/g compatible. Do you have any tools which show details of the beacons? If you need to you can download Acrylic WiFi for personal use (or any other tool of your choice).

Wireshark can also be useful in debugging 802.11 frames.

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 18, 2020 6:03 AM in response to MFLW

Wireshark should not impact the Windows speeds, so your experience is very interesting.

Acrylic WiFi should show the channel on which the Client connects to the SSID
A Mac (or a PC) which can capture packets over-the-air from the channel used by the SSID is used
The packets can be analyzed on the connection negotiations
In your SSID list, you are showing only channels 1 and 11. Can you check the macOS side and verify the channel used for the 5gHz channel?

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Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 17, 2020 7:19 AM in response to MFLW

The inevitable question is whether you can upgrade to W10 or not, and use a supported configuration. Is W7 installed using BIOS Mode?

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Answer 13

MFLW Author

Level 1

8 points

May 17, 2020 8:15 AM in response to MFLW

Found this link:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/150216/wifi-problems-in-windows-7-boot-camp

I cannot find the specified driver to test under "Have Disk". Are the cards the same / similar?

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Answer 14

MFLW Author

Level 1

8 points

May 14, 2020 1:33 PM in response to Loner T

It was quite tricky to get up and running but I have indeed managed to install Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro 2015. I needed it specifically for some nit picky business applications (compatibility issues with Windows 10). It was a painful process but was ultimately worth it.

Model is 13 inch Retina (Early 2015).

Should I download "version 5" of the support software? I noticed the drivers only go up to 2014 and want to confirm whether such WiFi drivers had support for 5Ghz?

As stated above, my chip is BCM94360CS if that's of any help.

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Answer 15

MFLW Author

Level 1

8 points

May 15, 2020 8:40 AM in response to Loner T

Tried the drivers but no dice.

Running the exes did not work and so I tried installing the .inf files manually after unzipping. Chose the ac and multiband drivers from a list for the Win7 and WinLegacy drivers respectively.

Both give me error code 10.

The settings for both drivers did, however, contain a band preference option. Is the listed setting the same as a 5 Ghz preference though?

In any event it did not work and I could find no networks.

Also, when trying to reinstall the driver that was working on 2.4Ghz before so that I could post these results, I came across one that I had been intending to try but did not work for another reason:

Anyhow, what's the next step? Below is the prompt from installing the one that was working on 2.4Ghz. Does the slight difference in the name between all these drivers mean anything (ie the emphasis on "Wireless PCIE Full Dongle Adapter" for the one that does work)?

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[HELP!] 5Ghz Wifi Driver for Bootcamp Windows 7 (Macbook Pro 13" 2015)

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