Wireless slow on 2009 Mac Pro but fast on other devices.

Question

Level 1

13 points

Wireless slow on 2009 Mac Pro but fast on other devices.

So I just bought a 2009 Mac Pro and I upgraded it into a beast of a machine. Dual 6 Core CPU 3.33GHz, RAID 0 SSD x2, GTX 680 GPU and my benchmark scores around 30,000.

Enter Apple Airport Extreme Card 802.11n for Apple Mac Pro Mb988z/A

I bought the Airport Extreme card on amazon and installed it into the MP. All devices are connected to the same wireless network. On speedtest.net, I am getting around 3 or 4 Mb/s down/up. But on my 2011 MBP and 2013 MBA I'm getting full speed at 28.11 Mb/s down and 4.53 up. Have I installed the card incorrectly on the MP? There were 3 wires but the card only took 2. I corresponded the numbers when connecting the 2 wires to the Airport Extreme card. Or did I get a bad Airport extreme card? Or are my settings incorrect? Can someone shed some light?

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9), 2009 MP 2x 6-Core 3.33GHz

Posted on Jun 26, 2015 9:23 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

127,177 points

Jun 27, 2015 7:10 AM in response to Babyboi

This appears to be the more modern of the two cards available for the Mac Pro, which is probably better for your Mac than the older one. Getting the correct wires connected to the correct pins is problematic. There are some user install reports online if you search for them.

You can check your signal strength by holding down Option while you click on the Wi-Fi Icon in the menuBar. This will produce a display like this:

RSSI is signal strength. You need a number in the 40's 50's or 60's, as Noise is typically in the 80's and you will need a 20 or more dB difference to have a pretty good signal.

Reply

Answer 2

Babyboi Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 27, 2015 9:26 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

looks very close to the noise level

Reply

Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jun 27, 2015 10:00 AM in response to Babyboi

Your Transmit Rate of 7 reflects you your measured slow speed.

When I purchased my 2009 Pro in February it it not have an AirPort card. I purchased a used one from OWC and it work fine and it had three antena connection to match the wires in the Pro.

I get a TX rate of 195 on 5 GHz N

130-200 on 2.4 GB N. It changes a lot since there are alot of 2.4 GHz networks within range.

Just what did the description say for the AirPort card you purchased?

Reply

Answer 4

Babyboi Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 27, 2015 10:15 AM in response to lllaass

The machine is away from me for today, so I will have to check the cable connections because I don't remember which cables are connected. What I do remember is i matched the numbers on the Wire to the number to the card. This is what it said from Amazon:

Product Description

This is simply the latest and greatest wireless adapter available for the Mac Pro, and is 100% compatible with all generations of Mac Pros. OS X 10.5.6 or later is required.

This cutting edge wireless card uses the latest chipset technology to reach higher wireless speeds and use less power than previous models, including the MB363Z/A. My testing with an Apple Wireless Extreme Base Station confirms this.

Note for advanced users: This is also the perfect card if you are running the Macintosh OS on one of the popular netbooks such as the Dell mini 9, the Asus EEE PC, or the MSI Wind. This is the newest chipset available - it uses less power, it connects at the highest speeds, and since it's an Apple branded card, it is and always will be totally supported by the latest Mac OS.

Technical Details:
802.11n 2.4ghz and 5ghz wi-fi adapter
Cutting-edge chipset
Higher speeds with lower energy consumption
AirDrop Supported with speed up to 450Mbps
Compatible with all Mac Pros
-Mac Pro 1st generation, 2006
-Mac Pro 2nd generation, 2007
-Mac Pro 3rd generation, 2008
-Mac Pro, 4th generation, 2009
Requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later
2 Installation screws included

Reply

Answer 5

Jun 27, 2015 11:05 AM in response to Babyboi

RSSI of -76 is too low for real work -85-76 gives you about 10 signal/noise to work in, and you need at least 20, 25 or higher is better. (-85 is where the noise is in most Home Networks)

IF you are within a reasonable distance, you should suspect that the antenna wires are not connected optimally.

In the 2.4 GHz band, there are at most three clear channels, and you are seeing some competition that will slow you down a bit. But not to 7 -- you have too weak a signal.

Reply

Answer 6

Babyboi Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 27, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you I will I will check when I get back to my computer. Does step 4 on the guide below seem about right?

http://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/apple-computers/mac-pro-wifi-2008-2012/

Reply

Answer 7

Jun 27, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Babyboi

yeah, that guys says lead 1 and 3 lined up and worked for him. I would try that next and see if you get a better number for RSSI (signal strength).

There still may be issues of interference that slow you down, but you cannot even attempt to go fast until you have a good strong signal underlying the connection.

Reply

Answer 8

Babyboi Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 18, 2015 12:34 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks guys, I made a few changes where I put the numbered wires on the Airport card. I got the best signal when connecting #2 to J1 (top) and #3 to J2 (bottom). The signal was performing at a rate which I am good with, which is 17 Mbps down 3.6 up on speedtest.net. UNTIL I put my MP down in the studio desk's cabinet underneath. the speed drops to 5.59 Mbps down and 2.53 Mbps up. That is telling me maybe something is interfering.

So I started to download a file from my dropbox account to see some real world download speeds. my Download was in the high 1.3 MB/s and average about 800 KB/s. I'm content with those speeds. Just thought it is a little weird that my speedtest.net results were different only when I stored my MP in the cabinet beneath the desk.

Reply