Compatible card for HP ProBook 650 G1

[ammoune78]

Hey Hervé, please i'm suffering with my HP ProBook 650 G1 to get an working OOB wifi 1/2miniPCI-E card, i searched on eBay, and all that cards i've seen are not recommended for HP laptops, please any link where i can buy one?

I already own a AR9462 but it makes some bug on Sierra and High Sierra, so if i do an Security Update not Software update, it block the OS so i can't do something until i force the laptop to shutdown, now i'm on 10.12.6 without security updates, i'm currently using the kext provided on this topic with ProBookAtheros.kext and modified IO80211Family.kext!

Any suggestion please?

[Hervé]

True, those Atheros cards such as the AR9462 have poor support under OS X/macOS and are often not compatible with High Sierra. As such, it's indeed better to replace them.

 

However, HP laptops are infamous for hardware whitelisting, meaning you cannot install any card compatible with macOS. You have to look at HP's own documentation (usually the spare parts catalog) for the list of cards officially supported by HP, then check if any of those are OS X/macOS compatible. The catalog for your ProBook 650 G1 is available here.

 

The trouble is that this catalog lists the following cards as spare parts:

• 690019-001 = Atheros AR9565 and that will bring the same problems as with AR9462
• 730668-001 = Broadcom BCM43228 and that's not compatible with OS X/macOS
• There would appear to be another non-Bluetooth Atheros card but I've not identified it

But the ProBook 650 G1 may not be subject to hardware whitelisting. In fact, you'll find messages on the Net about Azurewave AW-NB290H working in the 650 G1; that card is based on Broadcom BCM43225 and that's fully compatible with OSX/macOS. Give it a go, these cards are available for less than $10/10€...

 

Other than a compatible mini-PCIe card, the only alternatives are:

1. a modified BIOS where whitelisting has been removed (difficult thing, hard to find)
2. a USB dongle