[Guide] E6230 Wireless Switch Solution

[jpz4085]

The purpose of this post is to provide a solution for anyone who might want to use the wireless switch on this model of laptop. It will enable toggling the wifi and bluetooth power (as well as wifi LED see Note 2) in a manner similar to Windows by using the switch. Download the attached zip file then extract its contents to a temporary folder and follow the instructions below.

 

Configuration:

 

• Dell Latitude E6230 Laptop
• Dell DW380 Bluetooth Module (built in)
• Supported wireless card

 

DSDT Patches:

 

The following two patches are required. The first enables the switch ACPI notification by simulating Windows 8. The second will assign the unused F17 key through the VoodooPS2Keyboard ACPI keystroke function. Open your DSDT source file in MaciASL, click Patch and paste the code in the top section then click Apply and save the new DSDT file. Copy it to the Clover-ACPI-patched folder and restart.

 

#Add Darwin check to Method OSID.
into_all method code_regex If\s+\([\\]?_OSI\s+\(WIN8\)\) replace_matched begin If(LOr(_OSI("Darwin"),_OSI(WIN8))) end;

#Use VoodooPS2Keyboard.kext ACPI keystroke function.
into method label NRBT replace_content
begin
If (LGreaterEqual (OIDE (), One))\n
{\n
//Use F17 key for wireless switch\n
Notify (^^PCI0.LPCB.PS2K, 0x0368)\n
}\n
end;

 

Wireless Switch Support:

 

1. Copy Wireless Switch Service.workflow to ~/Library/Services
2. Open terminal and type: sudo cp blueutil /usr/local/bin
3. Copy activate_services.app to a local profile folder of your choice.
4. Add activate_services.app to System Preferences - Users & Groups - Login Items (See Note 1)
5. Go to System Preferences - Keyboard - Shortcuts then click on Services on the left.
6. Scroll down to Wireless Switch Service under General on the right then click Add Shortcut
7. Click the wireless switch on the side of the laptop to add it as F17
8. Close System Preferences then click Finder - Services on the menu bar.
9. The Wireless Switch Service should be displayed in the list.
10. Click off the Services Menu without selecting anything and click the wireless switch again to test.

 

Notes:

 

1. activate_services.app is needed to automatically refresh the Services menu after logging in due to a long standing bug in Mac OS (detailed here) that prevents single key shortcuts functioning for Automator scripts. Without it the Wireless Switch Service won’t work until the menu is displayed.
2. An additional feature when using the internal Dell Bluetooth module is the wifi light will come on if there is a paired device (such as a phone in my case) present in the Bluetooth settings. Bluetooth is enabled using Rehabman’s BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext and BrcmPatchRAM.kext on my system.

 

This procedure can likely be adapted by others for use with other laptops that have either a wifi switch or hotkey.

 

Credits:

 

WiFi Toggle Service/Script: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/194368/turn-wifi-off-on-with-a-single-key

 

Blueutil: https://github.com/toy/blueutil

wireless.zip

[Hervé]

Maybe I misunderstood your thread but this is essentially a soft switch, equivalent to what the little physical switch on the right side of the laptop does, right? Granted that your soft switch lits the Wifi LED when a BT device is paired with the laptop's internal DW380.

 

The side switch basically controls power to the WLAN mini-PCIe slot + internal bluetooth. Does your soft switch control power of a card fitted to one of the other 2 x expansion slots?

[jpz4085]

16 hours ago, Hervé said:

Maybe I misunderstood your thread but this is essentially a soft switch, equivalent to what the little physical switch on the right side of the laptop does, right?

 

Correct but used in conjunction with the physical switch on the laptop rather than a key on the keyboard. With the above solution in place you can slide the switch to toggle power for both devices. I assume it's working that way for you? The LED is just cosmetic but I like to see it on when the BT/WIFI is enabled.

 

17 hours ago, Hervé said:

The side switch basically controls power to the WLAN mini-PCIe slot + internal bluetooth.

 

Only by invoking the soft switch without which it won't do anything except produce an F17 key press. The physical switch can't do anything without some sort of software interface.

 

17 hours ago, Hervé said:

Does your soft switch control power of a card fitted to one of the other 2 x expansion slots?

 

I don't have any cards for the expansion slots so I can't test that but odds are the script can be modified to accommodate them if it doesn't work.

[Hervé]

You can simply move your wireless card to those other 2 x slots to test.

 

It could be interesting to compare the E6230's DSDT with the D630's because on the latter, the switch performs as expected OOB in all OS X/macOS versions.

[jpz4085]

Hi @Hervé, I have more info to offer after experimenting with my DSDT and doing some research.

 

On 10/23/2018 at 6:19 AM, Hervé said:

You can simply move your wireless card to those other 2 x slots to test.

 

Yes, my soft switch works with my wifi card in the other two slots. I thought it would as long as the card functioned in the slots.

 

On 10/23/2018 at 6:19 AM, Hervé said:

It could be interesting to compare the E6230's DSDT with the D630's because on the latter, the switch performs as expected OOB in all OS X/macOS versions.

 

I downloaded the Sierra Pack from your D630 guide and compared the included DSDT to the one from my E6230. It is substantially different of course and the RBTN device doesn’t exist. I wasn’t able to identify anything that obviously applied to the wireless switch.

 

I decided to see if my wireless switch would work OOB with different settings since previous attempts were unsuccessful. The Dell BIOS info for the E6230 states the wireless switch is controlled directly by the driver under Windows 8 which is what I’m using in the OSI “Darwin” checks. This is what the RBTN device supports. When I use Windows 7 or below in OSID the switch will enable/disable the WIFI/BT hardware directly which is probably the same way it works on the older D630. In order to use my wifi card this way I have to boot with the switch in the on position otherwise it remains disabled. This isn’t the kind of functionality I’m looking for since I’d prefer the switch to toggle the WIFI/BT power through the OS rather than enable/disable the hardware.