Chosen Solution
Hi! Can anyone tell me what the connector on the short cable is called that connects the Mac Pro 4,1’s mainboard to the bluetooth module to deliver the USB signal (mainboard side)? And which two of the four pins hold the USB signal? Is this a common type of connector or an Apple custom thing? I’d like to replace the Wifi module with a newer Wifi / BT LE module from an iMac, and it needs a USB signal, which I should be able to get from the original bluetooth module connector. But I don’t want to destroy the original cable.
Thanks in advance! Timo
You know I looked at this question a couple of weeks ago and it didn’t make sense to me. That bluetooth is built into the airport card that goes into the slot on the logic board and that cable threw me off. Here’s the part you need: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/18189431769… That cable looks like a power cable for a PCI video card. @danj knows more about the airport bluetooth upgrades than I do, let’s see if he will chime in as to which one to install.
I found this is a MacPro upgrade group on a different platform: The USB header on the logic board uses a Molex PicoBlade connector. manufacturer link: https://www.molex.com/molex/products/fam… retail link: 15 PCS 4 PIN 1.25mm Female Connector on One Side - 150mm 1571 28 AWG & 15 PCS 4 PIN 1.25mm Male Connector https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLF2MFJ/ref…
As I said in an earlier answer, the connector is called JST GH, so the problem is solved for me. To elaborate on the original problem: The available AirPort cards for the Mac Pro don’t support 802.11ac, and the Bluetooth modules don’t support BT LE, which means they are also incompatible with macOS’ handoff features. The solution is to replace the original AirPort card with a combined Airport/BT card from an iMac via an additional adapter. The original BT connector on the Mac Pro will stay empty, but on the Mac Pro 4,1 / 5,1 you need to deliver an USB signal to the adapter. If you don’t want to route a cable from an external USB port back to the inside or have an internal USB port on a PCIe card, you can use the original BT connector on the mainboard to provide the USB signal via a selfmade cable. Since I didn’t want to destroy the original cable, I was looking for the name of the connector for the new cable.
I know that this is an old thread but having gone (and seen others go) through a labyrinthine maze of conflicting advice and inadequately-described parts, I wanted to share my research with others who may find themselves in the same situation. The JST GH connectors are not the correct connector, as Alan Miller pointed out above. I wound up getting the design drawings for the JST and comparing them with Apple’s bluetooth connector. The bluetooth header on the backplanes of classic 4,1 and 5,1 Mac Pros is a Molex PicoBlade 4-circuit, 1.25mm-pitch header. A perfect cable (black wires, 12" long with the appropriate PicoBlade connector) can be obtained from Digi-Key (Part # WM15259-ND) for about $3.61 as of this writing. The Molex part number for this cable is: 0151340403 I used it to save over $100 by buying my BCM94360CD for about $35, the cable for $3.61 and an antenna for $18, rather than the kits that currently range from $120 - $215.
Perhaps THIS MACRUMORS THREAD will help.
