In this guide, I’ll be showing you on how to rebrand a Broadcom card which OSX detects as a Third Party Wireless card to Apple’s genuine Airport card. There are few reasons on why you should rebrand, not only for Hackintosh. You will unlock for best rates and extra Wi-Fi channels despite the restrictions from some OEM cards.

To rebrand your Broadcom wireless, you will need:
  • A 2Gb USB pen
  • A usb pen with Ubuntu >= 14.04 for convenience.
  • A Broadcom Wireless Card (such as Dell 1505, 1510 , 1490 , 1390 , etc)
  • Some time for fun =)
Making your USB pen Linux ready and boot it…

You will get this done by all means. Personally I recommend rufus. Then boot it whatever you are in UEFI/Legacy.

Lets get started… (once in Ubuntu)
  1. Open up a console (Its located in sidebar –> Terminal. You can also try CTRL + ALT + T if you want.)
  2. Install prerequisites – In a terminal window execute the following commands (you can skip remark likes which start with #):
Install packages that are required and Install b43 driver and firmware, when asked if you’d like to fetch and extract firmware – say YES
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential curl git-core b43-fwcutter
sudo modprobe b43

Please note that, if your cards listed in en:users:drivers:b43 [Linux Wireless] are marked with partially or no b43 driver support, which means you will not be able to have WLAN directly in the Live CD. And hold on, do NOT try to install any proprietary drivers or you won't have chance to rebrand it. You will need an extra step like this:

Connect your Ethernet cable and

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

This will make your b43 driver works like a charm.

Get, compile, and install the latest ssb-sprom tool
git clone git://git.bues.ch/b43-tools.git
cd b43-tools/ssb_sprom
make
sudo cp ssb-sprom /usr/sbin/
sudo chmod 755 /usr/sbin/ssb-sprom
sudo chown root:root /usr/sbin/ssb-sprom
  • Update the sprom – Open up a terminal window and execute the following commands:
SSB_SPROM=$(find /sys/devices -name ssb_sprom)
echo $SSB_SPROM
cd ~
sudo cat $SSB_SPROM > ssb_sprom_copy
ssb-sprom -i ssb_sprom_copy -P
ssb-sprom -i ssb_sprom_copy --subv  --subp --regrev 0x0001 --ccode JP -o new_ssb_sprom_copy
ssb-sprom -i new_ssb_sprom_copy -P
echo $SSB_SPROM
sudo cp new_ssb_sprom_copy $SSB_SPROM

IMPORTANT: Changing regrev and ccode is only needed if the max. bandwith of your n-draft WIFI card is limited (like on some DE cards). To get full 300mbit just insert the red text – if you already have 300mbit its not needed.

(Look in the table below to get the vendor/product ID for your card)
——

There.. you are done.. boot into OSX and check out your wireless now.. and you will have extra Wi-Fi channels accessible.

Card compatibility list:

Model NumberOriginal Product ID / Vendor IDPatch to…Result
 BCM4311, revision 01 Product: 0x1364 / Vendor: 0x103C Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x0087 Ok
 BCM4311, revision 02 Product: 0x1375 / Vendor: 0x103C Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x0087 Ok
 BCM4312, revision 01 Product: 0x0007 / Vendor: 0x1028 Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x004E Ok
 BCM4321, revision 03 Product: 0x1028 / Vendor: 0x0226 Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x008C Ok
 BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03) Product: 0x000A / Vendor: 0x1028 Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x008B Ok
 BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 01) Product: 0x1380 / Vendor: 0x103C Vendor: 0x106B / Product: 0x0093 Ok

Reference: