Fix Wireless via USB

Another problem that also affects laptop users is the lack of wireless capability, especially if an Intel wireless device is installed. I have a 2200 b/g Intel wireless and so far no support for it. My Ethernet port is not working either, so I was thinking I was completely out of luck, since I did not want to buy a supported internal wireless device. As a last try and plugged my cable modem to the laptop using an usb connection and it worked. Therefore if that worked, I also assumed a USB wireless adapter should work and I started to search for supported USB devices. I found one, which was not too expensive and was easy to get and the information on it is below:

Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter
Part # F5D7050
Ver. 4000

There are also a couple of other USB network adapters that work with OSx86, but the following guide only covers this specific one and if you are planning to buy and use the same then you should take a look at the guide below to learn how to get it installed.

1) First thing is to download the driver from here
Download the USB driver for Mac (10.3/10.4)

2) Install it (select Mac Os X 10.4 not Mac Os X 10.3). This will install 2 drivers for the 2 chipsets

3) Go to the System/Library/Extensions directory and delete ZD1211Mac.kext. Make sure you keep the ZD1215Mac.kext as this is the one used by the Belkin device

WARNING: DO NOT RESTART YET.

4) Get the ProductID and VendorID as being listed by System Profiler. These values are in HEXadecimal but the driver needs these values in DECimal. Here is what you need to do:
- Plug the Belkin adapter
- Open ‘System Profiler’
- Expand the USB line
- Click on the USB 2.0wan and look for ProductID and VendorID

Here is how to convert the values:
- Start Applications – Calculator and switch to “Programmer” mode (View – Programmer):
- switch the calculator to HEX mode
- enter value for Product ID
- switch the calculator to DEC mode
- write down the decimal value for ProductID
- repeat the same steps for VendorID

5) Now we need to patch the driver:
- Go to /System/Library/Extensions
- Locate the “ZD1211Mac.kext” or “ZD1215Mac.kext”. You need to select the one you need:
ZD1211Mac.kext is for the “ZD1211″ chipset (earlier – v3000)
ZD1215Mac.kext is for the “ZD1211 Rev. B” chipset (later – v4000)
- Right click on the kext and “Show Package Contents” – open up “Contents” – Drag the “Info.plist” to your Desktop to make a (writable) copy.
- Double-click on the “Info.plist” on your desktop to open it (in TextEdit):

Now locate the lines below <key>IOKitPersonalities</key>. You’ll see that there are 15 keys:
<key>01</key>
<key>02</key>
…
<key>15</key>
These keys are for different branches of USB Wi-Fi hardware but of course we only need 1 of these: the one we are using, so delete every key except the first one. This will result in:

…
<key>IOKitPersonalities</key>
<dict>
<key>01</key>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.ZyDAS.driver.ZD1211RevB</string>
<key>IOClass</key>
<string>com_ZyDAS_driver_ZD1211RevB</string>
<key>IOProviderClass</key>
<string>IOUSBDevice</string>
<key>IOUserClientClass</key>
<string>EthernetUserClient_ZD1211RevB</string>
<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>28764</integer>
<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1293</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
…

Now change the “idProduct” key with YOUR decimal Product ID:

<key>idProduct</key>
<integer>28764</integer>

Now change the “idVendor” key with YOUR decimal Vendor ID:

<key>idVendor</key>
<integer>1293</integer>

- Save the changes in TextEdit and quit TextEdit
- Un-plug the Belking wireless adapter
- Drag the “Info.plist” from your Desktop back to its original place (inside the ‘Contents’ folder).
When it’s asking for Authentication: give proper userid and password. The driver is now patched to your card IDs

6) Clear the kext cache by using Finder and going to /System/Library. Now delete the files “Extensions.kextcache” and “Extensions.mkext” – Don’t worry: these files are being recreated when you reboot Mac Os X

7) Fix the kext security:
- Open up Terminal
- Type the following commands:

sudo -s
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/ZD1211Mac.kext
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ZD1211Mac.kext

OR

sudo -s
chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/ZD1215Mac.kext
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/ZD1215Mac.kext

- Quit Terminal

Repair Disk Permissions by opening Applications – Utilities – Disk Utilities and clicking on the ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ button

9) Reboot

The WLAN application (installed by the driver installation) will open up automatically every time you boot. Connect the Belking network adapter and a new window will pop-up, where you will see the device, and the local connection information. You are online now!

Credits go to tutorial found here

Next Step

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