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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Disabling wireless network card?

Disabling wireless network card?
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OnTheKeys
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May 20, 2009, 04:26 PM
 
Hi, I need to disable my network card. Turning off Airport doesn't do this, is there a way to do this and easily be able to turn it back on?

Thanks.
     
ibook_steve
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May 20, 2009, 04:52 PM
 
Huh? What "network card" are you referring to and what are you trying to do? Turning off Airport should be all you need to do.

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OnTheKeys  (op)
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May 20, 2009, 05:25 PM
 
I need to make the computer think that there is no wireless network card on the motherboard.

This fixes a bug in Cubase 4. Not just disabling Airport, I need to literally make the computer think it's not there.

In Windows it's just right clicking the network card in the device manager and clicking "Disable".
     
Simon
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May 20, 2009, 05:28 PM
 
Find the kernel extension fo AP and move/rename it. Then reboot.
     
OnTheKeys  (op)
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May 20, 2009, 05:28 PM
 
Sorry Simon I have no idea what that means. What's a Kernal Extension?
     
Simon
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May 20, 2009, 05:37 PM
 
It's a file that tells the OS how to 'talk' to hardware. If you remove it, the OS will not be able to recognize the hardware which comes pretty close to removing the hardware itself.

The loaded extensions and their attributes are listed in Sys Profiler > Software > Extensions. Kernel extensions end in .kext and are actually stored in /System/Library/Extensions/.

For the record, it's dangerous to screw around in there. You should know what you're doing and have a good backup before you do anything in there.
     
OnTheKeys  (op)
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May 20, 2009, 05:51 PM
 
yeah I think I'll pass on that. Thanks for the help though.
     
steve626
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May 20, 2009, 11:40 PM
 
That's a shocking conflict, if it is real. Airport comes built in to all new Macs. You are saying that Cubase 4 won't work on 100% of the Macs being sold today?

Well, one thing you could try is (a) physically remove the airport card, and (b) try to use one of those USB devices that provides wireless functionality. No guarantee it won't have the same conflict, though. Those USB wireless devices cost as little as $39.
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Cold Warrior
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May 20, 2009, 11:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by steve626 View Post
That's a shocking conflict, if it is real. Airport comes built in to all new Macs. You are saying that Cubase 4 won't work on 100% of the Macs being sold today?
I believe he's referring to this problem, which is indeed a weird one.
     
Big Mac
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May 20, 2009, 11:58 PM
 
That document just says to turn Airport off in the normal menu selection way, btw.

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Cold Warrior
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May 21, 2009, 12:01 AM
 
OnTheKeys, can you confirm that this is the bug you're having (see my previous post)? If so, like the link and Big Mac say, turning off Airport from the menu is the recommended workaround.
     
steve626
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May 21, 2009, 12:11 AM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
I believe he's referring to this problem, which is indeed a weird one.
First of all, the picture in that link strongly implies that to "disable" airport one simply clicks on "turn airport off" in the airport menu bar icon. Which makes sense in that context since they discuss using airport as causing additional load on the computer that might "tip the scales" and impede performance in the audio program.

So disabling airport in that context would just be a mouse click -- it wouldn't require removing the card for that nor would it require moving/deleting kernel files.

I actually doubt that an active airport would have such an impact unless the airport was working very hard to maintain a noisy link that had SNR problems. In fact the web page above only reports this as anecdotal claims by some users, hardly a very scientific determination. But even if true, simply turning off airport should eliminate all computer effort going into airport and resolve this "load," if you want to call it that. Personally, I doubt it will make any difference.
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OnTheKeys  (op)
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May 21, 2009, 12:48 AM
 
Well turning Airport Off doesn't help the situation but Cold Warrior, that is exactly the problem I am having found in your link.

It is also an issue in XP (which was my last setup using Boot Camp) and Disabling the Wireless card fixed it, so I'm thinking it's the same process in OSX.
     
   
 
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