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I have 5 iMacs that seem to need their wifi card replaced. They are late 2009/2010 iMacs with wifi card 825-7360. Is there some reason I can’t use the newer 607-7211 cards. I am award that the older one only has the gray and black connections, and the newer one has a third connector. But if I use two of the three connectors, isn’t it the same thing? The reason I ask is that the older wifi card has failed, and although I can find used ones, wouldn’t I be better off with the newer one, even if I don’t use all the connectors?
You have a few different issues here. The first is this series uses two different boards one is the WiFi and the other is Bluetooth iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2308 AirPort Card ReplacementiMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2308 Bluetooth Board Replacement Apple has used a few different boards. The Broadcom BCM94360CD is the best one to go with but it is not pin compatible with your system you’ll need an adapter and as it has Bluetooth as well you’ll need to remove the Bluetooth board and move the antenna over. Here is the needed kit iMac 2009, iMac 2010 and iMac 2011 – Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Bluetooth 4.0 Are you sure the adapter needs replacing? A common issue I see is people upgrade their WiFi Router (AP) and forget their older system uses 802.11g or 802.11n and end up locking out the lower 2.4 GHz frequencies the older systems need. Give this a try click on the WiFi icon while holding the Option key you should see the signal levels as well as the other AP’s near you that are broadcasting. If you see them then your AirPort board is not the issue.
