BrcmPatchRAM

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Most Broadcom USB Bluetooth devices make use of a system called RAMUSB. RAMUSB allows the firmware for the device to be updated on-the-fly, however any updates previously applied are lost when shutting down the machine.

The Broadcom Windows driver will upload firmware into the Broadcom Bluetooth device on every startup, however for macOS this functionality is not supported out of the box. BrcmPatchRAM kext is a macOS driver which applies PatchRAM updates for Broadcom RAMUSB based devices. It will apply the firmware update to your Broadcom Bluetooth device on every startup / wakeup, identical to the Windows drivers. The firmware applied is extracted from the Windows drivers and the functionality should be equal to Windows.

Note that the original Apple Broadcom bluetooth devices are not RAMUSB devices, and thus do not have the same firmware mechanism.

Installation

Note if you have an Apple MacBook/iMac/Mac Pro etc, follow the Mac instructions

Install one of BrcmPatchRAM.kext or BrcmPatchRAM2.kext or BrcmPatchRAM3.kext depending on macOS version, never both.

• BrcmPatchRAM.kext: for 10.10 or earlier.

• BrcmPatchRAM2.kext: for 10.11 - 10.14.

• BrcmPatchRAM3.kext: for 10.15 or later.

Also, install one firmware kext BrcmFirmwareData.kext or BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext, depending on installation location, never both.

• BrcmFirmwareData.kext: Most appropriate for bootloader injection. This is the preferred configuration.

• BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext: Install to /System/Library/Extensions (/Library/Extensions on 10.11 and later). This kext is slightly more memory efficient than BrcmFirmwareData.kext, but cannot be injected by a bootloader.

• Advanced users: For custom firmware injectors, install the injector plus BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext. This works from either /S/L/E or through bootloader injection. Optionally, you may remove all the firmwares from BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext/Contents/Resources. If you're using the injector through the bootloader, the IOProviderClass in the Info.plist for BrcmFirmwareRepo.kext must be changed from "disabled_IOResources" to "IOResources".

Keep in mind that BrcmPatchRAM3.kext also requires BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext to be installed. Starting with macOS 10.15, this is the only supported configuration because due to framework changes BrcmPatchRAM.kext and BrcmPatchRAM2.kext are incompatible with macOS 10.15. In case you forget to install BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext, Bluetooth will appear to be available but it won't work at all.

Also, if you have a non-PatchRAM device (or you're not sure), install one of BrcmNonPatchRAM.kext or BrcmNonPatchRAM2.kext, depending on macOS version, never both. Although these kexts do not install any firmware (these devices have firmware built-in), they still depend on BrcmPatchRAM/BrcmPatchRAM2.kext.

• BrcmNonPatchRAM.kext: for 10.10 or earlier
• BrcmNonPatchRAM2.kext: for 10.11 or later.

BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext

To be used for macOS 10.11-11. Use BrcmBluetoothInjectorLegacy.kext for older systems. Using BrcmPatchRAM3.kext also requires BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext as changes in macOS Catalina (10.15) requires the use of a separate injector kext. This is due to the removal of the following IOCatalogue methods:

IOCatalogue::addDrivers, IOCatalogue::removeDrivers and IOCatalogue::startMatching

Consequently to have the native BT driver load for the device (BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport) we inject using a plist with a slightly lower IOProbeScore than BrcmPatchRAM3 so it doesn't probe before the firmware upload.

The BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext is a codeless kernel extension which injects the BT hardware data using a plist; it does not contain a firmware uploader. You might also want to try this kext if you wish to see if your device will work without a firmware uploader.

Do not use BrcmPatchRAM or BrcmPatchRAM2 with this kext.

BrcmBluetoothInjector supported devices:

• [0489:e030] BCM2070 - BCM943224HMB, BCM943225HMB Combo
• [0489:e032] 20702 E032 Combo
• [0489:e042] 20702A1 Lenovo China standalone
• [0489:e046] 20702A1 Acer 43228+20702 combo card
• [0489:e04f] 20702A1 Lenovo China 43227 WLAN + 20702A1 Combo card
• [0489:e052] 20702 non-UHE Generic
• [0489:e055] 43142A0 Acer combo
• [0489:e059] Acer 43228 + 20702A1 combo
• [0489:e079] Lenovo China 43162 NGFF
• [0489:e07a] Lenovo China 4352+20702 NGFF
• [0489:e087] Acer 43228 NGFF combo module
• [0489:e096] BCM43142A0
• [0489:e097] Acer Foxconn BCM4356A2 NGFF
• [0489:e0a1] 20703A1 Lenovo 43602 NGFF combo
• [04b4:f901] Laird BT851 Bluetooth 5.0 USB dongle
• [04ca:2003] 20702A1 Lenovo China standalone
• [04ca:2004] LiteOn 43228+20702 combo
• [04ca:2005] LiteOn 43228+20702 combo
• [04ca:2006] LiteOn 43142 combo
• [04ca:2009] LiteOn 43142 combo
• [04ca:200a] LiteOn 4352 combo
• [04ca:200b] LiteOn 4352 combo
• [04ca:200c] LiteOn 4352 combo
• [04ca:200e] Liteon 43228 NGFF combo
• [04ca:200f] Acer_LiteOn BCM20702A1_4352
• [04ca:2012] Acer BCM943142Y NGFF
• [04ca:2013] Acer LiteOn BCM4356A2 NGFF
• [04ca:2014] Asus LiteOn BCM4356A2 NGFF
• [04ca:2016] Lenovo 43162 NGFF combo module
• [04f2:b4a1] ASUS Chicony BCM43142A0 NGFF
• [04f2:b4a2] BCM4356A2
• [050d:065a] 20702 standalone
• [0930:021e] 20702A1 Toshiba standalone
• [0930:021f] Toshiba 43142
• [0930:0221] 20702A1 Toshiba 4352
• [0930:0223] 20702A1 Toshiba 4352
• [0930:0225] Toshiba 43142 combo NGFF
• [0930:0226] Toshiba 43142 combo NGFF
• [0930:0229] 43162 combo NGFF
• [0a5c:2168] BRCM Generic 43162Z
• [0a5c:2169] BRCM Generic 43228z
• [0a5c:216a] Dell DW1708 43142Y combo
• [0a5c:216b] HP Rapture 4352z ngff combo
• [0a5c:216c] HP Harrier 43142
• [0a5c:216d] HP Hornet 43142Y ngff combo
• [0a5c:216e] HP Blackbird 43162 NGFF
• [0a5c:216f] Dell DW1560 4352+20702 M.2
• [0a5c:217d] BCM2070 - BCM943224HMB, BCM943225HMB Combo
• [0a5c:21d7] BRCM Generic 43142A0 RAMUSB
• [0a5c:21de] 4352+20702A1 combo
• [0a5c:21e1] 20702A1 non-UHE HP SoftSailing
• [0a5c:21e3] 20702A1 non-UHE 4313 combo HP Valentine
• [0a5c:21e6] 20702 non-UHE Lenovo Japan
• [0a5c:21e8] 20702A1 dongles
• [0a5c:21ec] 20702A1 REF6 OTP module standalone
• [0a5c:21f1] 43228 combo
• [0a5c:21f3] Lenovo Edge 43228 + 20702A1 combo
• [0a5c:21f4] Lenovo Edge 4313 + 20702A1 combo
• [0a5c:21fb] HP Supra 4352 20702A1 combo
• [0a5c:21fd] BRCM Generic 4352z RAMUSB
• [0a5c:640a] BRCM Generic Reference 4356
• [0a5c:640b] HP Luffy 43228 + 20702 M.2
• [0a5c:640e] Lenovo 4356 NGFF combo
• [0a5c:6410] 20703A1 RAM download - DW1830 43602
• [0a5c:6412] Dell 4350C5
• [0a5c:6413] Broadcom Generic 4350C5
• [0a5c:6414] Lenovo 4350C5
• [0a5c:6417] Zebra 4352
• [0a5c:6418] HP Brook 2x2ac
• [0a5c:7460] 20703A1 RAM download
• [0a5c:828d] Fenvi BCM94352Z
• [0b05:178a] BCM2070 - BCM943224HMB, BCM943225HMB Combo
• [0b05:17b5] Asus 43228+20702A1 combo
• [0b05:17cb] 20702 standalone
• [0b05:17cf] Asus 4352_20702A1 combo
• [0b05:180a] Azurewave 4360+20702 combo
• [0b05:181d] Asus AZUREWAVE MB BCM4356A2
• [0bb4:0306] 20703A1 HTC runtime RAM dongle
• [105b:e065] LenovoChina 43142A0 combo
• [105b:e066] LenovoChina 43228+20702 combo
• [13d3:3384] 20702A1 Azurewave standalone
• [13d3:3388] BRCM Generic 43142A0 RAMUSB
• [13d3:3389] BRCM Generic 43142A0 RAMUSB
• [13d3:3392] Azurewave 43228+20702
• [13d3:3404] 4352HMB Azurewave Module
• [13d3:3411] Dell Alienware 4352 20702A1 combo
• [13d3:3413] Azurewave 4360+20702 combo
• [13d3:3418] Azurewave 4352+20702 combo module
• [13d3:3427] Toshiba 43142 combo NGFF
• [13d3:3435] AZUREWAVE BCM20702A1_4352
• [13d3:3456] AZUREWAVE BCM20702A1_4352
• [13d3:3473] Asus AZUREWAVE BCM4356A2 NGFF
• [13d3:3482] AZUREWAVE BCM43142A0 NGFF
• [13d3:3484] Acer AZUREWAVE BCM43142A0 NGFF
• [13d3:3485] Asus AZUREWAVE BCM4356A2 NB 2217NF
• [13d3:3488] Asus AZUREWAVE BCM4356A2 NB 2210
• [13d3:3492] Asus AZUREWAVE BCM4356A2 NGFF
• [13d3:3504] AW CM217NF BCM4371C2
• [13d3:3508] AW ASUS CM217NF BCM4371C2
• [13d3:3517] AW CE160H BCM20702
• [145f:01a3] 20702A1 Asus Trust standalone
• [2b54:5600] Emdoor AP6356SD BCM4356A2
• [2b54:5601] Asus AP6356SDP1A BCM4356A2
• [2b54:5602] AMPAK AP6356SDP2A BCM4356A2
• [33ba:03e8] TOULINEUA BCM94360Z4 4360+20702 combo
• [33ba:03e9] TOULINEUA BCM94360Z3 4360+20702 combo
• [413c:8143] DW1550 4352+20702 combo
• [413c:8197] Dell DW380 Nancy Blakes standalone

If yours is not present, edit the Info.plist as needed.

BlueToolFixup.kext

Required for macOS 12 or newer, as in macOS 12 Apple has changed parts of the Bluetooth stack from kernel-space to user-space as detailed in here and here. Requires Lilu 1.5.4+

Do not use it with BrcmBluetoothInjector for macOS 12 or newer.

You will need to set the following NVRAM variables through yo