The burning question about whether a non-gigabit Apple AirPort Extreme (AAE) could be upgrade via a $1.99 Enabler or some other firmware update was bugging me way too much. So I set out to dissect both the gigabit and non-gigabit version of the AAE.

First thing I noticed was that it’s impossible to tell the difference between the two models from the outside as the Apple model number and the FCC ID are the same on both units.

The both disassemble to same way, you have to first peel the gray rubber base off the bottom to expose the five small screws.

Once the screws are removed the bottom lifts right off exposing the metal housing.

First remove the white plastic housing that covers the LED lights.

Lifting the metal housing off exposes the circuit board, I then gently removed the wireless card as to not have to remove the three antenna wires.

Out comes the circuit board for closer inspection, I looked up the exposed chips only to determine they were flash ram and dram chips. On closer inspection I noticed that the metal housing covering the Broadcom chip could be carefully lifted right off.

Inside on the AAE Non-Gigabit (100MB) version was a Broadcom BCM5325 Family Chip. Looking up the specs on this chip reveal the following specs:

The Broadcom BCM5325 device is a highly integrated solution. It combines all of the functions of a high-speed switch system -including packet buffer, PHY transceivers, media access controllers, address management, and a nonblocking switch fabric -into a single 0.18μ CMOS device. It complies with the IEEE 802.3, 802.3μ, and 802.3x specifications, including the MAC control PAUSE frame and auto-negotiation subsections, providing compatibility with all industry-standard Ethernet and Fast Ethernet devices.

This device contains five full-duplex 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet transceivers, each of which performs all of the physical layer interface functions for 10BASE-T Ethernet on Category 3, 4, or 5 Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP) cable and 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet on Category 5 UTP cable.

• The highest level of silicon integration achieved for a five-port 10/100 Ethernet switch device
• Fourth generation switch on a chip
• Enables a new generation of lower cost 10/100 switches in much smaller form factors
• Utilizes field-proven industry-standard 10BASE T/100BASETX Fast Ethernet transceivers -lowering overall system interoperability and reliability risks

Now on to the AAE Gigabit Version.

Same disassembly procedure, first the gray rubber base, five screws, remove the plastic bottom, lift off the metal housing, gently remove the wireless card to expose the circuit board.

Overall the boards look similar with closer inspection revealing some differences with the newer model looking refined and clean.

Removing the metal housing covering the Broadcom chip reveals that the AAE Gigabit Model is using the Broadcom BCM5395 Family chip.

Searching for specs turned up the following info:

BCM5395 Features

• Complies with IEEE802.3, IEEE802.3u, IEEE802.3ab standards
• 5 10/100/1000Mbps Auto-Sense RJ45 ports supporting Auto-MDI/MDIX
• All ports Support Full/Half Duplex transfer mode for 10/100Mbps and Full Duplex transfer mode for 1000Mbps
• Port-based and MAC-based VLAN
• IEEE 802.1Q-based VLAN with 4K entries
• Port-based rate control
• Port mirroring
• Compact field processor (CFP)
• 512 rules
• Filtering, classifications, remarking, and priority actions.
• Priority modification on egress
• DOS Attack Prevention
• Loop detection for unmanaged configurations with Broadcom’s patented LoopDTech™ technology
• CableChecker™ with unmanaged mode support
• Double tagging
• IEEE 802.3x programmable per-port flow control and back pressure, with IEEE 802.1x support for secure user authentication
• 4K entry MAC address table with automatic learning and aging
• 128-KB packet buffer
• 128 multicast group support
• Jumbo Frame support up to 9728 byte

So clearly the older non-gigabit model does not appear to be software upgradeable to the new gigabit features. : (

With our previous problems with patch cable sensitivity with Link-Speeds the CableChecker feature of the Broadcom BCM5395 Family Chip caught my attention. Below is was I was able to find on Broadcoms website.

CableChecker, unlike traditional TDR-based cable diagnostics, can detect cable and connector problems without having to disconnect the cable from the other end and interrupt live traffic, enabling it to run while the switch is passing packets.

Below are the circuit board rev markings for both models.

Both boards taste the same also…