Offline install of b43-fwcutter and firmware for Broadcom Wireless cards

[seydell]

Code: [Select]

tar -xfvj broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3_mipsel.tar.bz2

I believe this should read (the f option needs to be last):

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tar -xvjf broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3_mipsel.tar.bz2

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Hi seydell, and welcome to the forum

You're right of course .. thanks for pointing out my mistake    (fixed in previous posting)

or you can just leave out the -

as in:-

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tar xfvj broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3_mipsel.tar.bz2

Fixed above.

--

[allnunstoport]

I'm trying to get my wireless working in 12.04 on a DELL Latitude D630 with the broadcom card.  I've gone through all of the steps you've posted.  When I run the "sudo modprobe -r b43" command my terminal just hangs never goes back to a prompt.  Same if I pub in "b43legacy".  Everything else seemed to work.  No wireless on reboot.  Any suggestions?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Hi allnunstoport, and welcome to the forum

Did you follow the updated instructions for 12.04 here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=5842.msg81040#msg81040

What's the output from:

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sudo lshw -C network

[allnunstoport]

Thank you.  I've been through all of the steps you indicated.  Perhaps I botched something?

Output is:

  *-network               
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=wl latency=0
       resources: irq:17 memory:efdfc000-efdfffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:15:c5:50:c5:ff
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiatio n
       configuration: autonegotiatio n=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.121 firmware=5752-v3.19 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:44 memory:efcf0000-efcfffff

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Hmm, seems your wireless adapter can use either the wl or b43 drivers .. wl are loaded, so let's try making sure they're ALL unloaded, then try them one at a time

Open a terminal and run:

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sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl

then:

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sudo modprobe b43

Did wireless spring to life ?

If not, run:

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sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl

then

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sudo modprobe wl

Did wireless spring to life ?

Be aware, neither of the above attempts will survive a reboot .. but if either work we can tell the system to load them at bootup.

If still no .. send the output from these commands:

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lspci -vnn | grep -i net

and

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iwconfig

and

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iwlist scanning

and

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rfkill list

[allnunstoport]

No luck.  When I run any form of the 'sodu modprobe' command, the terminal never returns to a prompt.  I've given it up to an hour before cancelling the terminal and getting the message that doing so will cancel an open process.  Something hung up in a loop?

Here is the out put from the other diagnostics you asked for.  Thanks for your continuing help:

matthew@delldualboot:~$ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1600] (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)
matthew@delldualboot:~$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

matthew@delldualboot:~$ iwlist scanning
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

matthew@delldualboot:~$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
   Soft blocked: no
   Hard blocked: no
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
   Soft blocked: no
   Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
   Soft blocked: no
   Hard blocked: no

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

How did you end up with the "wl" drivers if you haven't got an internet connection ?

Have you got an internet connection ?


You might want to try purging bcmwl-kernel-source:

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sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source

then download this file:
http://ie.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/l/linux-firmware-nonfree/linux-firmware-nonfree_1.11ubuntu1_all.deb
double-click it to install it.

Then reboot, and see if Wireless works.

[allnunstoport]

OK!  Now we're getting somewhere.  That got the wireless working intermittently and am able to work from 12.04 OS.   I'm online through the Broadcom card and my wifi hotspot.  However, the wireless is cycling on and off and requesting the wireless network authentication key every 20 seconds or so or whenever I refresh or browse to another page.  So we're not quite stable.  Any suggestions?

[allnunstoport]

I think I might have solved the intermittent issue by going into the wireless connection and editing the wireless security to save the authentication key.  That seems to have stopped the cycling.  Thank you very much for all your help.  It seems like these Broadcom cards are going to be an issue at each upgrade.  Perhaps I'll jump on Ebay and buy one of the other better supported Wifi cards!

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

You're welcome .. happy to hear you solved the dropping connection .. but if it reappears, give us a shout

[Colin Weaver]

Just joined the forum so I could say "thank you"!

I am currently setting up an old ex-work Latitude D630 with Ubuntu 12.04, and had exactly the same issue as allnunstoport: modprobe would just hang up.   Turned out that because I had a wired connection working, I had also installed the "wl" drivers, and the advice above got my wi-fi going nicely.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Thanks for the feedback Colin, it's always nice to hear from people that have benefited in some way .. kinda makes it all worthwhile