Broadcom 4318 wireless. (solved)

[meddyuk]

Morning!

I've got a slight problem with my wireless on my Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro 2030. I went to this page: http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx and followed the instructions on how to get my wireless up and running and it all went fine. Yesterday i was able to surf the net through my wireless card.

Today i've logged on and it doesnt seem to want to search or connect wirelessly. Upon carrying out iwconfig in terminal, the message is: lo no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

Wlan0 doesnt seem to show up now. Any ideas how to get this up and running and make sure that it doesnt happen again?

Cheers.

Meddy.

[xircon]

I had to re-install my wireless drivers due to the kernel update to 2.6.38-2, try a re-install, worked for me.

Steve

[meddyuk]

Steve, i've tried sudo aptitude install firmware-b43-installer but it doesnt seem to install. TBH i'm at a loss now, as ive followed the instructions at the debian page, but can't seem to get it up and running again. Any instructions on how to do this will be greatly appreciated.

[xircon]

Did you do all the other stuff mentioned?

Code: Select all

modprobe b43
or
modprobe b43legacy
iwconfig
#Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
ifconfig wlan0 up


[meddyuk]

ok did modprobe b43 and it didnt do anything but when i did iwconfig after that, the wlan0 showed up and i was able to see my router again through the wireless manager.

Strange this! Does that mean i have to do this all the time now, if my wlan0 is down?

[xircon]

No, just when the kernel gets updated AFAIK, anyway glad its working

Where in the UK are you? I am in Sheffield.

[meddyuk]

Im in Portsmouth. Im having to to do sudo modprobe b43 then iwconfig every time i log in otherwise it doesnt search or recognise the wireless on the the network manager. Once i do this, it searches for it straight away.

[xircon]

Did you enter the ifconfig line? Just re-read the link you provided - "The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded." try http://wiki.debian.org/Modules to get it to load automatically

Steve

[meddyuk]

Yeah thats the problem. I aint got a clue on how to configure a .conf file to make it automatic on boot up.

[TBABill]

Yeah thats the problem. I aint got a clue on how to configure a .conf file to make it automatic on boot up.

Hey meddyuk, to get it to initialize on every reboot or login, just

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

and add

Code: Select all

b43

to the end of the list, save and restart. That'll make it initialize that module every time you login or restart. And make sure within network manager you mark the device to be available to all users and to connect automatically (if that's your desire to have it that way).

[meddyuk]

Thanks for the tip, but adding B43 to the end didnt seem to work. It still doesnt connect automatically and i still have to open the terminal to get the wireless up and running.

[TBABill]

Is it by chance blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf? That should start upon restart with it listed in modules unless you have it not set to be available to all users or to automatically connect. Very odd.

[meddyuk]

I noticed that i had downloaded the wrong driver before opening this post. I initially downloaded Broadcom-sta drivers. This had a blacklist file that blacklisted the B43 driver. I've gone into the file and deleted all the info in the Sta-blacklist file, but that still doesn't work. I've now removed the sta driver through package manager.

[TBABill]

Thanks for the tip, but adding B43 to the end didnt seem to work. It still doesnt connect automatically and i still have to open the terminal to get the wireless up and running.

There is a block to check when you open network manager and edit your settings for your wireless connections. It says "connect automatically" if I recall correctly. And another for something to the effect of making it available to all users. I always go in and check those blocks as part of the install process so my network connection will always start up on boot.

[meddyuk]

All Sorted! I'd typed B43 with a capital B in the etc/module file. I changed it to a small b and made sure that no drivers were black listed and it now works on boot up.

Thankyou so much for your help!

SOLVED!!

[meddyuk]

Hiya.

Same problem again. This time when i boot up it doesn't auto connect anymore. I have done iwconfig and i get
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off

This is so frustrating. Its been working for the last few weeks. Any ideas why its decided to stop working?

[TBABill]

Did you receive a kernel update or new kernel (2.6.38 or similar)? If you went from version to version you usually have to rebuild proprietary drivers. I had to when I went from 2.6.32 to 2.6.38.

[meddyuk]

I did have a kernel update, but it messed around with my graphics drivers so i reverted back to .32 on the grub. How do i rebuild the propriety drivers?

[TBABill]

Boot into the kernel you want the wireless to be built in (the .32 I assume) and follow the Debian instructions from your initial post.

[meddyuk]

Sorted. I just went through initial steps to re-install the b43 drivers and its back online. Thankyou.