broadcom driver

[what]

hello i am a noob to linux and have been trying to to setup my Broadcom wireless for a couple of weeks now. after scouring the net & trying many options with no luck i figured i should try just asking for help. i have an HP Pavillion dv2736 laptop with a Broadcom 4310 chipset. I am trying to run Linux Mint 5 XFCE version. I went to my menue in Mint to System>Windows Wireless to to install my driver. i am trying to use bcmwl6.inf for this install. the windows wireless window shows that the hardware is present & i made sure wireless was enabled under the hardware drivers screen. the bcmwl6 folder is present in /ect/ndiswrapper but when I use ndiswapper -l no drivers are listed. I read that Broadcom must have firmware to work and the only solution i can find is to use fwcutter. but from what i understand fwcutter & ndiswrapper don't play nice i would like to stick with ndiswrapper because i read it is more stable than fwcutter. as i said i am new to this so please assume i am doing everything wrong. thanks.

[premiumalex]

Here's some places to look:
http://linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php/MintWifi
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx/
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joomla/index.php?/component/option,com_openwiki/Itemid,33/id,list_b/, number 42

However, This is a personal suggestion, and I'm not sure how it'll work in your case because I have a Broadcom 4318 and not a 4310.

I recently switched to Mint from Ubuntu, and the consensus over there was that b43-fwcutter was the way to go. I've never had problems with it, it's incredibly easy to set up, and you can always go the ndiswrapper route if things don't work out.

It's as easy as

Code: Select all

sudo apt install b43-fwcutter
b43-fwcutter

and then making sure the "Fetch and install firmware?" box is checked.
If you would really rather stick with ndiswrapper, then let me know and I can look into it more for you.

-Alex

[what]

Thanks Alex. Don't I have internet access of some kind already in place for fwcutter to work though? I'll give it a shot and see what comes up. If their are any other pointers please let me know.....PEACE.....

[premiumalex]

Yes, I suppose that's a problem. If you can connect via Ethernet, though, then you'll be able to download the firmware.

[what]

OK.... I tried the fwcutter.deb package & it tried to dl the firmware I need. The cool thing is that it gave me the link when I clicked on the terminal arrow so I copied it & downloaded what I think is the firmware when I rebooted into Vista. Is there a way to manually install the firmware?

[premiumalex]

Try this--Go to Administration-->Hardware Drivers. You should see "Broadcom b43 Wireless Driver" as one of the options there. Click the little "Enable" check box, and b43-fwcutter should take care of the rest. Hope that works for ya!

[what]

I might have to figure out how to get on dialup for now so I can fix this. ndiswrapper now shows that I have the driver installed & I made sure it was enabled in the hardware screen but it still shows it as not in use. As for fwcutter do I need to disable or uninstall ndiswrapper for it to work? When I go to Hardware it still only shows my option as "wl" & not the driver I installed.

[whatsvictory]

ok....I loaded fwutter & found out how to manually place the firmware with wl_apsta.o where it is supposed to go ( /lib/firmware) so I'm good there I think. The only problem is that my wireless still won't work. The only thing I an think is that I might need to link something together with a command in the terminal, disable &/or configure something. Any tips?......

[thadok]

HP has issued a recall on many of it's HP pavilion dv series notebooks. I recently had peculiar wireless problems only to find out it's a hardware problem. Call customer support and ask them to check if your specific model has any recalls issued on it. I recently had to ship my notebook back for a system board replacement (wireless is integrated on mother board) Turn around was brief about 7 days and they replaced my scratched screen bezel for free. They did format my harddrive (might of replaced) and installed vista on it for me agian.... oh well. All works well now hope this helps

[whatsvictory]

Thank you everyone for your help. I found out how to get my wireless working by using a Dell driver with ndiswrapper. As it turns out the BCM4310 uses a more specific version of the bcmwl5 than the one provided with Elyssa and fwcutter is not compatable with this wifi card. I downloaded the proper driver from http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R174291.exe on the Dell site and followed the instructions from http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Tech/Wireless/Truemobile_ndiswrapper also on the Dell site. The BCM4310 wifi card is a problem for many people because that one certain driver is somewhat difficult to find for most people so I hope others find this post & it helps them on their way in the wonderful world of Mint.