Installing Broadcom sta driver in LMDE

[dawgdoc]

The lsmod output is showing only the wl driver in place, which is what you want.

I looked at the other post, the only one who posted their wireless chipset had two different ones: the 4311, which is the same as I have, and the driver we are working on worked (efgee) The chipset that did not work with this driver, and which he used the B43 with, was the 4318. Gramps50 did not post his chipset in that thread, but I have seen his in other posts and it is the same as yours 4312. He is the one who wrote the script I linked to above. (There is a typo in his post that contains the script, but it is correct in the script -- 4812/4312)

I looked in Synaptic just now and I do not have any of the firmware-b43* packages installed, there are 3. I do have three broadcom-sta* packages installed, they are broadcom-sta-common, broadcom-sta-source, and broadcom-sta-modules-*. I actually installed them before I found the wiki page and followed the instructions. The source package should not help, it is included in the modules package, but... I did not have wireless until I followed the wiki instructions. If you do not have all three, add what is missing - it will not hurt, reboot, and hope for the best.

[z06gal]

The lsmod output is showing only the wl driver in place, which is what you want.

I looked at the other post, the only one who posted their wireless chipset had two different ones: the 4311, which is the same as I have, and the driver we are working on worked (efgee) The chipset that did not work with this driver, and which he used the B43 with, was the 4318. Gramps50 did not post his chipset in that thread, but I have seen his in other posts and it is the same as yours 4312. He is the one who wrote the script I linked to above. (There is a typo in his post that contains the script, but it is correct in the script -- 4812/4312)

I looked in Synaptic just now and I do not have any of the firmware-b43* packages installed, there are 3. I do have three broadcom-sta* packages installed, they are broadcom-sta-common, broadcom-sta-source, and broadcom-sta-modules-*. I actually installed them before I found the wiki page and followed the instructions. The source package should not help, it is included in the modules package, but... I did not have wireless until I followed the wiki instructions. If you do not have all three, add what is missing - it will not hurt, reboot, and hope for the best.

Okay, i have those 3 installed along with b43firmware and fwcutter which is what you now have I think. Maybe we are getting close. LOL

[z06gal]

dawg, i just looked at the wiki link you posted. Somehow I missed that one. Do I need to do this for blacklisting?

echo blacklist brcm80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf

That is confusing me because I have the 4312. Did you blacklist that?

[dawgdoc]

Do I need to do this for blacklisting?

That is confusing me because I have the 4312. Did you blacklist that?

You do not need to do that because you did not have that module installed. In fact because you do not have that module is why you were getting the earlier output of FATAL: Module brcm80211 not found.

I did find THIS just a minute ago

> In my case the wl module can be loaded and it is usable, but in order to
> can use it I must to run these commands each time I boot the machine:
>
> # modprobe -r b43
> # modprobe -r ssb
> # modprobe -r wl
> # modprobe wl

I'm pretty sure that the modules are loaded at boot time because you didn't
rebuild the initrd file.

In the wiki article there is this command to be run as root:

Code: Select all

update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)

did you do it during the install? That command rebuilds the initial ramdisk. This may be why you are having to reload wl at each reboot. So far I do not know if you can do this after the fact.

[z06gal]

Yes, I ran that during install. What shows up in your firmware folder? Mine has b43. I didn't know if it needed to be broadcom sta.

[dawgdoc]

which firmware folder /lib/firmware or /sys/firmware ?
I guess /lib/firmware. There are all kinds of folders for chipsets I do not even have on my system.

[z06gal]

which firmware folder /lib/firmware or /sys/firmware ?
I guess /lib/firmware. There are all kinds of folders for chipsets I do not even have on my system.

I'm sorry. /lib/firmware. If I understand this correctly, that is the folder that fwcutter is supposed to fetch to whatever driver you need. After I installed b43firmware, it showed up there. I am hoping, according to the other thread, that that is right for me with the bcm4312. Also, under your start up applications, do you have anything there like the command gramp50 used?

[dawgdoc]

Searching my system I find several folders titled b43, wl, bcm, and firmware

[dawgdoc]

The only thing in Startup Applications related to wireless is Network Manager.

[z06gal]

The only thing in Startup Applications related to wireless is Network Manager.

When I reboot, if my wireless does not come on, I am going to place that last command posted above and add a start up command for wireless. My broadcom sta shows up under modules and b43 under firmware. I'm not sure what is suppose to be where. lol

[dawgdoc]

In /lib/firmware I find neither a b43, a broadcom-sta, nor a wl folder. There are no files with those names. there are a bcm-something.bin and bcm-something.hex files

There is a wl folder at /sys/modules/wl. Folders and files for the devices which are not present on my system which were in /lib/firmware are not present here.

[z06gal]

In /lib/firmware I find neither a b43, a broadcom-sta, nor a wl folder. There are no files with those names. there are a bcm-something.bin and bcm-something.hex files

There is a wl folder at /sys/modules/wl. Folders and files for the devices which are not present on my system which were in /lib/firmware are not present here.

Okay, I got b43 in firmware, broadcom sta wl in my home folder and the kernel, etc under modules. I'm really not sure what is what. Somebody and I have forgotten who on what forum said that I should either see b43 or broadcom sta in the firmware folder. Apparently that is the job of fwcutter to place it there. I'm going to reboot just before I shut it down to see what happens but I have copied and pasted the info you gave in my abiword in case I have problems.

[dawgdoc]

Since that clip about the initd rebuild matched the description of where you are so well, I fear that may be the best solution. I looked up a couple of documents about doing so and found it to be way beyond my abilities to do or assist in. Other than that, it may come down to removing all of your wireless drivers, packages, and modules and starting over. I hope not. When I get things sorted out I will see what else I can find about blacklisting modules.

[z06gal]

Dawg, I just rebooted and had no problems at all so hopefully it will stay that way. I feel like the installation of the b43 firmware was the final piece for me because I saw no other driver in my firmware folder. We'll see if it continues.