connecting to Ad-Hoc

[mr.dee]

I am not able to connect to my Andriods ad-hoc wireless. I recently installed Linux Mint 13 MATE on my netbook. Network manager tries to connect, but just keeps trying and trying. I know it's not a hardware issue because I have connected to my netbook to the ad-hoc with a different distro. (JoliOS) Nothing is wrong with the Android other hardware connects to it fine as well.

I tried installing wicd, sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer. When I run iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc I get an error.

I've spent a few hours researching, but not sure where to go from here. I hope I can get this working, it might be a deal breaker for me, really don't want to go to joli os since mint runs so much faster. Mint shaves 30 seconds from my boot time! Thanks in advance.

[remoulder]

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1085

[mr.dee]

$ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
==> PCI ID = 14e4:4727 (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"fake"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: fa:ke:fa:ke:fa:ke
Bit Rate=39 Mb/s Tx-Power=19 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=64/70 Signal level=-46 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:2 Invalid misc:650 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 12:34:56:78:90:12
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:43 Base address:0xc000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:300 (300.0 B) TX bytes:300 (300.0 B)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 12:34:56:78:90:12
inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: ef00::111:82ff:feb8:5522/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1792 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1618 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1625559 (1.6 MB) TX bytes:238316 (238.3 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 209.18.47.61
Address: 209.18.47.61#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.206
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.192
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.193
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.194
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.195
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.196
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.197
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.198
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.199
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.200
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.224.201

[mr.dee]

Installed some of WICD packages from the repository, but it did not resolve the issue.

I am considering just installing JoliOS as dual boot with mint. I would prefer not to. My SSD is only 60gigs, joliOS is not very big, but still don't want to lose any of the little space that I do have.

[AlbertP]

The B43 driver does not yet work well with the Broadcom 4313. Please blacklist this driver, then you'll use brcmsmac which is working fine.

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

At the end, please add:

Code: Select all

blacklist b43

[mr.dee]

so i went into blacklist.conf and entered blacklist b43. Rebooted my machine and attempted to connect to my cellphones ad-hoc. Nothing. Was there anything else I needed to do?

Is there something that I can copy from JoliOS to make this work? ndiswrapper looks like a pain to use and not always reliable.

[AlbertP]

Does it detect other wifi networks? If not please run inxi -N and post the output.

[mr.dee]

Does it detect other wifi networks? If not please run inxi -N and post the output.

Yes it connects fine to other networks.... just not ad-hoc. Sorry, I failed to mention that.

[AlbertP]

Please run lsmod and check if b43 or brcmsmac is loaded.

[mr.dee]

$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 12617 0
nls_cp437 12751 0
vfat 17308 0
fat 55605 1 vfat
zram 18193 2
bcma 25651 0
arc4 12473 2
joydev 17393 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 174055 1
ums_realtek 17920 0
uas 17699 0
snd_hda_intel 32765 3
snd_hda_codec 109562 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80845 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
uvcvideo 67203 0
videodev 86588 1 uvcvideo
psmouse 87140 0
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
serio_raw 13027 0
snd_rawmidi 25424 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
ideapad_laptop 17890 0
sparse_keymap 13658 1 ideapad_laptop
brcmsmac 540875 0
snd_timer 28931 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
rfcomm 38139 0
bnep 17830 2
mac80211 436455 1 brcmsmac
bluetooth 158438 10 rfcomm,bnep
parport_pc 32114 0
ppdev 12849 0
snd 62064 15 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
i915 414568 2
brcmutil 14675 1 brcmsmac
cfg80211 178679 2 brcmsmac,mac80211
r8169 56321 0
wmi 18744 0
mac_hid 13077 0
crc8 12781 1 brcmsmac
drm_kms_helper 45466 1 i915
soundcore 14635 1 snd
binfmt_misc 17292 1
drm 197692 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
snd_page_alloc 14115 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
cordic 12487 1 brcmsmac
i2c_algo_bit 13199 1 i915
video 19068 1 i915
lp 17455 0
parport 40930 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
usb_storage 39646 1 ums_realtek

[AlbertP]

The brcmsmac driver is loaded. Should be right.

Maybe you need to upgrade the driver. Please download compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 from http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Downl ... he_tarball. After extracting the file, go to the folder where you extracted it and right-click > Open in Terminal.
In that terminal please run:

Code: Select all

make
sudo make install

Then you'll have a newer wifi driver version after rebooting.

[mr.dee]

I updated the driver. Still not working.

[AlbertP]

Maybe you can try the STA driver from Broadcom from Additional Drivers as a last resort. The brcmsmac driver apparently doesn't fully support ad-hoc yet on the 4313 (brcmsmac is a new driver from Broadcom to replace the STA one on some chips, but not everything is working yet).

[mr.dee]

The output below is for JoliOS, which has a driver that works out of the box for ad-hoc mode. looks like the driver name is wl? Can I use that?


jolicloud@jolicloud:/etc/modprobe.d$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_hda_codec_realtek 197416 1
lib80211_crypt_tkip 6740 0
joydev 7469 0
wl 2630329 0
snd_hda_intel 18859 2
snd_hda_codec 71028 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 4496 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 28725 0
snd_mixer_oss 10783 1 snd_pcm_oss
uvcvideo 46443 0
snd_pcm 58904 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
psmouse 52052 0
snd_timer 15323 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 6328 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
squashfs 32156 1
nls_iso8859_1 3181 1
nls_cp437 4847 1
vfat 6851 1
fat 38063 1 vfat
fbcon 29091 71
tileblit 1687 1 fbcon
font 7461 1 fbcon
bitblit 3527 1 fbcon
softcursor 1001 1 bitblit
i915 241970 3
drm_kms_helper 24176 1 i915
drm 146763 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
usb_storage 36226 1
intel_agp 21761 2 i915
r8169 30906 0
i2c_algo_bit 4214 1 i915
video 18579 1 i915
agpgart 27601 2 drm,intel_agp
output 1671 1 video






jolicloud@jolicloud:/etc/modprobe.d$ modinfo wl
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.35.10-1-jolicloud/kernel/jolicloud/broadcom/wl.ko
srcversion: F5CF1A036018C35DB39EF9B
alias: pci:v000014E4d00000576sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000435Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004359sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004358sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004727sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004357sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000A99Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004353sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000432Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000432Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000432Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000432Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004329sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004328sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004315sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004313sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004312sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004311sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
vermagic: 2.6.35.10-1-jolicloud SMP mod_unload modversions 686
parm: oneonly:int
parm: piomode:int
parm: instance_base:int
parm: nompc:int
parm: name:string

[AlbertP]

wl is the Broadcom STA driver. Please install that one from Additional Drivers if it works for you.

Normally I consider the STA driver a last resort (except for the chips that are not supported well by another driver) but if it works for you, feel free to install it.

[mr.dee]

I installed the broadcom driver from "Additional Drivers", after I do I lose all wireless capability and have to deactivate the driver from "additional drivers" to recover.

I have clearly caused this issue to occur... I verified this by booting up live from usb and when I install the driver from "additional drivers" when I'm running live I still maintain wireless connectivity (yet without ad-hoc working)

I'm not giving up on this. I know it CAN work, don't care if it drives me crazy.