Cannot connect to WiFi w/ Helena & BCM43xx

[corn29]

Hello:

Sorry to post yet another Broadcom wireless adapter question but I cannot get wireless working with Helena. I DID have it working with Gloria but the otherwise simple act of upgrading from 7 to 8 has kept me from connecting to WiFi networks.

To start, here is some basic information:

Code: Select all

lspci  

Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

and

Code: Select all

lspci -vnn | grep 14e4 

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:04b5]

I’ve looked in threads like:

Code: Select all

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=40569&p=233270 

and it hasn’t helped. I came across this on Google:

Code: Select all

http://hcoder.org/2009/09/10/bcm4312-on-linux-easier-than-expected/  

It didn’t work. I downloaded and installed the broadcom-sta-common_5.10.91.9.3-3_all package from:

Code: Select all

http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/all/broadcom-sta-common/download

and when I click on the network icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen, it only shows an interface for wired networks... wireless isn’t even an option.

I then read in another post that I needed to get something called fwcutter. Here’s a list of what I did next:

Code: Select all

wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-012.tar.bz2
tar xjf b43-fwcutter-012.tar.bz2
cd b43-fwcutter-012
make
cd ..
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-012/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta.o

I didn’t receive any errors but even after a reboot, I don’t have an interface to configure a wireless connection.

So I then tried this:

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r b44
sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe -r b43legacy
sudo modprobe -r ssb
sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo modprobe b44

None of the modprobes threw any kind of an error but even after all this, I still cannot configure a wireless connection.

I read on another thread I should do this:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

Again, no errors and still no wireless.

What else do I need to do to get wireless working on Helena??? Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Acid_1]

Did you try this:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=12635

Cause I noticed one of the code quotes, but it was slightly different. When I had a BCM adapter I wrote it cause they are a PITA.

[corn29]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not entirely sure what you mean is different though... in the example you posted, the fwcutter version is 11 and what I used is 12. Are you suggesting I should use an older release?

[Acid_1]

It could possibly work. Sometimes older software does exactly what you need it to and updates will break what you need (Thus MintUpdate was born).

Basically, give it a shot with the older version. Haven't lost anything, and it's not like it's irreversible.

[corn29]

Well, I did some more digging... it took a while but I found it.

In this blog

Code: Select all

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2008/10/03/linux-driver-available-for-dell-wireless-cards.aspx

(Dell should really put this on a more accessible page as they ship this card in many of their computers), there is a link to a driver from, gasp, the manufacturer!!!

So, download the driver from

Code: Select all

http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

unpack it, and mostly follow the readme.

I say "mostly" because there are some instructions, which if followed, which prevented me from getting this to work on the first try.

There is a section which instructs the user to see if b43, ssb, and wl are loaded. They were NOT loaded so I didn't do anything else regarding those modules and I didn't blacklist them either.

At the step for "insmod wl.ko", the readme says it may take serveral seconds for the network manager to notice the new driver. They are not kidding. It took a few minutes, but sure enough, the network manager eventually popped up, I was able to connect to a hidden SSID with WPA without that little icon of the comet-like thingy circling around two greyed out balls forever.

After installing the actually driver, the instructions tell the user to look for b43, ssb, and wl again. When I looked again, wl was loaded. So I followed the instructions and removed it. That killed the network manager. So at least in my case: Dell Mini 9, Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g, Helena, wl needs to be loaded for the network manager to work.

I hope this post is helpful if you've pulled out as much hair as I have trying to get this card completely working with a Debian distro. Previously, I could connect to open networks but not secured ones. But after loading the driver mentioned in this post, I can connect to secured networks too. My Mini works wonderfully everywhere now.