Wireless Driver Not Working

[henry_blackie]

You're going to realise this by the end of my post, but I am completely new to Linux. I once tried Ubuntu but I ended up un-installing it just as I preferred Windows.

The problem is that I can't get a wireless driver to work on my old laptop (Acer 3000), that I have Linux Mint 12 installed. I've tried to follow other forum posts I've seen using the terminal; My computer said it had successfully installed the drivers but I still can't even find wireless devices.

I entered

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lspci -nnk

in to the terminal and got this message:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 760/M760 Host [1039:0760] (rev 03)
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-amd64
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202 [1039:0002]
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:02.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS963 [MuTIOL Media IO] [1039:0963] (rev 25)
00:02.1 SMBus [0c05]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2/3 SMBus controller [1039:0016]
Kernel driver in use: sis96x_smbus
Kernel modules: i2c-sis96x
00:02.5 IDE interface [0101]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] [1039:5513]
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: pata_sis
00:02.6 Modem [0703]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller [1039:7013] (rev a0)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel modules: snd-intel8x0m
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS7012 AC'97 Sound Controller [1039:7012] (rev a0)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: Intel ICH
Kernel modules: snd-intel8x0
00:03.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller [1039:7001] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:03.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller [1039:7001] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:03.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller [1039:7002]
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:04.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet [1039:0900] (rev 91)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: sis900
Kernel modules: sis900
00:06.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller [104c:ac56]
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
Kernel modules: yenta_socket
00:0b.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4318] (rev 02)
Subsystem: AMBIT Microsystem Corp. TravelMate 2410 [1468:0312]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: ssb
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration [1022:1100]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map [1022:1101]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller [1022:1102]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control [1022:1103]
Kernel driver in use: k8temp
Kernel modules: k8temp
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter [1039:6330]
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0083]
Kernel modules: sisfb

Please could you tell what I need to do next? or is it simply impossible to get a driver working on this laptop as I know it's old.

Thanks, Henry

[kc1di]

Ok how did you try to install the driver?

you should go to system tools additional drivers first and see if it offers you any drivers to activate.

If you installed the b43 drivers you need to remove them first.
your can do that by opening a terminal and typing the following

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sudo apt-get purge b43

Try that first. I might note cause some don't know it you'll need to be hooked up to a hard wire connection to accomplish this.

[henry_blackie]

When I entered

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sudo apt-get purge b43

I got the reply

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E: Unable to locate package b43

I guess that just means nothing was installed(?)

A search on additional drivers reported that

No propriety drivers are in use on this system.

[kc1di]

try this

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sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

one line at a time

[henry_blackie]

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sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

This appears to have worked:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed
bcmwl-kernel-source
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 11 not upgraded.
Need to get 1,202 kB of archives.
After this operation, 3,367 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/restricted bcmwl-kernel-source i386 5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu4 [1,202 kB]
Fetched 1,202 kB in 14s (81.3 kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package bcmwl-kernel-source.
(Reading database ... 161376 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking bcmwl-kernel-source (from .../bcmwl-kernel-source_5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu4_i386.deb) ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu4) ...
Loading new bcmwl-5.100.82.38+bdcom DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.0.0-12-generic
Building for architecture i686
Building initial module for 3.0.0-12-generic
Done.

wl:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
- No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
- Installing to /lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/updates/

depmod..........

DKMS: install Completed.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
Warning: No support for locale: en_GB.utf8

But my laptop still can't find my router, or any others.

[kc1di]

Ok Sorry that did not work.

Here is a page that has a tutorial of sorts for your particular card. It may be of help. It's a little outdated but the
general write up is good and may get your card going the 4318 is a difficult broadcom card.

Anyway give it a try sooner or late we'll get you wireless
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-wireless-networking-41/how-to-for-the-bcm4318-airforce-one-card-473194/