HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Archived topics about LMDE 1 and LMDE 2
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

I messed up that last command when I copied and pasted it. I will go back and correct it.
It should have been.

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lsmod | grep "wl\|bn\|b4\|802"
I notice you have both

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deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
For now Squeeze is testing. However I do not know if having both in your sources list will cause a problem with getting packages. Hopefully someone else with experience can chime in.

You and knireis, who posted today, are both using the liquorix kernel. I do not know if that is a connection.
knireis

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by knireis »

I have no problems getting the driver to work with the standard kernel, just with the liquorix kernel the errors as mentioned in my previous post occur. I hope this can be solved because now i can boot my laptop with either the standard kernel and have no sound or boot with the liquorix kernel and have no wireless network....
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salsalha
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Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by salsalha »

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salsalha@salsalha ~ $ lsmod | grep "wl\|bn\|b4\|802"
bnep                   11548  2 
l2cap                  42563  6 bnep,rfcomm
usbnet                 19070  1 cdc_ether
bluetooth              60340  11 sco,bnep,rfcomm,l2cap,btusb
mii                     5085  2 usbnet,r8169
maybe I should leave everything on testing ....

Greetings
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

Trying to work through this systematically:

1. Comment out one of the repos by placing a # at the beginning of the line. Comment out the repo which is further from you.

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deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
2. Refresh your package list.

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sudo apt-get update
3. Go through the installation procedure again and see if this solves the issue. Paste back any errors or other difficulties you encounter.
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salsalha
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Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by salsalha »

I remove the source of squeeze, and leave the testing with this

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sudo gedit / etc / apt / sources.list
Then

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sudo apt-get update
and verified,
salsalha@salsalha ~ $ cat /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main non-free
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free main
deb http://liquorix.net/debian sid main future

I hope that I leave without conflict ...

As for the wifi, it will be because of liquorix? ... However, I tried the same steps in the native kernel ...

Otherwise, the button on the keyboard, which should enable and disable wifi, when you squeeze, turns on and off bluetooth

Greetings
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salsalha
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Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by salsalha »

I found a solution for my problem...

Here:

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


i downloaded this:

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/ ... _38.tar.gz

for 64 bits... 32 bits its in the first link

then, in the read me link, i followed the instrutions...

1. in folder unpack the tar,gz

2. open in a terminal that folder, then,

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# make
#sudo  modprobe lib80211
#sudo insmod wl.ko
I have now WIFI :D :D :D :D


But i must do the terminal i each session... how that can be solved?

Anyway i have WIFI!!!! :D :D :D


Greetings
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

this is from the readme file on the broadcom page you linked to:
3: Setup to always load at boot time.

The procedure to make a module load at boot time varies from distro to
distro. Consult the docs for your specific distro to see how. The
following seems to work for my setup on Fedora and Ubuntu. Check your
docs to see the procedure for your distro.

Follow these steps to have the driver load as part of the boot process:

# load driver as described above
# cp wl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
# depmod -a
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salsalha
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Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by salsalha »

dawgdoc wrote:this is from the readme file on the broadcom page you linked to:
3: Setup to always load at boot time.

The procedure to make a module load at boot time varies from distro to
distro. Consult the docs for your specific distro to see how. The
following seems to work for my setup on Fedora and Ubuntu. Check your
docs to see the procedure for your distro.

Follow these steps to have the driver load as part of the boot process:

# load driver as described above
# cp wl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
# depmod -a

Thanks again... i didin't read all the text. :oops:
:P

Greetings
knireis

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by knireis »

salsalha wrote:I found a solution for my problem...

Here:

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


i downloaded this:

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/ ... _38.tar.gz

for 64 bits... 32 bits its in the first link

then, in the read me link, i followed the instrutions...

1. in folder unpack the tar,gz

2. open in a terminal that folder, then,

Code: Select all

# make
#sudo  modprobe lib80211
#sudo insmod wl.ko
I have now WIFI :D :D :D :D


But i must do the terminal i each session... how that can be solved?

Anyway i have WIFI!!!! :D :D :D


Greetings
using the top link and the readme i managed to install the driver with the liquorix kernel, great, now i have and sound and wireless working together
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salsalha
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Joined: Tue Dec 28, 2010 10:34 am

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by salsalha »

knireis wrote:
salsalha wrote:I found a solution for my problem...

Here:

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


i downloaded this:

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/ ... _38.tar.gz

for 64 bits... 32 bits its in the first link

then, in the read me link, i followed the instrutions...

1. in folder unpack the tar,gz

2. open in a terminal that folder, then,

Code: Select all

# make
#sudo  modprobe lib80211
#sudo insmod wl.ko
I have now WIFI :D :D :D :D


But i must do the terminal i each session... how that can be solved?

Anyway i have WIFI!!!! :D :D :D


Greetings
using the top link and the readme i managed to install the driver with the liquorix kernel, great, now i have and sound and wireless working together

Hey, i'm glad bro,

Greetings
mrmylanman

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by mrmylanman »

Hello all,

I am trying to use the Liquorix kernel because the stock one doesn't like my HP DV2Z very well, however I am having an issue when trying to build the driver which was linked to a few posts back (http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php)

I am running on amd64 architecture, and downloaded the proper package.

When I tell it to make, I get the following output:

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mylan-laptop hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38 # make
KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC=1 make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=`pwd`
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.37-0.dmz.6-liquorix-amd64'
  LD      /home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/shared/linux_osl.o
  CC [M]  /home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o
/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function ‘wl_attach’:
/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:485: error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_MUTEX’
make[2]: *** [/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.37-0.dmz.6-liquorix-amd64'
make: *** [all] Error 2
I am running the command as su, and have build-essential installed. Is there something else I am missing? I verified the model of the card beforehand, and it is a Broadcom BCM4322.

Thanks!
richyrich

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by richyrich »

error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_MUTEX’
has something to do with missing 'semaphore.h' in the kernel/compile process . . it may be because of the liquorix kernel you are using ?? you may get better luck searching at the liquorix forums.

http://techpatterns.com/forums/forum-34.html

edit : new broadcom drivers here, worth a try ? http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
Last edited by richyrich on Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

mrmylanman wrote:

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mylan-laptop hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38 # make

/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function ‘wl_attach’:
/home/mylan/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:485: error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_MUTEX’
Searching Google using the term "error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_MUTEX’" and found several pages, the first half dozen seemed to all be related to graphics drivers. I narrowed the search by adding broadcom as a term and found something very similar on a Gentoo site http://bugs.gentoo.org/350196

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In function ‘wl_attach’:
/var/tmp/portage/net-wireless/broadcom-sta-5.100.82.38/work/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:487:3:
error: implicit declaration of function ‘init_MUTEX’
make[1]: ***
He offered this solution:
I solved the problem by changing line 487 from
init_MUTEX(&wl->sem);
into
sema_init(&wl->sem, 1);
This is beyond me, at this time, but I hope it helps you.

EDIT: I would agree with richyrich. In the search results relating to the graphics drivers, a number of them mention semaphore.h. And frequently they concerned people using a non-stock kernel or compiling their own kernel.
ShexNivis

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by ShexNivis »

Hello,

Thats because the latest version of broadcom driver do not support 2.6.37 yet.
You can apply the patches from http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=19514 to it and it will work great.
If you don't know how to apply the patches or you are lazy to do it and you trust me enough I've attached the patched files for the latest drive(http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/ ... _38.tar.gz) of the 32bit one(might work on 64 don't know).
Just copy(and overwrite) the files in the zip from attachment to the folder hybrid-portsrc_x86_32-v5_100_82_38-patched/src/wl/sys before compiling it.

If you don't trust me just learn to patch : )

PS. If you're patching yourself probably the only you're gonna need is the mutex-sema.patch

Good luck
billh

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by billh »

The guide looks really useful, but it didn't seem to work for me. I tried Method 1 on a new hp dv7-4283cl with a fresh install of LMDE done the middle of last week:

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# uname -a
Linux marbach 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Thu Nov 25 18:02:11 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

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# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

eth2      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"bach"  
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Cell: DE:7D:72:EF:AC:E5   
          Bit Rate=8 Mb/s   Tx-Power:24 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=-57 dBm  Noise level=-91 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
GNOME NetworkManager Applet lets me connect to my existing wireless access point (a router running Tomato, FWIW), and then it shows a connection to that ssid. If I click Disconnect on the wired network in NetworkManager, it still works. However, if I then unplug the Ethernet cable, I lose connection to the network.

Any tips on what I should look at to fix this problem?
billh

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by billh »

Perhaps I should have also said

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# lspci -vvnn | grep Broadcom
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)

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# lsmod | grep "b43\|ssb\|wl"
wl                   1937867  0 
lib80211                3654  2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl

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# modprobe -l| grep Broadcom
# modprobe -l| grep wl
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl3501_cs.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rndis_wlan.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mwl8k.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwlcore.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwlagn.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl3945.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl12xx/wl1251.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl12xx/wl1251_spi.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl12xx/wl1251_sdio.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl12xx/wl1271.ko
kernel/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2_usb.ko
kernel/drivers/uwb/wlp/wlp.ko
kernel/drivers/uwb/i1480/i1480u-wlp/i1480u-wlp.ko
kernel/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_wlc.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
in case any of this helps.
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

@ billh

Several things to verify:

1) Did you get the source using the non-free repository per the tutorial, it is also available through Synaptic? Or did you download the tar.gz file from the link to Broadcom's page? If you downloaded the tar.gz, did you make sure and grab the 64 bit version.

2) Which version of the driver did you install?
In the non-free repositories is 5.60.48.36-2. At the Broadcom site is 5.100.82.38.

3) The 5.60.48.36 initially added support for the bcm4313. At that time the chipset was 14E4:4727 Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY
The chipset has changed, and this is what you showed that you have: 14E4:4727 Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
According to the Broadcom site, your chipset is supported. You probably have to have a newer version of the driver than 5.60.48.36 to be supported. I could not determine this for sure.

At alternative would be the brcm80211 driver. There is a link to it at the bottom of the tutorial.
billh

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by billh »

@dawgdoc,

In order:
  • I followed the instructions in Method 1. I checked, and Debian Testing repositories were enabled. I'll show the history of what I did next:

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       13  apt-get update
       14  apt-get install module-assistant wireless-tools
       15  m-a a-i broadcom-sta
       16  echo blacklist brcm80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf 
       17  update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)
       18  modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcm80211
       19  modprobe wl
       20  iwconfig
    I trusted that the process picked the 64-bit driver.
  • Is there a way to determine the driver version I installed? The process would suggest that I got 5.60.48.36-2, but I haven't yet verified that.
  • I'll do some checking to see if I can install the 5.100.82.38 driver or the brcm80211. I suspect that may involve unloading (blacklisting) the driver loaded in this step, right? While I've used Linux/Unix for years, I may have to do some studying to get that right.
Thanks!
billh

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by billh »

I should also say that I tried Troubleshooting step 1:

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  25  lsmod | grep "b43\|ssb\|wl"
   26  rmmod wl
   27  cp /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64 /tmp/
   28  update-initramfs -u
I discovered later that /tmp apparently gets cleaned out on rebooting, and so the cp was of no use.

That didn't make the problem go away, which is consistent with the idea of an old driver.

I notice that the only difference I see between what I did and what gramps50 programmed in the script at http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 40#p313931 was a

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sudo echo wl >> /etc/modules
at the end. Could that be important? Aha. I see that's Troubleshooting step 2. I'll try it and report back.

You say you have bcm80211 instructions at the end of the tutorial; do you mean those at http://wiki.debian.org/brcm80211? Presumably I'd just try the Squeeze instructions?
dawgdoc

Re: HOW TO: Install Broadcom-sta (wl) driver in LMDE

Post by dawgdoc »

billh wrote:You say you have bcm80211 instructions at the end of the tutorial; do you mean those at http://wiki.debian.org/brcm80211? Presumably I'd just try the Squeeze instructions?
Yes, that I was referring to that link when I mentioned brcm80211.
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