Can't enable wireless on Lenovo S12 [solved]

[number61971]

FYI, I'm on a fresh install of LMDE 201109, fully updated as of this writing. On a Lenovo S12, with a Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY wireless adapter.

I've tried enabling my wireless every which way I can think of. My 2nd to last attempt was to employ Broadcom's supplied STA drivers. No dice.

Next I attempted to follow the module assistant-based method proposed here on the LMDE forum. Same exact result as the Broadcom method: not active.

And yes, I've blacklisted quite a large number of potentially problematic modules, and my initramdisk has been set properly. None of the following modules are loaded.

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

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[...]
# bad wireless drivers
blacklist acer_wmi
blacklist b43
blacklist ssb
blacklist brcm80211

But I do honestly feel like I'm very close to getting it working! I believe the device is recognized ... it's just not associating with an access point or accepting an essid. As many years as I've used linux, I've never understood the network interface methodology. It's byzantine in the extreme ... and I just don't get it. But I bet, with the following output from a few commands, one of you will know what to do! I bet it's surprisingly simple in the end. Help me get over the hump!

/etc/network/interfaces

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# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

$ lsmod | grep wl

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wl                   2602511  0 
lib80211               12992  2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl

$ sudo iwconfig

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lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

eth2      IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:24 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

$ dmesg | grep Broadcom

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[    6.504173] usb 4-2: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp
[   11.329804] eth0: Broadcom BCM4315 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38

$ lspci | grep Broadcom

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06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

[richyrich]

I notice a conflict:

eth0 is the primary wired network interface (should be the BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express),

iwconfig shows wireless as eth2.

but dmesg shows eth0 being loaded as a BCM4315 wireless device ?

[number61971]

I notice a conflict:

eth0 is the primary wired network interface (should be the BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express),

iwconfig shows wireless as eth2.

but dmesg shows eth0 being loaded as a BCM4315 wireless device ?

You're right! Is there something I can do about this?

This is also the first time I've ever seen a wireless device labeled as an "eth" device.

???

[richyrich]

Please post the output:

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sudo lshw -C network

[number61971]

Thanks for helping.

$ sudo lshw -C network

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  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: eth1
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1f:16:38:d4:78
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.119 duplex=full firmware=sb v3.04 ip=192.168.0.3 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:41 memory:c2000000-c200ffff
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: eth2
       version: 01
       serial: 90:4c:e5:e6:32:8c
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.100.82.38 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
       resources: irq:19 memory:c2100000-c2103fff

[richyrich]

wow , now wired shows up as eth1 ??? . . and your wireless is showing disabled . . turned off ?

edit : just noticed the wireless driver wl0 ? I thought it was supposed to be wl ?

[number61971]

I noticed the eth1 myself. Don't know what to make of it.

As for being "disabled", I've read numerous cases where the OS thinks the wireless card has been turned off by hardware switch when it hasn't been. I can assure you: I haven't tripped that switch!

I'm not sure where you're seeing a "wl0". I followed exactly the module-assistant build of the wl driver. As the lsmod output above shows, that's the kernel module I'm using.

[richyrich]

second last line of that lshw command.

What is the output from this one:

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rfkill list all

[number61971]

I can't believe that every time I check, you've got a response for me. THANK YOU.

$ rfkill list all

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0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no
2: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

[richyrich]

. . right after I step out for a few hours.

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rfkill unblock wlan

[number61971]

I ran the command. There was no output. When I ran rfkill list all again, however, it does show that it is no longer "soft" blocked. But otherwise, no change whatsoever. Still not detecting any wireless network. All the diagnostics I supplied in my original post remain exactly as I reported it.

I restarted the machine, and when I ran rfkill list all, it showed the wlan soft blocked. Running rfkill unblock wlan again results in the same ... nothing. Other than the change in reporting from a successive rfkill list all.

[number61971]

I solved the problem! Wireless works! This may sound ridiculous, but I had never heard of the wireless.kernel.org website. I stumbled across it when I caught an error message during the bootup from a live USB stick of Linux Mint 7 (LTS) that I thought I'd try to see if I got better luck.

That error message led me to this page about the b43 driver.

I followed the instructions for installing Device firmware installation: Ubuntu/Debian ... with the caveat that I needed a variant installer package for this machine: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer instead of the stock firmware-b43-installer.

So, in the end, here are the exact steps I used to get wireless working. (Note that all internet access until wireless functioned was through an ethernet cable, of course.)

1. Installed fresh copy of LMDE 201109

2. Fully upgraded the system and restarted.

3. Installed the b43 driver firmware per the instructions at wireless.kernel.org and restarted.

4. Installed the debian broadcom-sta driver using module assistant per the instructions here on the Linux Mint forums.

4a. Blacklisted all of the following modules (i.e., added entries to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf): b44, b43, b43legacy, ssb, brcm80211, acer_wmi.

5. Restarted.

6. Profit!

I hope this guide proves helpful for others caught in this particularly painful trap.

[Droa]

I solved the problem! Wireless works! This may sound ridiculous, but I had never heard of the wireless.kernel.org website. I stumbled across it when I caught an error message during the bootup from a live USB stick of Linux Mint 7 (LTS) that I thought I'd try to see if I got better luck.

That error message led me to this page about the b43 driver.

I followed the instructions for installing Device firmware installation: Ubuntu/Debian ... with the caveat that I needed a variant installer package for this machine: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer instead of the stock firmware-b43-installer.

So, in the end, here are the exact steps I used to get wireless working. (Note that all internet access until wireless functioned was through an ethernet cable, of course.)

1. Installed fresh copy of LMDE 201109

2. Fully upgraded the system and restarted.

3. Installed the b43 driver firmware per the instructions at wireless.kernel.org and restarted.

4. Installed the debian broadcom-sta driver using module assistant per the instructions here on the Linux Mint forums.

4a. Blacklisted all of the following modules (i.e., added entries to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf): b44, b43, b43legacy, ssb, brcm80211, acer_wmi.

5. Restarted.

6. Profit!

I hope this guide proves helpful for others caught in this particularly painful trap.

i know this is old, but just wanted to add, that this worked for me, however i had to do a "rfkill unblock all" to get the wireless to start, however only had to do it after first restart, it seems to work like intended now.

using Linux Mint 12 LXDE