Can't connect to wifi on Live CD Mint 14

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sunlee1988

Can't connect to wifi on Live CD Mint 14

Post by sunlee1988 »

Hello, I've read the post and have the same problem, except I have different outputs when I ran the commands on Terminal.
(I am running Linux Mint 14 (Nadia) w/Cinnamon btw on a LiveUSB and trying to install, asking for internet connection before anything btw)
(Also apologies beforehand for the lack of indentation, I had to type this all out haha)

input:
iwconfig
output:
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.

input:
sudo lshw -C network
output:
*-network
description: Network controller
product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33Mhz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory:feafc000-feafffff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: AR8132 Fast Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: c0
serial: 00:26:55:c5:58:a2
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33Mhz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.0-NAPI latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
resources: irq:44 memory:febc0000-febfffff ioport:ec80(size=128)

input:
grep wlan0 /var/log/syslog
output:
(nothing)

From reading the thread I see that the Broadcom brand has something to do with my LiveUSB not being able to connect wirelessly.
I am installing LinuxMint on my netbook and don't have a cd/dvd drive, any help would be deeply appreciated!!!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
OSNovice17

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD

Post by OSNovice17 »

I had a similar problem with the Atheros Ethernet "card" which is built into the motherboard.

You need a driver for the Ethernet built into the motherboard. Probably the CD you are using does NOT have this DRIVER for the Atheros Ethernet.. and Wireless

You should be able to solve your problem as follows...(as I solved this same issue following these steps):

1) Go ahead and install the OS from your CD or USB drive as is (without the internet connection). When you do this, you will not be able to download any additional packages, but should have the base install.

2) The drivers you need can be download from the internet using a computer which has internet connectivity. The drivers here >> compat-wireless-2012-07-03-pc.tar.bz2 (search online for this) and copy it to a USB.

3) By now you should be done with Step#1 be able to Log into Linux Mint, Plug this USB into your your machine and copy this to any directory..for example copy it to /home/[your_user_id]/driverfiles

4) Unzip this >> compat-wireless-2012-07-03-pc.tar.bz2 to the same directory

4) Go to Terminal, and LOGIN as su (<< this user should be the admin user with full permissions)

5) Change directories to where the unzipped files (from compat-wireless-2012-07-03-pc.tar.bz2) are stored. In my case I stored them in a folder called driverfiles in this location /home/[my_user_id]

In TERMINAL type the following

cd /home/[your_user_id]/driverfiles
./scripts/driver-select alx
make
sudo make install
modprobe alx


FOR WIRELESS .. the following driver >> ath9k can be installed.

cd /home/[your_user_id]/driverfiles
./scripts/driver-select ath
make
sudo make install
modprobe ath9k

After you do all the above.. REBOOT your machine.
When you do, go into Network you should see a "WIRED" and a "WIRELESS", make sure you UNLOCK, select properties and set the Configuration to "automatic DHCP"

PLEASE NOTE: If you DO NOT HAVE the right PERMISSIONS, you will get "permission denied" errors. In this case, use the following command: chmod a+x [path where the permission is needed]
So for example if you get permission denied for ./scripts/.config then you need to type chmod a+x ./scripts/config
Keeping doing chmod a+x each time you get a permission denied give the right permission
After correcting the permission issues, RERUN Step 5

This should do it.. hope this helps
mac173

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD

Post by mac173 »

Same problem.
" if you have got a Broadcom wifi adapter chances are high that it will not be supported by the live CD, because you will need to install a proprietary Broadcom driver"

Can someone post a link, or info as to how to get the Broadcom driver and install it?
OSNovice17

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD

Post by OSNovice17 »

Follow the steps in the post above.

Broadcom drivers are here >> http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
sunlee1988

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD

Post by sunlee1988 »

Soooo after a couple of hours of searching I have fixed my wifi problem last night!
My machine: HP Mini 110 1125NR
Running: Linux Mint 14 w/ Cinnamon full install
Broadcom wifi Card: Chip ID is BCM4312, PCI-ID is 14e4:4315

Background story: I was installing Linux Mint 14 via LiveUSB and realized my computer couldn't connect to wifi when clearly before through Windows 7 Starter it was able to. I skipped any additional package downloads via the internet and did a base install. I didn't have Ethernet connection (the router that I connect to the internet through is somewhere else in my apartment building) so I found out I have to install the firmware manually.

After discovering thanks to karlchen that it is probably my Broadcom card and Linux Mint can't have proprietary drivers included in the install for legal issues, I went ahead and searched online. Several links finally led me to the appropriate set of instructions:

First of all, it depends on the Broadcom card chip ID. Refer to link:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... t%20access
This link is best to find which driver corresponds to your Chip ID and PCI ID.

As for which files to download, (specifically to my 4312 Chip ID), the link below said to use b43-fwcutter-015 instead of b43-fwcutter so I Googled it to download:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Dri ... 3#firmware
The exact file is b43fwcutter-015-tar.bz2
The thing is I don't have internet connection on my netbook so I had to use my other laptop to download, then I uploaded to a usb flash drive and manually placed it in a directory on my netbook (one of the links says it doesn't matter which one. I just left them on my Desktop. The same goes for broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2 below. You might as well download and transfer both at the same time).
You need to download, then extract and install entering the following command lines:

Code: Select all

  tar xjf b43-fwcutter-015.tar.bz2
  cd b43-fwcutter-015
  make
  sudo make install
  cd ..
It then says to download Broadcom's proprietary driver version 5.100.138
The exact file is broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
You need to extract the firmware using b43-fwcutter-015, with the following command lines:

Code: Select all

   export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
   tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
   sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o
After that, I rebooted my netbook and when it started up again my wifi was back up and running!!!

Btw, this is for kernel source 3.2+, an older kernel would require different instructions (in the second link above).

If your stats are different, it shouldn't be much too different. Just read the articles, Google anything you can Google, and hopefully you will land on an answer. I did!

Thanks karlchen for pointing me in the right direction!
Best regards.
mac173

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD

Post by mac173 »

sunlee1988 wrote: First of all, it depends on the Broadcom card chip ID. Refer to link:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... t%20access
This link is best to find which driver corresponds to your Chip ID and PCI ID.
That site gives you the command line input to do the install. It is very easy, you just need to follow the instructions. I ran those two commands, and wireless was working.

Code: Select all

lspci -vvnn
This will list all your devices. My wireless card was the last one on the list. The site showed more arguments to filter for just Broadcom devices, but mine did not show up that way.
Directy from that link:
12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)

Open a Terminal and install the bcmwl-kernel-source package:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
Note: If you see the message "Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed" then you are missing the appropriate generic linux-header package(s).

To test the driver (and remove the need for a computer restart) use:

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe wl
Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

The bcmwl-kernel-source package should automatically blacklist the open source drivers so that the STA driver is the only one in use. However, some 11.10 users may have to manually blacklist the open source modules (please see the Known Issues section).
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Oscar799
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: Can't connect to wifi on Live CD Mint 14

Post by Oscar799 »

Split from a very old thread about a previous version of Mint
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