Wireless NICs won't connect

[kurtking]

Continuing to set up my Compaq / HP nx6125 (Turion 64, 1GB, 60GB) with LMDE2-MATE to connect wirelessly. It has a built-in BCM4318 for which I found the b43 driver and installed it according to http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/. That's WLAN0. Then I plugged in a USB Wi-fi dongle marked 802.11n inside of which is a Realtek 8188EU chip. That's WLAN1. In the network settings / properties dialog for each I specified the house network ESSID, WPA2 Personal, and the key. To unlock the fields I have to remove the X from "Enable Roaming Mode". (Is that enabling roaming or the reverse?) When done I relock the properties fields and exit the dialog. In the settings dialog the "check" boxes on the left show a dash, the same as for my working wired connection, and "roaming" again is enabled according to a message on each (and my wired connection). All well?

Hardly. If I unplug the ethernet wire, I have no connectivity. And after 10 minutes or so the settings details have been wiped (as if they timed out) and the key type returned to WPA. In the settings dialog, clicking the lock doesn't lock.

Here is what I think might be useful. Let me know of anything else.

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kurt@turion ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: turion Kernel: 3.16.0-4-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.4) 
           Desktop: MATE 1.10.0 (Gtk 3.14.5+4) Distro: LinuxMint 2 betsy 
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Compaq nx6125 (PZ221UA#ABA) v: F.07
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 308B v: KBC Version 45.23
           Bios: Hewlett-Packard v: 68DTT Ver. F.07 date: 07/01/2005
CPU:       Single core AMD Turion 64 Mobile ML-30 (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 1596 clocked at 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RS480M [Mobility Radeon Xpress 200]
           bus-ID: 01:05.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on ATI RS480
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller 
           driver: snd_atiixp bus-ID: 00:14.5 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.0-4-amd64
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller
           driver: b43-pci-bridge bus-ID: 02:02.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5788 Gigabit Ethernet
           driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 02:01.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 60.0GB (16.9% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST960822A size: 60.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 51G used: 5.5G (12%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.44GB used: 0.16GB (4%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0C mobo: 51.0C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 155 Uptime: 2:05 Memory: 543.4/872.3MB 
           Init: SysVinit runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.9.2 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301) inxi: 2.1.28 

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kurt@turion ~ $ rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

BTW, the Realtek dongle every two minutes or so, flashes red about 5 times in a second.
Any help would be appreciated.