Netgear USB Wireless Not Working: WNDA3100 v2

[Ow That Hurts]

Hi Folks:

Just installed Mint 20 Cinamon and now my Netgear USB Wireless dongle is not working. It is WNDA3100 v2

I am certain that this dongle works because:

1) It was working fine when I was booting in to windows on this same machine, and

2) I have two other Linux boxes and this dongle works fine on both of those Linux boxes.

This is what lsusb says (note that I am tethering with my motorola phone right now so that is why you see a listing for motorola in lsusb)

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lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 22b8:2e24 Motorola PCS moto g stylus
Bus 003 Device 010: ID 0846:9011 NetGear, Inc. WNDA3100v2 802.11abgn [Broadcom BCM4323]
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 04ca:004b Lite-On Technology Corp. Keyboard
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 17ef:602e Lenovo USB Optical Mouse
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I have tried running Driver Manager and each time is says "Your computer does not need additional drivers."

I have tried rebooting several times. Both when tethered to my hone for wifi internet access, as well as when not tethered to my phone.

I have tried reading the various threads on the forums similar to mine and to b e honest, it seems like most of them lead nowhere or end in suggesting that original poster buy a new wireless card.

The one thing to note is that when I was installing Mint 20 Cinamon, I didn't have any wifi access at the time of installation. Does that matter? After I tethered to my phone, I did a software update.

thanks in advance.

[Pierre]

Bus 003 Device 010: ID 0846:9011 NetGear, Inc. WNDA3100v2 802.11abgn [Broadcom BCM4323]

it's an Broadcom based dongle, so try this:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... html#ID1.2
to see if that, is of any assistance.

[Ow That Hurts]

Bus 003 Device 010: ID 0846:9011 NetGear, Inc. WNDA3100v2 802.11abgn [Broadcom BCM4323]

it's an Broadcom based dongle, so try this:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... html#ID1.2
to see if that, is of any assistance.

Hi there, Pierre:

Thank you for your quick reply.

I tried following the instructions on that page that said use Driver Manager, but when I launch driver manager, the only thing I get is:

"Your computer does not need any additional drivers."

There are no other tabs or buttons on the driver manager to click on.

Further down on that page it says:

you have to install a restricted non-free driver: the bcmwl-kernel-source

I searched up that package in synaptic, but it doesn't list the BCM4323 that is apparently in my dongle. (It lists the 4322 and 4244 but not the 4233).

So I didn't install it cause didn't want to make things worse.

Further down on the page it says:

If disabling Bluetooth doesn't do the job either, then this is how you can install another driver

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source && sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer

Any thoughts on which one to try or not try?

Thanks again.

[Pierre]

Yeah - - try that item at step E & reboot, as it said

if that doesn't work, you can remove it again, with the 1st part of that same command.

[sleeper12]

2) I have two other Linux boxes and this dongle works fine on both of those Linux boxes.

It might help to find which driver is being used on those boxes.

[Ow That Hurts]

2) I have two other Linux boxes and this dongle works fine on both of those Linux boxes.

It might help to find which driver is being used on those boxes.

I can try. How would I look up which drivers are being used???

[Ow That Hurts]

Yeah - - try that item at step e & reboot, as it said

if that doesn't work, you can remove it again, with the 1st part of that same command.

Ok, I did try both parts of that code in part E.

After I rebooted and ran the first part of the code again, this is what I got:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source
[sudo] password for mark:         
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package 'bcmwl-kernel-source' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'broadcom-sta-common' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'broadcom-sta-source' is not installed, so not removed
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

[Pierre]

that's to remove it .. you need to do the other half of the same command,
- as given above to see if the Instal will work,
run the whole command, as given Five Posts up, by yourself.

you can remove it, if it doesn't work, with the command, that you just used.

[sleeper12]

I can try. How would I look up which drivers are being used???

With the adapter plugged into one of those machines, post:

Code: Select all

 inxi -Fxxxz 

[Ow That Hurts]

Arrrggghhhh.... I just realized that the USB wireless dongle was actually NOT working on my two other Linux mint boxes.

But it IS working on my Win 10 boxes. Which makes sense because I downloaded the drivers for win 10 directly from netgear.

I did try running this command several times on all THREE linux boxes (Two Mint 19, one Mint 20), and it hasn't worked on any of them:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source && sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer

But I can't seem to get that wireless dongle to work with any of the three Linux Mint boxes.

If I check for the driver (which isn't working), I get:

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Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 
  vendor: Dell XPS 8300 driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:1691 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: NetGear WNDA3100v2 802.11abgn [Broadcom BCM4323] type: USB 
  driver: usb-network bus ID: 1-1.4:3 chip ID: 0846:9011 
  IF-ID-1: enp0s26u1u2 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter> 

[sleeper12]

I've only found old info on that adapter, but they all say you need to use the ndiswrapper for it to work. Even then, it may not work well. Of course, there might be something more recent than I could find.

[sleeper12]

Are you sure secure boot is off? Check:

Code: Select all

 mokutil --sb-state 

[solarbear]

I had this issue with this broadcom chip in this adapter., try the easy tips first, but what i had to do was use ndiswrapper as a windows driver converter. first set your wine to a newer version of windows than xp or vista. i will look for the link...here is a link to debian, first one i saw

viewtopic.php?t=92044

here is another, but an older version of ubuntu, might still work

https://askubuntu.com/questions/839947/ ... untu-16-04

[Ow That Hurts]

Are you sure secure boot is off? Check:

Code: Select all

 mokutil --sb-state 

Yes, secure boot is disabled.

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$ mokutil --sb-state 
SecureBoot disabled

[Ow That Hurts]

I've only found old info on that adapter, but they all say you need to use the ndiswrapper for it to work. Even then, it may not work well. Of course, there might be something more recent than I could find.

Thanks. I will be able to try that again on Thursday. Right now I have a pci wireless adapter installed temporarily. A rail link???) that didn't seem to need additional drivers.

[Ow That Hurts]

I had this issue with this broadcom chip in this adapter., try the easy tips first, but what i had to do was use ndiswrapper as a windows driver converter. first set your wine to a newer version of windows than xp or vista. i will look for the link...here is a link to debian, first one i saw

viewtopic.php?t=92044

here is another, but an older version of ubuntu, might still work

https://askubuntu.com/questions/839947/ ... untu-16-04

Oh boy... this is starting to spiral a bit. Was hoping to avoid wine and all things windows on this machine.

Nonetheless, will look in to it in a few days. Thanks for the suggestions.

[solarbear]

i remember that the driver windows version had to jive with wine. so if you use the windows 7 driver, wine has to be set to win7, but that was how it worked back then, wine defaults to xp, i think, so the driver was running the netgear n-300 adapter with lackluster performance .

i use a netgear n-150 with an atheros chip, that thing fires up like a champ.