Another Broadcom 4306 Install problem...

[kirbyg]

Hi folks. Sorry, it's another Broadcom post. I know these must get frustrating. I've seen so many others in my quest to get this working...

I just installed Linux Mint 11 main on my Dell Latitude D600. Clicking the networking icon in the task tray shows "wireless device. Device not ready (firmware missing)"


rfkill list shows:
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

inxi -N shows:
Network: Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller driver b43-pci-bridge
Card-2 Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5702X Gigabit Ethernet driver tg3

The Additional Drivers panel says "No Proprietary Drivers are in use on this system."

lspci shows:
02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)


I then installed b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43legacy-installer and rebooted. I used legacy because my card is rev 02.

lspci -vvnn run as root shows:

02:03.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell TrueMobile 1300 WLAN Mini-PCI Card [1028:0001]
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 32
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5
Region 0: Memory at fafee000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: ssb


I have also tried installing firmware-b43-installer with the same result.

It seems that this thing simply isn't recognized. I've tried so many different solutions from the forums and google that I eventually wiped the drive and reinstalled just to be sure I hadn't spoiled something with all my poking around. All of the above is from my third fresh install in two days. I was hoping not to have to post yet another "OMG, I can't get broadcom to work!" post, but here I am. I'm at the end of my rope.

I'm a fairly knowledgeable Windows tech, and I have a basic user knowledge of solaris and AIX, but most of this admin-level stuff is new to me, so use little words...

Help? Please and thank you?
--Kirby

[kirbyg]

wifiMint.py output:

-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
==> PCI ID = 14e4:4320 (rev 02)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0d:5663:87
inet addr:192.168.0.25 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fede:6387/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3131 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2071 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3422614 (3.4 MB) TX bytes:282469 (282.4 KB)
Interrupt:11

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1440 (1.4 KB) TX bytes:1440 (1.4 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 192.168.0.1
Address: 192.168.0.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.225.83
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.225.82
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.225.80
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.225.84
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.225.81

[TBABill]

Do you see b43legacy in the list when you run lsmod in a terminal? Hopefully you'll see it and not plain b43.

[kirbyg]

Do you see b43legacy in the list when you run lsmod in a terminal? Hopefully you'll see it and not plain b43.

Yes, it's there.

Code: Select all

Module                  Size  Used by
binfmt_misc            13213  1 
dm_crypt               22463  0 
snd_intel8x0           33213  2 
snd_ac97_codec        105614  1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus               12642  1 snd_ac97_codec
arc4                   12473  2 
snd_pcm                80244  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
b43legacy             127415  0 
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
snd_rawmidi            25269  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                51291  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
mac80211              257001  1 b43legacy
joydev                 17322  0 
snd_timer              28659  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
cfg80211              156212  2 b43legacy,mac80211
ppdev                  12849  0 
pcmcia                 39671  0 
snd_seq_device         14110  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
parport_pc             32111  1 
dcdbas                 14054  0 
yenta_socket           27230  0 
pcmcia_rsrc            18292  1 yenta_socket
snd                    55295  11 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
psmouse                73312  0 
serio_raw              12990  0 
lp                     13349  0 
pcmcia_core            21505  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,pcmcia_rsrc
shpchp                 32345  0 
soundcore              12600  1 snd
parport                36746  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
snd_page_alloc         14073  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
dm_raid45              88410  0 
xor                    21860  1 dm_raid45
btrfs                 527341  0 
zlib_deflate           26594  1 btrfs
libcrc32c              12543  1 btrfs
radeon                896428  3 
ttm                    65184  1 radeon
drm_kms_helper         40745  1 radeon
drm                   180037  5 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
tg3                   131476  0 
ssb                    45942  1 b43legacy
video                  18951  0 
i2c_algo_bit           13184  1 radeon

[TBABill]

Have you tried to run it with the ssb module ignored? To do so you can

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r b43legacy ssb

and that will disable both. Then just enable the b43legacy by

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe b43legacy

If that works then you can add

Code: Select all

blacklist ssb

to the file (as root) /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and restart.

[kirbyg]

Darn. No luck.

It did disable both, and the networking icon on the lower right showed no wireless option at all.

Then I modprobed b43 legacy back and the networking icon the bottom right has the wireless option back, but it's greyed out and still says "device not ready (firmware missing)".

Thank you for the attempt!

[TBABill]

Do you have an Ubuntu LiveCD? If so you may be able to get the files from there to install. According to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... t%20access you can find the files you need for an offline installation INCLUDING FIRMWARE, which you do need and do not currently have installed, under the directory on the CD ../pool/main/b/b43-fwcutter/

Detailed info on the b43legacy and how to configure is at http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

[kirbyg]

Okay, got it working.

I went here, as suggested https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... t%20access.

I ran steps 1 through 4, and then had to run step 5 to get anything to show up, even though it's supposed to be for the live install.

I have rebooted and the wireless networking is fully functional.

"Additional Drivers" still says there are no proprietary drivers in use on this system. Is that normal? I thought (and the dcs say) that b43 was supposed to show up there.

[TBABill]

That's not really normal but I can't really say why it's not showing up. It never offers me the b43 anymore either even though it did in Karmic.

[AlbertP]

Additional Drivers has a bug with b43legacy devices.

[sremick]

I have this exact same setup (Linux Mint 11, Latitude D600, Broadcom BCM4306 rev 02) but I'm not able to install b43 legacy. Here's the error:

Setting up b43-fwcutter (1:013-3) ...
Setting up firmware-b43legacy-installer (4.178.10.4-5) ...
Not supported card here (PCI id 14e4:165
14e4:4320)!
Use b43 firmware. This is just for the b43legacy driver.
Aborting.

So while my scenario seems the same, in mine it's telling me to use the regular b43 and not "legacy". However, I can't get it to work with b43 either. But I don't get the above error when I install the regular b43 firmware.

[AlbertP]

Can you install just b43-fwcutter only, and no firmware-xxx-installer?

[sdotsdots]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and new to Mint. I know this thread is a few months old, but I'm in the same predicament so I figured I'd just piggy back here.

I just did a clean install of Mint 11 LXDE after trying several versions of Ubuntu since Hardy Heron. I have the Broadcom 4306 Rev 2 chipset in my old laptop (hp ze4630us) and have gotten up to the point where I can locate networks, but never connect. Days and days of Google searches have led me here. FWIW, I never tried the wireless on this laptop with Ubuntu, because it was stationary, but it did work on XP and the wifi light lights up with my current Mint install if that means anything.

I have installed the b43 legacy drivers and b43 fwcutter. I have tried the linuxwireless.org instructions here (http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43). I have tried multiple types of encryption on my router None/WEP/WPA/WPA2 Personal and end up in an endless loop where I keep getting prompted to enter the key or passphrase. In the case of no encryption, it just sits for a while then says "Wireless disconnected". I'm pretty frustrated and am on the verge of just looking for an old cardbus adapter or something (open for recommendations if you have any, btw) but I really want to try to get this thing working.

... to the admins, sorry if reviving old threads is frowned upon. I can start a new one if that's the case. I just hate to see a bunch of threads with the same topic.

[Baldlygo]

I have been trying Mint12 (CD and DVD) on my old Dell Inspiron 8000 but have this "missing firmware" problem preventing me from connecting wifi. However my Dell had no problem with Puppy Linux connecting - which is what I am posting this reply with. My Puppy tells me it is using Broadcom BCM4306 (rev 3) so surely the firmware must be in place ok.

I read here that b43-fwcutter will install the firmware so I am worried that if I try it to get Mint working it may change my firmware and that my original Puppy will be messed up and not work any more.

Therefore I would suggest the "missing firmware" message is erroneous - my firmware must be in place OK already to work in Puppy

Paul

[LindseyD.]

sdotsdots, I can't help with your problem, but I can help with your question.

You should definitely begin a new thread. First off, the subject line here is very vague, second, you don't have the same problem.

As a subject line for your post, I'd suggest: Broadcom 4306: can locate networks, but never connect

[AlbertP]

[quote="Baldlygo"I read here that b43-fwcutter will install the firmware so I am worried that if I try it to get Mint working it may change my firmware and that my original Puppy will be messed up and not work any more.

Therefore I would suggest the "missing firmware" message is erroneous - my firmware must be in place OK already to work in Puppy [/quote]
B43 firmware is for 4306 'rev 03' and higher. 'rev 02' and before require b43-legacy firmware instead. Please verify with lspci which revision you are using.

[Baldlygo]

Code: Select all

# 09:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)

This is from my Puppy lspci command and my Belkin adapter works well on Puppy for wlan0 connection with wpa key

Paul

[AlbertP]

I doubt that such an old card will do WPA2 well. Anyway if firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter are installed it should work.

[Baldlygo]

I doubt that such an old card will do WPA2 well. Anyway if firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter are installed it should work.

Thanks Albert - but why does it work perfectly in Puppy with the existing firmware and not in Mint ...and if I install new firmware I will risk upsetting my Puppy will I not ....as much as I would like to run Mint on my Dell the risk would be too much for me to take

Paul

[TBABill]

The firmware from Puppy has nothing to do with firmware in Mint. Without the firmware in Mint the device will not work, just as it would not without it in Puppy. They're separate and do not interact so there's no danger of using it in every distro/Windows version you have on the machine. They do not impact each other at all.