{SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

ichase · 2011-02-10 17:52:59

I’m frustrated that I have to ask for help on this one. I have followed the Arch wiki, downloaded the appropriate driver, and extracted the firmware with b43-fwcutter.

 export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4/linux
b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta.o

No failures or messages stating anything other than successful. I added the driver to my MODULES in my /etc/rc.conf. and blacklisted the one I do not need to prevent conflict per the wiki.

 MODULES=(. . . !b43legacy b43. . .)

I have set up wifi with no problem on 4 other distros on this same lappy. UE 2.8, Mandriva 2010.0-2, Pinguy as well as Mint Julia. I am currently multibooting with XP Pro, Arch and Mandriva 2010.2 (Wireless works great in both XP and Mandriva) The chip set for my wireless is: BCM4318

ifconfig wlan0 up

then

ifconfig

brings up eth0, lo, and wlan0 so I know it recognizes there is a wifi card installed.
When I run

iwlist wlan0 scan

I get something along the lines of Interface does not support scanning, network down. (Network is not down I confirmed this)
I installed wireless-tools during the initial installation by selecting it from the available packages but can’t seem to find it as an available program to use. When I search the Wiki for “Wireless-tools” there is not a wiki for it but in the Wireless management section of the Wireless Setup wiki it states:

Note: If it displays "Interface does not support scanning" then you probably forgot to install the firmware. You can also try bringing up the interface first as shown in point 1.

Well I know I did not forget to install the firmware. The firmware installed fine. I further read that If my encryption is WPA/WPA2 I need to edit the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file with my ESSID and passkey. I did that. It then states to run the following command:

 # wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Then states

This is assuming your device uses the wext driver.

Now this is the first time I have seen ANYTHING about a “WEXT” driver and pretty sure I am not using one of those.

Other things I have read is download Madwifi, Wicd or Wifi Radar. Have not done this as of yet.

I have tried not to ask for help as I am truly of the mind set of figuring it out on my own by doing my own research so that I do not come off as a “Help Junkie” for lack of a better phrase. I have almost everything set up, boots into KDE in about 10 seconds from the time I turn the lappy on. Want to get the wireless working so I can get everything else set up the way I want it. Ultimately wanted to achieve all of this WITHOUT asking for help but here I am. I truly appreciate your help.

All the best,

Ian

Last edited by ichase (2011-02-14 15:58:22)

litemotiv · 2011-02-10 18:50:17

Just to be sure, you did issue that iwlist command as root?

I'm not sure that you need the firmware cutter, have you tried the broadcom-wl package from the AUR?

And are you positive that your card is not supported by one of the kernel drivers (b43 or brcm80211)?

Oh and welcome to the forums!

ichase · 2011-02-10 19:02:46

Thank you very much for the warm welcome litemotiv

I did issue iwlist as root. The BCM4318 is supported by the b43 driver. I have seen where setting up the wireless with this chipset is quite different in Arch then it is on the other distros I have (and currently am) running.
I am sure this is something I am doing wrong and not a problem with the card. I have very limited ethernet opportunity so outside of getting the KDE environment installed and DLing the driver IAW the Wiki I need to have wireless to continue on. I have already learned more about Linux, installing and reading about Arch then I have on all of my other installs combined. So I can definitely see me as being an Arch user for life.
Thank you very much for responding and offering your time to help me.

All the best,

Ian

Gusar · 2011-02-10 20:13:29

Madwifi is for atheros cards (so not relevant for you), and if you can't get wpa_supplicant and iwlist working then wicd or wifi-radar won't help, they're merely frontends.

As far as I can see you did everything correct. I followed the same procedure, but for a BCM4306/2 card with the b43legacy driver, and it worked. You could try the broadcom-wl driver, but there should be no need, your card is definitely supported by b43.

It's a shot in the dark, but post dmesg output after the unsuccessful scan attempt. Who knows, maybe it'll give a clue as to what is wrong. Another shot in the dark, try with -Dnl80211 with wpa_supplicant, though it should work with -Dwext too. Also, start wpa_supplicant without -B, this way it'll give you some output on what it's doing.

ichase · 2011-02-11 14:47:09

Gusar,
Thank you for the great advice as it definitely gives me food for thought. I have been thoroughly reading up on wpa_supplicant in the wiki and thinking this route may very well be what I need.
I also read where entering:

# dmesg | grep firmware

would give me an output showing if the firmware was actually installed correctly. Though everything seemed to be fine when I did, it's seems like a good idea to make sure.

Hopefully I can get this up and running. I refuse to wave the white flag of defeat.

All the best and I hope everyone reading this has a great weekend,

Ian

iTwenty · 2011-02-14 11:25:44

On my laptop, there is a separate button that toggles WiFi on/off. If I set it to off, it gives me the same message as you get:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down
Might be worth checking into.

ichase · 2011-02-14 15:18:27

iTwenty, thank you for the response. I seem to have fixed the problem and I think I know what I had done wrong. I re-installed Arch on Saturday and realized that I may have installed the wrong Driver. In reading through the wiki, there is a newer driver for the updated Kernel. Once I installed that and extracted it with the b43-fwcutter and performed ifconfig wlan0 up, my wifi light came on. Installed KDE again then Wicd and now Wicd comes up when I log in and connects to my router.
Now the one thing that I have that I need to do more reading on, is when I am booting up, verbose stops at Networking and hangs for about 45 seconds then FAILs. I'm thinking with the wireless set up that I may need to go into my /etc/rc.conf and comment out the networking section.

Either way, this post can be set to {SOLVED} trying to figure out how to do that on my own.

All the best,

Ian

iTwenty · 2011-02-14 15:50:50

Since you are using wicd, you can safely put a ! in front of network in DAEMONS array in rc.conf to prevent it from loading altogether.

ichase · 2011-02-14 15:54:27

DUH!!!! I knew that. Also, do you know how I can mark this post as "SOLVED" or does a moderator need to do that?

Thanks again,

Ian

tomk · 2011-02-14 15:55:54

Edit the first post in the thread.

ichase · 2011-02-14 15:58:43

Thanks Tom

All the best,

Ian

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-10 17:52:59

{SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#2 2011-02-10 18:50:17

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#3 2011-02-10 19:02:46

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#4 2011-02-10 20:13:29

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#5 2011-02-11 14:47:09

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#6 2011-02-14 11:25:44

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#7 2011-02-14 15:18:27

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#8 2011-02-14 15:50:50

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#9 2011-02-14 15:54:27

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#10 2011-02-14 15:55:54

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

#11 2011-02-14 15:58:43

Re: {SOLVED} Unable to setup wireless networking

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