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#1 2011-05-03 00:17:14

MrSpecial
Member
From: Baltimore, Maryland
Registered: 2011-05-03
Posts: 7

[SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

I installed Arch with kernel26 version 2.6.34 (with same kernel26-headers version), built the module for my broadcom (4312 - broadcom-wl driver), and eventually got wireless internet capability. However, after upgrading the kernel version to 2.6.38, while trying to load my driver I get the error "Module wl not found." Moving the wl.ko module file into the correct directory for the new kernel drivers, I get the message "invalid module format." So I tried rebuilding the module, but I now receive the error "error: implicit declaration of function 'init_MUTEX'" during the build process.

I have tried downgrading the kernel back to 2.6.34 and I can get wireless after rebuilding the module. But is there is any way right now for me to use the newest kernel26 version AND have my wireless driver working?

Last edited by MrSpecial (2011-05-06 06:16:52)

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#2 2011-05-03 05:12:52

frigaut
Member
From: Canberra, Australia
Registered: 2009-05-10
Posts: 215
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

Moving wl.ko is certainly not the right thing to do...
I believe I was able to built broadcom-wl on 2.6.38 ok. Are you up to date on everything including gcc?

In my case, I ended up using b43, the open source driver. Look up the info on the web, there's a list of supported card. All I had to do is installed the latest b43-fimware (git version) and I was rolling.

2.6.39 is supposed to have even better support for the broadcom cards.


Archer since 03/2009 - AUR packages

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#3 2011-05-03 05:49:35

MrSpecial
Member
From: Baltimore, Maryland
Registered: 2011-05-03
Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

pacman says gcc is up to date, I have version 4.6.0-3. I see there is a newer version in the Testing repository, do you think I should try installing that version? According to the Arch wiki, my broadcom device needs the wl driver, trying to use the b43 driver gives me "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error. I can't seem to find an official package for kernel 2.6.39, would it be a good idea find the upgrade somewhere else and manually add it as a package into pacman?

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#4 2011-05-03 05:54:01

tomk
Forum Fellow
From: Ireland
Registered: 2004-07-21
Posts: 9,839

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

wl needs patches to work with kernel 2.6.38 - use the AUR package, it has everything you need.

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#5 2011-05-03 10:45:50

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

Everytime you install a new major kernel-version, you have to rebuild broadcom-wl against the newly installed kernel. If you do that, you'll continue to have a working wl module.

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#6 2011-05-03 12:36:38

anti-destin
Member
Registered: 2009-02-14
Posts: 234

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

just curious: why are you using the wl driver? is the stock driver in kernel 2.6.38 not working for you? my broadcom card works just fine with the stock driver in the kernel.

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#7 2011-05-03 13:28:50

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

anti-destin wrote:

just curious: why are you using the wl driver? is the stock driver in kernel 2.6.38 not working for you? my broadcom card works just fine with the stock driver in the kernel.

The new driver (brcm*) only works with a few broadcom-chipsets: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/brcm80211
The b43-driver also doesn't support all devices: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drive … chip_types

... so many of us are stuck with broadcom-wl...

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#8 2011-05-04 00:05:17

MrSpecial
Member
From: Baltimore, Maryland
Registered: 2011-05-03
Posts: 7

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

I downloaded the broadcom-wl driver from the AUR and everything installed just fine. Thanks for all the help guys.

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#9 2011-05-04 01:19:36

frigaut
Member
From: Canberra, Australia
Registered: 2009-05-10
Posts: 215
Website

Re: [SOLVED] Kernel 2.6.38 disables Broadcom Wireless driver

oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that you had to get it from AUR (thought it was obvious, didn't see you post count, you must be relatively new to arch, welcome)
*Always* use the AUR package if there's one available. It will work most of the time (some of them are outdated and will fail to build).
*Always* use pacman to install stuff. Personally, I've almost never installed from source. If something is not in AUR or the AUR package does not build, it's always better to write your own PKGBUILD to install stuff. This way you're sure that:
1) you won't overwrite an existing system (or not system) file
2) you can uninstall the package completely and cleanly with a pacman -R
Sticking to that principles, I haven't had to re-install my system for the past 2 years...


Archer since 03/2009 - AUR packages

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