[SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

creese · 2012-07-28 16:43:59

I have a Macbook5,1 (Late 2008, Unibody) with Broadcom BCM 4322 (14e4:432b). I'm trying to get the wireless up.

Steps to reproduce:

Get the latest iso. Reboot.

At the prompt,

ip link set dev eth0 up
dhcpcd eth0
pacman -Syy
pacman -S base-devel
choose option 3
wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/b4/b43-firmware/PKGBUILD
makepkg --asroot
pacman -U b43-firmware-5.100.138-2-any.pkg.tar.xz
rmmod b43

At this point, I get an error. It's the output of dmesg, starting with

 [  391.239096] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at 0000000000000098

uname -a

Linux archiso 3.4.5-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 16 21:35:54 CEST 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lspci -vvn | grep 43 -A7

03:00.0 0280: 14e4:432b (rev 01)
	Subsystem: 106b:008d
	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: 0, Cache Line Size: 256 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 23
	Region 0: Memory at d3100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
--
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

ls -al /usr/lib/firmware/b43

http://pastebin.com/1XvkJvTR

dmesg

http://pastebin.com/Q8bmbJr5

Last edited by creese (2012-08-04 03:22:36)

altbdoor · 2012-07-28 16:50:04

Hi creese! Welcome to Arch Linux!

creese wrote:

Broadcom BCM 4322 (14e4:432b)

Have you checked out https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless ?
Your wireless driver is stated as supported by b43 or b43legacy driver. Have you tried modprobing them?

kaszak696 · 2012-07-28 16:56:15

Why are you symlinking the firmware files instead of just installing the b43-firmware packege you just made?

creese · 2012-07-28 16:57:12

I'm using the b43 driver (not legacy). I have to unload it before I can load it, don't I? Unloading the driver is what causes the error.

creese · 2012-07-28 16:59:38

By "install", I assume you mean copy. It makes no difference.

Last edited by creese (2012-07-28 17:00:05)

kaszak696 · 2012-07-28 17:04:57

Huh? Makepkg command should make a b43-firmware package in the directory with the PKGBUILD, it can be installed using 'pacman -U <path_to_package>' command.

creese · 2012-07-28 17:27:39

It doesn't make a package in this case. Just extracts some files. Here are the corresponding steps from linuxwireless.org:

wget http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
b43-fwcutter -w /root/pkg/usr/lib/firmware broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o

altbdoor · 2012-07-29 03:03:07

Wow okay. Please note, @kaszak696's suggestion is to install the AUR package, and @creese, you're doing it wrong.

creese wrote:

By "install", I assume you mean copy. It makes no difference.

Please do not make assumptions. Installing and copying files are different processes. We're talking about packages here. You can copy files, and the system will never tell you what worked and what doesn't. Installation (with pacman of course) reports dependencies problems and more.

creese wrote:

It doesn't make a package in this case. Just extracts some files. Here are the corresponding steps from linuxwireless.org:

Before I go any further, _please_, read the Arch Wiki pages. I'm not saying linuxwireless.org's steps are wrong. The installation method in Arch is different.

So, do me a favor and go read up on these wiki pages.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ar … Repository
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Makepkg
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PKGBUILD
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Br … nel_module

And while you're on a run, read the Forum Etiquettes as well.

-----

Now, referring back to my post.

From the Broadcom Arch Wiki page, your wireless module has already been supported!

Please! Read the Broadcom Arch Wiki page!

Only when the steps in Broadcom Arch Wiki fails, you go to @kaszak696's suggestion.

Last edited by altbdoor (2012-07-29 03:03:25)

creese · 2012-07-29 03:49:53

I stand corrected. A package was created, and I was able to install it. But that didn't solve the problem. The Broadcom Arch Wiki suggests I blacklist the b43 module so it isn't loaded before I extract the firmware. But, I'm on the arch iso. Changes to config files don't persist across reboots.

Last edited by creese (2012-07-29 03:57:10)

altbdoor · 2012-07-29 06:01:37

creese wrote:

I stand corrected. A package was created, and I was able to install it. But that didn't solve the problem. The Broadcom Arch Wiki suggests I blacklist the b43 module so it isn't loaded before I extract the firmware. But, I'm on the arch iso. Changes to config files don't persist across reboots.

Ah I see. Please confirm this before I go any further. You are now trying to set the wireless up, so you could install Arch Linux into your Macbook, am I right?

kaszak696 · 2012-07-29 06:19:04

Blacklisting a module just to install firmware seems a bit like an overkill. Just unload the module before installing:

modprobe -r b43

and then go on with installing. To bring the module back, use

modprobe b43

BTW, the Arch Broadcom Wiki says to blacklist the OTHER module to prevent conflicts and confusion. For example, if you want to use b43 module, the wiki encourages you to blacklist b43legacy.

creese · 2012-07-29 22:12:25

altbdoor wrote:

Please confirm this before I go any further. You are now trying to set the wireless up, so you could install Arch Linux into your Macbook, am I right?

Yes, and my new plan is to forget about this, finish the install, and come back to it later.

creese · 2012-07-29 22:14:03

kaszak696 wrote:

Blacklisting a module just to install firmware seems a bit like an overkill. Just unload the module before installing

Unloading the module is what causes the error. See the output from dmesg above.

altbdoor · 2012-07-30 05:39:01

creese wrote:

Yes, and my new plan is to forget about this, finish the install, and come back to it later.

Good idea. Finish up the installation first with a wired connection before fixing the wireless.

When you're done, try to use the b43 or b43legacy wireless modules before using any other module.

Determine if any wireless modules are loaded before with lsmod. By default, Arch should automatically use b43 or b43legacy. If they are listed in the results of lsmod, try connecting to a wireless, preferably with no security to start.

If b43/b43legacy is not listed, we'll need the output of your lsmod to see what wireless module was loaded instead.

creese · 2012-08-04 03:24:33

Following the same steps on a new install and rebooting did the trick.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-28 16:43:59

[SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#2 2012-07-28 16:50:04

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#3 2012-07-28 16:56:15

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#4 2012-07-28 16:57:12

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#5 2012-07-28 16:59:38

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#6 2012-07-28 17:04:57

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#7 2012-07-28 17:27:39

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#8 2012-07-29 03:03:07

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#9 2012-07-29 03:49:53

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#10 2012-07-29 06:01:37

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#11 2012-07-29 06:19:04

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#12 2012-07-29 22:12:25

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#13 2012-07-29 22:14:03

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#14 2012-07-30 05:39:01

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

#15 2012-08-04 03:24:33

Re: [SOLVED] Problem with Broadcom BCM 4322

Board footer