Arch Linux

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

[SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

I have never really had issues with this card before this, but when I installed Arch, even in the ISO environment, iw dev comes up blank.
Any ideas?

(Yes, I looked through the Broadcom Wireless wiki, no help there)

This is the 'lspci -nn -vv' entry for the card:

0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4328] (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-card [1028:000a]
	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: 64 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
	Region 0: Memory at f6cfc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Region 2: Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=1M]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-
	Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
	Capabilities: [e8] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
		Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000
	Capabilities: [d0] Express (v1) Endpoint, MSI 00
		DevCap:	MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <4us, L1 unlimited
			ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset-
		DevCtl:	Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
			RlxdOrd- ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
			MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 128 bytes
		DevSta:	CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr- TransPend-
		LnkCap:	Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM unknown, Latency L0 <4us, L1 <64us
			ClockPM- Surprise+ LLActRep- BwNot-
		LnkCtl:	ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- Retrain- CommClk+
			ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
		LnkSta:	Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
	Capabilities: [100 v1] Advanced Error Reporting
		UESta:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UEMsk:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UESvrt:	DLP+ SDES- TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		CESta:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr-
		CEMsk:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr+
		AERCap:	First Error Pointer: 00, GenCap+ CGenEn- ChkCap+ ChkEn-
	Capabilities: [13c v1] Virtual Channel
		Caps:	LPEVC=0 RefClk=100ns PATEntryBits=1
		Arb:	Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128-
		Ctrl:	ArbSelect=Fixed
		Status:	InProgress-
		VC0:	Caps:	PATOffset=00 MaxTimeSlots=1 RejSnoopTrans-
			Arb:	Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128- TWRR128- WRR256-
			Ctrl:	Enable+ ID=0 ArbSelect=Fixed TC/VC=01
			Status:	NegoPending- InProgress-
	Capabilities: [160 v1] Device Serial Number d5-b5-68-ff-ff-94-00-22
	Capabilities: [16c v1] Power Budgeting <?>
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
	Kernel modules: ssb

Last edited by drasticraft (2013-07-26 22:08:51)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

I would have thought that if you had looked through the Arch wiki page on broadcom, you would have realized that broadcom support in Linux is terribly more complex than it should be, and that you should be pretty explicit in your explanation of the problem.

So we know what kind of card you have.  What are you trying to use as the driver for your card?  Have you tried more than one?  If so, which ones?  Have you looked at the b43 Linux Wireless page?

forumache

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2011-09-02

Posts: 55

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Quick test:

run dmesg and see if you have some text saying that you need to load firmware. If so, your card will not work until you load it (using b43-fwcutter, etc.)

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Quick test:

run dmesg and see if you have some text saying that you need to load firmware.

Well, it turns out I didn't load the files to the right spot.
So I re-did it, this time made a script for it, and iw dev recognises it. And the green 'Wi-Fi' light is on, too.
But when I scan for networks using wifi-menu, the light goes out and it reports that there are no networks.

Last edited by drasticraft (2013-07-26 18:33:40)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

You didn't load the files to the right spot?  You did this manually?  I'm not sure if you are aware, but there is a b43-firmware AUR package that takes care of this for you.  I mean you are welcome to do it manually if that is what you want.  But I just think that it is better to have things tracked in your filesystem by pacman.  In this way, you will also get updates (if broadcom ever chooses to actually update the STA driver).

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

I am aware of that package. Frankly I don't know what to do with a pkgbuild, so I just put them there myself using this script:

wget http://bues.ch/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-017.tar.bz2
tar -xjf b43-fwcutter-017.tar.bz2
cd b43-fwcutter-017
make
sleep 2
sudo make install
sleep 3
echo "Starting install..."
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
tar -xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Oh, using the AUR is probably something you should get to understanding anyway.  It will vastly open up your Arch Linux experience. 

Basically the AUR provides PKGBUILDs and other support files.  So you would get the build sources from the AUR (download the tarball and extract it).  Then navigate to the directory it has extracted, and then run "makepkg".  There are some pretty useful flags as well, which can be found with the man page, or --help.  The one that might really serve you well here is to use "--syncdeps", which will install any dependencies as long as they are in the official repos.

BTW, I'm not sure why you are getting the b43 sources directly.  There is a nice official b43-fwcutter package in [core].  So in this particular instance, you would just need to get the b43-firmware package from the AUR.

See the makepkg wiki page for more info.  The AUR wiki page and the PKGBUILD wiki page should also help you out (though they are not quite as crucial to your basic understanding).

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

oh well. Guess I'm just used to doing things myself....

I love pkgbuild! It makes me want to install more stuff!

Well, now that the firmware is in the right spot, why is the wifi light going out after I run wifi-menu?

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

What is nice about the way Arch Linux deals with package creation is that it is super easy.  So if you have even very basic bash knowledge, you can create or modify your own packages.  For example, if there is something in the repos that you know has some functionality you don't need (or there is some functionality you want to enable in the ./configure part), it is as simple as using the Arch Build System to make the packages yourself.

If you want a way to be able to search AUR packages from the command line, and to automatically download the tarball and extract it, take a look at cower.  It is written in C by falconindy, and is incredibly convenient.  There are other "AUR helpers" as well with more functionality, but I think it is a good idea to learn how to do things manually first, so that you don't become totally reliant on the helper.  But IMO cower provides the convenience of not having to visit the AUR site all the time, as well as potentially centralizing all your PKGBUILD scripts/directories.

I don't know about your WiFi light, sorry.  Does it go off when actually connected?

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Whoa... I thought the AUR was just a place for people to put their custom source up for patches etc. Underestimation of the YEAR!

The light turns off when wifi-menu reports as failed, and it doesn't come back on.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Hmm... well it would make sense that the light would turn off when it is not connected and not active in any way (so turning off after failure makes sense).  But I have no idea why it would not come back on afterwords.  This happens even after a successful connection?

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Yes. It stays off, and a reboot and taking out the battery is the only way to fix it.
(Windows never did this)

And rebooting is not an option right now.
(https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=167263)

Last edited by drasticraft (2013-07-26 21:51:43)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

Oh that's bad...

Well, since this issue is solved, please mark the thread as [Solved].  This can be done by editing the first post.

drasticraft

Member

From: mars

Registered: 2013-07-05

Posts: 55

Website

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

I know how to close things. I'm not that stupid....
yet

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED]BCM4321 Issues

I know how to close things. I'm not that stupid....
yet

No offense intended.  I just wasn't sure if you had ever done it before.  It is often a point of confusion around here since we have no "Solved" button.