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cherub

Member

Registered: 2014-01-13

Posts: 13

[SOLVED] BCM4312 with b43 module, unusable

Hi all,

I've got an old Lenovo S10 netbook that I'd like to use while my main is being repaired after spilling coffee on it. Everything's working except the wifi. Unfortunately it's a Broadcom. The wiki alludes to problems with kernel 3.8+, but does not give any specifics. The wifi worked the last time I put arch on it, maybe 1-2 years ago. Any help is appreciated.

I've got b43 enabled and installed b43-firmware from AUR. I have also tried the broadcom-wl proprietary drivers (with zarel's suggestions at the bottom of the wiki article), doesn't work either.

$ uname -r
3.12.9-1-ARCH

$ lsmod | grep b43
b43                   341737  0 
bcma                   31280  1 b43
mac80211              402966  1 b43
cfg80211              346009  2 b43,mac80211
ssb                    48163  1 b43
mmc_core               87040  2 b43,ssb
pcmcia                 40181  2 b43,ssb

$ lspci -vnn -d 14e4:
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1713] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Lenovo IdeaPad S10e [17aa:3a23]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 44
	Memory at f0200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Expansion ROM at <ignored> [disabled]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: tg3
	Kernel modules: tg3

05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:04b5]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	Memory at f0400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
	Kernel modules: ssb, wl

$ ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: enp2s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1e:68:af:c1:c5 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:23:4d:70:ff:70 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

$ sudo ip link set wlan0 up
RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

$ sudo rfkill unblock all
$ sudo rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

$ sudo rfkill unblock phy0
Bogus unblock argument 'phy0'.

$ dmesg | grep -e 'b43\|Broadcom\|phy\|80211\|wlan0'
[    0.000000] e820: BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[    3.127830] systemd[1]: Expecting device sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlan0.device...
[    5.324867] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[    5.383449] lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
[    5.383453] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
[    5.904276] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
[    5.940286] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 6, Type 5 (LP), Revision 1
[    5.961068] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PMNLS ]
[    6.031325] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  748.070350] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[  748.326184] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  748.333956] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED

Again, any help is really appreciated!

Last edited by cherub (2014-02-02 21:17:32)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED] BCM4312 with b43 module, unusable

So according to the b43 wireless page, either the b43 module or the wl module should work.  But it looks as though it is the hard block that it getting you here.  Typically a hard block is something like a physical hardware switch that can turn the device on or off.  This cannot be handles by rfkill.  A soft block on the other hand is something controlled by software and can be undone with rfkill.

Do you have a switch (possibly on the left side above the card slot)?

cherub

Member

Registered: 2014-01-13

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] BCM4312 with b43 module, unusable

Do you have a switch (possibly on the left side above the card slot)?

There's a function key for it, here's what that does, before and after:

# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: yes

Actually, I just noticed that there is another button next to the power key... At first I thought it wasn't doing anything, but after holding it (and putting the other back to 'before'):

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

And then I tried to "ip link set wlan0 up" it again, and in dmesg I see:

[ 4689.029896] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to ENABLED
[ 4771.299929] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 4775.911004] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

But NOW when I do "iw dev wlan0 scan" I actually get output!?!?! I'm not really sure what's going on, but it seems to be working... Going to try enabling my netctl profiles and rebooting.

Last edited by cherub (2014-02-02 20:40:06)

cherub

Member

Registered: 2014-01-13

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] BCM4312 with b43 module, unusable

I have to bring it up manually after logging in, and then scanning seems to work, but when I try to switch-to a netctl profile, it fails.

Last edited by cherub (2014-02-02 21:05:52)

cherub

Member

Registered: 2014-01-13

Posts: 13

Re: [SOLVED] BCM4312 with b43 module, unusable

In my haste I forgot to install wpa_actiond. It is now working nicely. WonderWoofy, you have my thanks!