[SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

crisnoh · 2008-04-22 20:28:22

I'm planning on switching from Ubuntu to Arch and am wondering what experiences have been like when dealing with Broadcom wireless cards. In my experience they've been rather a pain to deal with and I just want to find out whether anyone can tell me about their experience getting their cards working under Arch.

Last edited by crisnoh (2008-04-26 14:39:03)

bgc1954 · 2008-04-22 20:45:21

Not a problem at all for me with a Broadcom 4306 based Motorola pcmcia card in an older T21 thinkpad. I've used both the bcm43xx and now the newer b43 drivers with little problems. I actually had more grief with wpa_supplicant and wpa encryption setup than the b43 or even the older bcm43xx. The only reason I switched to the b43 was due to the bcm43xx becoming or is deprecated. The only thing to remember is to blacklist the bcm43xx in /etc/rc.conf if you use b43 because they conflict. Just follow the wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup

wonder · 2008-04-22 20:54:35

i have dell 1390 wireless card and has broadcom 4311 chipset. works very well with b43.

skottish · 2008-04-22 21:39:58

bcm4306 here and it's working just like it's supposed to.

--EDIT--

Where's my head? Welcome to the forums crisnoh.

Last edited by skottish (2008-04-22 21:42:14)

alex_anthony · 2008-04-22 22:02:53

ndiswrapper works better here than in ubuntu because blacklisting works better (if you have to do it)

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 12:50:28

Ok, Arch is installed and ready to go, but the Wireless Setup guide for b43 didn't work for me. I guess I should give ndiswrapper a try?

bioe007 · 2008-04-25 14:42:55

you can certainly try ndiswrapper. however it doesn't seem you've pursued the problem with b43, and so it may not be that b43 doesnt work, simply that its not configured.

if you're interested in getting b43 to work then you should post what problems you are having with b43/fw-cutter app. what doesn't work? have you tried from the CLI to start it? did you use the right firmware? if you're interested in this line of debugging, it would be helpful to know what chipset you are using: `lspci | grep -i bcm`

also what happens when you do this?

ls -R /lib/firmware       # make sure the firmware is there - if not, reinstall until it is (probably want to figure out where it went also :)
lsmod | grep 'b43\|bcm\|ndis'       # check the module is loaded - if not then modprobe it
dmesg | grep -C4 'b43\|bcm\|ndis\|wlan0'     # check happenings when module loaded, adjust the context '-Cx' so x=enough lines to see all the relevant lines

if all thats ok then try figuring out if you can get it going from the CLI

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig                    # hopefully here you'll see wlan0 with wireless extensions
wpa_supplicant -Bw -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf         # only do this if its relevant
dhcpcd -d wlan0             # this should give you an IP address

if you post the output of the above commands someone will likely be able to help you finish configuring your interface for b43. but of course you're perfectly welcome to abandon b43 for ndiswrapper - its your box

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 19:14:16

Thanks for letting me know what questions I need to be asking. Since I started using linux, wireless drivers have been my kryptonite!

Looks like b43 is definitely installed. My chipset is: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g

Here's the relevant info from my "ls -R"

/lib/firmware/b43:
a0g0bsinitvals4.fw   a0g1initvals13.fw      b0g0initvals4.fw    ucode11.fw
a0g0bsinitvals5.fw   a0g1initvals5.fw      b0g0initvals5.fw    ucode13.fw
a0g0initvals4.fw     b0g0bsinitvals13.fw  lp0bsinitvals13.fw  ucode4.fw
a0g0initvals5.fw     b0g0bsinitvals4.fw   lp0initvals13.fw    ucode5.fw
a0g1bsinitvals13.fw  b0g0bsinitvals5.fw   pcm4.fw
a0g1bsinitvals5.fw   b0g0initvals13.fw      pcm5.fw

As far as I can tell the module is loading, unless that zero means that it isn't. It should be. I have it listed in the modules section of my rc.conf and have bcm43xx blacklisted:

$ lsmod | grep 'b43\|bcm\ndis'
b43                   110752  0 
ssb                    30340  1 b43
rfkill                  5904  3 rfkill_input,b43
pcmcia                 33324  2 b43,ssb
mac80211              117644  1 b43
input_polldev           3720  1 b43
pcmcia_core            33304  4 yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic,b43,pcmcia

And here is my dmesg result, which seems to say that my wireless card isn't working. Not exactly the 6:00 news:

$ dmesg | grep -C4 'b43\|bcm\|ndis\|wlan0'
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:06.1 to 64
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK3] enabled at IRQ 17
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:02.0[A] -> Link [LNK3] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
ssb: Sonics Silicon Backplane found on PCI device 0000:02:02.0
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'simple'
ACPI: AC Adapter [ACAD] (on-line)
ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT1] (battery present)
input: Power Button (FF) as /devices/virtual/input/input2
--
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
NET: Registered protocol family 10
lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input9
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

wonder · 2008-04-25 19:25:04

ifconfig wlan0 up

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 19:55:56

Done. 'iwconfig' now gives me:

$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

and running 'dhcpcd' gave me:

$ sudo dhcpcd -d wlan0
info, wlan0: dhcpcd 3.2.1 starting
info, wlan0: hardware address = 00:90:4b:b7:df:2e
info, wlan0: broadcasting for a lease
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: waiting on select for 20 seconds
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
debug, wlan0: sending DHCP_DISCOVER with xid 0x32f50731
err, wlan0: timed out
info, wlan0: trying to use old lease in `/var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-wlan0.info'
debug, wlan0: sending ARP probe #1
debug, wlan0: sending ARP probe #2
debug, wlan0: sending ARP probe #3
debug, wlan0: sending ARP claim #1
debug, wlan0: sending ARP claim #2
warn, wlan0: using IPV4LL address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
info, wlan0: adding IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xx
debug, wlan0: no dns information to write
debug, wlan0: forking to background

All those x's on the 3rd and 4th lines from the bottom are obviously numbers.

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 20:07:05

I just looked at my rc.conf and noticed that wlan0 isn't listed in the NETWORKING section. Should it be?

wonder · 2008-04-25 20:29:20

first connect to acces point and then run dhcpd.
for e.g i use networkmanager or wicd. if you prefer CLI you can use netcfg2 or just iwconfig wlan0 essid YOUR_AP. iwconfig --help for more details

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 21:55:02

My computer isn't recognizing any wireless signals. There's definitely at least one available. My wife is sitting right next to me using it on hers. I ran "iwlist' and got back 'wlan0 No scan results'

bioe007 · 2008-04-25 22:25:46

just 'iwlist' or 'iwlist wlan0 scanning' ?

is you AP secure? i.e. wpa/wep ? if so you'll need to start wpa supplicant.

if not then you'll like to set the ESSID using `iwconfig wlan0 essid <your essid here>`, then dhcpcd -d wlan0

i would not worry about adding stuff to rc.conf until you get it working from CLI, but thats just my opinion.

crisnoh · 2008-04-25 23:18:10

It was 'iwlist wlan0 scanning'

Based on everything I've posted so far should this stupid card be working? Seriously. Kryptonite.

bioe007 · 2008-04-26 02:39:04

i don't suppose you have checked the rev number for your chipset (you didn't post it earlier) the b43 driver faq has a blurb:

"4306 and 4309 cards with a MAC core revision of 4 or less should also use b43legacy."
b43 faq

i'm not sure how current that is or if its even relevant for you.

failing that, then you might just remove anything that is automatically starting at boot (i.e. stuff in rc.conf ) and have a clean go at it. make sure you're blacklisting the appropriate modules and loading the correct one in rc.conf.

also, if your laptop has a wireless switch, make sure its not turned off...

Last edited by bioe007 (2008-04-26 02:46:38)

crisnoh · 2008-04-26 14:37:23

Ok, I am posting this from my shiny new wireless connection. After trying every other driver I decided to give bcm43xx a try, even though everything I was reading told me that it was out of date and I should be using b43. Well, it worked and after getting wifi-radar setup it's working great.

Thanks for all the help. I might have given up and gone crawling back to Ubuntu without!

Arch Linux

#1 2008-04-22 20:28:22

[SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#2 2008-04-22 20:45:21

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#3 2008-04-22 20:54:35

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#4 2008-04-22 21:39:58

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#5 2008-04-22 22:02:53

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#6 2008-04-25 12:50:28

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#7 2008-04-25 14:42:55

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#8 2008-04-25 19:14:16

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#9 2008-04-25 19:25:04

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#10 2008-04-25 19:55:56

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#11 2008-04-25 20:07:05

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#12 2008-04-25 20:29:20

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#13 2008-04-25 21:55:02

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#14 2008-04-25 22:25:46

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#15 2008-04-25 23:18:10

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#16 2008-04-26 02:39:04

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

#17 2008-04-26 14:37:23

Re: [SOLVED]Planning to Switch - Broadcom "?"

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