Arch Linux

RichAustin

Member

From: Wakefield, Yorkshire, England

Registered: 2011-07-27

Posts: 186

[SOLVED] 64 Bit Install - Wireless / Kernel Issue

Hi All

I decided to install the 64 bit version of Arch from scratch instead of upgrading the existing 32 bit. I downloaded and attempted to install "Arch 2011.08.19 X86_64".

The first problem was that I couldn't get the wireless up and running. I did the usual:

cp /etc/network.d/examples/wireless-wpa /etc/network.d/talktalk
nano /etc/network.d/talktalk
netcfg talktalk

I edited the talktalk file to give it my ESSID etc. and usually when I do an install the network comes straight up, when I use "netcfg talktalk" - but not in this case. I got an error about there were no wireless extensions installed or something similar. I rebooted and noticed an error as the system came up:

b43 - phy0 Error: Found unsupported PHY (Analog 10, Type 8, Revision 1)

Obviously I looked into this and it seems it's a known problem; something to do with a mistake someone made in a unit in the kernel or something like that. A programming error anyway.

I then plugged my laptop straight into the router and installed via the wired connection instead and installed. I still have the problem even after "sudo pacman -Syu" upgrade. From what I've read it seems the way to get around it is to downgrade the kernel - documented here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Do … g_Packages - but I don't much like that idea. What happens when I subsequently run an upgrade? It will probably just fall over again right?

Anyone got an alternative solution? I had a look at upgrading to the Testing repo but obviously that has all sorts of potential issues which I don't want to have to spend the time resolving. For the time being I've fallen back to my 32 bit Arch system but it would be nice to know how to resolve the 64 bit issue.

Thanks for any help / suggestions

Rich

Last edited by RichAustin (2011-11-23 11:18:12)

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [SOLVED] 64 Bit Install - Wireless / Kernel Issue

What broadcom chipset do you have? b43 is working fine for me here, with the current kernel and all recent ones. My chipset is BCM4318.

RichAustin

Member

From: Wakefield, Yorkshire, England

Registered: 2011-07-27

Posts: 186

Re: [SOLVED] 64 Bit Install - Wireless / Kernel Issue

What broadcom chipset do you have? b43 is working fine for me here, with the current kernel and all recent ones. My chipset is BCM4318.

The chipset is BCM4313:

[richard@arch ~]$ lspci | grep -i net
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

I have absolutely no problem at all with Arch 32, it's only with the 64 bit install.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [SOLVED] 64 Bit Install - Wireless / Kernel Issue

Yeah, I'm 64-bit too, should have mentioned that.

According to wireless.kernel.org, b43 doesn't support BCM4313 - you can use wl or brcmsmac.

RichAustin

Member

From: Wakefield, Yorkshire, England

Registered: 2011-07-27

Posts: 186

Re: [SOLVED] 64 Bit Install - Wireless / Kernel Issue

Yeah, I'm 64-bit too, should have mentioned that.

According to wireless.kernel.org, b43 doesn't support BCM4313 - you can use wl or brcmsmac.

Ok. I hadn't come across that before. I'll mark the post as solved and try one one of those two. Thanks tomk.