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#1 2013-02-12 10:57:28

sirkubador
Member
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 10

[SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

Hi,

I recently bought a new laptop (Lenovo Ideapad G580) with Broadcom wifi (BCM4313) and Atheros Ethernet (AR8162). Possibly the worst combination I could get.

I have got those problems:

Can't connect to wifi over wifi-menu, unless I am right next to the wifi hotspot. Even though, my connection is extremely slow. I have found out, that this could solve Broadcoms broadcom-wl driver, but it is not present on basic archlinux installation cd image (there is not even "make" to make it manually).

The next issue is absence of ehternet driver. There is some package in a wiki article, but i can't run make to make it. I tried to create my custom repository on my next nearly broken arch laptop, but apparently not all/optional dependencies are present when running pacman -Sp to get all links for base, base-devel, grub-bios, xorg... I managed to get make working! But there is problem with old kernel headers in chroot (i did not try to get make working in non-chroot), so I cant make anything for linux 3.7.5, which is running, because half of the system thinks i am already on 3.7.6.

I am really desperate. Could anyone give me a simpe how-to? I need to get my wifi connection working OR my ethernet connection working.

Thanks in advance

Last edited by sirkubador (2013-02-13 10:57:50)

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#2 2013-02-12 11:29:36

10PinkPanther
Member
From: Croatia
Registered: 2012-11-10
Posts: 374

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

B43-firmware is in the AUR.I use it for my Broadcom 4312 and wireless works just fine.
I also have ethernet card same as you and it also works fine.

Last edited by 10PinkPanther (2013-02-12 11:31:01)

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#3 2013-02-12 12:03:02

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

10PinkPanther wrote:

B43-firmware is in the AUR.I use it for my Broadcom 4312 and wireless works just fine.
I also have ethernet card same as you and it also works fine.

b43-firmware won't help in this case, because BCM4313 isn't supported by the b43 driver. It's supported by the open source brcmsmac driver, or the closed source broadcom-wl.

The ethernet card requires the alx driver, which is not part of the kernel, so you must have installed it after you installed the system.

@sirkubador: You best bet is installing from some other distribution that already includes the alx driver, like say an Ubuntu LiveCD (I think Ubuntu includes the alx driver, but I'm not completely sure). This wiki page will be of help: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux

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#4 2013-02-12 13:18:45

sirkubador
Member
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

@Gusar: Thank you, i am not sure either... i will definitely try it

Could i just install base and base devel and compile and load the alx driver in live arch system (or do the same for broadcom-wl driver)? And install all necessary packages via pacstrap? It could solve everything...

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#5 2013-02-12 15:10:47

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

sirkubador wrote:

Could i just install base and base devel and compile and load the alx driver in live arch system (or do the same for broadcom-wl driver)?

But how to do that without internet in the live environment? You'd need to download all the relevant packages beforehand, copy them to an usb stick, and install them from there. Theoretically it could work, but getting all the packages might be a hassle.

Then there's another way, if you're adventurous: I have a crazy hacked up liveusb that includes the alx driver. At least two Gentoo users have used it to install Gentoo on their machines with alx ethernet. It should be possible to install Arch from it (arch-install-scripts is included), but I never actually tried. Get it here: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-71 … ml#7100532

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#6 2013-02-12 16:36:24

hadrons123
Member
From: chennai
Registered: 2011-10-07
Posts: 1,249

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

you will have to install alx from sources.
I guess the following threads will be helpful for  AR8162 also.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=157717
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ne … ros_AR8161
For anyone else reading this thread to install alx driver, I have posted the sources for alx in dropbox.
you can follow the instructions about how to install it.

#tar -xjvf compat*
#cd compat*
#./scripts/driver-select alx
#make 
#make install
#modprobe alx

LENOVO Y 580 IVYBRIDGE 660M NVIDIA
Unix is user-friendly. It just isn't promiscuous about which users it's friendly with. - Steven King

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#7 2013-02-13 10:57:09

sirkubador
Member
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

It worked! Even though broadcom-wl driver is not in effect, I could get alx driver running without reboot. Just needed to keep the same kernel version in chroot and the live system. I had to create my own repo (with base and base-devel) and put it on USB stick with compat tarball, mount, install both package groups,
make install & modprobe drivers, that's all...

Thank you

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#8 2013-02-13 11:26:01

hadrons123
Member
From: chennai
Registered: 2011-10-07
Posts: 1,249

Re: [SOLVED] Can't install archlinux - no usable network drivers

There is an alternate way to do an OS installation too. The compat drivers given in the wiki link for alx worked until kernel version 3.6.x but not beyond that. Archboot still works with 3.6.2 kernel, So its easier that way.


LENOVO Y 580 IVYBRIDGE 660M NVIDIA
Unix is user-friendly. It just isn't promiscuous about which users it's friendly with. - Steven King

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