Arch Linux

jpreszler

Member

Registered: 2013-12-09

Posts: 2

[Solved] BCM43228 performance problems

I've been using Arch for several years and have finally encountered a problem I couldn't find a solution to on the forums.

I have a fresh Arch install on a new Thinkpad S431 with a Broadcom BCM 43228 (14e4:4359), the broadcom-wl package from the AUR is installed and kernel version 3.12.2 the wireless works, but I'm unable to get download speeds better than 0.5Mbps with nothing else using my home wireless. The open source broadcom drivers don't support this card yet.

In windows 7, download speeds of 6.5 Mbps are achieved in the same environment so there's something with the driver in Arch.

I've tried manipulating power management (iwconfig wlp3s0 poer off) and adjusting the transmission power but there was no effect.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Last edited by jpreszler (2013-12-10 18:36:13)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [Solved] BCM43228 performance problems

I know this doesn't help you whatsoever, but this card works great for me.  But I have been sticking with the v5 broadcom wl module.  I honestly don't know if v5 works better than v6, but v6 seems to obscure quite a bit of info with this particular model. 

If you want to modify the PKGBUILD just a bit for the broadcom-wl package, you can use these sources instead. (broadcom seems to have stopped providing these, so I stuck them in rapidshare for times like this)

broadcom-wl x86_64
broadcom-wl i686

I have had this card for several months now, and it has been working great in my e430.  Good luck!

jpreszler

Member

Registered: 2013-12-09

Posts: 2

Re: [Solved] BCM43228 performance problems

Thanks for the link to v5, it resulted in 6Mbps performance.

Additionally, I tried Archbang which has v6 pre-built in the live CD and everything was fine.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: [Solved] BCM43228 performance problems

Additionally, I tried Archbang which has v6 pre-built in the live CD and everything was fine.

Hmmm... this doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I wonder if their v6 broadcom-wl is different than the one in our AUR.