Arch Linux

NaNaN

Member

Registered: 2021-01-04

Posts: 65

b43 Driver Installation help

I can't find the drivers for this card. I've read through 5 Arch posts, 2017 being the most recent of all docs. I've attempted to follow what I could, even attempted downloading the b43-firmware from AUR, which no longer exists.

Does anyone know how to get the firmware for this card?

Relevant line from lspci:
03:05.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4318] (rev 02)

It seems that the documentation is outdated, as is the card, but it's all I have to work with right now. If possible, I'd like to use this one.

All of the documentation I've found so far talks about installing 'b43-fwcutter' and using it to extract the driver, but, my Arch already has it installed, further proving the docs are out of date.

Can someone tell me if there is a more up to date document I can follow that will help me get this working?

Of course, without the drivers, Arch complains:
ssb0:0 Direct Firmware load for b43/ucode5.fw failed

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,933

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

b43-fwcutter is as the name implies just a tool to extract the firmware, getting that firmware would be "your" job. But there would be Arch packages for it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Broadcom_wireless#b43

You probably want to try the proprietary wl in any case https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Broadc … roadcom-wl

Last edited by V1del (2022-02-10 16:40:37)

NaNaN

Member

Registered: 2021-01-04

Posts: 65

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

V1del, thanks for the link.

Is using the proprietary broadcom-wl driver in addition to me finding the firmware and using fwcutter, or does broadcom-wl replace all of that?

Thanks.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,933

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

broadcom-wl replaces all of that.

NaNaN

Member

Registered: 2021-01-04

Posts: 65

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

Thanks again V1del.

I installed the wl drivers but the firmware is still not found. What I did find in the doc you linked to was this:

BCM4306 rev.3, BCM4311, BCM4312 and BCM4318 rev.2 have been noticed to experience problems with b43-firmware. Use b43-firmware-classicAUR or b43legacy-firmwareAUR for these cards instead.

I have the BCM4318, so it looks like I'm being directed to the AUR. When I go there, I get a 404: https://aur.archlinux.org/b43-firmware-classic.git

Where would I find the 'b43-firmware-classic' firmware at if not in AUR?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,933

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

That is the correct and working link, you can either git clone that directly or click on "take me back to the package page" if you want to just download a snapshot. See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_U … g_packages

Note that you should remove broadcom-wl before testing those.

Last edited by V1del (2022-02-10 17:09:59)

NaNaN

Member

Registered: 2021-01-04

Posts: 65

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

V1del, thank you! I have it working now.

I was using wget instead of git. Once I saw my error, everything went as expected.

Thank you again.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,933

Re: b43 Driver Installation help

Great, please mark as [SOLVED] by editing the title in your first post.