Arch Linux

abdza

Member

Registered: 2007-01-29

Posts: 8

Need help installing wireless

Hi. I really need some help with getting my laptop wireless to work. Before this I was a long time user of Ubuntu and it practically worked out of the box for me. All that I know is that after installation bcm43xx was already installed but I couldn't even scan for any wireless connection. Running a dmesg doesnt' seem to show any bcm device or even wlan0 device. I've read threads about installing bcm43-fwcutter and already downloaded and installed some firmware but that doesn't seem to help either. How do I even know that the kernel has detected the hardware properly when it doesn't even show up on dmesg? Please help. Thank you.

dyscoria

Member

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 1,007

Re: Need help installing wireless

What wireless card/device have you got?

Perhaps you could post the output of:

lspci | grep Network

If that doesn't come up with anything then just do 'lspci' and search for the line that looks like it refers to your wireless device.

edit: I probably won't actually be able to help you much (wireless is not something i've been known to excel in) but this might be useful for others.

Last edited by dyscoria (2008-03-01 15:31:13)

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abdza

Member

Registered: 2007-01-29

Posts: 8

Re: Need help installing wireless

Ok.. I got:

05:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

So I guess the kernel already detected it. I've been reading up some more and I am currently trying to get ndiswrapper working with it too but so far  still not much luck.

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

Re: Need help installing wireless

Hi there,

You have to add bcm43xx to your MODULES line in /etc/rc.conf as it isn't loaded automatically or to start it now #modprobe bcm43xx.  Then just follow the wireless wiki for bcm43xx-fwcutter.  I was using it for a long time with a pcmcia card on my laptop and it works great.  I now use the b43 module following instructions on linuxwireless.org.  I just switched over for something to do but the bcm43xx was working just fine.

Last edited by bgc1954 (2008-03-01 17:06:50)

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abdza

Member

Registered: 2007-01-29

Posts: 8

Re: Need help installing wireless

Thank you all for your reply. But finally I've found the solution at this thread: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43904. Now my arch is working great..