BCM4318 Wifi installation

vdogvictor · 2010-06-05 02:16:44

I just installed a fresh copy of Arch on my PC, the only problem so far is that it only has wifi access and I haven't been able to set up the card yet. So first off, here is what I've done so far: (I wrote these down by hand, so forgive me if the syntax isn't 100% exact)

ifconfig wlan0 up

SIOCSIFFLAGS:  No such file or directory

Which googling tells me means that the wifi card's module isn't installed or up yet. Which brought me to

lspci | grep Network

Broadcom Corporation BCM4318

Which googling shows should work with the B43 module. So in the Wireless Setup article on the arch wiki (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup#b43) I check out the instructions, but correct me if I'm wrong, it seems like I would have to have network access ahead of time, in order to download the driver. I tried putting "b43" (the outdated module) in the modules() section of /etc/rc.conf, but that didn't work either.

So then I find the linux driver from the manufacturer (my card is called Asus 138g V2) Here is the link to the driver: http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=zFAQkGgBuVPEYq6A. (i downloaded this to my windows partition). Luckily I had installed make and gcc during installation, so that having to install the driver from source was not a problem. So here is the error I get when running make on this driver:

make clean

Linux directory is /usr/src/linux
Linux Kernal version is 2.6.33-ARCH
make -C /usr/src/linux CROSS_COMPILRE= M=/root/138gV2_Linux/src/linuxsta/wl/linux modules
make: *** /usr/src/linux:  No such file or directory. Stop.
make:  *** [default] Error 2

I can't find much that I understand about this error, and I'm worried about FUBARing my system. I would prefer to make this somehow work natively with the kernel or some module that is included with arch, but I'm open to any ideas.

Last edited by vdogvictor (2010-06-05 02:17:32)

Nullw0rm · 2010-06-05 03:45:36

make: *** /usr/src/linux: No such file or directory. Stop.

You need to install the kernel26 source!

foutrelis · 2010-06-05 04:38:17

Nullw0rm wrote:

make: *** /usr/src/linux: No such file or directory. Stop.
You need to install the kernel26 source!

Or most likely just the kernel26-headers package.

You should also try installing the required b43-firmware from the AUR, which may allow you to operate your wireless chip with the b43 kernel module.

Don't forget to check the output of the `dmesg' command for hints.

Last edited by foutrelis (2010-06-05 04:44:56)

vdogvictor · 2010-06-05 20:00:59

Okay, I downloaded both the .tar.bz2 and tar.gz for b43-firmware from the AUR (to my windows partition) and copied over to /root and tried these four commands:

pacman -U broadcom.tar.bz2
pacman -S broadcom.tar.bz2
pacman -Sm broadcom.tar.bz2
pacman -Um broadcom.tar.bz2

I did the same thing with the .tar.gz. Each time I get an error that is some varition on:

loading package data
error:  missing package metadata in broadcom.tar.bz2
error:  'broadcom.tar.bz2' : invalid or corrupted package

I get the feeling that I'm not using the AUR right, but the page that I found on it said to use "pacman -U package.tar.bz2" so...I'm at a loss

Thanks for the quick replies, by the way!

tomk · 2010-06-05 20:46:39

First of all, b43 is not "the outdated module" - it is the current driver for almost all broadcom wifi devices, including the 4318, which I use myself. Read the wiki page again, carefully this time.

Secondly, you don't need the AUR for this - you just need the firmware tarball and the b43-fwcutter package. Extract the first anywhere, install the second with pacman, and then run the appropriate b43-fwcutter command to install the firmware.

Slightly off-topic: seems to me someone has made the b43 section of the wireless wiki page unnecessarily complicated - I'll fix it if I get the time.

vdogvictor · 2010-06-05 21:57:55

tomk wrote:

First of all, b43 is not "the outdated module" - it is the current driver for almost all broadcom wifi devices, including the 4318, which I use myself. Read the wiki page again, carefully this time.
Secondly, you don't need the AUR for this - you just need the firmware tarball and the b43-fwcutter package. Extract the first anywhere, install the second with pacman, and then run the appropriate b43-fwcutter command to install the firmware.
Slightly off-topic: seems to me someone has made the b43 section of the wireless wiki page unnecessarily complicated - I'll fix it if I get the time.

I see, I misread this part of the wiki page:

MODULES=(... !b43legacy b43) # or
MODULES=(... !b43 b43legacy)

I had thought it was giving two ways to blacklist both modules, not saying load one and blacklist the other.

The wiki page specifically mentions the AUR:

Install the corresponding Broadcom 43xx firmware package for your hardware. The packages are on the AUR:

Okay, I did download the firmware tarball, and I shyed away from the wiki's instructions because it clearly required network access to get to http://git.bu3sch.de/git/b43-tools.git which is not a valid URL anymore. So now it sounds like you are saying I need the "b43-fwcutter" package, so I will download that from somewhere? I've found this page: http://www.archlinux.org/packages/core/ … -fwcutter/, which doesn't have an obvious link to downloading, but I clicked "download from mirror" and will try that.

**time passes**

OK, I tried that and got to the end of the tutorial on the wiki and rebooted my computer and still nothing. i successfully was able to do the command

b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wlapsta.o

I don't know where to go from there though.

tomk · 2010-06-05 23:41:19

Well, you now have the right module and the right firmware installed in the right places. All that's missing is a better description of your issue - I mean, something slightly more verbose than "rebooted and still nothing".

vdogvictor · 2010-06-06 01:27:16

Sorry, same thing as before:

ifconfig wlan0 up

SIOCSIFFLAGS:  No such file or directory

vdogvictor · 2010-06-08 23:36:21

Phew, Okay it's up and working now.

The bad news is that I honestly have no clue why it's working. I just turned it on today and it was working. So either it needed a second reboot, or last time I wasn't a super user when trying to bring wlan0 up.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-05 02:16:44

BCM4318 Wifi installation

#2 2010-06-05 03:45:36

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#3 2010-06-05 04:38:17

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#4 2010-06-05 20:00:59

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#5 2010-06-05 20:46:39

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#6 2010-06-05 21:57:55

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#7 2010-06-05 23:41:19

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#8 2010-06-06 01:27:16

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

#9 2010-06-08 23:36:21

Re: BCM4318 Wifi installation

Board footer