Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

METZGERR · 2011-04-30 12:06:37

staticnature wrote:

All I needed to do was install the broadcom-wl package from the AUR and add the module 'wl' to the rc.conf modules list whilst blacklisting 'brcm80211' just before it, like;
MODULES=( .. !brcm80211 wl .. )

By doing so I lost wlan0, this is the result of ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 64:31:50:81:73:XX  
          inet addr:192.168.0.3  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::6631:50ff:fe81:7379/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3619 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2391 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:4137906 (3.9 Mb)  TX bytes:292154 (285.3 Kb)
          Interrupt:43 Base address:0xa000 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr E0:2A:82:F9:DF:XX  
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:17 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

It's a fresh Arch installation and It's driving me nuts...

Last edited by METZGERR (2011-04-30 12:07:39)

staticnature · 2011-05-01 18:54:55

METZGERR wrote:

By doing so I lost wlan0, this is the result of ifconfig -a
It's a fresh Arch installation and It's driving me nuts...

eth1 is the wireless interface under the wl drivers rather than wlan0. Not sure why this is, can't seem to be able to change it with udev either.

tripox · 2011-05-01 21:56:39

I still can't connect to my access point when using channel 13.

# dmesg:

[ 2618.041633] wlan0: authenticate with 00:17:3f:3d:18:8e (try 1)
[ 2618.241112] wlan0: authenticate with 00:17:3f:3d:18:8e (try 2)
[ 2618.440740] wlan0: authenticate with 00:17:3f:3d:18:8e (try 3)
[ 2618.640482] wlan0: authentication with 00:17:3f:3d:18:8e timed out

I have tried both "iw reg set 00" and "iw reg set DK" and still getting the error above

Has anyone seen this or solved it?

Last edited by tripox (2011-05-01 21:57:30)

litemotiv · 2011-05-03 17:28:50

With kernel 2.6.38.5 i can now connect to 5Ghz channels above 40.

cactus2000 · 2011-05-04 07:55:49

Hello everybody,

Sorry for my english if it's bad...
I have a Broadcom Wireless Adapter BCM43225 in my laptop.
Since kernel 2.6.38.3, the brcm80211 driver freezes the system when a scan is made (it is my actual conclusion).
Before, with kernel 2.6.38.2, everything was working perfectly.
I have tried many things, tested the alternative driver (wl), but it has a problem on resuming after a suspend : the card seems to be powered off (and I don't know how to wake it up).
Then, I returned to kernel 2.6.38.2, and ignore kernel upgrades.
It is not a ideal solution, and I will have conflicts one day with other softwares or drivers.

Is there a dev here that can study my problem ?
NB : no log messages when crashing, it freezes instantanously. Tell me if you want reports.

Thank you very much for your help.

Cactus.

litemotiv · 2011-05-04 07:59:09

cactus2000, this is the [testing] subforum. The current kernel in testing is 2.6.38.5, please only use that for reporting issues regarding the brcm80211 driver.

cactus2000 · 2011-05-04 08:06:10

okay, I understand, but this morning, kernel 2.6.38.5-1 was in core repo, and it still doesn't work.
My problem is between kernel 2.6.38.2 and 2.6.38.3, and I would like that a dev understand what happened, and fix the bug.
It is probably the wrong place here to ask this, but I don't know how to do... I never made a bug report, and I don't know where to do it exactly.
Please help me, and tell me where to report my problem if it's still the wrong place here.

staticnature · 2011-05-04 13:50:51

staticnature wrote:

The latest firmware does not work for me either, whenever I try to connect when using the brcm80211 module the kernel panics and crashes the entire system without leaving any form of error in any of the logs.
I've found once the crash happens, it will keep happening every time I connect until I boot up a different OS (Mac OS X Install Disk), connect to the wireless using that, disconnect and switch back to linux. Then I am able to connect to the wifi with the brcm80211 module, the same freeze happens after about 30 minutes of use connected to a wireless N network and I need to go through the same steps again before I am able to connect. My machine is a Macbook Pro (#6.2) with a BCM43224, fresh Arch Linux install with 2.6.38.4 kernel, works fine with the broadcom-wl driver though (which Im now using).

After a few hours of using kernel 2.6.38.5 (with broadcom-wl disabled), brcm80211 has definitely improved no more system crashes for me (on the BCM43224 via g/N network)

cactus2000 · 2011-05-04 13:55:09

This was not my case this morning (BCM43225)...
Still wait a fix, or a clue...

ngsa · 2011-05-05 18:17:37

Hi all, here's another data point on this issue.

I installed Arch yesterday on an HP mini 210. It has the BCM4313 [14e4:4727] card, and Intel Atom 455 CPU. Everything worked immediately after the install from the Live USB which used kernel 2.6.33.4 initially, but it was a net-install, so probably grabbed the newer kernel. But, things worked great, including wireless and even suspend/resume.

Since today (and after a system upgrade), I am running the 2.6.38.5-1 kernel. The brcm80211 driver is loaded and wireless is configured as wlan0. The system never locks up, until I initiate a scan on the wireless card. I can reproduce, every time, an instantaneous lock-up of the system by initiating a scan. Killing the power is the only way to recover.

Based on suggestion in this thread and related ones, I have set the crda region. I have tried adding maxcpus=1 to the kernel line of grub. I have also tried upgrading the firmware from compat-wireless. None of these things worked. I did also try to build the drivers from the latest compat-wireless tarball, based on Mr. Roland Vossen's post, but the compilation failed.

I am unsure what I can do at this point. I have tried (and since removed) using the broadcom-wl module. It does not crash the system, but it seems that it cannot find any network to join. At the moment, I am left with using wired ethernet; however, for a netbook, this isn't a great long term solution. I'm curious if I can find a package somewhere, for an earlier kernel that is known to work for this card.

Thanks for any feedback. I'll also be happy to pass on any more information or try other ideas if it is helpful to others.

ngsa · 2011-05-05 21:08:47

ngsa wrote:

Hi all, here's another data point on this issue.
I installed Arch yesterday on an HP mini 210. It has the BCM4313 [14e4:4727] card, and Intel Atom 455 CPU. Everything worked immediately after the install from the Live USB which used kernel 2.6.33.4 initially, but it was a net-install, so probably grabbed the newer kernel. But, things worked great, including wireless and even suspend/resume.
Since today (and after a system upgrade), I am running the 2.6.38.5-1 kernel. The brcm80211 driver is loaded and wireless is configured as wlan0. The system never locks up, until I initiate a scan on the wireless card. I can reproduce, every time, an instantaneous lock-up of the system by initiating a scan. Killing the power is the only way to recover.
Based on suggestion in this thread and related ones, I have set the crda region. I have tried adding maxcpus=1 to the kernel line of grub. I have also tried upgrading the firmware from compat-wireless. None of these things worked. I did also try to build the drivers from the latest compat-wireless tarball, based on Mr. Roland Vossen's post, but the compilation failed.
I am unsure what I can do at this point. I have tried (and since removed) using the broadcom-wl module. It does not crash the system, but it seems that it cannot find any network to join. At the moment, I am left with using wired ethernet; however, for a netbook, this isn't a great long term solution. I'm curious if I can find a package somewhere, for an earlier kernel that is known to work for this card.
Thanks for any feedback. I'll also be happy to pass on any more information or try other ideas if it is helpful to others.

Update: adding 'acpi=off' to the kernel line in GRUB config eliminates the lock-up issue for me. Specifically, I can properly connect to my home router without any system lock up. However, I am unable to start X, and experience other issues that one would expect from turning acpi off completely. This is not a viable workaround, but illustrates that the issue (for me at least) seems related to power management and the brcm80211 driver.

cactus2000 · 2011-05-06 07:36:48

nsga : kernel 2.6.38.2-1 works fine, and since, I ignore kernel upgrades until a real solution is included in stable branch.
I hope it will be quickly done, all my thanx to all devs that are studying this bug.

lordgandalf · 2011-05-07 12:25:20

My wireless is: 05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
My kernel is: 2.6.38.4
#dmesg: eth1: Broadcom BCM4727 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38

To use the [http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php]:
->Descompress and go into in the directory
->in the file src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c comment the line 485 //init_MUTEX(&wl->sem);
Now it will works.

Anyone knows how a do to use the bcrm80211 instead of broadcom-wl. I wanna enable mode monitor.

Thanks.

ngsa · 2011-05-07 18:24:43

cactus2000 wrote:

nsga : kernel 2.6.38.2-1 works fine, and since, I ignore kernel upgrades until a real solution is included in stable branch.
I hope it will be quickly done, all my thanx to all devs that are studying this bug.

cactus2000: thanks for the suggestion. I built kernel 2.6.38.2 after you suggested this, but I still get system lock-up after initiating a scan when running this kernel. In the meantime, I've just picked up a usb wireless adapter until I can get this or the wl driver to work. Thanks again for your response and the devs working on this.

litemotiv · 2011-05-07 19:17:55

lordgandalf wrote:

Anyone knows how a do to use the bcrm80211 instead of broadcom-wl. I wanna enable mode monitor.

From the wiki:

The brcm80211 driver is included in the kernel since 2.6.37. No further action is necessary on the part of the user.

lordgandalf · 2011-05-07 20:01:03

Yes. But when I use the mode brcm80211 it don't find my wireless interface.

#lspci: 05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)

By the wiki I supposed to use the brcm80211, but it dosen't works. Is there some tutorial to make it work?

Gonzih · 2011-05-12 10:08:01

I have Asus EEEPC 1015PN with BCM4313, i upgrade kernel to 2.6.38-6 version and i still got kernel panics
No solutions for that yet?

UPD
I switch my router to n mode only and now wifi works fine

Last edited by Gonzih (2011-05-16 12:19:24)

JamieKitson · 2011-05-16 09:40:23

I don't know if this has been mentioned already but to get wifi working after suspend you need to add the module to SUSPEND_MODULES and use pm-suspend. It works for me.

RolandVossen · 2011-05-17 11:02:02

For all the people experiencing instability on amd64 platforms: a bug was identified and a fix was submitted to the staging-next tree. Refer to: http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.k … eral/70123.

The bug typically occurred on dissociation, so for instance when roaming between APs or in bad signal conditions. The fix has not been merged yet into the staging-next tree.

Bye,

Roland Vossen
Broadcom

Zeqadious · 2011-05-18 15:21:44

This patch seems to work wonders for me. I've had 0 kernel oops since using this patch. Thanks so much for posting it here. I hope it makes it to mainline soon!

egoalterum · 2011-05-19 18:59:50

RolandVossen wrote:

For all the people experiencing instability on amd64 platforms: a bug was identified and a fix was submitted to the staging-next tree. Refer to: http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.k … eral/70123.
The bug typically occurred on dissociation, so for instance when roaming between APs or in bad signal conditions. The fix has not been merged yet into the staging-next tree.
Bye,
Roland Vossen
Broadcom

Roland: Could you provide some additional details on how to use this patch. I have the same problem with system freezing when I try to do "iwlist wlan0 scan". I'm on kernel 2.6.38.6-2 using the latest brcmsmac firmware and the brcm80211 module, i did a git clone of the latest source code, but was unable to apply the patch. I received hunk errors.

cshake · 2011-05-28 20:35:25

I'm yet another person having these issues with the driver, and after a month or two of expecting it to eventually get a fix, I feel like I should add any details I can to help.

For me the system lockups (full freeze/panic, hard power cycle needed) happen somewhat randomly, but can be triggered and are generally when starting a new type of connection after starting the wireless. The "failsafe" way to lock the system for me is to connect to a wireless network and then start Dropbox, and as soon as it tries to connect it always locks up. Other times the system will lock just after starting wpa_auto (with a few seconds, leading me to believe it's due to dhcpd or another process that takes actual time to run), but that's random and not always. Yet other times wpa_supplicant will start fine, and then the panic will happen when I run yaourt. The lockups tend to come in bursts, with 5 or 6 locks in a row when trying to start wireless, but then it smooths out and runs fine for a while. I've gotten to the point where I no longer auto-start the daemon, primarily using wired network at my desk and only updating the system and syncing dropbox while plugged in, and then manually starting it and crossing my fingers when I need wifi. Dropbox never locks the system when I'm on wired with wpa_supplicant stopped. However, if I'm using wireless and it started fine and I don't start Dropbox or yaourt/pacman, it will remain working. I can't say I've tested it for days on end, but with just web browsing it will work for hours.

I'm running an Acer AO522 with the BCM4313, with Arch x64, currently on the kernel that moved to stable within the last few days (2.6.38.7-1).

$ lspci
07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

I connect to various types of wifi networks, from 802.1x at my university to WPA2 in my apartment and use wpa_supplicant to handle auth. I use the wpa_auto daemon scripts for controlling it. I haven't had issues with wifi working or not after sleep, as I have to use hibernate_script to get the display to turn back on and let oss work anyway. I can scan networks fine from wpa_gui, and it is able to connect to any type of network I've tried (if it was able to start).

Relevant parts of rc.conf:

MODULES=(atl1c brcm80211 powernow-k8 cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_performance !soundcore !fglrx !pcspkr)
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng dbus crond acpid laptop-mode ifplugd netfs !smbnetfs ntpd !wpa_auto sshd @oss)

[edit]added kernel version number[/edit]

Last edited by cshake (2011-05-28 22:02:42)

falconindy · 2011-05-28 20:59:20

Looks like brcm80211 is renamed brcmsmac in 2.6.39. My BCM4322 purrs along now. Don't recall the last time it's crashed on me.

the_isz · 2011-06-11 12:19:34

Really sorry for cross-posting, but I'm currently evaluating a notebook with
such a chipset as a birthday present for my girlfriend and have only limited
time to return it:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 02#p946502

Thanks in advance for any help on this!

[vEX] · 2011-06-20 13:04:39

Anyone managed to connect to an AP with hidden SSID using brcm80211 (or brcmsmac as it's called now)? It just fails to authenticate with the router for me unless I broadcast the SSID. Other than that everything is working just fine and the driver seems stable enough. Though I would really like to not broadcast the SSID (yeah I know it's not increasing security) if possible.

Arch Linux

#76 2011-04-30 12:06:37

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#77 2011-05-01 18:54:55

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#78 2011-05-01 21:56:39

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#79 2011-05-03 17:28:50

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#80 2011-05-04 07:55:49

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#81 2011-05-04 07:59:09

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#82 2011-05-04 08:06:10

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#83 2011-05-04 13:50:51

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#84 2011-05-04 13:55:09

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#85 2011-05-05 18:17:37

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#86 2011-05-05 21:08:47

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#87 2011-05-06 07:36:48

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#88 2011-05-07 12:25:20

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#89 2011-05-07 18:24:43

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#90 2011-05-07 19:17:55

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#91 2011-05-07 20:01:03

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#92 2011-05-12 10:08:01

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#93 2011-05-16 09:40:23

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#94 2011-05-17 11:02:02

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#95 2011-05-18 15:21:44

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#96 2011-05-19 18:59:50

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#97 2011-05-28 20:35:25

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#98 2011-05-28 20:59:20

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#99 2011-06-11 12:19:34

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

#100 2011-06-20 13:04:39

Re: Broadcom wireless driver - brcm80211

Board footer