Differences between revisions 13 and 14

This page describes how to install and Configure your Broadcom Device. Broadcom: 4311, 4312, or 4318 (1390 is working with ndiswrapper unless you have a kernel 2.6.20 then you can use bcm43xx-fwcutter)

?TableOfContents(2)

Device Identification

This is a 1390 card but yours might have a different name.

lspci
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card (rev 01)

If you are not sure what hardware you have visits this site: [http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ Hardware Identification]

Native b43 driver

On kernels 2.6.24 and newer, you should use the b43 driver, which is included as a module in Debian kernel images.

You must also install the firmware for this driver.

Add contrib section to your apt sources.list
Install the b43-fwcutter package

aptitude update
aptitude install b43-fwcutter

Make sure driver is loaded

modprobe b43

Verify that your card works

ifconfig -a
iwconfig
ifconfig wlan0 up

If everything goes okay, you should see the wlan0 interface in the output of "ifconfig -a", wireless extensions for that interface in the output of "iwconfig", and no output at all from "ifconfig wlan0 up". If "ifconfig wlan0 up" gives you a message "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory", then probably you don't have the proper firmware. Look [http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware here] for more information, and also consider filing a bug against the b43-firmware package.

Native bcm43xx driver

On kernels older than 2.6.24, you should use the bcm43xx driver, which is included as a module in Debian kernel images. The bcm43xx driver requires a firmware package which must be downloaded separately.

Installing the firmware (option 1)

Add contrib section to your apt sources.list

aptitude update
aptitude install bcm43xx-fwcutter

*Now test if drivers work

modprobe bcm43xx

Verify that your card is there:

iwconfig

Installing the firmware (option 2)

If you experience an error 404, go here [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=445133 Bug 445133]

If failed, Download this script which was taken from lenny package:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?msg=19;filename=install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh;att=1;bug=445133

Remove old script and place a new one.

rm /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh
cp install_bcm43xx_firm
ware.sh /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/
chmod u+x /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh

Retry install

apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

Now test if drivers work

modprobe bcm43xx

Verify that your card is there:

iwconfig

Installing the firmware (option 3)

If iwconfig is not showing your card that means the drivers are not correct. We will need to try few sources of drivers.
First source is dell site.
Download dell drivers,

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R151517.EXE

unzip

unzip R151517.EXE

Extract drivers

bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys

Now test if drivers work

modprobe bcm43xx

Verify that your card is there:

iwconfig

Installing the firmware (option 4)

If that didn't work try following sources:
[http://www.learnaboutlinux.net/files/bcmwl5.sys bcmwl5.sys from source 2]
Extract drivers

bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys

Now test if drivers work

modprobe bcm43xx

Verify that your card is there:

iwconfig

Installing the firmware (option 5)

[http://www.learnaboutlinux.net/files/wl_apsta.o wl_apsta.o from source 3] (treat wl_apsta.o just like bcmwl5.sys)
Extract drivers

bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o

Now test if drivers work

modprobe bcm43xx

Verify that your card is there:

iwconfig

Ndiswrapper

If the generic bcm43xx driver didn't work.
Usually because you don't have kernel version 2.6.20, you will have to use ndiswrapper.
But because we already went through so many problems we will use the latest source code for ndiswrapper to make sure it works with our current kernel.

Install ndiswrapper

Install what is neccessary:

aptitude install build-essential
aptitude install linux-headers-`uname -r`

uninstall all versions you might have:

aptitude remove ndiswrapper-common
aptitude remove ndiswrapper-utils

Download the source, or check their website for latest source code [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=93482 check for new source code]

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
wget http://superb-east.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.52.tar.gz
tar -xzvf ndiswrapper-1.52.tar.gz

Prevent conflict with bcm43xx

Now to make sure there is no conflic with generic bcm43xx driver do this:

echo blacklist bcm43xx >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Go to your ndiswrapper directory and compile the source:

cd ndiswrapper-1.52
make
make install
make distclean

Install driver

We already download this file R151517.EXE if not wget it again:

wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R151517.EXE

Unzip:

unzip -a R151517.EXE

Install driver. This time we use .inf file, and not the sys file.

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

List devices:

ndiswrapper -l

You should see:

bcmwl5 : driver installed
        device (14E4:4311) present

Do final steps:

ndiswrapper -m
modprobe ndiswrapper
echo ndiswrapper >> /etc/modules

Check the device

Check if device is in a list:

iwconfig

You should see something like:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm
          RTS thr:2347 B   Fragment thr:2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Connect to network

Gnome- Double click on Network Connection (If you don't have an icon click on add to panel, then Select "Network Monitor" and click add)
Name: Wlan0
Click on configure
Select Wireless connection
Properties
Pick a network, add a password, select dhcp and click ok
You should be connected.

External Links

[http://www.learnaboutlinux.net/wireless_1390.htm generic bcm43xx and ndiswrapper (Explains it all)]
[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=297092 ndiswrpapper for 1390 only]

CategoryWireless

-  ⇤ ← Revision 13 as of 2008-06-11 12:53:42 → 
  Size: 6268
  Editor: ?AndrewMoise
  Comment:
+   ← Revision 14 as of 2008-06-11 13:01:40 → ⇥
  Size: 6942
  Editor: ?AndrewMoise
  Comment:
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 15:
-On kernels 2.6.24 and newer, you should use the b43 driver, which is included as a module in Debian kernel images.  You must also install the firmware; install the b43-fwcutter package, or go to [http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware] for more detailed instructions.
+On kernels 2.6.24 and newer, you should use the b43 driver, which is included as a module in Debian kernel images.

You must also install the firmware for this driver.

 * Add contrib section to your apt sources.list
 * Install the b43-fwcutter package
{{{
aptitude update
aptitude install b43-fwcutter
}}}
 * Make sure driver is loaded
{{{
modprobe b43
}}}
 * Verify that your card works
{{{
ifconfig -a
iwconfig
ifconfig wlan0 up
}}}

If everything goes okay, you should see the wlan0 interface in the output of "ifconfig -a", wireless extensions for that interface in the output of "iwconfig", and no output at all from "ifconfig wlan0 up".  If "ifconfig wlan0 up" gives you a message "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory", then probably you don't have the proper firmware.  Look [http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware here] for more information, and also consider filing a bug against the b43-firmware package.
-Line 23:
+Line 44:
- * Add Contrib section to your apt source.list
+ * Add contrib section to your apt sources.list

Diff for "bcm43xx"