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Broadcom 43xx wireless devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Broadcom BCM4301, BCM4306, BCM4311, BCM4312 and BCM4318 chipsets on Debian systems.

Identification

The PCI-Id is not sufficient to determine the Broadcom chipset within.

The relevant driver has built-in logic to probe the actual chipset, for example:

• b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found

Refer to http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Supported_devices for more information.

Drivers

There are multiple drivers supporting Broadcom wireless LAN chipsets.

Linux native drivers:

• b43 (supported devices)

  • Introduced in Linux 2.6.24.
  • Supports BCM4312 as of Linux 2.6.32.
  • Supports BCM4321 and BCM4322 (802.11 draft-n) as of Linux 2.6.38.

• b43legacy (supported devices)

  • For 802.11b-only devices and the BCM4306 revision 2.
  • Introduced in Linux 2.6.24.

• brcm80211 (supported devices)

  • Introduced in Linux 2.6.37, included in Debian Linux 2.6.32 kernel images.
  • Supports BCM4313, BCM43224 and BCM43225 (802.11n).

• rndis_wlan (supported devices)

  • Introduced in Linux 2.6.25.
  • Supports BCM4320 USB devices.

• wl (supported devices)

  • Non-free vendor driver, not in mainline Linux kernels.
  • Supports BCM4321 and BCM4322 (802.11 draft-n).
• bcm43xx
  • Introduced in Linux 2.6.17.
  • Disabled in Debian 2.6.24 and later kernels.
  • Removed from Linux at 2.6.26.

More information on b43/b43legacy can be found on the Linux Wireless b43 driver page. bcm43xx is no longer developed. Note that bcm43xx, b43, b43legacy, brcm80211 and wl do not support any USB devices.

Using Windows' binary drivers:

• NDISwrapper plus the relevant Windows NDIS driver. This is a workaround for devices not supported natively by Linux, such as USB devices based on Broadcom wireless chipsets (other than the BCM4320).

b43 and b43legacy

For Linux 2.6.24 and later kernels. Both drivers are included as modules in Debian kernel images.

Squeeze

The b43 and b43legacy drivers require firmware from userspace. Firmware must be downloaded, which can be performed by the firmware-b43-installer, firmware-b43legacy-installer or firmware-b43-lpphy-installer packages during installation. An Internet connection is required.

The b43-fwcutter package (as of 1:013~git20100413-1) no longer acquires firmware, separate installer packages are now used.

1. Add a "contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

   # Debian Squeeze/6.0
   deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free

2. Update the list of available packages and install the wireless-tools package:

   aptitude update
   aptitude install wireless-tools

3. Install the appropriate firmware installer package:

   For 802.11b/g devices with a BCM4306 revision 3, BCM4311 or BCM4318 chipset, install firmware-b43-installer:

   aptitude install firmware-b43-installer

   For 802.11b/g devices with a BCM4312 LP-PHY chipset (PCI-ID 14E4:4315), install firmware-b43-lpphy-installer:

   aptitude install firmware-b43-lpphy-installer

   For 802.11b-only devices (BCM4301) or 802.11b/g devices with the BCM4306 revision 2 chipset, install firmware-b43legacy-installer:

   aptitude install firmware-b43legacy-installer

   A PCI ID check will be performed to prevent incorrect firmware installation. When satisfied, the relevant Broadcom proprietary driver will be acquired, the firmware within will be extracted and installed.

4. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via either:

   modprobe b43

   or

   modprobe b43legacy

5. Verify your device has an available interface:

   iwconfig

6. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

   ifconfig wlan0 up

7. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

• Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.

  • Run dpkg-reconfigure firmware-b43-installer, dpkg-reconfigure firmware-b43legacy-installer or dpkg-reconfigure firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (as relevant) to fetch and extract firmware again.

  • If necessary, firmware can be manually acquired and extracted using the b43-fwcutter utility, see http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Device_firmware_installation. The b43-fwcutter package will need to be installed.

• With LP-PHY devices (e.g. BCM4312), DMA errors may occur on some systems (589867).

  • To workaround:

    modprobe -r b43
    echo options b43 pio=1 qos=0 >> /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf
    modprobe b43

• Known issues with the b43 driver are documented on its homepage.

Lenny

The b43 and b43legacy drivers require firmware from userspace. Firmware must be downloaded, which can be performed by the b43-fwcutter package during installation. An Internet connection is required.

1. Add a "contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

   # Debian Lenny/5.0
   deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free

2. Update the list of available packages and install the b43-fwcutter and wireless-tools packages:

   aptitude update
   aptitude install b43-fwcutter wireless-tools

   If you have an Internet connection available, allow the b43-fwcutter package to fetch and extract firmware.

3. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via either:

   modprobe b43

   or

   modprobe b43legacy

4. Verify your device has an available interface:

   iwconfig

5. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

   ifconfig wlan0 up

6. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

• Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.

  • Run dpkg-reconfigure -plow b43-fwcutter to fetch and extract firmware again. Firmware will only be fetched if not already present in the /lib/firmware/[b43|b43legacy] directories on your system.

  • If necessary, firmware can be manually acquired and extracted using the b43-fwcutter utility, see http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Device_firmware_installation

• Known issues with the b43 driver are documented on its homepage.

NDISwrapper

This should only be used as a last resort, if the device is not supported by the native drivers (e.g. Broadcom USB devices, other than the BCM4320).

Blacklist native drivers

If loaded, the b43/b43legacy drivers will conflict with NDISwrapper. To unload and blacklist:

modprobe -r b43 b43legacy
echo -e blacklist b43\\nblacklist b43legacy >> /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

Installation

Kernel module and NDIS driver installation is described on the NDISwrapper page.

Supported Devices

b43

The page HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI explains how to identify a PCI device.

• http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Supported_devices

b43legacy

The page HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI explains how to identify a PCI device.

• http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Supported_devices

See Also

• brcm80211 - Broadcom BCM4313, BCM43224, BCM43225 devices

• rndis_wlan - Broadcom BCM4320 devices

• How to use a WiFi interface

• NDISwrapper

• wl (vendor driver)

External Links

• http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 - b43, b43legacy homepage;

  • irc://irc.freenode.net/bcm-users - driver IRC channel

CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless