Installing b43-fwcutter-011

[Smellypuce]

I'm running Fedora 9 and need to get my wireless card working (wmp54gs). I followed this guide http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/bo...hread.id=15114 and when I try to "make" it says "command not found". I've made sure that I'm in the right directory. I checked to see if there were instructions that came along with it but there aren't any.

Keep in mind that in order for me to get any files on my computer, I have to download them to my laptop and then transfer them onto a portable storage device and then transfer them onto my computer. So I can't use any yum commands that require internet.

[Seve]

Hello:
There is a b43-fwcutter rpm package included on the DVD install media and from the repos, not sure if it is included on the live CD or not ?

# yum info b43-fwcutter
Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit
Installed Packages
Name       : b43-fwcutter
Arch       : x86_64
Version    : 011
Release    : 3.fc9
Size       : 25 k
Repo       : installed
Summary    : Firmware extraction tool for Broadcom wireless driver
URL        : [url]http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/[/url]
License    : BSD
Description: This package contains the 'b43-fwcutter' tool which is used to
           : extract firmware for the Broadcom network devices.  See the
           : README.Fedora file shipped in the package's documentation for
           : instructions on using this tool. 

You might want to try that package.
http://fedora.mirror.iweb.ca/release...6/os/Packages/


Seve

[bbfuller]

Hello Smellypuce

The b43-fwcutter program has been installed on every Fedora 8 or 9 installation I've made either from live-cd or DVD. It doesn't always appear if you do an upgrade from far enough back. Presumably because it wasn't included in the distribution then.

Try:

rpm -q b43-fwcutter

to see if it is installed.

If it is then you only need to download one package to transfer across to your machine to use with it.

That assumes you have one of the following broadcom cards to go with it.

4306, 4309, 4311, 4312, 4318.

The 4310 is a USB device in disguise and won't ever work with the b43 driver according to their site. Later cards like 4328 and 29 aren't supported yet.

Likewise 802.11a and 802.11n aren't supported yet.

Some early 4306's need a different firmware package to that specified in the apended notes.

Download this file and put it into a directory somewhere:

http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/b...0.10.5.tar.bz2

Acquire full root rights over your machine with this command in a terminal window:

su -

That's a space and a minus sign after the su. It gives you full root rights over your machine rather than just root rights over your ordinary users environment without it.

Use the cd command to navigate into the directory where you downloaded the above file. Issue the command:

tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

That unpacks the file archive you downloaded and will create you a new directory where you are working called 'broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5'.

cd into that and then the 'driver' directory within that and use the command:

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

That cuts the required firmware for your card from the downloaded file and places it in the correct place for the b43 driver to find it.

Check and see if you have NetworkManager showing on the top Gnome Panel to the right in the notification area. If you have ignore the next part.

Go to the "Gnome System Menu - Administration - Services", tick NetworkManager and NetworkMangerDispatcher, make sure they are started and the settings are saved so they start at next boot.

{The above paragraph is only necessary for Fedora 8 definitely not for Fedora 9}

Restart the machine and left clicking on the NetworkManager icon should bring up a list of wireless access points to connect to.

If it doesn't work there are a couple of possible things we may need to alter, mine worked without them though so we'll not complicate things if we don't need to.

Although the notes just say download the file, it can be downloaded on any machine and transferred to the Linux one by any means available.

[Smellypuce]

Big thanks to both of you, I got it working. Got a lot of updating to do(172 updates).

[cheiron19]

I have a Linksys WMP54G wireless card and found the forum for help. It's great BTW!

I tried all of the instructios listed below.

Download this file and put it into a directory somewhere:

http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/...50.10.5.tar.bz2

Acquire full root rights over your machine with this command in a terminal window:

su -

That's a space and a minus sign after the su. It gives you full root rights over your machine rather than just root rights over your ordinary users environment without it.

Use the cd command to navigate into the directory where you downloaded the above file. Issue the command:

tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

That unpacks the file archive you downloaded and will create you a new directory where you are working called 'broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5'.

cd into that and then the 'driver' directory within that and use the command:

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

After executing the last command above I get the following error message

Sorry, the input file is either wrong or not supported by b43-fwcutter.
This file has an unknown MD5sum cd8d70972b885b1f8883b943c0261a3c.

Any help would be appreciated very much.

[bbfuller]

Hello cheiron19

Basically, what the command is saying is that it finds something wrong with the file you have downloaded.

I haven't tried this myself for a few weeks, it's something you do and then forget until you next re-install Fedora. I've just checked the details on the b43 driver site though and they haven't changed.

Can you try two things for me, when you have cd'd into the driver directory, could you run the command:

ls

and confirm that you see that 'wl_apsta_mimo.o' file.

If it's there then try downloading it again in case of corruption.

If that doesn't work, I'll try cutting my copy again and if it works I'll post it here for you to try.

[cheiron19]

Yes, the file was there.

I downloaded the file again, extracted the files, and ran the command with the same results.
Here's the command line;

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

Thanks for the help!

[bbfuller]

Hello cheiron19

Well, Ive just checked on mine and it works. before we go to the trouble of me getting you my file to cut - and it's fairly large, I don't know what the foprum supports.

Can we check which version of Fedora you are running, 8 or 9 and which version of b43-fwcutter you are running.

rpm -q b43-fwcuter

should tell us all we need to know.

[cheiron19]

Good Morning bbfuller, it afternoon there I know.

The query returns b43-fwcutter-008-1.fc8

I'm running Fedora 8

[bbfuller]

Hello cheiron19

It certainly is, middle of Summer and raining! No wonder I'm sitting in front of a computer.

That output explains everything.

For the 008 fwcutter we needed a different package to cut. It's this one:

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...0.53.0.tar.bz2

When you have extracted it, then you need to "cd" into the "kmod" folder within it and issue the command:

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

There are though two potential problems you need to be aware of.

First concerns whatever chipset you may have in that card, I don't think we determined it. For my systems, my broadcom 4318 card worked with this setup, my 4306 didn't until the advent of the 011 fwcutter and presumably an updated b43 driver.

Second, if you use the command:

dmesg | grep b43

after you hopefully have this card running you will see a message that the firmware cut this way will no longer work with revisions of the driver issued from about now. So once you have it running and updated be prepared to run the new b43-fwcutter program with the new firmware.

By the way, when I said above that we hadn't determined the chipset in your card, I presume you are sure it is one of the broadcom chipsets supported by this b43 driver? Not all are and then you have to use ndiswrapper.

Good Luck, I'll be looking for your progress.

[cheiron19]

lol, that didn't work either. Not a problem, I have run a hard cable to do updates and proceed from there. Now I just have a cable hanging out of the second story window, running down the front of the house and into the garage. As soon as I get everything updated I'll have another run at it.

[bbfuller]

Hello cheiron19

So what error message did you get from b43-fwcutter.

[cheiron19]

Oh, and a little more information.

I have the Linksys WMP54G Wireless Adapter, the info I could find on the Linksys site says they all are 4306 Chipset.

At least from what I could find, they are not all that open with the technical details of the card.

[cheiron19]

Hello cheiron19

So what error message did you get from b43-fwcutter.

It wasn't recognized as an archive. The hardwire route seems to be working for now. I'll try everything again after the update.

Thanks for all of your help.

[laxguy]

i know im not the same person, but i have the same exact card as him, so i did what you said and it appeared to work, and it tried to connect to my wireless network but it keeps saying Network Disconnected.. when i left click on the network thing in the top corner it shows my network with a bar next to it that its most of the way filled with a blue color but it can't seem to connect...and i can't get on the internet, any help?