More wireless woes - there's got to be a better way! BroadCom BCM4328

[KirkD]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 with a BroadCom BCM4328 wireless card. When I originally installed F9 months ago, I was able to get it working very easily using the following protocol:

su -
yum install kmod-ndiswrapper
mkdir /ndiswrapper_drivers

I then copied in bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

This gives the expected response stating that the card is found and active.

ndiswrapper -l

This tells me:

bcmwl5 : driver installed
	device (14E4:4328) present (alternate driver: ssb)

Then when I execute

modprobe ndiswrapper

I get:

FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.

Even after exectuting:

ndiswrapper -ma
depmod -a

I still get the FATAL error.

This process is now failing on a fresh install of F10 and F9, but it is working perfectly through my old install of F9!!

I truly appreciate any possible tips.

BTW - I tried this:

wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver	
su
b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o

I see nothing regarding the wireless card in Network Manager even after various reboots.

HELP!!

[scottro]

I've changed the subject line to increase your chances of getting help. Busy as the forums are these days, there are many people posting with vague subject lines and wondering why no one is helping.

This way, someone familiar with the card might help.

[KirkD]

Thanks, scottro. I appreciate your help toward visibility.

[saladdays]

Install the RPM Fusion repository and "yum install broadcom-wl"

I can't tell you how happy I was when my Dell mini 9 wireless finally worked.

[pwca]

It is sometimes necessary to "force" the issue. When I installed F9 it was necessary to create the wlan0 device manually in addition to the steps you've already taken. In an xterm type: system-config-network. If your card (denoted by wlan0) doesn't appear in the Devices tab of the Network Configuration GUI then follow these instructions below to add it.

In an xterm type: system-config-network In the Network Configuration GUI that pops up click on the Devices tab and on the Hardware tab. If a line containing "wlan0" does not appear in either tab reboot your machine and once logged back in open an xterminal, become root and re-issue the command "system-config-network". Check the tabs again. You should see in the Devices tab a line containing "wlan0". If not don't worry we are now going to force the bugger with a sledge hammer.

Click on the "Devices" tab then select "New" from the menu. Follow the on-screen dialog to create a new device.

After it's been created click on "Edit" from the menu and do:
--In the "General" tab make sure the following are enabled:
Controlled by NetworkManager
Activate device when computer starts
Allow users to enable and disable the device
Enable IPv6 configuration for this interface
Automatically obtain IP address settings with: "dhcp"
Automatically obtain DNS information from provider
--In the "Hardware device" tab make sure:
Hardware is set to "wlan0 (b43)"
Device alias number is unchecked
Bind to MAC address is checked
--In the "Wireless Settings" tab make sure:
Mode is set to "auto"
Network name (SSID) is set to "auto"
Channel is set to "1"
Transmit rate is set to "Auto"

Now save your changes by choosing File-- Save from the GUI menu and then exit the GUI.

At this point you will need to reboot.

[KirkD]

Thanks for the quick responses. I really appreciate all the help.

saladdays - I installed the broadcom driver but I still don't see anything resembling wlan0 in my network manager. Which leads me to -

pwca - I followed your instructions and indeed I do not see wlan0 in Network Manager. I try to force the issue, but in creating a new device, I'm given a list of wireless cards to choose from, none of which are mine. I chose one arbitrarily and went through all the setup options you suggested, but I never see a wlan0 option, even after rebooting. I'll poke around a bit more and check back here to see if there are other options...

-Kirk

[KirkD]

Update:

I've gone through 2 or 3 rounds and I haven't been able to get this working as yet. I'm able to set up a device/hardware in the network manager GUI and I can assign it a nickname of wlan0, but when I select that particular device the activate/deactivate buttons are disabled. I also cannot delete the device in order to try again - the delete button is disabled.

I'm quite perplexed by this one. I'm currently sending this message from my working version of F9 installed from the exact same DVD as that in which I cannot get the card working at all.

[Digo]

I have the same wireless device as yours, and the best and most seamless solution to make it work is broadcom-wl, disregarding solutions such as ndiswrapper and b43. broadcom-wl is a native driver released through a partnership between Dell and Broadcom.

When I installed broadcom-wl in my machine (it was f9 in that time), the package installed a module blacklist (/etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-wl-blacklist) to disable ndiswrapper, b43, and others:

# modules blacklisted for broadcom-wl
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist ssb
blacklist b43
blacklist ndiswrapper

It's important not to have those conflicting modules loaded. After installing broadcom-wl rpm is advisable to restart the machine for the blacklist to take effect, or unload the modules manually, using 'modprobe -r <module>'. As 'wl' module is loaded, and the wireless switch is turned on, it creates the device wlan0, and the wireless LED turns on.

As a diagnosis, once you have installed broadcom-wl, restarted the machine, the module 'wl' appears on the lsmod list? if not, when you issue 'modprobe wl' as root, the command dmesg tells you there's anything wrong on loading the module?

[KirkD]

Digo,

That was the information I needed!

As you and saladdays recommended, I used the broadcom-wl package, but this time I started with a fresh install of F10 in which I DID NOT have ndiswrapper running. I'm guessing there was a conflict that I wasn't handling there.

I also noticed that broadcom-wl installed the non-PAE kernel. Now that I have both, I find that if I boot into the PAE kernel (vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.PAE) wireless does not work. If I rather boot into the non-PAE kernel (vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686) wireless comes up automagically. Forgive my newbieness, but what is the PAE kernel and should I opt for/against it for any particular reason?

Thanks to everyone who posted. I always get fantastic help here!! Now I'm off to fix the nVidia drivers....

-Kirk

BTW - could I request a moderator to mark my original subject line as [SOLVED] for the benefit or others, please?

[Digo]

I'm glad you've made it. Concerning PAE kernel, you only need it if you have more than 4GB of memory and want to use all of it on 32-bit fedora, instead of a 64 bit fedora. If you have less that 4GB, you don't need it, you can use the non-PAE kernel.

[KirkD]

I suppose since I have exactly 4GB of memory that I'm safe with non-PAE. Excellent. 8^)

Thanks again for all the assistance.

[Digo]

Well, if you have exactly 4GB of memory, I suppose PAE kernel is required for using all memory available...

[KirkD]

Hmmmm...now I'm a bit confused. I'll start a different thread regarding the PAE kernel details, but I did notice that when I boot into that kernel my broadcom-wl did not work. Is that a known issue or is there a work-around?

[Digo]

The wl solution is composed of broadcom-wl and kmod-wl, the latter installed as dependency of the former. Probably yum installed only the non-PAE kmod-wl module. To install the PAE kmod-wl module, issue as root:

yum install kmod-wl-PAE

And reboot using your PAE kernel. An alternative is to install "akmod-wl": in that case every time you install a new kernel, akmods tool will recompile the module automatically. Both solutions work ok.

Concerning RAM/PAE, with exactly 4GB of RAM you *do* need a PAE kernel or 64 bit distro, otherwise not all of your RAM capacity will be used. Without PAE, only about 3.2GB of memory will become available, but this amount depends on the chipset, mainly because of address reservation from PCI-Express and others... Check for yourself: boot using your non-PAE kernel and check on gnome-system-monitor how much RAM is available....

[]s

[KirkD]

Digo,

Thanks for the tips. I may put akmod-wl on regardless just to avoid the whole kernel update breakdown that typically occurs.

I'll check the memory details once I return home and report back.

Thank you for the info!!

-Kirk