New-Wireless Problem Broadcom

keyvay · #1 22nd March 2010, 07:13 AM

Im new to linux an ive installed fedora 12 i can connect wired but not wireless ive tried going to a few web sites that give a step by step of type "this" then "this" an its not working i have a broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN an ive read that its not an easy thing to do i got the fwcutter (i think i did that right) and the broadcom driver for windows file sitting on my desktop but i dont know how to bring it all together or am i going about this all wrong any help would be great and yes ive started reading and reading and reading on who/what/why/when/where/how of linux

thanks for any help

trustnoone · #2 22nd March 2010, 08:32 AM

When I installed wireless it mostly worked basically strait away, an found the wireless pretty quick.
I had a fair bit of problems at the start where connection would drop out though so i used this http://etherplex.org/archives/141 guide which fixed it??

stoat · #3 22nd March 2010, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trustnoone

I had a fair bit of problems at the start where connection would drop out though so i used this http://etherplex.org/archives/141 guide which fixed it??

Hello trustnoone,

Those instructions are for Atheros, not Broadcom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by keyvay

i have a broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN

Hello keyvay,

Fedora kernels do come with several drivers that require us to do nothing, like trustnoone experienced with the Atheros card. But regarding specifically Broadcom, there are only four chipsets known to work "out-of-the-box" nowadays with Fedora. There may be a fifth one, but that's hasn't been confirmed. There are many other Broadcom chipsets that also work in Fedora, but they require us to do something to make them work. Some can use the b43 driver that comes with Fedora kernels, but they require firmware to be installed. Some can use the new broadcom-wl driver, but that has to be acquired elsewhere and installed. And some people use ndiswrapper to make a Windows driver work in Fedora.

Anyway, I think the point is that it's the chipset in the wireless card that decides the matter. Therefore, the first step is to identify the chipset. Most Broadcom cards discussed around here use the PCI bus. Their chipsets will identified in the output of this terminal command...

Code:

lspci

Look in the result of that terminal command for a network controller that specifies the Broadcom chipset. Then the next step will probably be clear. These Broadcom issues come up over and over. So I hobbled together everything that I know about them into one place. Go here after you know the chipset of your Broadcom wireless card...

HOWTO Use Broadcom Wireless Cards in Fedora 10/11/12

If you have problems or questions, return here for more help.

nuxil · #4 26th March 2010, 10:23 PM

I have the same problem, my broadcom wireless worked with the other versions but not with the new one.
Didn't have time to sit and search to fix it. Hope after the university session to check it out on the link posted before my post

Bert Rolston · #5 26th March 2010, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keyvay

(snip...) i have a broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN an ive read that its not an easy thing to do (...snip)

thanks for any help

Hi keyvay,

I'm setting up a laptop now with a Broadcom WLAN card installed.
Have a look at the last post in this thread as I have found a couple of GOTCHAS which could make life difficult.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=242406

Please note the Broadcom card I have.
You really need to identify your model first. Some of the answers for the Broadcom WLAN adaptors could be found in the laptop section of the forums.

This may not work for you if your WLAN card is a different model.

---------- Post added at 11:02 AM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 AM CDT ----------

]Hi stoat,

I found a couple of gotchas on a Presario c700 that may be worth noting

The laptop is running a fully updated F12.
Here's a link to the thread where I noted them.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=242406

It seems the latest PAE kernel could have some issues with the drivers.
I reverted to the standard kernel after removing the b43 drivers. The b43 drivers may work with the standard kernel.
I'm currently using the broadcom-wl drivers.

stoat · #6 27th March 2010, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bert Rolston in that other thread

3) Initially Fedora 12 installed the PAE kernel, which effects the hardware switch. As soon as I installed kernel
2.6.32.9-70.fc12.i686 the wireless switch worked and WLANS were detected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bert Rolston

It seems the latest PAE kernel could have some issues with the drivers.

Maybe. But there is another possible explanation worth considering.

Hello Bert Rolston,

When the PAE kernel is running, then kmod-wl-PAE should be installed. Starting with Fedora 11 which did not have a "plain" i686 kernel, attempting to install the broadcom-wl driver from RPM Fusion by installing "kmod-wl" or "broadcom-wl" when the PAE kernel was running often would result in the i586 kernel being installed as a dependency. People did not like that. Lots of threads here about it. It could be avoided by installing specifically kmod-wl-PAE.

But you're using Fedora 12 which brought back the "plain" i686 kernel but doesn't have an i586 kernel. And since it arrived, threads about this issue went away. I stopped thinking about it. Nevertheless, you somehow could have installed kmod-wl with that PAE kernel running. When it didn't work, you discovered that installing the non-PAE kernel worked with the wireless driver. It's just a theory in my head. You can try this maybe to answer the question...

Code:

rpm -qa | grep -e kernel -e kmod-wl -e broadcom-wl | sort

I haven't seen any threads about the Fedora 12 PAE kernel not working with PAE version of the RPM Fusion broadcom-wl driver, but I'm perfectly willing to wrong about all of this. Even then it would be interesting to see the results of that query.

Bert Rolston · #7 27th March 2010, 02:24 AM

O.K.

I can see what happened now.

I ran a bog stock installation off the DVD which installed the PAE kernel by default.

I read about the broadcom-wl package in a different thread and installed it.
I didn't realise there was a PAE version of that package.
That didn't work.

So I installed the standard kernel, installed the broadcom-wl package, removed b43 and the PAE kernel.

I was doing all this at the command line, assuming YUM would find the correct package to match the kernel.

Given that this laptop is highly unlikely to use more than 4GB of RAM I won't install the PAE kernel.

FYI - I've just checked the rpmfusion repos for broadcom-wl and there isn't a PAE version of that package, unless it has a different name.

stoat · #8 27th March 2010, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bert Rolston

FYI - I've just checked the rpmfusion repos for broadcom-wl and there isn't a PAE version of that package, unless it has a different name.

Thanks, but it's kmod-wl and kmod-wl-PAE that I'm talking about. Both of those need the same broadcom-wl package. The RPM Fusion broadcom-wl driver is actually a trio of packages: 1) a kmod-wl metapackage, 2) a kernel-specific kmod-wl package, and 3) broadcom-wl. The PAE version consists of 1) a kmod-wl-PAE metapackage, 2) a kernel-specific kmod-wl-PAE package, and 3) broadcom-wl. In fact, IMO, using yum to install "broadcom-wl" is what caused the Fedora 11 issues that I mentioned. Before Fedora 11, the right version always seemed to be installed for the kernel. But starting with Fedora 11, unexpected things could (and often did) happen by attempting to install "broadcom-wl" instead of "kmod-wl-PAE" when the PAE kernel was running. Since the issue has been quiet vis-a-vis Fedora 12, I assumed that it was over since Fedora 12 only has the i686 and PAE kernels in the 32-bit version.

Bert Rolston · #9 27th March 2010, 02:58 AM

Ah hah!

SO if I install the kmod-wl package then future updates of the kernel should pull the latest WLAN packages in automagically.

As an aside, but probably related.
Could running the non-PAE WLAN package on a PAE kernel cause excessive heating?
The system was running very hot before I reverted to the non-PAE kernel.

stoat · #10 27th March 2010, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bert Rolston

SO if I install the kmod-wl package then future updates of the kernel should pull the latest WLAN packages in automagically

Usually, when the kernel is updated, those wireless packages are updated appropriately for the new kernel. Typically, the two kmods are updated every time the kernel gets updated. But the broadcom-wl package is not updated as often. Anyway, it all happens that way regardless of how you installed the packages. Those three packages are all dependent upon each other, and installing one will bring along the others. But as already explained, unexpected things can happen installing them in a certain way in certain circumstances. But it is my belief that installing either kmod-wl or kmod-wl-PAE will always do the right thing for any kernel (32-bit or 64-bit) and any version of Fedora (including Fedora 11).