Fedora 16 kernel 3.2.9 No wireless

[Clived]

Hello

I run Fedora 16 on an old laptop and everything works just great. A few weeks ago, I updated the kernel to 3.2.9 and my wireless stopped working. I get wireless when I boot an older kernel (3.2.7) but not the latest 3.2.9.
Sounds as if this kernel version did not update the wireless module (B43).

Any suggestions ?

[bbfuller]

Hello Clived

When you are booted into 3.2.7 try the yum update again and see if it pulls any extra wireless files in.

The wireless modules from rpmfusion are often a couple of days behind the new kernels.

You'll probably get a new kernel in any case, we're on 3.3 something now.

If that doesn't fix it post back and we'll do some troubleshooting.

[StephenH]

What wireless hardware do you have? Are you using kmod-wl? Have you tried akmod-wl? The akmod-wl version will build the kernel module you need so you don't have to wait until one is available. The downside is that there is some overhead on disk space for the header and other files needed to enable akmod to do its job.

yum install akmods akmod-wl

This works for a Broadcom BCM4313 network controller on an Acer Aspire One 722 Netbook.

[Clived]

Hello
Thanks for your response. I tried the yum update but it said that all my files, including the kernel were up to date ? The most recent kernel that I have is 3.2.9.6 which is the one with the problem. #.2.7 works fine. There was nothing to update from the rpmfusion repositories. Guess I'll have to try something else.


Thanks

Originally Posted by bbfuller

Hello Clived

When you are booted into 3.2.7 try the yum update again and see if it pulls any extra wireless files in.

The wireless modules from rpmfusion are often a couple of days behind the new kernels.

You'll probably get a new kernel in any case, we're on 3.3 something now.

If that doesn't fix it post back and we'll do some troubleshooting.

---------- Post added at 11:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------

Hi Stephen

Thanks for your response. I am using Broadcom BCM 4306 network controller on a Dell Precision M60 laptop.
I tried as suggested but there was no difference. As suggested in a previous post by bbfuller , I tried the yum update command but that did not pull any new files. I guess I will have to run with kernel 3.2.7 for now.

Thanks

Originally Posted by StephenH

What wireless hardware do you have? Are you using kmod-wl? Have you tried akmod-wl? The akmod-wl version will build the kernel module you need so you don't have to wait until one is available. The downside is that there is some overhead on disk space for the header and other files needed to enable akmod to do its job.

yum install akmods akmod-wl

This works for a Broadcom BCM4313 network controller on an Acer Aspire One 722 Netbook.

[StephenH]

Originally Posted by Clived

Hello
Thanks for your response. I tried the yum update but it said that all my files, including the kernel were up to date ? The most recent kernel that I have is 3.2.9.6 which is the one with the problem. #.2.7 works fine. There was nothing to update from the rpmfusion repositories. Guess I'll have to try something else.

How about taking a look here:

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

Thanks for your response. I am using Broadcom BCM 4306 network controller on a Dell Precision M60 laptop.
I tried as suggested but there was no difference. As suggested in a previous post by bbfuller , I tried the yum update command but that did not pull any new files. I guess I will have to run with kernel 3.2.7 for now.

Thanks

That will work for now. I am very surprised that yum update does not show kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16.i686 and kernel-devel-3.3.0-4.fc16.i686. I just went to my virtual Fedora 16 installation and typed "yum update" and it showed that kernel-3.3.0-4 is available along with a kmod-wl (which is apparently not the correct one for that chipset). The other site I posted the link to should help with the b43 driver.

A yum search command showed these files available:

b43-fwcutter.i686 : Firmware extraction tool for Broadcom wireless driver
b43-openfwwf.noarch : Open firmware for some Broadcom 43xx series WLAN chips
b43-tools.i686 : Tools for the Broadcom 43xx series WLAN chip

However, since I don't have the same chipset you have, I will have to defer to others who may be in a better position to assist you. However, this may help troubleshoot a bit. What does" yum repolist" return? Do you have at least the following?

fedora Fedora 16 - i386 20,176
updates Fedora 16 - i386 - Updates 6,332

Of course, if you have rpmfusion-free and rpmfusion-nonfree along with rpmfusion-free-updates and rpmfusion-nonfree-updates installed correctly, they should also show in the listing you get. Here's the listing from my desktop system:

yum repolist
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
adobe-linux-i386 | 951 B 00:00
adobe-linux-i386/primary | 11 kB 00:00
adobe-linux-x86_64 | 951 B 00:00
adobe-linux-x86_64/primary | 1.2 kB 00:00
fedora/metalink | 22 kB 00:00
fedora | 4.2 kB 00:00
fedora/primary_db | 14 MB 00:33
fedora/group_gz | 431 kB 00:01
google-earth | 951 B 00:00
google-earth/primary | 1.0 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-free | 2.7 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-free/primary_db | 373 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-free-updates | 3.3 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-free-updates/primary_db | 285 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-free-updates/group_gz | 1.6 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree | 2.7 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree/primary_db | 111 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates | 3.3 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates/primary_db | 87 kB 00:00
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates/group_gz | 1.0 kB 00:00
skype | 1.2 kB 00:00
skype/primary | 1.0 kB 00:00
spideroak-stable | 1.9 kB 00:00
spideroak-stable/primary_db | 13 kB 00:00
updates/metalink | 12 kB 00:00
updates | 4.5 kB 00:00
updates/primary_db | 5.6 MB 00:06
updates/group_gz | 431 kB 00:01
virtualbox | 951 B 00:00
virtualbox/primary | 2.2 kB 00:00
adobe-linux-i386 17/17
adobe-linux-x86_64 2/2
google-earth 1/1
skype 1/1
virtualbox 3/3
repo id repo name status
adobe-linux-i386 Adobe Systems Incorporated 17
adobe-linux-x86_64 Adobe Systems Incorporated 2
fedora Fedora 16 - x86_64 25,098
google-earth google-earth 1
rpmfusion-free RPM Fusion for Fedora 16 - Free 428
rpmfusion-free-updates RPM Fusion for Fedora 16 - Free - Updates 437
rpmfusion-nonfree RPM Fusion for Fedora 16 - Nonfree 171
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates RPM Fusion for Fedora 16 - Nonfree - Updates 201
skype Skype Repository 1
spideroak-stable SpiderOak Stable Distribution 22
updates Fedora 16 - x86_64 - Updates 8,027
virtualbox Fedora 16 - x86_64 - VirtualBox 3
repolist: 34,408

[bbfuller]

Hello Clived

As we have both said, there should be an update to that kernel.

Why not try:

yum clean all

to make yum look afresh for updates and then:

yum update

There have been some other drivers for some broadcom cards included in the kernel as of late. I suppose it may be possible that one of those may be claiming your card but is not able to drive it.

Have a look at the output from:

lspci -k

when you are booted into the non-functioning kernel. That should tell you which driver is trying for the card and what others are available.

[StephenH]

Also, you may need to add whatever other driver is trying to use the card to your /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf or a separate blacklist.conf file. You can have multiple ones. The one I have is called broadcom-wl-blacklist.conf and contains the following:

# modules blacklisted for broadcom-wl
blacklist ssb
blacklist bcma
blacklist b43
blacklist brcmsmac

Now, since you have a different chipset, you will have to check to see that your driver is NOT blacklisted and the ones not needed are.

[snerton]

This worked for me.
Got to terminal: systemctl start NetworkManager

If this doesn't work try: /sbin/service NetworkManager restart

This may have been a fluke, but I have had intermitant connection for a few days and this got my connection back.