F17: Continuing problem with wireless: Broadcom BCM4321

[rgaelzer]

Using Fedora 17.
With F16, I fixed the problems with the Broadcom BCM4321 wi-fi card in my Dell Vostro 1500 following the instruction in the (now closed) thread:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=239922

See my comment there. Stoat considered this issue solved, but it just got worse with F17.

See also my comments in another thread, where the workaround that worked at that time is mentioned:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=230669

Now, the trick of creating the /etc/modprobe.dssb-and-wl file containing the line:
install ssb /sbin/modprobe wl; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ssb;

Does nothing. The wi-fi card is still not recognized.

Further details:

=========================================
/etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-wl-blacklist.conf:

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


==========================================
Output of:
$ lspci -v | awk '/[nN]et/,/^$/'

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device 0228
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
Memory at fe5fe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: b44

0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-card
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
Memory at fe8fc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=1M]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
Capabilities: [e8] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number d9-27-26-ff-ff-51-00-1c
Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

==============================================

Output of lsmod | sort:

b44 36107 0
binfmt_misc 17463 1
bluetooth 298929 7 bnep
bnep 19584 2
coretemp 13480 0
crc_itu_t 12579 1 firewire_core
dcdbas 14828 1 dell_laptop
dell_laptop 17369 0
dell_wmi 12681 0
drm 259168 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
drm_kms_helper 40253 1 i915
firewire_core 62298 1 firewire_ohci
firewire_ohci 40401 0
fuse 77952 3
i2c_algo_bit 13257 1 i915
i2c_core 38177 6 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,vide odev
i2c_i801 17779 0
i915 510726 2
ip6table_filter 12815 1
ip6_tables 26942 1 ip6table_filter
ip6t_REJECT 12939 2
kvm 412517 0
lib80211 13968 1 wl
lockd 89250 0
lpc_ich 17061 0
media 20444 2 uvcvideo,videodev
memstick 16029 1 r592
mfd_core 13145 1 lpc_ich
microcode 23435 0
mii 13527 1 b44
mmc_core 101681 2 ssb,sdhci
Module Size Used by
nf_conntrack 83563 3 xt_state,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6
nf_conntrack_ipv4 14744 8
nf_conntrack_ipv6 14341 9
nf_defrag_ipv4 12673 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_defrag_ipv6 18177 1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
r592 17957 0
rfkill 21384 2 bluetooth
sdhci 37835 1 sdhci_pci
sdhci_pci 18657 0
snd 79242 10 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_ hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec 126728 2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec_idt 70209 1
snd_hda_intel 37587 2
snd_hwdep 17650 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_page_alloc 18101 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm 97292 2 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer 28690 1 snd_pcm
soundcore 14491 1 snd
sparse_keymap 13526 1 dell_wmi
ssb 65677 1 b44
sunrpc 255029 1 lockd
tpm_bios 13528 0
uinput 17673 0
uvcvideo 76826 0
video 18936 1 i915
videobuf2_core 31992 1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops 13354 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_vmalloc 12967 1 uvcvideo
videodev 116207 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
wl 2573484 0
wmi 18697 1 dell_wmi
xt_state 12578 17

==============================================

It seems that it's trying to use the driver b43-pci-bridge, but it doesn't work.
Tried blackmailing b43-pci-bridge to no avail.
The ONLY way I got wi-fi to work was by blackmailing b44. However, the ethernet card uses that driver. I don't want to have to modprobe it every time I want a wired network access.

I thought such longtime bugs would be fixed by now...
Any suggestions?

[rgaelzer]

Well, it seems that I found a workaround this issue.
I kept the b44 module blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-wl-blacklist.conf, thereby ensuring that the wl module is loaded.
Then, I created the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file with the text

#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/sbin/modprobe b44 >/dev/null 2>&1

which loads the b44 module AFTER wl.
In this way, both wl and b44 are correctly loaded by the system.

[Aliaric]

Got the same probem. Nice trick, thanks.