[SOLVED] wifi not working with bcm4328

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[SOLVED] wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#1 by francois » 15 Aug 2011, 01:42

On porteus 64-bit.

1) I knew that Broadcom were not easy. drivers. Under slax remix here was my solution:
http://slax.speedymirror.com/forum.php? ... ntID=70793
" Wifi is finally working for me. I knew that linux sta for bcm was on the distribution. I finally understood that to use the bcm43xx (for me 4328), all I had to do was to blaclist ssb and b43 in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, as proposed in:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_BCM43XX"

2) Working on wired network since I got Porteus v 1.0. It seems that blacklisting ssb and b43 at least will provide eth1:

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1d:72:44:d2:fe  
          inet addr:192.168.1.11  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21d:72ff:fe44:d2fe/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:10193 errors:0 dropped:6 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:9348 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:7824744 (7.4 MiB)  TX bytes:1743721 (1.6 MiB)
          Interrupt:42 Base address:0x2000 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1a:73:eb:70:93  
          inet6 addr: fe80::21a:73ff:feeb:7093/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:21 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:500 (500.0 B)  TX bytes:500 (500.0 B)

3) pns-tool.log file:
http://pastebin.com/utTjVMFu

Any suggestion?
Last edited by francois on 30 Aug 2011, 17:03, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#2 by fanthom » 15 Aug 2011, 17:18

hi francois,

Porteus includes broadcom-sta driver (wl.ko) which should work for all broadcom cards.
did you try wicd? pls try and show me full output of /var/log/dmesg uploaded to pastebin.com.

Cheers
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#3 by francois » 16 Aug 2011, 11:01

Hello fanthom. The first post has been edited to provide the log file.
Thanks for being on service :) .

Posted after 11 hours 3 minutes 12 seconds:
here is /var/log/dmesg:
/http://pastebin.com/T37Qvsj2
Last edited by francois on 16 Aug 2011, 11:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#4 by Hamza » 16 Aug 2011, 11:01

@francois,

Did you tried this command ?

Code: Select all

ifconfig eth1 up
# This command will turne on the device named "eth1"
NjVFQzY2Rg==

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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#5 by francois » 16 Aug 2011, 11:12

Yes.

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# ifconfig eth1 up
bash-4.1# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:270 Mb/s   Tx-Power:off   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

bash-4.1# iwlist scan eth1
iwlist: unknown command `eth1' (check 'iwlist --help').
bash-4.1# 
iwlist scan eth1 does not work then.

Thanks. Late for work. I have to go right now. See you later.

Posted after 4 minutes 23 seconds:

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# dhcpcd eth1
dhcpcd[5066]: dhcpcd already running on pid 3461 (/var/run/dhcpcd-eth1.pid)
bash-4.1# 
Posted after 2 minutes 17 seconds:
Selecting eth1 as wifi in wicd and refreshing does not yield any results.

Bye now.
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#6 by fanthom » 16 Aug 2011, 11:44

@francois
pls try 'iwlist eth1 scan' (not 'iwlist scan eth1') and paste 'tail -n20 /var/log/dmesg' right after that.
also pls provide output of 'lspci -k' and 'lsmod'.

Cheers
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#7 by francois » 17 Aug 2011, 01:10

Restarting from scratch: in always fresh mode, with all modules removed.

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# iwlist wlan0 scan      
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

bash-4.1#
tail -n20 /var/log/dmesg
http://pastebin.com/Uxy6cmDf

lspci -k
http://pastebin.com/zT73XDDZ

lsmod
http://pastebin.com/GKXjGdSg
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#8 by fanthom » 17 Aug 2011, 07:02

this time b43 driver took priority over broadcom-sta. the good news is that ssb and b43 will be blacklisted by default in next release to avoid these problems.

last try:
blacklist ssb and b43, reboot porteus and make sure that wl driver is supporting your wifi card and not any other.
run 'ifconfig eth1 up' and then 'iwlist eth1 scan' if you get an error run 'dmesg' and check for errors.

according to this gentoo thread:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-857978.html
your model is supported by broadcom-sta.

other thing: did you check if this card is working on any other OS? make sure it's not disabled in the BIOS, etc...
you could also give a shot to new 3.0.1 kernel which i uploaded yesterday:
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=759

cheers
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#9 by francois » 17 Aug 2011, 11:13

Thanks for the analysis.
blacklist ssb and b43 did not worked. No wifi appears in wicd gui. :(

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
bash-4.1# 

bash-4.1# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

bash-4.1# 

bash-4.1# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          
bash-4.1# 
A little tight this morning. I will come back after work for dsmesg.

However, how do I make sure that :
'' wl driver is supporting your wifi card and not any other ''
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#10 by fanthom » 17 Aug 2011, 22:45

However, how do I make sure that :
'' wl driver is supporting your wifi card and not any other ''
run iwconfig and note name of the wifi card (will probably be wlan0 or eth1) then run 'dmesg' and search for that name. you could try this command:

Code: Select all

grep name_of_wifi_interface /var/log/dmesg
when you see something like:

Code: Select all

eth1: Broadcom BCM4328 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38 
then it's ok.

in your last test i see that your wifi is named as wlan0 and not eth1. also 'b43' and 'ssb' are listed in lsmod output so i assume that blacklisting was not successful. try again with correct blacklisting config.

Cheers
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#11 by francois » 18 Aug 2011, 02:52

wlan0 becomes eth1 after blacklisting

[ 10.242630] eth1: Broadcom BCM4328 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38

dmesg
http://pastebin.com/sE8CvKqC

However, wicd does not find eht1 or any other wifi around. I will look at your other propositions tomorrow.

Thanks.
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#12 by fanthom » 20 Aug 2011, 22:39

any progress with this issue?

i'm experimenting with new 3.0.1 kernel and i find broadcom drivers a real mess. for example i have an access to bcm4311 card which doesn't work with broadcom-sta driver displaying

Code: Select all

eth%d: 5.100.82.38 driver failed with code 21
this is well known issue:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s ... ion/157369
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?I ... mments=all
seems that previous version of this driver: 5.60.246.6 works fine with older cards but not with never one.
solution for bcm4311 card is to use b43 driver - unfortunately this driver does not support newer models yet (it's improving with each new kernel release).

to the point:
1) please upgrade to 3.0.1 kernel:
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/testing/ ... 64.tar.bz2
replace initrd, vmlinuz and 000-kernel.xzm with new one and remove all kernel dependant modules like Vbox, Nvidia etc as they wont work with new kernel.
2) boot porteus and unload all broadcom drivers:

Code: Select all

modprobe -r wl
morprobe -r b43
modprobe -r brcmfmac  
modprobe -t brcmsmac
dont worry about errors
3) try each driver separately:

Code: Select all

modprobe wl
check which letter was assigned to the interface (if any) with 'iwconfig' command and perform a scan 'iwlist eth0 scan'. if you get an error then look at messages in /var/log/dmesg.
4) unload module with 'modprobe -r wl'
5) repeat the procedure for other drivers: b43, brcmfmac and brcmsmac.

in case of success please blacklist all other drivers in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist_broadcom.conf.
if case of fail please try to downgrade broadcom-sta package to 5.60.246.6 version. sources must be available somewhere...

good luck!
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#13 by francois » 26 Aug 2011, 03:09

Thanks for your perseverence. I will try this strategy as soon as I get enough time next to my box, this is to say Thursday or later.

Posted after 2 days 15 hours 56 minutes 10 seconds:
Here is output:
http://pastebin.com/9pG7scMN

However, there was 2 errors in you script. I imagine that you meant:
1) modprobe -r b43 and not morprobe -r b43
2) modprobe -r brcmsmac and not modprobe -t brcmsmac

I am not even sure if modprobe -t is possible. In the output the first error was corrected, but I realized the second only at the end. I you want I will do it a new.

Here is output with corrected commands:
http://pastebin.com/4Wb7aGMy

I will try to downgrade with broadcom-sta package to 5.60.246.6 meanwhile.

Posted after 21 minute 54 seconds:
Here is the link in case some of you have a hard time finding it:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php :)

Posted after 14 minutes 55 seconds:
But there is no way for me to find links for the older version of linux.sta. Was is the version we are working with? Any suggestion to get the version you proposed will be welcome.

Posted after 6 seconds:
But there is no way for me to find links for the older version of linux.sta. What is the version we are working with in this recent kernel? Any suggestion to get the version you proposed will be welcome.
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#14 by fanthom » 26 Aug 2011, 08:51

@francois
while broadcom-sta module is loaded you can see

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# iwlist eth1 scan
eth1      Failed to read scan data : Invalid argument
and while b43

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down
i guess that b43 is ok but you need to lift the interface first, please do:

Code: Select all

modprobe b43
ifconfig wlan0 up
iwlist wlan0 scan
if that wont work then you can try broadcom-sta 5.60.246.6 driver which i compiled for Porteus-1.0:
http://ponce.cc/porteus/x86_64/testing/ ... 4-1ftm.xzm

let me know if any solution worked for you.

Cheers
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Re: wifi not working with bcm4328

Post#15 by francois » 26 Aug 2011, 15:02

Alas b43 is not suitable for bcm4328. I used to read that somewhere, the first time I ran into problems with linux. I have followed your procedure:

Code: Select all

bash-4.1# modprobe -r wl
bash-4.1# modprobe -r b43
bash-4.1# modprobe -r brcmfmac
bash-4.1# modprobe -t brcmsmac
Usage: modprobe [-v] [-V] [-C config-file] [-d <dirname> ] [-n] [-i] [-q] [-b] [-o <modname>] [ --dump-modversions ] <modname> [parameters...]
modprobe -r [-n] [-i] [-v] <modulename> ...
modprobe -l -t <dirname> [ -a <modulename> ...]
bash-4.1# modprobe -r brcmsmac
bash-4.1# modprobe b43
bash-4.1# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
bash-4.1# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

bash-4.1# 

I am trying linux-sta right away.

Salut!

Posted after 21 minute 9 seconds:
Linux-sta does not seem to work. I wonder if I did something wrong? Remove all the modules of new kernel, and returned to porteus v1.0 with linux-sta. Here is the output file of my manipulations (I know some where not needed):
http://pastebin.com/n6VYVznX

While you cogitate on these deceiving results, I will try later during the day to look at the ubuntu's way of dealing with bcm4328.

Cheers!

Posted after 32 minutes 27 seconds:
I realized that I forgot to remove ssb. Once done, it is no better.
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