[SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

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amshyd
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#16 by amshyd » 03 Apr 2012, 05:13

fanthom wrote:
that's because you have used 64bit driver in 32bit edition.
please build broadcom-sta driver for your platform as instructed in this post:
link
---
I'll certainly try this and update here with the outcome.

Thank You!

Posted after 15 hours 7 minutes 16 seconds:
@fanthom

Hi,

I followed the instructions in the link you have provided to build 32bit linux-sta module. While using PPM it downloads the .gz archives fine, but while trying to build I get the following:-

Makefile:567:/usr/src/linux-3.1.8/arch/i486/Makefile: No such file or directory
make:*** No rule to make target `/usr/src/linux-3.1.8/arch/i486/Makefile'. stop.

Not sure where to go from here. Any thoughts? or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#17 by fanthom » 03 Apr 2012, 08:13

or am I doing something wrong?
my guess is that you have forgotten to activate 'crippled_sources' as instructed in my post:
2) activate 'crippled_sources' module from the repo:
http://ponce.cc/porteus/i486/current/pa ... l-sources/
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#18 by amshyd » 04 Apr 2012, 06:33

@fanthom

Hi,

I did it all over again today. I booted into 'always fresh', activated 'crippled sources' and then followed the PPM steps you advised, but it threw the same error as in my previous post while trying to 'build'. This time I'm 100% sure that I followed your instructions exactly. Not sure what's going wrong.

Thank you!

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#19 by fanthom » 04 Apr 2012, 07:05

hello amshyd,

you are right - i was able to recreate this error on my end.
looks like PPM fault but have no idea what's causing it (hopefully brokenman will).

please repeat whole procedure once again and after the failure (dont close failure window as sboppm files will be deleted) go to /tmp/ppm/sboppm/broadcom-sta folder and launch 'broadcom-sta.Slackbuild' script.
now:
convert tgz to xzm -> add blacklist file -> reboot porteus

Cheers
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#20 by amshyd » 05 Apr 2012, 11:21

Hi fanthom,

I followed your instructions above and successfully created the module. I blacklisted other drivers and put the broadcom module in /mnt/sdb1/porteus/modules directory. During boot I see the module being loaded too.

However after bootup I don't see 'wl' automatically loaded though I can manually load it using 'modprobe wl'. I rebooted multiple times and everytime the same happend. iwconfig doesn't show the wlan interface when I load 'wl' manually. Please guide how to fix this.

Thanks,

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#21 by fanthom » 10 Apr 2012, 11:20

hello amshyd,

sorry for late response (i'm still on holiday). please load wl driver manually through 'modprobe wl' and then show me output of following commands:

1) lspci -knn
2) tail /var/log/dmesg
3) iwconfig

thanks
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#22 by amshyd » 11 Apr 2012, 06:04

Hi fanthom,

Appreciate you taking pain while on holiday.

I have posted the details you required at http://pastebin.com/Rr4fbqXp

Thanks,

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#23 by fanthom » 12 Apr 2012, 14:49

hi amshyd,

from log files point of view everything looks ok. your chipset is supported by broadcom-sta driver:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

are you sure that wifi is enabled in the BIOS and wifi switch is not blocking it?
is wifi working under any other distro?

maybe blacklisting was not succesfull - please show me full output of 'lsmod' command.
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#24 by amshyd » 13 Apr 2012, 05:01

Hi fanthom,

Please find lsmod output at http://pastebin.com/edXfTZaY

I think the blacklisting is working fine because I don't see the b43 module anymore.

Anyways, please advise if something can be done.

I have tried the 64bit version too using the broadcom driver you have made available. But there are 2 problems in my case: 1. The OS hangs after few minutes of usage(no matter whether I boot into KDE or LXDE), 2. It gets connected to the Wireless network and then drops within a minute on its own. This is the reason I want to stick to 32bit since it works perfectly except wireless.

Thanks,

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#25 by fanthom » 15 Apr 2012, 17:36

hello amshyd,

i have decided to provide 3.3.1 kernel update for 32bit edition with kernel based on 64bit 3.3.1 config.
this update contains integrated broadcom-sta driver (to avoid further confusions). please grab it from here:
http://ponce.cc/porteus/i486/testing/Po ... c1/extras/

hopefully everything will be ok now :wink:
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#26 by amshyd » 18 Apr 2012, 12:45

Hi fanthom,

Thanks for the kernel update. However I'm still unsuccessful in getting the wifi work. Given below is what happens:-

Porteus 1.1 32bit:
While booting from USB it looks for 'porteus-v1.2-i486.sgn' and then shows a message that the storage couldn't be mounted and drops me at a # prompt. It made me think that probably the kernel update you provided is for porteus 1.2 RC1?

Porteus 1.2RC1 32bit:
I tried the update with 1.2RC1 also on USB. Booted up fine into LXDE. Used 'Porteus network setup' tool to configure wifi; got connected like breeze. But got disconnected on its own within a minute; no idea why.

Also another thing I noticed in 1.2RC1 that I couldn't create a 'save.dat' file; the tool opens up, asks for root password and then vanishes for ever.

I'm still where I started :)

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#27 by fanthom » 19 Apr 2012, 17:26

hello amshyd,

i have started worrying that there is something wrong with your hardware.
please boot 1.2RC1 32bit with 3.3.1 kernel and wait till few disconnects happens then show me /var/log/messages log file.

Thanks
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#28 by amshyd » 20 Apr 2012, 06:45

Hi fanthom,

Somehow the pastebin site didn't open so I couldn't paste the contents of /var/log/messages there. Also the entire messages file is >70mb; so I have taken some of it towards the end and put at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62589503/messages.txt for you to review. Please let me know if you can't access that.

Thanks,

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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#29 by fanthom » 20 Apr 2012, 09:03

looks like a bug described here:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... px=MTAzNzk

that also explains hanging of the system:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=634135
(filling up aufs with large log files).

please try to boot with "intel_iommu=off" cheatcode.
please check if that disables "DMAR:[DMA Rearesent bit in context entry is clear" messages and fixes broadcom-sta issue. if yes then i'll disable "iommu by default" in next kernel update so this problem will be sorted.
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Re: [SOLVED] Wireless problems with Broadcom wi fi card

Post#30 by amshyd » 21 Apr 2012, 08:47

By using the cheat code the errors are gone now. But wifi dropping still persists. After applying the cheat code connected and reconnected to wifi a few times and this is what I found:

While reconnecting using PNS tool after a drop, this is what I see in /var/log/messages:

Code: Select all

Apr 21 14:09:47 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: version 5.2.12 starting
Apr 21 14:09:47 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: waiting for carrier
Apr 21 14:09:55 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: carrier acquired
Apr 21 14:09:55 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: rebinding lease of 192.168.1.102
Apr 21 14:09:59 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: acknowledged 192.168.1.102 from 192.168.1.5
Apr 21 14:09:59 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: checking for 192.168.1.102
Apr 21 14:10:04 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: eth1: leased 192.168.1.102 for 86400 seconds
Apr 21 14:10:04 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth1.IPv4 with address 192.168.1.102.
Apr 21 14:10:04 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: New relevant interface eth1.IPv4 for mDNS.
Apr 21 14:10:04 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Registering new address record for 192.168.1.102 on eth1.IPv4.
Apr 21 14:10:04 (none) dhcpcd[3710]: forked to background, child pid 3749
Then aT the final step of PNS tool a dialog box opens and tells me "SUCCESS! YOU HAVE INTERNET" and asks to make a porteus module, as soon as I click 'yes' or 'no' the connection disconnects and I see below lines in /var/log/messages:

Code: Select all

Apr 21 14:13:56 (none) dhcpcd[3749]: eth1: carrier lost
Apr 21 14:13:56 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Withdrawing address record for 192.168.1.102 on eth1.
Apr 21 14:13:56 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface eth1.IPv4 with address 192.168.1.102.
Apr 21 14:13:56 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Interface eth1.IPv4 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Apr 21 14:13:58 (none) dhcpcd[3749]: eth1: carrier acquired
Apr 21 14:13:58 (none) dhcpcd[3749]: eth1: rebinding lease of 192.168.1.102
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) dhcpcd[3929]: sending signal 1 to pid 3749
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) dhcpcd[3929]: waiting for pid 3749 to exit
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) dhcpcd[3749]: received SIGHUP, releasing
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) dhcpcd[3749]: eth1: removing interface
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Withdrawing address record for fe80::c2cb:38ff:fe1d:4395 on eth1.
Apr 21 14:13:59 (none) kernel: [ 1707.754815] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Apr 21 14:14:05 (none) avahi-daemon[2014]: Registering new address record for fe80::c2cb:38ff:fe1d:4395 on eth1.*.
Please note that if I don't click yes or no in the last dialog box, it stays open and the wifi connection remains established.

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