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Dell broadcom wireless (SOLVED)

Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 12:45
by Blackfish
Howdy from Thailand, Porteus fans! I'm Blackfish. I started using Linux back in January 2014, so in addition to being a Porteus newb, I am still a newb to Linux in general. To my credit however, I did wipe Windows off my hard drive and out of my life forever with my first Linux install (Ubuntu Saucy Salamander 13.10) and have never looked back. I don't have much use for Windows. Never liked it.

Anyway, my Linux travels led me to Puppy Linux and many other minimalist distros, until I found this one a few days ago.

I'm always an avid Puppy Linux LxPup Retro Precise 5.7.1 (you get the idea) fan and user. It is my main OS. But I have to say I like Porteus a lot. I came to the site and and created a stack of builds on CD and began perusing the operating system for the first time last night. I am particularly pleased with the XFCE desktop environment. I created a build with each of the desktop enviornments available, but I like the XFCE the best. I have never used it before.


(SOLVED) :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!: :Yahoo!:
Now, the only problem I have with Porteus is the same problem I have with Puppy. No one it seems can help me solve the mystery...

I use a Dell Latitude D531. It's an oldie but a goodie and someone gave it to me recently completely refurbished. The only problem I have with this machine is that for some mysterious reason it will not connect to the Internet when the machine is booted from the hard drive. With Puppy, I can boot from CD or USB stick, use Frisbee, and boot up and connect very quickly and stable. But when booting the machine from the hard drive, the machine doesn't even detect the connections. Frisbee goes completely dead. This has baffled me ever since I have gotten this machine.

And it's the same with all the other Linux distros. Booting from CD, can connect. Booting from hard drive, ain't gonna happen.

But now, with porteus and this particular machine, it can't connect to the Internet no matter what. With Porteus, it cannot connect from CD, hard drive, or USB stick. Figure that one out!

I don't get it. But I think it has something to do with this old machine. Too old? Insufficient drivers? I dunno. I think the only reason it works so well with Puppy is that Puppy is created specifically for older machines.

Porteus works outstanding with my old Toshiba machine however. I will be using that to get more familiar with Porteus in the coming days. I really love this OS!

Meantime, party on!

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 14:05
by fanthom
hello Blackfish,

please boot Puppy and run 'lspci -knn' command then post the output here. if it's usb dongle then please run 'lsusb -t' as well.

thanks

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 16:36
by Blackfish

Code: Select all

# lspci -knn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 Host Bridge [1002:7910]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx) [1002:7912]
00:05.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1) [1002:7915]
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:06.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2) [1002:7916]
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:12.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA [1002:4380]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI0) [1002:4387]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.1 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI1) [1002:4388]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI2) [1002:4389]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI3) [1002:438a]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.4 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI4) [1002:438b]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.5 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB Controller (EHCI) [1002:4386]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller [1002:4385] (rev 14)
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
00:14.1 IDE interface [0101]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 IDE [1002:438c]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: pata_atiixp
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) [1002:4383]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge [1002:438d]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge [1002:4384]
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration [1022:1100]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map [1022:1101]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller [1022:1102]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control [1022:1103]
	Kernel driver in use: k8temp
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series] [1002:791f]
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: radeon
03:01.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: O2 Micro, Inc. Cardbus bridge [1217:7135] (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
03:01.4 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) [1217:00f7] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) [1217:00f7]
	Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1673] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0206]
	Kernel driver in use: tg3
0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g [14e4:4312] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1490 Dual Band WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
#

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 16:50
by fanthom
your controller:

Code: Select all

0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g [14e4:4312] (rev 01)
   Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1490 Dual Band WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
   Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
is not supported by our default broadcom driver.

please check out this HOWTO for resolution:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1099

thanks

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 19:31
by Obosan
@Blackfish, Sawatdii khrap! :D
Broadcom wifi chipsets are the most problematic in the linux as fanthom mentioned.
If you can not soleve the problem, I have very old Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI USB adapter available which has
Ralink chipset. It works with Puppy and Porteus just out of the box.
I like Porteus very much too and as you mentioned, I like especially xfce version which I have used since March this year. Therefore, in case you need the USB adapter, please send me an e-mail or PM.

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 07:35
by Blackfish
fanthom wrote:your controller:

Code: Select all

0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g [14e4:4312] (rev 01)
   Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1490 Dual Band WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
   Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
is not supported by our default broadcom driver.

please check out this HOWTO for resolution:
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1099

thanks
I understand the gist of what you are saying here. I have read the how-to. Just a couple more questions...

Do I do this operation in Puppy, or Porteus, or both? Sounds like it should work fine in both.

When I create the file, which program do I create it in, and where do I save it?

It appears that is all there is to this! I hope it works! I want it to work! Thank you!

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 09:21
by Blackfish
Obosan wrote:@Blackfish, Sawatdii khrap! :D
Broadcom wifi chipsets are the most problematic in the linux as fanthom mentioned.
If you can not soleve the problem, I have very old Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI USB adapter available which has
Ralink chipset. It works with Puppy and Porteus just out of the box.
I like Porteus very much too and as you mentioned, I like especially xfce version which I have used since March this year. Therefore, in case you need the USB adapter, please send me an e-mail or PM.
Konichiwa Obosan! The part sounds good. I am interested if I can't solve this problem. I might even be interested even if I can solve the problem! The big question is, what do you want for it and is it inexpensive enough to ship to Thailand?

Thanks for your response!

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 11:33
by Obosan
@Blackfish, KonBanwa! :)
I checked the freight on Japan Post Service.
Small Packet (Petit Paquet) non-registered costs 120 yen (ca. 39 baht)
which is equivalent to a bottle of Green Tea.
It will take about 1 week by air to Thailand.
I'll send you the adapter only without driver CD and manual.
Because those are written in Japanese and I think you can download them
in English from Buffalo Web site.
http://www.buffalotech.com/support-and- ... /downloads
If you are interested in it, send me your address. :wink:

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 12:08
by brokenman
When I create the file, which program do I create it in, and where do I save it?
In Porteus if you are booting with changes= cheatcode then simply open a terminal:

Code: Select all

su
toor  #This is the root password
echo "blacklist wl >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom_blacklist.conf"
Then reboot.

If you are not saving your changes then this file needs to go into your 'rootcopy' folder which is always copied into the live file system when you boot.

Code: Select all

cp -a --parents /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom_blacklist.conf /mnt/sdxY/porteus/rootcopy
Please change xY for the device where you have porteus installed. Perhaps check /var/log/porteus-livedbg file to see this. Under the line "Porteus data was found in:"

Re: Newbie Here

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 12:32
by fanthom
small correction - the command should be:

Code: Select all

echo "blacklist wl" > /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom_blacklist.conf
as original file must be overridden (if you use '>>' then every broadcom module will be blacklisted).

Re: Newbie Here (SOLVED)

Posted: 05 Jun 2014, 17:03
by Blackfish
Wow. Got it. That actually worked. I am flabbergasted after more than two months of screwing around and trying to figure this thing out. No one knew what to do, particularly a newb, like me.

Where do you guys learn all this stuff? Where do I start learning all this stuff? Amazing!

Thanks a million.

I know, it sounds like no big deal to you, but this wireless card is a great one. It connects in places where other cards fail completely, my old Toshiba included. I am so glad to have it up and running.

Now, I am running it from Puppy. I haven't installed Porteus to this machine yet, though I am sure it will work the same. I suppose this command will work with any Linux distro?

Again, thanks a million; now, I am off to run Porteus and learn more about it!

Re: Newbie Here (SOLVED)

Posted: 06 Jun 2014, 02:36
by Blackfish
Even though my problem is solved, I am still baffled by this and it still begs an answer to the question: why does the wireless card work when the operating system is booted from USB stick or CD, but not when booted from the hard drive?

Re: Newbie Here (SOLVED)

Posted: 06 Jun 2014, 06:01
by fanthom
I suppose this command will work with any Linux distro?
if that distro has broadcom-sta driver included and required broadcom firmware then he answer is 'yes'

why does the wireless card work when the operating system is booted from USB stick or CD, but not when booted from the hard drive?
please generate system info raport through the 'psinfo' command when booted from CD and hd then upload both to pastebin.com -> link here so i can make the comparison.

thanks

Re: Newbie Here (SOLVED)

Posted: 06 Jun 2014, 10:00
by Blackfish
I just loaded Mint on this hard drive and used that command and permission was denied. It's not really important. I just wanted to try it and make a note of it. Some other Linux distros will obviously require different commands.

Re: Dell broadcom wireless (SOLVED)

Posted: 21 Sep 2016, 02:12
by informative
Blackfish wrote:Howdy from Thailand, Porteus fans! I'm Blackfish. I started using Linux back in January 2014, so in addition to being a Porteus newb, I am still a newb to Linux in general. To my credit however, I did wipe Windows off my hard drive and out of my life forever with my first Linux install (Ubuntu Saucy Salamander 13.10) and have never looked back. I don't have much use for Windows. Never liked it.

Anyway, my Linux travels led me to Puppy Linux and many other minimalist distros, until I found this one a few days ago.

I'm always an avid Puppy Linux LxPup Retro Precise 5.7.1 (you get the idea) fan and user. It is my main OS. But I have to say I like Porteus a lot. I came to the site and and created a stack of builds on CD and began perusing the operating system for the first time last night. I am particularly pleased with the XFCE desktop environment. I created a build with each of the desktop enviornments available, but I like the XFCE the best. I have never used it before.
I am 2016 new to Linux but had a similar experience. The two big obstacles I struggle with are wifi connections and packages and app package managers.
I love puppy at first boot but when I throw a USB into my DELL laptops that all have Intel wifi controllers all of them fail except for Puppy 605 TAHR.

I also like Porteus and I am guessing it may also be connected with this first rate non-standard flavor of Linux along Puppy lines?

The linux family tree https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... meline.svg Porteus as more related to the openSuse/Slax family than Puppy but I feel the vibe (maybe they share some libraries along the way somewhere as is happens in opensource free exchange which is also excellent!)

I noted that booting from CD will activate the ISOLINUX.CFG file batch commands while USB or hard drive tend to activate the SYSLINUX.CFG batch instead and will try with my very limited but growing knowledge of linux to tackle this same mystery.

The next most important challenge to tackle for me is the installers and packages and distro-watch had an excellent table for study of this here
https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou ... management

The next thing that I ran into was the limit of 4 gig for Live "persistence" bootables which can be nice for testing out versions using Multiboot or something like YUMI-2.0.2.7.exe to slap a few new Linux ISO's on a USB and try them all. Persistence files are fine I guess - you can add a second one as \ROOT instead of \HOME I think so you can have more than one casper.rw file and name a second one home.rw maybe (something along those lines) but I really prefer to dedicate an entire 32GB USB or larger to ensure it can act as a portable hard drive for any laptop.