Newbie - wireless not working

[james306]

I just installed ubuntu on an Acer Aspire 9300 (9340WSMi), all up and running aside the wireless. I open network connections and no networks are found under the wireless tab. I have had a search online, but not found anything I can really work with that works.

Here's the computers details



sudo lspci
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51 [GeForce Go 6100] (rev a2)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a3)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a3)
00:0a.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PMU (rev a3)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev f1)
00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev f1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
04:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
04:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)

sudo lshw -C network
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:c3000000-c3003fff

iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

Any help apreciated :)

[praseodym]

Hi,

install the packages b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer from the software center via cable connection and reboot.

[bluexrider]

Hi,

install the packages b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer from the software center via cable connection and reboot.

I fail to understand why that isn't included in the distro. For all the issues with wireless and such?

[james306]

I have installed the above packages, however no change. It's still not finding any wireless networks.

[bluexrider]

I have installed the above packages, however no change. It's still not finding any wireless networks.

did the driver get picked up by the wireless


sudo lshw -C network

[james306]

I'm not sure, here is the response to the above command

*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:c3000000-c3003fff

[bluexrider]

Instead of a computer restart, in a terminal issue the following commands:

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl
sudo modprobe wl

Note: Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

[TBABill]

Instead of a computer restart, in a terminal issue the following commands:

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl
sudo modprobe wl

Note: Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

No, that's incorrect advice. The last command should be
sudo modprobe b43 not modprobe wl. The driver installed was the b43, which is correct in current versions of Ubuntu for the BCM4311.

[bluexrider]

No, that's incorrect advice. The last command should be
sudo modprobe b43 not modprobe wl. The driver installed was the b43, which is correct in current versions of Ubuntu for the BCM4311.
I stand corrected

[james306]

I have put in the above commands and nothing in the wireless utility, also run the following with the following response

iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

[praseodym]

The firmware is proprietary, this is why it is not shipped by default.

Please check:


dmesg | grep b43
iwconfig
rfkill list
If there are still error messages for missing firmware files, check this posting:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11462422&postcount=2

Unpack the firmware file as described.

[james306]

After the commands you mentioned earlier it briefly started working, connected to the wireless network. I disconnected my Wired connection and shortly after it disconnected from the wireless and has stopped working completely again.

Results to the above commands

shelby@shelby-Aspire-9300:~$ dmesg | grep b43
[ 2339.853778] b43-pci-bridge 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 2340.004857] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found (core revision 10)
[ 2340.131619] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 2340.131679] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 2340.131744] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
[ 2340.448066] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 508.1084 (2009-01-14 01:32:01)
[ 2437.100061] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 508.1084 (2009-01-14 01:32:01)
[ 2761.028100] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
[ 2766.036138] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to ENABLED
[ 2911.028080] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
[ 2916.036074] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to ENABLED
shelby@shelby-Aspire-9300:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off

shelby@shelby-Aspire-9300:~$ rfkill list
0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

[praseodym]

Ok,

check again:


iwlist chan
sudo iwlist scan
dmesg | grep country

[TBABill]

Back to the basics on this one. First
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installerThen to activate it for the current session, just
sudo modprobe b43If it works fine after this, just make sure the other driver (wl) is blacklisted by
gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and add the following to the end of the list, save and exit:
blacklist wl To make the b43 active on every restart
gksudo gedit /etc/modules and just add "b43" without quotes to the end of the list, save and exit.

[james306]

iwlist chan
lo no frequency information.

eth0 no frequency information.

wlan0 14 channels in total; available frequencies :
Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
Channel 14 : 2.484 GHz
shelby@shelby-Aspire-9300:~$ sudo iwlist scan
[sudo] password for shelby:
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

shelby@shelby-Aspire-9300:~$ dmesg | grep country

[james306]

Back to the basics on this one. First
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installerThen to activate it for the current session, just
sudo modprobe b43If it works fine after this, just make sure the other driver (wl) is blacklisted by
gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and add the following to the end of the list, save and exit:
blacklist wl To make the b43 active on every restart
gksudo gedit /etc/modules and just add "b43" without quotes to the end of the list, save and exit.

Tried first two steps but still no luck.

[james306]

Scrap that, I pulled my head out of the complete newbie zone and have it working again. I have also followed your steps to blacklist the other driver so hopefully it will continue to work!

Thanks for all your help people :)

[praseodym]

You can uninstall the other driver completely via

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
if it is not needed.

[UltimateCat]

I have put in the above commands and nothing in the wireless utility, also run the following with the following response

iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
"Don't give up 5 minutes before the miracle is about to happen"
I am having issues close to what your having but i am not giving up.
When I find the answer : providing I do it's yours too-
Best of Luck

[TBABill]

UltimateCat, if you create your own thread with good detail of the problem and what card you have we can sure give a fix a shot for you.