HOWTO: Broadcom 4318 Wireless Cards

[Das Goat]

Hmph! Well, it doesn't work any more, but i know this is some setting change that i am missing. the guide or How To is written. As soon as I figure out what step I am missing I will post the guide.

[Das Goat]

How To: HP dv8000 series, specifically dv8210us, with Broadcom 4318 Wireless Cards

This guide was written specifically for this model laptop. It may work for others, I don't know, and don't ask because I am clueless and have no way to test other models.

This guide would not be possible without the dedicated support of Compwiz18, and of Randall, who supplied the missing piece of the puzzle.

Assumptions: You know next to nothing. You have a fresh install of Ubuntu 6.06. You use WEP for wireless. You set in the system BIOS that your wireless card is set to "on" as the default.

The first thing you should know is that you should have your wireless network set up to use "open" as it's WEP method. "Shared" didn't work for me, and "restricted" didn't work for Randall, so save yourself some major grief and set your network up using "open".

The second thing you should do is make sure your Ubuntu is up to date. I'm sure that there is a way to force an update, but I don't know what it is. If you are wired in, and just wait, Ubuntu will update itself.

Next, go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. On the left side of the screen, you will have a list of the different packages. You want to go to Networking. Then on the right side of the screen, find Network-Manager and Network-Manager-Gnome. Check those and install. When you are done, reboot. When you come back, at the top right of your screen, you will see a new icon showing your wired network as well as the lo (loop back) icon. You can right click and get property information about your wired connection. This means you did it right and all is good. It also meant that the Network-Manager is installed, even though it doen't tell you that it is the network manager.

Now you are ready for Compwiz18's guide at the beginning of the thread. Make sure you click *For 64-bit ndiswrapper AND network-manager-gnome, click here. Some times this doesn't load right away, and only Compwiz18 knows why, but the file you are after is bcm4318x64-nm.tar.gz

Once it is downloaded, double click it and extract the files. Keep following Compwiz18's guide to install. A quirk of the instruction sudo ./ndiswrapper_setup is that at the end of the script, it doesn't return to the prompt. That is OK, just hit ctrl-c and you have your prompt back.
You will note, if you look, that Ubuntu renewed your wired IP. That is a good sign.

Now, go to System > Administration > Networking. If your system is like mine, it shows that eth0 and eth1 are not configured. I first configured eth0, even though it is working, it needs to be set up. Configure this interface under properties, sting it to DHCP if that is what you use and make sure you check the box "enable this connection". When done, the eth0, your wired connection, is happy. Now configure your eth1 wireless connection. The first thing you will have to check here is "enable this connection". Then enter your ESSID or the name of your network. Remember! Capitalization counts! Change the key type to HEX (if that is what you are using, it is the default in most routers). Then enter your key. Then change it to DHCP, assuming that is what you use. Save your changes. Ubuntu will take a long time to time out. This is normal, so don't panic. when you get back to the Network settings page, you will see that eth1 is now active. Click "OK" and Ubuntu will take a long time to time out again. (Speculation: your wireless card is trying to get an address, but can't, this is also normal).

You should, at this point, if you set your wireless router to "no encryption" and reboot, get an IP and begin surfing. But no one wants to have an unsecured wireless network. So lets go to the last step.

Here is the final step. Thanks to Randall for this last piece of the puzzle in item #420 and mssever for telling me how to edit the file. You need to edit your /etc/network/interfaces file. In the terminal window (you should still have open) type gksudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces.

In the section:

iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid GoatRanch
wireless-key 1234567890 (not my real key, I'm ignorant, not stupid)

Change it to look like this:

iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid GoatRanch
wireless-key open 1472583690 (not my real key, I'm ignorant, not stupid)

Save the file, then unplug your wired connection and do a hard shutdown (to clear residual information). Then restart your laptop.

Now, the first time I tried this, it didn't work. Don't Panic! This seems to be an Ubuntu glitch. Wifi would not come up and I was bummed. Then I plugged my wired connection in and I was back up. Then I did sudo dhclient, with the wired pluged in, and my out put gave me this:

dasgoat@dasgoat-laptop:~$ sudo dhclient
Password:
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.3
Copyright 2004-2005 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP

Listening on LPF/eth1/00:14:a5:6c:9d:22
Sending on LPF/eth1/00:14:a5:6c:9d:22
Listening on LPF/eth0/00:0f:b0:f5:af:8d
Sending on LPF/eth0/00:0f:b0:f5:af:8d
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.0.1
bound to 192.168.0.101 -- renewal in 261163 seconds.
dasgoat@dasgoat-laptop:~$ sudo dhclient eht1
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.3
Copyright 2004-2005 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
eht1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
eht1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
dasgoat@dasgoat-laptop:~$


Note that it found the wireless connection. I unplugged my wired connection, and could get to the internet. I rebooted again, and everything worked as it should. I am using "open" with a key and I am not naikd as a jay bird. If you follow these instructions exacly as I have posted them, you should be up and running too.

I want to stress, I can only say this works with my configuration and hardware. But I have done my due dilligance and only posted these instructions as I have done them, step by step. I hope this helps others. I can not offer suggestions for other configurations as I only got this working for my self and I have limited understanding of Unbutu and linux and unix. But if you have this hardware configuration, this is how I am posting wirelessly.

8)

[Das Goat]

By the way, Compwiz18, when I first answered the poll to if this helped me, being new, drunk, and stupid, I answered "no". I would like to change that to "yes". Can you tell me how to do this, as the system doesn't seem to let me change my vote?

Everyone else, thank you again for your support and suggestions. I could not have made this work except for the dedicted support that this thread has given me.

I move on now to how to listen to .smil files (NPR's live stream), how to make WINE work with Quicken, Photo Shop, and a propritary SQL application. When I do these tasks, I will truely be Windows free. Any help as far as pointing me to the right thread would be greatly appreciated.
believe th
Please email me our suggestions or threads. I believe that the community will provide.

Thank you for your support.

[paperdiesel]

I move on now to how to listen to .smil files (NPR's live stream), how to make WINE work with Quicken, Photo Shop, and a propritary SQL application. When I do these tasks, I will truely be Windows free. Any help as far as pointing me to the right thread would be greatly appreciated.

.smil files: xmms or realplayer
Quicken: gnucash or moneydance
photoshop: gimp

Take a moment to enjoy that fresh, open source air. And if you simply must spend money on things, I graciously accept donations to the paperdiesel-needs-a-huge-boat fund.

[compwiz18]

By the way, Compwiz18, when I first answered the poll to if this helped me, being new, drunk, and stupid, I answered "no". I would like to change that to "yes". Can you tell me how to do this, as the system doesn't seem to let me change my vote?

Everyone else, thank you again for your support and suggestions. I could not have made this work except for the dedicted support that this thread has given me.

I move on now to how to listen to .smil files (NPR's live stream), how to make WINE work with Quicken, Photo Shop, and a propritary SQL application. When I do these tasks, I will truely be Windows free. Any help as far as pointing me to the right thread would be greatly appreciated.
believe th
Please email me our suggestions or threads. I believe that the community will provide.

Thank you for your support.

I don't think you can change your vote...sorry.

And now I'm going to link to your howto from the main post so that people can find it.

[n2htt.mike]

Wow, this worked on my Dell 1300, after trying about a dozen other recommendations. Thank you!
Best regards,
Mike

[Das Goat]

n2htt.mike : what worked? Please be more specific.

[Das Goat]

.smil files: xmms or realplayer
Quicken: gnucash or moneydance
photoshop: gimp

Take a moment to enjoy that fresh, open source air. And if you simply must spend money on things, I graciously accept donations to the paperdiesel-needs-a-huge-boat fund.

most of the xmms links are for 32 bit systems, and none of them worked for me, but i am down loading all of the autoscript files for 64 bit. holly cow! after two hours I am still installing. i will either a) have a massive Ubuntu system or b) be reformating my drive. Who can say? Thanks for pointing me in a direction that at least gave me some answers. maybe I will post a tread on what newbies should do and not do. i have not figured out that part so far and don't want to start a thread I can not support. But the more time I spend on my portch trying to make things work, maybe I should. CompWiz18, do you have any advice? i do not want to clutter this thread up.

[compwiz18]

most of the xmms links are for 32 bit systems, and none of them worked for me, but i am down loading all of the autoscript files for 64 bit. holly cow! after two hours I am still installing. i will either a) have a massive Ubuntu system or b) be reformating my drive. Who can say? Thanks for pointing me in a direction that at least gave me some answers. maybe I will post a tread on what newbies should do and not do. i have not figured out that part so far and don't want to start a thread I can not support. But the more time I spend on my portch trying to make things work, maybe I should. CompWiz18, do you have any advice? i do not want to clutter this thread up.

Try Synaptic in System-Administration-Package Manager...search for XMMS and double click, it will automatically be downloaded and installed. This will probably only work for gnucash, gimp, and xmms though.

[Das Goat]

Automatix is the key. It found the missing mplayer plug ins for FireFox. Now NPR will play if I pick the windows media format. No controls for mplayer though :-/