Broadcom 4318 works with Puppy 4.1.1, why not in Ubuntu?

[dmber]

well i guess a first step would be to post the output of:

lspci
sudo iwlist scanning

And what version of ubuntu are you running?

I think your 4318 has a restricted driver you can enable in System-->Administration-->Hardware Drivers

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 04)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
06:04.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
06:09.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
06:09.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
06:09.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
06:09.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller

and

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

pan0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

I am up and going on Intrepid. The ethernet works fine (I'm posting from the Gateway MX6121).

[dmber]

Is Puppy using 2.6.25.16 also? My guess it is because of the changes in the kernel module. I was thinking that the 4318 did not do too well until Intrepid. You might try the depreciated driver (bcm43xx) and see if it works better.

Is this a custom kernel? For some reason I was thinking that the last few kernels in Ubuntu have been in the even numbers not 2.6.25.

Also, are you using the right firmware? The firmware for the b43 driver changes between 2.6.24 and 2.6.25. You might check dmesg to verify:

dmesg|grep b43

$ dmesg|grep b43
[    3.778030] b43-pci-bridge 0000:06:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[   17.504086] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
[   31.848698] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
[   31.932068] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[   31.968871] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[   31.968885] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[   32.040524] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input11
[   32.104055] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[   32.107725] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[   32.107737] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[  133.592414] b43-phy1: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
[  137.753972] input: b43-phy1 as /devices/virtual/input/input12
[  137.840071] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[  137.845081] b43-phy1 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[  137.845097] b43-phy1 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[  137.900171] input: b43-phy1 as /devices/virtual/input/input13
[  137.968051] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[  137.971480] b43-phy1 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[  137.971494] b43-phy1 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

[dmber]

Well...it's working!

I followed the link that the Terminal spit out to me : http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware

and it worked!

I'm pumped! Thanks for the help!

[dmber]

well...it was working. Now, it takes up to 5 restarts to get the wireless to "engage." Usually Ubuntu starts up, but does not offer any choice of wireless networks.

Any ideas?
Thanks.