Solution to Broadcom 43xx Card Problem (12.04 - Precise Pangolin)

[merry_meerkat]

Thanks, westie457! This has solved the problem for me - although it is really a workaround rather than a full solution.

It would appear that it is the bug in Oneiric with 802.11N (bug 836250). As you suggested, I have changed my router to use 802.11G instead of N and now all is well. Thanks again! I would have probably instead tried first the b43 drivers and then tried to disable N on the computer rather than the router. This is a much cleaner solution!

Here's a recap of the situation as I understand it to be. Perhaps this helps others with this problem or setup:
Computer setup: Dell Studio 1747 with Broadcom BCM43224 14e4:4353 wireless running Ubuntu 11.10 x64. Ubuntu suggests the proprietary STA driver for that under > System settings > Additional drivers and generally speaking that is correct. However, at this time there is a bug in Oneiric with connecting to 802.11N wireless standard. So, changing the router to use the (older and slower) 802.11G standard solves this problem. Hopefully the bug will get solved and we can switch the N back on at some point. I'll try it whenever there's an update to bcmwl-kernel-source.

Changing router configuration: usually done by going to http://192.168.1.1 In my case it's a Swisscom Centro Grande (go to > Settings > WLAN > Transmission).

Cheers.

[westie457]

@ paridoth

Open Software Centre and search for 'bcm' then remove everything except b43-fwcutter and reboot.

Once the system has restarted open SC and repeat the search. Now install firmware-b43-installer and reboot again. This time disconnect the USB device. When the system is running click on the Network Manager icon and click on your wireless network to connect entering any details as necessary.

Any problems post back here.

Thank you.

[yo_bhan]

I Have BCM4312, after install 11.10 working perfectly

[bremaya]

Use the old kernel.. 2.6.39 for oneiric >>> http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.39.4-oneiric/, have a bug in kernel 3.*

Good for ad-hoc connections that do not work with kernel 3 .*

[FokkerCharlie]

Hi Bremaya

Is there a bug filed about this? I was struggling to get ad-hoc networking to work, and have ended up breaking my wireless entirely...

Charlie

[nuisant]

My Compaq laptop's wireless card was working fine in Natty. Recently upgraded to Oneiric (Ubuntu Studio) and have not been able to solve the driver issue yet.

I have a Broadcom 4306 802.11b/g internal card. Running a Clawhammer AMD64 with 64bit installation.

It seems that it may be possible with b43 driver -
4320 version 3 - somehow found that out.

HOWEVER, I'm confused as to which of the many solutions there are that I should try (again), and be successful.

ANY suggestions / leads would be greatly appreciated !

cheers.

[abdallah1993]

Thanks, westie457! This has solved the problem for me

[nuisant]

Whoa... nice - Thank you Westie457 . OK - it didn't work at first, so I re-installed 11.10 WITHOUT updating/upgrading. THEN I installed the b43fwcutter from synaptic and rebooted. After that I installed the firmware-b43-installer and rebooted. IT STILL DIDN'T WORK, my wireless card was still in an inactive state. THEN I did the upgrades and updates to 11.10 and somehow noticed that firmware-b43-installer was NOT installed after this(?), so I reinstalled it and without even rebooting, the network manager showed that my wireless card was active and I could connect. NICE WORK ! THANK YOU !

[casvrijsbergen]

Hey, I'm new to this forum and to Ubuntu at all, first installation and I love it! But I couldn't get the wireless to work. Tried different solutions on the net, I want to say that the solution alca75 posted above is also working on my lenovo thinkpad with bcm43224 chip. Thanks!

[TBABill]

Here is an easy method of getting Internet access on a BCM4312 (only version of the Broadcom I have) on 11.10. VERY simple and much easier than the madness of some other methods.

1. Insert live CD, USB, DVD
2. Boot into live session
3. Navigate to Additional Drivers
4. Select the STA driver and activate
5. When it says restart to take effect, DO NOT RESTART!! You're in a live session...it'll just start it over from scratch. INSTEAD, just

sudo modprobe wl

in a terminal.
6. Wait a few moments, enter security passcodes if required, then connect.

NOW do the install and you will NEVER have to connect via wire and you will have a fully operational wireless device as soon as the install is over. PLUS you can use the net while installing if you choose.

This method is so much easier than any of the others I have seen posted and it eliminates the need to be tied to the router. Just install the driver, modprobe it and enjoy. Simple. Whether this works for the b43, I do not know. I never choose the b43 with a BCM4312 because the STA simply works better on it for me.

Note: for some reason this does NOT work in Kubuntu or Xubuntu or Lubuntu (unfortunately). Would be great to have consistency in this regard, but at least Ubuntu works with it.