Broadcom 4306 With Ndiswrapper 54 Mbps

[ubunturules]

If you used my guide I would like to hear from you to know how it went and if you're having any problems. I just updated it a little bit and I want to know if everything still works. Please let me know.

I just worked on the guide for a little bit. Changed a couple things to make it a little less confusing. My website that I was using to host the drivers and pictures got shut down so now I am hosting my drivers on rapidshare. Please note that if you are getting errors there is 5 problems fixes at the end of the guide.

This is the easiest way to get your Broadcom 4306 wireless card working in the shortest amount of time. I wouldn't use the firmware cutter because it only allows you to run at 11 Mbps with it. With ndiswrapper you will get 54 Mbps if your router will allow it.

This guide now works with every Ubuntu distro from Dapper to Intrepid!

The Drivers listed below work for most broadcom 4306 wireless cards but not all of them. If you use the drivers below and your card doesn'tshow up under network then you should try using the driver that came with your card or go to the manufacturer's website.

Get the 32 bit drivers from here or the website of the manufacturer of your wireless card.

Get the 64 bit drivers from here. I've heard that you don't change the name .inf file to bcmwl5.inf just keep it the way it is.

Do everything in the order as it is listed.

run the following command to make sure you have a broadcom chipset wireless card.
1.

lspci | grep Broadcom\ Corporation

2.

sudo rmmod bcm43xx

If you get an error message saying ERROR: Module bcm43xx does not exist in /proc/modules it is ok and you can move on to the next step.

3.

echo 'blacklist bcm43xx' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

5. You will need the Ubuntu CD to get these packages.

sudo aptitude install build-essential

6.

uname -r

Insert the output of the uname -r command into the following 2 commands where the numbers are at

7.

sudo aptitude install linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic

Insert the output of the uname -r command into the following 2 commands where the numbers are at

8.

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.22-14-generic /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/build

Download ndiswrapper
9.

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.53.tar.gz

Make a folder for ndiswrapper and place it in there
10.

mkdir ~/ndiswrapper
mv ndiswrapper-1.53.tar.gz ~/ndiswrapper

Install ndiswrapper
11.

cd ~/ndiswrapper
sudo tar -xvzf ndiswrapper-1.53.tar.gz
cd ~/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.53
make distclean
sudo make
sudo make install

12 If you are running Dapper or Edgy run this command. Some people say that compiling it works for them and some people say getting it with synaptic so I thought if you just installed both then you'll have some form of ndiswrapper working. If you don't have a working internet connection then you can get these packages off of the Ubuntu CD.

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8

If you are running Feisty or any version higher than Feisty run this command. You might need the Ubuntu CD to get these packages.

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

If you can't get ndiswrapper from any of the sources above you can get it from the Ubuntu CD.

13.

sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/folder where driver is/bcmwl5.inf

If you are using the 64 bit drivers run this command

sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/folder where driver is/netbc564.inf

Make sure the .sys file is in there also, without it, it won't work


14.

ndiswrapper -l

To make sure the hardware is present


15.

sudo ndiswrapper -m

To load ndiswrapper automatically when the wlan0 interface is used


16.

echo 'ndiswrapper' | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

16. B

sudo gedit /etc/init.d/wirelessfix.sh

Paste this into that file

#!/bin/bash modprobe -r b44 modprobe -r b43 modprobe -r b43legacy modprobe -r ssb modprobe -r ndiswrapper modprobe ndiswrapper modprobe b44

Close and save that file

cd /etc/init.d/ && sudo chmod 755 wirelessfix.sh

sudo update-rc.d wirelessfix.sh defaults

17.

sudo iwconfig wlan0

If you are running Gutsy or any version higher than Gutsy restart your computer and skip to step 26.
Enable the Connection

18. Go to System -> Administration -> Networking

19. If you don't see any wlan0 connections in Networking then you should restart your computer.

20. Go to your eth0 connection and disable the connection.

21. Now go to your wlan0 connection and enable it.

Network Manager

If you need WPA or WEP encryption do the following:

Note: If you are running Feisty or any version higher than Feisty you can skip steps 22 through 25.

22.

sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

23.

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

24. Comment out anything in there at the bottom that has to do with your wireless essid. You need to also comment out anything that says eth1, eth2, or atho. When I say comment out that means put a # in from of it. You can leave all of the eth0, wlan0, lo, inet, and auto stuff.

25.

nm-applet

26. Now click on the applet that is in the top right corner and you should see all of the available connections. Click on yours and set it up.

SOLUIONS TO PROBLEMS

Problem 1

If wlan0 isn't showing up under your network connections and you're getting invalid driver errors when you run ndiswrapper -l then go to post #746 on page 75. It helped a bunch of people so maybe it will help you. The following commands are from that post.

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Look for the entry for your bcm43xx device and change the NAME at the end to wlan0, example below.

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x4320 (bcm43xx)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTRS{address}=="00:03:c9:70:7b:a9", NAME="wlan0"

Thanks fireant for the fix for problem 1

Problem 2
Totoro found a fix for the eth1 problem. Thank You Totoro!
add ndiswrapper to /etc/modules
change eth1 -> wlan0 in the files below:

sudo gedit /etc/modeprobe.d/ndiswrapper
sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces
sudo gedit /etc/iftab

Problem 3
Shaton found a fix for the FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper problem. Thank You Shaton!
If you get an error saying

FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.17-10-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper.ko): Invalid argument

then try this.

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
sudo rm /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper
sudo ln -s /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.8 /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper

If you are using Feisty then you will need to put a 9 where the 8 is.

Problem 4
If you get a lot of error messages talking about the icon then run this command:

sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f /usr/share/icons/hicolor/

Problem 5
If you have to run modprobe ndiswrapper every time you reboot your computer run this command.

echo 'ndiswrapper' | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Thanks Phifer for the fix for problem 5

I hope this helps a lot of people!

[ubunturules]

did this HOWTO help anyone?

[n.arciss.us]

Originally Posted by ubunturules did this HOWTO help anyone?

Thanks SO much!!!! Now I can finally get rid of the 25ft cable snaking around my living room. (Wife will be very happy!)


EDIT: Works fine except that network manager doesn't hold the key after reboot. Could this have anything to do with running a Gnome applet in a KDE enviroment??

[ubunturules]

n.arciss.us : They are hoping to fix that problem in the next version of Network Manager. But to that is not a problem. That is what is supposed to happen.

[n.arciss.us]

Originally Posted by ubunturules n.arciss.us : They are hoping to fix that problem in the next version of Network Manager. But to that is not a problem. That is what is supposed to happen.

I kinda thought that might be the reasoning. If that's the case, then its fine with me ... I DO have wireless now!

[ripple]

Originally Posted by ubunturules did this HOWTO help anyone?

So far it has helped yes. Please help me a bit more. im a bnoob. So, my main problem is that eth1 is always my wlan card,.. when it is available. Something i did made it invisible. now i only have eth0. So can you help me get it back? When I did have it.. it never worked.. i could activate it but nothing happened after that. Also, in you final lines you posted that to solve the eth1 problem to put the Ndiswrapper into etc/??? .. what do yo mean by that.. i don't follow.. this keeps me from editing the file to change eth1 to wlan0

thanks in advance
Joeripple

[ubunturules]

for some reason a lot of people can't get wlan0 to show up under Networking. I don't know why. Make sure your hardware is present.

sudo ndiwrapper -l

also when I say put ndiswrapper in /etc/modules I mean do a:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

and add the word "ndiswrapper" to it without the quotations

if anyone else has any idea on why wlan0 isn't showing up under networking please tell me because that seems to be happening to a lot of people. The only reason I can think of that, that would happen would be that you installed an invalid driver and the hardware isn't present.

[Epperly]

Originally Posted by ubunturules for some reason a lot of people can't get wlan0 to show up under Networking. I don't know why. Make sure your hardware is present. sudo ndiwrapper -l also when I say put ndiswrapper in /etc/modules I mean do a: sudo gedit /etc/modules and add the word "ndiswrapper" to it without the quotations if anyone else has any idea on why wlan0 isn't showing up under networking please tell me because that seems to be happening to a lot of people. The only reason I can think of that, that would happen would be that you installed an invalid driver and the hardware isn't present.

That's what made me give up on Linux on my laptop...

[BGreet]

Hey everyone. So basically I had my broadcom working in Ubuntu with FWcutter initially, but it then randomly crapped out and I have no more wireless connection. I decided I would use ndiswrapper, and everything seems to go off without a hitch (I did exactly as the tutorial said). Ndiswrapper installs the driver, and states the driver and hardware are both present, however, the wireless light does not come on, and it appears that the hardware isn't even installed after modprobing. Any ideas on what could be wrong? I'm at the point where I'm seriously contemplating just going back to windows.. I really need this wireless to work for school. :/

[seismicmike]

my wireless isn't showing up as wlan0, it's showing up as eth1 and the light on the card is not on