Broadcom Wifi card shows up as eth0, not solved by instructions from ubuntuforums

[KittyCatHerder]

Please run and post:

rfkill list all
dmesg | grep wl

Thanks.

rfkill list all

gives 0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

dmesg | grep wl

Gives no output, only returns to prompt.



My machine is now having trouble shutting down as well. I guess I should start another thread for that after the WiFi is working again, though.

[Hadaka]

Hi, please boot your computer and
then do.

dmesg | grep b43

and again..

dmesg | grep wl

post the results.
thanks.

[KittyCatHerder]

Hi, please boot your computer and
then do.

dmesg | grep b43

and again..

dmesg | grep wl

post the results.
thanks.

dmesg | grep b43

[ 3.300199] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4313 WLAN found (core revision 24)
[ 3.301100] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 10, Type 8, Revision 1)
[ 3.301132] b43: probe of bcma0:0 failed with error -95

dmesg | grep wl

Gives no output, returns to prompt.

[chili555]

Let's try a bit harder:

sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe wl
dmesg | grep wl

[KittyCatHerder]

Let's try a bit harder:

sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe wl
dmesg | grep wl

sudo modprove -r b43

gives no output, returns to prompt

sudo modprobe wl

was interesting. The, now expected, no output return to prompt occured. Then a message appeared on the desktop informing me that a conection to my network had been established. I have no idea what happened, as I don't quite understand what modprobe accomplishes. I hope it will tell you something that can help you! The network connection seems to be stable now but ifconfig still does not list any 'wlan' interface.

dmesg | grep wl

[ 2247.107259] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.
[ 2247.176357] wl 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 2247.176375] wl 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 2247.214491] INFO @wl_cfg80211_attach : Registered CFG80211 phy

[KittyCatHerder]

After reboot the WiFi connection didn't return. I tried to repeat the process that seemed to have caused the connection to be established before but it didn't work.

[Hadaka]

Hi, the driver you are using..wl produces eth1 (usually)
not wlan#, wlan0 or wlan1 is usually seen with the b43 driver
so not seeing a wlan# is normal.
please do..

sudo modprobe wl

then do..

cat /etc/modules
cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf | grep blacklist
lsmod |egrep 'b43|bcma|ssb|wl'

thanks.

[KittyCatHerder]

Hi, the driver you are using..wl produces eth1 (usually)
not wlan#, wlan0 or wlan1 is usually seen with the b43 driver
so not seeing a wlan# is normal.
please do..

sudo modprobe wl

then do..

cat /etc/modules
cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf | grep blacklist
lsmod |egrep 'b43|bcma|ssb|wl'

thanks.

cat /etc/modules

lp
b43

cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf | grep blacklist

blacklist evbug
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd
blacklist eepro100
blacklist de4x5
blacklist eth1394
blacklist snd_intel8x0m
blacklist snd_aw2
blacklist i2c_i801
blacklist prism54
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist garmin_gps
blacklist asus_acpi
blacklist snd_pcsp
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist amd76x_edac
#blacklist b43f
blacklist bcma
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist b43
blacklist ssb

lsmod |egrep 'b43|bcma|ssb|wl'

wl 2906957 0
lib80211 14040 1 wl
cfg80211 178877 1 wl

You are some kind of BASH ninja

[Hadaka]

ah ha !

cat /etc/modules lp b43

that is loading the b43 driver,let's fix that
please do..

sudo gedit /ect/modules

backspace out b43 (remove)
and replace with wl
it should now look like this
lp
wl
click save and close gedit
then boot.

[KittyCatHerder]

ah ha !

cat /etc/modules lp b43

that is loading the b43 driver,let's fix that
please do..

sudo gedit /ect/modules

backspace out b43 (remove)
and replace with wl
it should now look like this
lp
wl
click save and close gedit
then boot.

That did the trick! WiFi is working normally now! I would have never figured that out on my own. Well maybe some day but it would have been long after I had reinstalled the entire OS to try to fix the problem! Thanks a lot!

So now my most immediate question has to do with kernels/modules/drivers... I am wondering if I am begining to understand this... A module is a section of the kernel which calls on a driver file and loads it at startup. Is that close? Are modules discrete pieces of software in the kernel, or is the word module just used to identify a generic/common part of the kernel whose job is to load/start things like drivers when the OS boots? I have a lot of other questions too but I will need to go back and read the thread to remember those.

Also, am I correct in thinking that the problem with my wifi boiled down to the fact that a module had been programmed to load a driver that does not work with the broadcom 4313, and that reprogramming the module to load the lp driver in place of the b43 was what got the wifi working again?

I will be looking for instructions on how to do several things with Ubuntu. If I can not find answers for my questions already posted in this forum, I hope you and your friend Chili555 can participate in the solutions!