Broadcom 43228 - Am I stuck with STA?

**Roasted** · March 7th, 2014

Hello friends. I have a frustrating problem.

1) My wireless card is a Broadcom 43228.
2) As a result, my wireless card sucks.
3) Worse yet, the wireless driver sucks.
4) I have a Lenovo E430.
5) Lenovo decided to be stupid and whitelist the wireless card, so I cannot change it.

Is there any way to make this card work with other drivers? Maybe the open source driver? Anything? It's very frustrating when I am doing remote work and my connection without warning just kind of dies. I don't get any sort of notification, all looks well, but connection underneath is lost. Clicking on my SSID at least gets me back on quickly, but it's quite a headache when connections are terminated while in the middle of work. I've tolerated it for quite a while but it's getting old... fast.

**varunendra** · March 7th, 2014

It seems no opensource driver support is available for this card yet : http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/...ported_devices

So yes, you are probably stuck with the sta driver. But can we see a detailed report about your setup? Please show us the report generated by "wireless_script" which you can find in the "Wireless Script" link in my signature. Sometimes a few tweaks can make things much better.

**Roasted** · March 7th, 2014

Well that's just unfortunate. This laptop is great otherwise, but I cannot express the level of disgust I have with Lenovo right now. I've accepted that Broadcom was terrible long ago, but Lenovo? They were at the top of my list for so long.

Code:

*************** info trace ***************

***** uname -a *****

Linux JS-E430 3.11.0-17-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Mon Feb 3 21:52:43 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

***** lsb_release *****

Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 13.10
Release:	13.10
Codename:	saucy

***** lspci *****

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4359]
	Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:0607]
	Kernel driver in use: wl
0c:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 07)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:5000]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169

***** lsusb *****

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 5986:02d2 Acer, Inc 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 147e:1002 Upek Biometric Touchchip/Touchstrip Fingerprint Sensor
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:21f3 Broadcom Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c52f Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

***** PCMCIA Card Info *****


***** iwconfig *****

eth1      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:"Skynet"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: <MAC address removed>   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          

***** rfkill *****

0: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
2: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

***** iw reg get *****

country 00:
	(2402 - 2472 @ 40), (3, 20)
	(2457 - 2482 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(2474 - 2494 @ 20), (3, 20), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(5170 - 5250 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(5735 - 5835 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS

***** route -n *****

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth1
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     9      0        0 eth1

***** lsmod *****

wl                   4207760  0 
lib80211               14381  2 wl,lib80211_crypt_tkip
cfg80211              480503  1 wl

***** nm-tool *****

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            r8169
  State:             unavailable
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        <MAC address removed>

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         off


- Device: eth1  [Skynet] -------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            wl
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        <MAC address removed>

  Capabilities:
    Speed:           130 Mb/s

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)
    Guest:           Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 100 WPA2
    *Skynet:         Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 85 WPA2
    Area51:          Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 5765 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 100 WPA2
    EmeraldZebra:    Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 44 WPA WPA2
    Zane1:           Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 37 WPA WPA2
    ccb2553c12b8:    Infra, <MAC address removed>, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 50 WPA2

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.4
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.1

    DNS:             192.168.1.1



***** NetworkManager.state *****
[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true
WimaxEnabled=true

***** NetworkManager.conf *****

[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile,ofono
dns=dnsmasq

no-auto-default=<MAC address removed>,

[ifupdown]
managed=false

***** interfaces *****

# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

***** iwlist *****

eth1      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: <MAC address removed>
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-36 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"Skynet"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 68ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 0006536B796E6574
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030106
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 2F0100
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1AFE181BFFFF000001000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D16060D1600000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD890050F204104A0001101044000102103B00010310470010536682B8CD1273322D7AA943F945CC011021000D4E4554474541522C20496E632E1023000A574E44523337303076331024000A574E44523337303076331042000230311054000800060050F20400011011000A574E4452333730307633100800020004103C0001031049000600372A000120
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180205F02C0000
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
          Cell 02 - Address: <MAC address removed>
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-36 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"Guest"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 68ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00054775657374
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030106
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 2F0100
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1AFE181BFFFF000001000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D16060D1100000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180200F02C0000
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
          Cell 03 - Address: <MAC address removed>
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=45/70  Signal level=-65 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"Zane1"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 68ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00055A616E6531
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 03010B
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                       Preauthentication Supported
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101020003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A4C101BFF00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D160B080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD930050F204104A00011010440001021041000100103B000103104700100000000000000001100000259CEC2B7F102100134C696E6B73797320436F72706F726174696F6E102300075752543132304E1024000776312E302E30361042000C4A555430304B3139323034361054000800060050F204000110110014576972656C65737320526F757465722857464129100800020084
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010020000000
          Cell 04 - Address: <MAC address removed>
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=36/70  Signal level=-74 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"EmeraldZebra"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 68ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 000C456D6572616C645A65627261
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030101
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0104
                    IE: Unknown: 2F0104
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A7C181BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1601001700000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD740050F204104A0001101044000102103B0001031047001003D68408C1FF2CAA7463975DEBD5AEBB102100074C696E6B73797310230004453930301024000776312E302E30301042000234321054000800060050F20400011011000445393030100800022688103C0001011049000600372A000120
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180205F02C0000
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
          Cell 05 - Address: <MAC address removed>
                    Channel:153
                    Frequency:5.765 GHz
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-30 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"Area51"
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 68ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 0006417265613531
                    IE: Unknown: 01088C129824B048606C
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A73081BFF00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D16990F0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD890050F204104A0001101044000102103B00010310470010536682B8CD1273322D7AA943F945CC011021000D4E4554474541522C20496E632E1023000A574E44523337303076331024000A574E44523337303076331042000230311054000800060050F20400011011000A574E4452333730307633100800020004103C0001031049000600372A000120
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180200F03C0000
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00


***** resolv.conf *****

nameserver 127.0.1.1

***** blacklist *****

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf]
blacklist ath_pci

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf]
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist ssb
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist brcm80211
blacklist brcmfmac
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist bcma

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf]
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

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mimio.conf]
blacklist mimio

***** modinfo *****

filename:       /lib/modules/3.11.0-17-generic/updates/dkms/wl.ko
license:        MIXED/Proprietary
srcversion:     F09EC4762307349676747C4
alias:          pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc02sc80i*
depends:        cfg80211,lib80211
vermagic:       3.11.0-17-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
parm:           wl_txq_thresh:int
parm:           oneonly:int
parm:           piomode:int
parm:           instance_base:int
parm:           nompc:int
parm:           intf_name:string


***** udev rules *****

# PCI device 0x10ec:0x8168 (r8169)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="<MAC address removed>", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x4359 (wl)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="<MAC address removed>", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth1"

***** dmesg *****

[    3.597852] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.
[    3.599709] wl: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel
[    3.631462] INFO @wl_cfg80211_attach : Registered CFG80211 phy
[    3.685483] eth1: Broadcom BCM4359 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 6.30.223.141 (r415941)
[    4.042498] Bluetooth: can't load firmware, may not work correctly
[   10.476960] psmouse serio2: trackpoint: IBM TrackPoint firmware: 0x0e, buttons: 3/3
[ 2726.972464] ERROR @wl_notify_scan_status : eth1 Scan_results error (-22)
[ 7210.536496] ERROR @wl_dev_intvar_get : error (-1)
[ 7210.536508] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_tx_power : error (-1)

****************** done ******************

**chili555** · March 7th, 2014

@Varun--

The bcma and brcmsmac brothers say they drive this device:

Code:

$ modinfo bcma | grep 4359
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004359sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

Since it's your thread, I'll stand back and watch the sparks!

I've never tried it, so I have no clue if it will work; we learn anew every day.

**varunendra** · March 7th, 2014

Originally Posted by chili555

@Varun--

The bcma and brcmsmac brothers say they drive this device:

Code:

$ modinfo bcma | grep 4359
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004359sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

Since it's your thread, I'll stand back and watch the sparks!

Aha! Thanks for the pointer Doc !

I just a couple of days ago was on a thread (was, or saw, not sure) where brcmsmac was nicely handling the wireless, while the linuxwireless.org didn't show that it was supported. Looks like the support has been added in kernels newer than 3.8, and the linuxwireless.org page is not yet updated.

By the way, my thread, or ANY wireless thread for that matter, is only helped by your presence.

@Roasted,
Since you have one of the latest kernels, please try purging the sta driver so that the brcmsmac can load without conflicts -

Code:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source

The loaded "wl" driver sometimes doesn't get easily removed, so just reboot after this. The brcmsmac should automatically load on next boot.

Does it work any better? If not, try changing the channel in the router to 1 or 11, and turning off N-channel for a test (if the router supports changing that to b/g only mode). If that doesn't help either, please post a fresh report of wireless_script.

**Roasted** · March 7th, 2014

No dice. Did the purge and rebooted, oh hey no wireless. Just added it back and... here I am.

Can I reiterate how anxious I am to give System 76 my business with my next unit after running into nonsense like this with a one-time-prestinely-Linux-compatible vendor such as Lenovo?

/sitsbackdown

**chili555** · March 7th, 2014

I would have loved to see some troubleshooting before you reinstalled STA.

I have had good luck with my Lenovos but I made very sure I was getting an Intel card before I bought.

**varunendra** · March 7th, 2014

Originally Posted by chili555

I would have loved to see some troubleshooting before you reinstalled STA.

Yup, we would like to see how the card and driver are treating each other before reverting back. Which means basically (or at least) the output of -

Code:

dmesg | egrep 'brcm|bcm'

when the sta was not in the way. But the output of the script would give us a more complete picture.

PS:
Me too hate the practice of whitelisting and other such restrictions by vendors. It is almost the same thing that MS does with software - my reason to not look back at them even if they offer it for free now.

**Roasted** · March 7th, 2014

Thanks for the insight. I'll run through the steps again tomorrow when I'm back on that system and post the results. Thanks!

**Roasted** · March 7th, 2014

So before I remembered that I even posted on the forums (late night troubleshooting is a terrible thing to do...) I came across a link on bios-mods to unwhitelist the BIOS. Granted, the mod is an .exe, but I already have a Windows install on a drive that originated from this system anyway, so I plugged it in as 'meh' as I was about having to use Windows for it and ran the installer. Powered off, put in an Intel wifi chip, booted up, amazingness. No issue.

So while I didn't get any further with the Broadcom, I got somewhere far better - away from it. Ha!

Thanks guys for your enthusiasm to quickly assist me, but I'm good to go now.

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