HOWTO: Dell Inspiron E1505 Wireless (Broadcom 1390 WLAN)

[paperdiesel]

If you followed the steps from the very beginning, then there's no way you should have three drivers installed. I would recommend starting over. Go to the directory where you extracted the ndiswrapper tarball and do this:

sudo rmmod ndiswrapper
sudo ndiswrapper -e bcmwl5

Then do this at least three or four times:

sudo make uninstall

Finally, reinstall the program:

sudo make
sudo make install

Then pick back up with the howto.

[eq235]

Thanks for posting. Very nice, clear guide. There is one more step I would mention. To get the driver to load automatically when you boot, insert "ndiswrapper" into /etc/modules. In terminal, type

sudo nano /etc/modules

-then add 'ndiswrapper' to it (no quotes). then press ctrl-O to save it.

Then it will load automatically for you on each boot *instead of having to load it manually each time).

[ILoveLily]

Right thanks for the automatic load on start up. But as Loismustdie, and I said something is wrong with the code on line 167. or something.

loismustdie: do you have a compaq by any chance?

[paperdiesel]

Ok, hold up. I don't mean to be pedantic or anything, but if you're not using a Dell Inspiron E1505/6400, then this is probably not the HOW-TO for you. This how-to is written for Dell Inspiron Notebooks only, using Dell's proprietary wireless drivers.

If you're not using a Dell, you are of course free to try the methods here -- and I'll do my best to help you out. But please don't respond to the poll saying this how-to doesn't work if you're not actually using the equipment for which this how-to was written.

[ILoveLily]

i realise that, but when i do a lspci. it comes up with this wireless card. i'm not that dumb.

[paperdiesel]

I never said you were dumb. In fact, I admire anyone willing to try to get a non-native wireless card to work under linux.

The problem with you using this how-to is that you're going to be using Dell's drivers, which are specifically designed to work on DELL laptops. Even if you have the same chipset (Broadcom), that's no guarantee that the entire NIC is the same (bus interface, memory management, etc), nor is it any indication whether or not DELL drivers will work on your NON-DELL laptop. I would suggest you go to the ndiswrapper list page to find out more about support with your laptop manufacturer and wireless drivers.

If you're getting an error when trying to load Dell wireless drivers on your non-Dell laptop, then there's not much I can do to help.

[Skyline.R34]

Hi.. I followed this guide.. but my wireless still doesnt seem to work.. the wifi light on the laptop is blinking like bad tho.. lol.. the only way i can get on the net is by plugging in the Ethernet cable which kinda beats the purpose of me trying to set up the wireless lol...

i ran that last command and it listed a whole bunch of data.. tho i cant even tell if the thing is working or not.. lol

typing sudo ndiswrapper -l shows

installed drivers:
bcmwl5 driver installed (alternative driver: bcm43xx)


and yea i'm using Inspiron E1505 hehe...

any ideas ?

[loismustdie]

so i just used -r to remove all the drivers and then reinstalled the correct one. when in did that, it showed the following:

derrick@derrick-laptop:~/DRIVER$ sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
installing bcmwl5 ...
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2

then i did the ndiswrapper -l command and got:

derrick@derrick-laptop:~/DRIVER$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
installed drivers:
bcmwl5 driver installed, hardware (14E4:4324) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx)

but i've still got nothing. the wireless light doesn't come on. nothing.

any suggestions? i'm not quite sure what to do.

[paperdiesel]

so i just used -r to remove all the drivers and then reinstalled the correct one. when in did that, it showed the following:

derrick@derrick-laptop:~/DRIVER$ sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
installing bcmwl5 ...
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2

then i did the ndiswrapper -l command and got:

derrick@derrick-laptop:~/DRIVER$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
installed drivers:
bcmwl5 driver installed, hardware (14E4:4324) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx)

but i've still got nothing. the wireless light doesn't come on. nothing.

any suggestions? i'm not quite sure what to do.

So far so good. ASSUMING you've followed all of the previous steps in the guide, without errors, then execute this:

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

And that should do it. Try the iwlist command to see if you're up.

[loismustdie]

when i do the modprobe command, nothing happens. is there supposed to be some sort of message?

and when i do the iwlist command, i get the following:

lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.


and thanks for the help so far.