Linksys (broadcom) wireless card not seeing networks

[pytheas22]

Asbj.S.: what kind of laptop do you have? If you press the button to enable wireless, then type "sudo iwlist scan", do you see a list of networks? Also, is there an option in your BIOS for enabling or disabling the wireless card? If so, try playing with it.

[Kingerlight]

All right, I'm having a similar problem, and I am likewise new to Ubuntu. I'm running 9.10, and have my Ethernet working just fine. I installed b43-fwcutter, and it is now updated. I updated all of my software, and made sure all of the 'Software Sources' items referenced are enabled. I installed Ubuntu directly over Windows 7, and reformatted my entire hard drive to have a dedicated Linux machine.

I do not believe that my wireless adapter was disabled while operating in Windows 7, but the wireless activity LED is unlit.

lspci -nn | grep -i broadcom
03:07.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4318] (rev 02)

lshw -C Network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:03:25:1b:f9:a3
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=sky2 driverversion=1.23 firmware=N/A latency=0 multicast=yes
resources: irq:18 memory:c0100000-c0103fff ioport:a000(size=256)
*-network
description: Network controller
product: BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:03:07.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64
resources: irq:22 memory:c0200000-c0201fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 21x4x DEC-Tulip compatible 10/100 Ethernet
vendor: ADMtek
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 11
serial: 00:0a:cd:11:04:d2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=tulip driverversion=1.1.15 ip=192.168.1.102 latency=64 maxlatency=128 mingnt=64 multicast=yes
resources: irq:22 ioport:b400(size=256) memory:44000000-440003ff memory:40000000-4001ffff(prefetchable)
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:14:a5:07:19:17
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

ls /lib/firmware
2.6.31-14-generic
acx
aic94xx-seq.fw
ar9170-1.fw
ar9170-2.fw
ar9170.fw
atmel_at76c502_3com.bin
atmel_at76c502_3com-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c502.bin
atmel_at76c502d.bin
atmel_at76c502d-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c502e.bin
atmel_at76c502e-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c502-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c503-i3861.bin
atmel_at76c503-i3863.bin
atmel_at76c503-rfmd-0.90.2-140.bin
atmel_at76c503-rfmd-acc.bin
atmel_at76c503-rfmd.bin
atmel_at76c504_2958-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c504a_2958-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c504.bin
atmel_at76c504c-wpa.bin
atmel_at76c505a-rfmd2958.bin
atmel_at76c505-rfmd2958.bin
atmel_at76c505-rfmd.bin
atmel_at76c506.bin
atmel_at76c506-wpa.bin
b43
b43legacy
BCM2033-FW.BIN
BCM2033-MD.BIN
dvb-fe-xc5000-1.6.114.fw
dvb-usb-dib0700-1.20.fw
i2400m-fw-usb-1.3.sbcf
i2400m-fw-usb-1.4.sbcf
ipw2100-1.3.fw
ipw2100-1.3-i.fw
ipw2100-1.3-p.fw
ipw2200-bss.fw
ipw2200-ibss.fw
ipw2200-sniffer.fw
isl3877
isl3886pci
isl3886usb
isl3887usb
isl3890
iwlwifi-1000-3.ucode
iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode
iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode
iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
lbtf_usb.bin
NPE-B
NPE-B.01020201
NPE-C
NPE-C.02020201
ql2100_fw.bin
ql2200_fw.bin
ql2300_fw.bin
ql2322_fw.bin
ql2400_fw.bin
rt2561.bin
rt2561s.bin
rt2661.bin
rt2860.bin
rt2870.bin
rt73.bin
v4l-cx23418-apu.fw
v4l-cx23418-cpu.fw
v4l-cx23418-dig.fw
v4l-cx2341x-dec.fw
v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw
v4l-cx2341x-init.mpg
v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw
v4l-cx23885-enc.fw
v4l-cx25840.fw
v4l-pvrusb2-24xxx-01.fw
v4l-pvrusb2-29xxx-01.fw
zd1201-ap.fw
zd1201.fw
zd1211

uname -m
i686

dmesg | grep -e wlan -e b43
[ 4.064077] b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:07.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[ 12.770721] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found (core revision 9)
[ 19.168077] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 20.107574] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw
[ 20.173588] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
[ 20.211716] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
[ 20.412041] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 20.460466] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 20.460483] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 20.460500] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
[ 20.460547] b43-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
[ 20.460737] b43-phy0: Radio turned on by software
[ 20.460739] b43-phy0: The hardware RF-kill button still turns the radio physically off. Press the button to turn it on.
[ 20.461086] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

I threw this in just in case it helps.
sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

eth1 Interface doesn't support scanning.


Thanks in advance!

[pytheas22]

Kingerlight: from your dmesg output, it looks like your wireless card is turned off, which is the problem. On most laptops there's either a physical switch or a software switch (like Fn+F2) that you can use to enable and disable the wireless card. Please make sure it's turned on, then type "sudo iwlist scan" and it should return a list of networks within range.

On some computers, you may also have a setting in BIOS for controlling the wireless card; try playing with this if the switch doesn't work or doesn't exist.

If none of this seems to help, please let me know the exact model of your laptop.

[Kingerlight]

That is what I suspected, especially from the results of the lshw. I've been carrying an Ethernet cord around with me all day, deposing other students from their locations if they happen to be near a function Ethernet port. I came home and set up my Gateway 7510gx, and forgot to plug in the Ethernet cable. I opened up Firefox, and the connection could obviously not be established. I reconnected the cable and looked at your post, rebooting to examine the BIOS settings (of which there were actually none). Upon rebooting into Ubuntu, I noticed that the wireless activity LED was lit. I promptly conducted the sudo iwlist scan and it returned information about various wireless networks in range. I am now able to connect to the wireless in my house.

DISCLAIMER:
I have no idea what changed or why it now works. Apart from the output I posted earlier, I did not do any kind of system modification. Maybe I unknowingly installed some software/hardware/firmware update and the reboot re-enabled my wireless. I am completely bemused.

pytheas22: Thank you for the help so far, and thank you for being willing to help further. Kind regards.

[pytheas22]

Kingerlight: glad to hear it's working now. Let me know if you have any more problems. It could have just been something weird going on with your BIOS.

[Kingerlight]

I'm guessing so. Dunno how it got fixed, but I am pleased!