frustrating wireless problem [bcm43xx]

[cham423]

hey guys,

my frustrating problem is with my wireless card (obviously since i'm posting in this forum)

the card is a broadcom 4318

01:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver (rev 02)

And the problem is that the wireless works, after configuring it with ndisgtk (windows wireless drivers app), but after rebooting, the device comes up as unclaimed.

after rebooting, ndiswrapper says the device is installed, but it doesn't work, I can't connect to or view any wireless networks.

I have spent hours searching for the solution, and have installed ndiswrapper, as well as numerous drivers, including the new oneric ocelot fix for broadcom drivers that has recently been posted in the forums.

If anyone could help me, that would be awesome.

some additional information: my blacklist file is empty, and my additional drivers module says "no proprietary drivers are in use on this system"

thank you in advance if anyone helps me!!

[wildmanne39]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Please open a terminal ctrl+alt+t copy and paste the following commands into it one line at a time, then paste the results here:

cat /etc/lsb-release; uname -a
lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
iwconfig
rfkill list all
lsmod
Thanks

[cham423]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Please open a terminal ctrl+alt+t copy and paste the following commands into it one line at a time, then paste the results here:
[Thanks


ok!
cat /etc/lsb-release; uname -a

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=oneiric
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 11.10"
Linux millie-pc 3.0.0-14-generic #23-Ubuntu SMP Mon Nov 21 20:34:47 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

01:01.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)
Subsystem: COMPAL Electronics Inc Device [14c0:0012]
Kernel driver in use: 8139too
--
01:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver [14e4:4319] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:044a]
Kernel driver in use: ndiswrapper

iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"default"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 20:CF:30:88:49:B0
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Power Management:off
Link Quality:59/100 Signal level:-58 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

note: this is after configuring with ndisgtk....it won't have wlan0 after I reboot. (should I post that code too?)

rfkill list all
it returned nothing. I tried sudo-ing it as well. it just gives me another user@userpc line

lsmod

wl 2646601 0
lib80211 14570 1 wl
ndiswrapper 193669 0
rfcomm 38408 0
bnep 17923 2
bluetooth 148839 10 rfcomm,bnep
parport_pc 32114 0
ppdev 12849 0
binfmt_misc 17292 1
snd_intel8x0 33318 2
snd_ac97_codec 106082 1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus 12642 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 80435 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25241 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
joydev 17393 0
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 28932 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 55902 11 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,sn d_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
pcmcia 39822 0
psmouse 73673 0
serio_raw 12990 0
i915 505159 3
soundcore 12600 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14115 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
drm_kms_helper 32889 1 i915
yenta_socket 27428 0
pcmcia_rsrc 18367 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 21511 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,pcmcia_rsrc
drm 192194 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13199 1 i915
video 18908 1 i915
lp 17455 0
parport 40930 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
firewire_ohci 35854 0
8139too 23283 0
sdhci_pci 13658 0
sdhci 27360 1 sdhci_pci
8139cp 22636 0
firewire_core 56937 1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 12627 1 firewire_core


once again, this is with a working wireless connection. after rebooting, it will act like it doesn't have a wireless adapter at all.

If you want, I can post the results from those commands after rebooting as well

[wildmanne39]

Hi, ndiswrapper is not needed and you also have another driver installed for your card that is not needed so let's get rid of both of them and install the correct driver and it should work.

One these codes one line at a time.

sudo modprobe -rf ndiswrapper
sudo apt-get remove --purge ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ndisgtk
sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf
sudo rm -r /etc/ndiswrapper/*
sudo depmod -a

Then do:

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer
watch for error and it is done disconnect your wired connection and reboot.
Thanks

[cham423]

ok, thanks!

Ran all of those commands, and did exactly what you said, and I still can't get on wireless. there is no wlan0 connection on the laptop and I can't see or connect to any networks. both of those packages installed without errors, and the commands all ran without errors, except it couldn't remove the ndiswrapper.conf because it said it didn't exist.

what should I do now?

[collisionystm]

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

[wildmanne39]

Hi, please post:

ndiswrapper -l

lsmod | grep b43
when you ran the remove ndiswrapper command did you just copy and paste each one?

There are five lines to run of that command one at a time because you have ndisdwrapper installed and it should have removed it and that is a problem you can not get it working until it and the other driver is gone.
Thanks

[dave2012]

I have a similar problem and I have unistalled ndiswrapper but still cannot get wireless connection. Any other tips?

[dave2012]

I have a similar problem and I have unistalled ndiswrapper but still cannot get wireless connection. Any other tips? I have an AMD computer but I'm not sure how to check the specs in ubuntu 11.10.

[wildmanne39]

Hi, please start your own thread so you can get the help you need and so can the original poster of this thread, you can post the first set of commands from this thread in your thread and post a link here and I will take a look.
Thanks

[dave2012]

Hi, please start your own thread so you can get the help you need and so can the original poster of this thread, you can post the first set of commands from this thread in your thread and post a link here and I will take a look.
Thanks
My apologies, I'm new to ubuntu and forums in general so I don't know how to create a new thread. I tried but it seems I do not have permissions yet.

[wildmanne39]

Hi, I am including a screenshot, it should be a matter of just clicking on the new thread icon, if it does not work run the commands I gave in the first post and post them here.

Sometimes you have to try more then once because of an error but it happens very rarely.
Thanks

[dave2012]

Hi, I am including a screenshot, it should be a matter of just clicking on the new thread icon, if it does not work run the commands I gave in the first post and post them here.

Sometimes you have to try more then once because of an error but it happens very rarely.
Thanks

Thanks! I created a new thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11569090#post11569090

[cham423]

Hi, please post:

ndiswrapper -l
lsmod | grep b43when you ran the remove ndiswrapper command did you just copy and paste each one?

There are five lines to run of that command one at a time because you have ndisdwrapper installed and it should have removed it and that is a problem you can not get it working until it and the other driver is gone.
Thanks

ndiswrapper -l

The program 'ndiswrapper' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common

lsmod | grep b43

there was no output. does that mean the drivers didn't install right?

[wildmanne39]

Hi please try:

sudo modprobe b43

It is possible that the driver did not install correctly or it just did not load.

If the command above does not turn it on please post.

lsmod
by clicking on new reply and click # and paste the information between the brackets.
Thank you

[bkratz]

@wildmanne39, sorry to interrupt but I notice that the op also has the sta driver installed (wl in lsmod) besides ndiswrapper, if that helps (blacklist issues?).

[wildmanne39]

Hi bkratz, I noticed that too, I thought I had posted the command to remove it but I was working with another person with the same problem and I must have only posted it in that thread and not here, thank you I appreciate the help.

@cham423 please run this command:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source
If it does not come on then post the output of:

cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Thanks