HOWTO: Use b43 driver with 14e4:4315 (Broadcom bcm4312 rev 01)

[georg.65]

Here i'm again,

orion@orion-laptop:~$ ls /lib/modules/2.6.31-15-generic/updates/cw
adm8211.ko iwlagn.ko mac80211.ko rt61pci.ko
ar9170usb.ko iwlcore.ko mwl8k.ko rt73usb.ko
at76c50x-usb.ko iwmc3200wifi.ko p54common.ko rtl8180.ko
ath5k.ko lib80211_crypt_ccmp.ko p54pci.ko rtl8187.ko
ath9k.ko lib80211_crypt_tkip.ko p54spi.ko ssb.ko
ath.ko lib80211_crypt_wep.ko p54usb.ko usb8xxx.ko
b43.ko lib80211.ko rndis_host.ko usbnet.ko
b43legacy.ko libertas_cs.ko rndis_wlan.ko wl1251.ko
b44.ko libertas.ko rt2400pci.ko wl1251_sdio.ko
cdc_ether.ko libertas_sdio.ko rt2500pci.ko wl1251_spi.ko
cfg80211.ko libertas_spi.ko rt2500usb.ko wl1271.ko
eeprom_93cx6.ko libertas_tf.ko rt2800usb.ko zd1211rw.ko
ipw2100.ko libertas_tf_usb.ko rt2x00lib.ko
ipw2200.ko libipw.ko rt2x00pci.ko
iwl3945.ko mac80211_hwsim.ko rt2x00usb.ko

don't found wl.ko only some wl12....

orion@orion-laptop:~$ sudo cat /lib/modules/2.6.31-15-generic/modules.dep | grep b43
[sudo] password for orion:
updates/cw/b43legacy.ko: updates/cw/ssb.ko kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko updates/cw/mac80211.ko updates/cw/cfg80211.ko kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
updates/cw/b43.ko: updates/cw/ssb.ko kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko updates/cw/mac80211.ko updates/cw/cfg80211.ko kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
orion@orion-laptop:~$

To much i don't understand but i've good feeling we can do it when seeing the result, wl.ko isn't there, when i look at network manager, the wl driver disappear can't connect anymore wireless with wl.

[georg.65]

yes chenxiaolong it works, you do it for me

at system->administration->hardware drivers i've activated the b43 driver and after rebooting the driver works.

The other one STA driver is still there at system->administration->hardware drivers but i'snt activated.

I think this was it, if there are some problems i'll come back to this great thread.

You can write me, if i need to run more commands to make it sure that it work fine, do you now i'm newcomer with linux and ubuntu every day understanding a little more.

many thanks from georg

[chenxiaolong]

You're welcome. Since you activated the b43 driver from the Hardware Drivers program, it will automatically make sure that everything is okay, even if you reboot.

[wildbluefaerie]

I have the Broadcom BCM4312 and Karmic (9.10) - I originally got the wireless driver to work by downloading the driver directly from Broadcom for linux, and installing it as follows:

lsmod | grep "b43\|ssb\|wl"
rmmod b43
rmmod ssb
rmmod wl
echo "blacklist ssb" | /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
echo "blacklist b43" | /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
make clean
make
modprobe lib80211
insmod wl.ko

The wireless worked after this, but the driver disappeared every time I rebooted the system, and I had to repeat the last 4 commands each time to get it to work. So I tried the commands listed in the first post of this thread (after removing the blacklist entry for b43 and ssb). Not only did it not work at all, but now I can't get the other method to work either, and I can't get the wireless to work at all, even after removing the linux-backports-modules-karmic and b43-fwcutter and the blacklist files. Can anyone help????

edit: I was posting from windows (since obviously I couldn't from ubuntu since the wireless wasn't working), and I just booted back into ubuntu, and now it magically works, even after rebooting a second time. No idea why, but it does. As far as I can tell, only linux-backports-modules-karmic is installed - b43-fwcutter isn't, and the blacklist files aren't there either. Anyway, it works so I'm not going to question it too much.

[accmpk]

Tried this, did a reboot, got the following just before a system hang:

ACPI: PDI Interrupt Link [APCH] enabled at IRQ 22
forecedeth 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[ACPH] -> GSI 22 (level, low)
-> IRQ 22
b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[AX3A] -> GSI 16 16
(Level, low) -> IRQ 16

(hang)

Tried recovery mode, no use. Any help greatly appreciated.

Mark

This is the new, updated information for Karmic. The steps are much easier in Karmic than in Jaunty. The steps for Jaunty are at the bottom of the post for reference and for people who still use Karmic.

1. Open up Terminal.

2. Install the "linux-backports-modules-karmic" (newer wireless drivers from compat-wireless) package and the "b43-fwcutter" package (wireless firmware). During installation, if it asks you to fetch the firmware automatically, make sure you select yes.

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic b43-fwcutter

3. Blacklist the ssb module.

echo "blacklist ssb" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ssb.conf

4. Blacklist the wl module.

echo "blacklist wl" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-wl.conf

5. Reboot

6. Enjoy your wireless!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, I want to thank lwfinger at openSUSE forums for making the b43 driver work with the 14e4:4315

The post looks verrrrry long right? Well it's not. All the commands are "copy-n-paste-able" and I recommend that you do copy and paste them so you don't make any mistakes.

So first of all, you need to download the latest compat-wireless from

You can't use wget for this because they have a hotlink prevention system. So just download the file from that website and SAVE IT TO YOUR HOME DIRECTORY.

Then open the terminal and run this command to extract the archive

tar xjf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2

In order for the package to compile, you need to install the kernel headers, if not already installed. Run this in the terminal

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Then change to the compat-wireless directory:

cd compat-wireless

Then compile the source files:

sudo make

Then install the files:

sudo make install

Then unload the drivers

sudo make unload

Then install b43-fwcutter:
VERY IMPORTANT!!: Do NOT choose yes when it asks if you want to automatically fetch the firmware.

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

Download the Broadcom firmware files

wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

Extract the archive

tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

Change to the driver directory

cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver

Install the firmware

b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta_mimo.o

Then blacklist the proprietary driver

echo blacklist wl | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

And finally..............RESTART!!!




I hope this worked for you. It worked for me.

By the way, I'm turning 14 on September 26, so wish me a happy birthday

[chenxiaolong]

Try booting with kernel option "... blacklist=b43". This will stop the driver from loading and you will be able to boot your system. You might want to try updating the computer after it boots. I've never seen that problem before (it doesn't even have an error message). I don't know much about error logs and what to look for, so maybe someone else can help you.

[jsfour]

Hey guys, I have everything loaded up correctly and have blacklisted the modules described in the first post.

I only have 1 problem:

modprobe b43

Starts the module and lets me wifi fine... But I need to do this every time I reboot....

Does anyone know how to fix this? There must be a way to have this load at boot.

[chenxiaolong]

Add the module to /etc/modules to make it load on startup.

echo "b43" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

[jsfour]

Add the module to /etc/modules to make it load on startup.

echo "b43" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

That worked...

Your the bomb...

[leorolla]

I have

01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

I couldn't get b43 working in Karmic and I am using the proprietary Broadcom STA wireless driver.

Is there any functional advantage of b43?

I don't have my LED working for instance. Does b43 fix that?