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

[chenxiaolong]

I'll reinstall Ubuntu and try again. So the b43-fwcutter firmware in the repo is the correct firmware? And it works in kernel 2.6.28-15?

[Ayuthia]

I'll reinstall Ubuntu and try again. So the b43-fwcutter firmware in the repo is the correct firmware? And it works in kernel 2.6.28-15?

The firmware in 2.6.28-15 is the correct firmware. You can always verify it in dmesg when you load the b43 module. The thing that surprised me is that the linuxwireless.org site recommends the newer firmware for LP-PHY cards along with 2.6.31, but the current firmware appears to be working based on Sureshot324's post.

[chenxiaolong]

Alright thanks. I'm reinstalling Ubuntu right now.

By the way, that was the fastest response I ever got in any forum

[stuben]

Hi, I tried this guide on a Dell Inspiron 1545, with firmware broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5 and compat-wireless-2009-09-30, but no sign of eth1 or wlan0 devices. Here's the output of various commands:
lspci -nn:

0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

modprobe b43
dmesg:

b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
        (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
        (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
        (5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
ssb: Sonics Silicon Backplane found on PCI device 0000:0c:00.0
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
b43: probe of ssb0:0 failed with error -17
Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PML, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]

[Ayuthia]

Hi, I tried this guide on a Dell Inspiron 1545, with firmware broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5 and compat-wireless-2009-09-30, but no sign of eth1 or wlan0 devices. Here's the output of various commands:
lspci -nn:

0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

modprobe b43
dmesg:

b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
        (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
        (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
        (5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
        (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
ssb: Sonics Silicon Backplane found on PCI device 0000:0c:00.0
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
b43: probe of ssb0:0 failed with error -17
Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PML, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]

I don't have this card so I have no way to test this, but the linuxwireless guide recommends using 4.174.64.19 version instead of the one recommened in the original post. I would make a backup of the current firmware:

sudo mv /lib/firmware/b43 /lib/firmware/b43-backup

then uninstall b43-fwcutter.

You will then need to follow the steps in the "You are using the b43 driver with an LP-PHY card (e.g. BCM4312)" section of this guide.

If you don't have git installed, you will need to install git-core from Synaptic or from the Terminal:

sudo apt-get install git-core

As a caution, once you move the b43 folder in /lib/firmware, you will lose your wireless capabilities (most likely after you restart, but it might be sooner) if you are using the b43 module. So you might want to switch back to the broadcom sta version until you get it working:

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl
sudo modprobe wl

Hope that helps.

[chenxiaolong]

Thanks for the information, but the new 4.174.64.19 firmware requires at least the 2.6.31 kernel. So either compile the 2.6.31 kernel or install it from the Ubuntu Kernel PPA(http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/).

[Ayuthia]

I was not for sure about that. The linuxwireless.org site says:

Follow these instructions if you are using the b43 driver from linux-2.6.32 and newer or compat-wireless-2.6, or from any current GIT tree, and have a device with a low-power PHY.

Following their and/or logic, it looks like if you use the compat-wireless-2.6 source, you can use the newer firmware.

My thought is that the firmware should work with this kernel since you are making the kernel module update to be compatible with the newer firmware. However, I have not looked at the insides to verify this so I can be completely wrong.

I looked at the openSUSE forum and Larry Finger never specifically states whether the newer firmware will work the Jaunty kernel. It did look like he was saying that it should work with the current firmware though.

[chenxiaolong]

The compat-wireless package might compile, but the firmware will probably not load, according to the website. Take a look at this picture: http://pictures.6368.co.cc/v/b43kern...geViewsIndex=1

[Ayuthia]

The compat-wireless package might compile, but the firmware will probably not load, according to the website. Take a look at this picture: http://pictures.6368.co.cc/v/b43kern...geViewsIndex=1

Yes, but it still has the commas making it look like the newer compat-wireless packages will work with it:

Linux-2.6.31 and newer, compat-wireless-2.6 package, current GIT trees - for LP-PHY cards

Is reading to me that it will work with:

1. Kernels 2.6.31 and newer
2. compat-wireless-2.6 package
3. current GIT trees

Hey, wasn't that a snapshot in Windows???? Where's the Linux love?????

[chenxiaolong]

Well, this is the thread for the b43 driver with the 14e4:4315 and it's not working for me, so I'm using Windows right now. I really don't like Windows and would rather use Linux, but I'm stuck with Windows until I find a solution.