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Thread: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

  1. #1
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    Post Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    Problem using Broadcom Wireless in Ubuntu 9.10/10.04 because it is not supported by b43 driver ?

    Assuming you have tried all normal installation procedures like using the Hardware Drivers tool and you still do not have a working WiFi setup this is what you must do:

    1. Download the Broadcom drivers: http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
    2. Unpack and modify the ‘src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c‘:
    Line 35 (after #include <linux/etherdevice.h>) add:
    #include < linux/sched.h >
    3. Compile the code with: make
    4. Copy the new driver: sudo mv wl.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
    5. Update dependencies: sudo depmod -a
    6. Modify the blacklist to include the ‘b43′ and ’ssb’ drivers /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf (Add below the bcm43xx blacklist)

    The part above you probably have seen a few times while googling for the answer. But there is a small problem, as you would have noticed, the ‘ssb‘ driver cannot be blacklisted. It is included in the initrd as I remember from the ubuntuforums. To solve this issue modify the /etc/rc.local to include before the exit(0):

    Code:
    rmmod ssb
    modprobe wl
    Now on startup the ssb gets removed and after that the new wl gets inserted. Adding wl to the /etc/modules will not help because the removing needs to be done first.
    So with the /etc/rc.local modification everything happens in the correct order for perfect WiFi.

    This was tested multiple times on a MacBook Pro with the Broadcom 4328 chipset and should work for all chipsets not supported by the b43 drivers.

    Update:
    Not all systems include the 'linux/sched.h' file. Install the 'linux-headers-generic' package if you get errors. The generic package is a meta package that should install the propper package for your kernel. If it isn't working install with
    Code:
    sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
    Last edited by owhno; February 16th, 2010 at 05:25 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    Thanks! Solved my broadcom issue on Ubuntu 10.04

  3. #3
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    hi thanks for your help
    although including linux/sched.h in wl/sys/wl_linux.c is not working for me:
    linux.c:35:27: error: linux/sched.h : No such file or directory
    do i have to add sched.h from somewhere?

  4. #4
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    As I'm now installing it again (daily build from 2 days ago) I see no problem with it. But as I haven't tested it with 9.10 it is probably a missing package. As sched.h is a header file the obvious answer would be that the package linux-header-generic isn't installed (or use the linux-header-$(uname -r) package. This is by default installed on testing systems so probably it is missing on 9.10.

  5. #5
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    This worked on my Dell which is not a Mini though that's what's mentioned. Very easy in _buntus 9.10
    http://www.ubuntumini.com/2009/11/br...in-karmic.html

    Hope it helps someone?!

  6. #6
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    You are true that that fixed works for most options, but this is for non supported bmcwl cards. But thanks for mentioning it, because probably someone will stumble on this with a card that works with the normal installation

  7. #7
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    Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    Thanks very much for the fix - worked for me on a Dell D620.

    I was particularly unhappy as the live CD of Ubuntu 10.04 had the correct wireless drivers in the Restricted Drivers app. But when I did a HDD install there was nothing there.

  8. #8
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    mcmunt,
    You're welcome!

  9. #9
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    Hi all,

    My wireless stopped working following a kernel update to 2.6.31-20-generic-pae. Trying to activate the driver via the usual System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers -> enable the Broadcom STA proprietary wireless driver route failed for me - an error message told me to check the /var/log/jockey.log for additional information.

    When I did I saw the message below:

    2010-03-07 19:26:12,459 WARNING: modinfo for module wl failed: ERROR: modinfo: could not find module wl

    2010-03-07 19:26:12,459 WARNING: /sys/module/wl/drivers does not exist, cannot rebind wl driver

    The solution to this for me was simply to install the kernel headers for the newly installed kernel.

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

    DKMS then does the rest for you building and compiling the wireless drivers for the newly installed kernel as part of the post install configuration process. Once complete my wireless was working again - without the need to grab and build the source from Broadcom... Clearly DKMS does this for you but only _ONCE_ you have manually installed the kernel headers.

    NOTE: I had wireless working with this system prior to the kernel upgrade... If you did not, and get the errors I did when trying to activate the driver through the System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers route, try installing the kernel headers first and then retry activating the driver.

    Hope that helps someone out!

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Re: Broadcom Wireless STA driver (wl) Ubuntu 9.10/10.04

    this worked great except that I have to run the insmod wl.ko command every time I log in. How can I/what should I be doing to get the driver to be active every time I boot up? Thanks.

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