11.04 Broadcom STA Wireless drivers won't activate or uninstall

[tomasijeaux]

Thank you so much! I was following your guide for BCM4311 without internet connection and after reboot wifi works fine. bless you!

[superduperlinuxperson]

follow these instructions : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...Driver/bcm43xx

[fox-mulder]

bah

[fox-mulder]

meh

[MitchbSC]

Post #37 was the key for me as well as commenting out blacklist statements in 2 files in /etc/modprobe.d .

I have been fighting a Broadcom 4311 with Ubuntu 11.04 on a Dell Inspiron E1505 and a Dell Latitude D620. I just got the D620 working this afternoon.

Here are my notes from today:

Use only these two packages:

b43-fwcutter
firmware-b43-installer

Remove packages and disable Broadcom STA:

bcmwl-kernel-source
broadcom-sta-source and broadcom-sta-common
Synaptic Package Manager -> Additional Drivers -> Broadcom STA wireless driver (disable)

Follow post #37 in this thread and the steps on the link provided in post #37.

http://computerandu.wordpress.com/20...-ubuntu-11-04/

Paraphrasing post #37, "My solution involved:"

Removing bcmwl-kernel-source
Downloading the drivers (links are in that blog post) via wired connection
Installing with Ubuntu Software Center
Powering off my computer (not restarting)
Powering back on


The wirelless on the D620 still wouldn't activate. The end of the link mentioned commenting out blacklists. It seems a Broadcom STA file was left behind and was likely blacklisting the 4311 on my D620. So, in the /etc/modprobe.d directory, comment out all blacklist entries in all files for:

in blacklist.conf: bcm43xx
in broadcom-sta-common.conf: b43legacy
in broadcom-sta-common.conf: b43
in broadcom-sta-common.conf: ssb

The wireless on the D620 has survived rebooting. I need to reinstall Ubuntu 11.04 on the Inspiron E1505 and see if this process works on it. I had the E1505 hacked up and was at the end in a situation where I would have to enable/disable networking to get the operating system to recognize and enable wireless.

Thank you all for the most helpful thread.

[InSymmetry]

I just installed Ubuntu on a HP Pavilion and after reading many threads about the Broadcom STA driver I still can't get online wirelessly. After going to system>Admin>Additional drivers and activating the Broadcom STA wireless driver my computer no longer shows any wireless capability (before it would show wireless in gray). I am now following the thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1390979 to see if this will work.

Can anyone help with this? I would love to get my computer on wirelessly.

Thanks!

[chili555]

I just installed Ubuntu on a HP Pavilion and after reading many threads about the Broadcom STA driver I still can't get online wirelessly. After going to system>Admin>Additional drivers and activating the Broadcom STA wireless driver my computer no longer shows any wireless capability (before it would show wireless in gray). I am now following the thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1390979 to see if this will work.

Can anyone help with this? I would love to get my computer on wirelessly.

Thanks!

This thread is about worn out. Would you mind please posting your own new thread and include:

lspci -nn | grep 0280
lsmod | grep -e b43 -e wl

Leave a link here to your thread and I'll be right there.

[Chimaster345]

hi there guys and girls I would just like to clear up a couple of things. If you think that you need the b43 or the b43sta, these are two different mods/drivers the first thing that you want to do is type in

lspci -vnn | grep 14e4

this is what this code will do
ls stands for list
pci stands for pci cards in the computer
-vnn stands for find the model number
grep grep is a filter so it filters out the 14e4 thats why it is in a different color
14e4 is what grep (the filter)is looking for
so ls-->+<--pci=list pci cards
lspci -vnn= list pci cards with model number
lspci -vnn | = listpci cards with model number and stop
lspci -vnn | grep = list all pci cards with a model number and filter with grep
lspci -vnn | grep 14e4 = list all pci cards with model number and a filter with grep using 14e4 for the filter.


So what does this all mean well the b43fwcutter onlyworks for the model numbers
14e4:4307
14e4:4311
14e4:4312 IMPORTANT if you have this card you need the firmwareb43-lpphy-installer for your firmware
14e4:4318
14e4:4319
14e4:4320
14e4:5354



If you have model number
14e4:0576
14e4:4313
14e4:4315
14e4:4328
14e4:4329
14e4:432a
14e4:432b
14e4:432c
14e4:432d
14e4:4353
14e4:4357
14e4:4358
14e4:4359
14e4:435a
14e4:4727
14e4:a99d

then you are going to need the broadcom-sta-source + broadcom-sta-common

both the b43fwcutter and the b43sta use the firmware-b43-installer
unless noted

If you have the model number

14e4:4301
14e4:4306
14e4:4320
14e4:4324

Then you are going to need the b43-fwcutter with the firmware-b43legacy-installer

IMPORTANT all of these card also need the bcmwl-kerrnel-source

Ok now that we have found our card and its model number and we know what mod/driver and firmware we need. Its time to install all of it.
Important for these next steps you will need a internet connection using a cat5 cable(ethernet) or whatever as long as you are on line. If are dealing only with wireless see section installing b43fwcutter with out internet connection.

First before installing we need to remove anything that is there right now so open up synaptic package manager and type in bcm into the search bar then click on the green box's and mark for removal then press the apply button now reboot the computer
after rebooting start to install the things that you need by opening up synaptic package manger and type in bcm follow the chart above to install the correct mods/driver and firmware then reboot again is your wireless working.


If not lets do some diagnostics please open your terminal and type in

rfkill list

where rfstands for Radio frequency kill stands for umm... and list is to list all the Radio frequency
if there is a soft block or a hard block please do a

rfkill unblock all

if that wont work try

rfkill unblock wifi or rfkill unblock wlan

Now that we know that nothing is blocked lets look at your mods/drivers

lsmod | grep b43

this will ls=list-->+<--mod=mods/driver so ls+mod=list all mods | means stop and grep is the filter and b43 is what grep is looking for
do you see you mods listed it would be nice if some of the people with working wireless could post there lsmod + there model number of there card

If lsmod looks good lets move on to the firmware

dmesg | grep b43

so dmesg looks up what the linux kernel sees and grep is the filter IMPORTANT if you are useing the b43sta then you need top type in wl instead of b43

Are you geting any errors go re-install the firmware again this is the part that seems to be "the bug in the gar"

Installing b43fwcutter with out the internet connection

Ok so you have no internet connection on your Ubuntu box for what ever reason. but you need it. Well here is how to get it. These are the things that you are going to need.

1) a blank cd/dvd or a penn drive or external hard drive or some way to transfer files (phone?) whatever.

2) you are going to need another computer of some sorts to download your mods/firmware


Ok, now that you have thous two things lets move on.

download this file http://www.omattos.com/sites/default...all-fw.tar_.gz

Then transfer it over to your Ubuntu box

Now in your Ubuntu Box [computer] please make your way to your Home folder

Once you are at your home folder right click on your home folder and make a new folder and call it wireless

Now that you have made a new folder called wireless in your home directory. It is time to move the downloaded file into the new folder called wireless

Next we need to move that folder to the firmware directory to do this open your terminal and type in

sudo cp -r ~/wireless/* /lib/firmware/

Now lets double check to make sure the download made it to the firmware directory. Too do this type this into the terminal

ls /lib/firmware

Do you see it there ? Good if not it did not moved. Go back to the last step and try again. But if you do see it lets move on to the next step

Ok so now that the download is in the firmware dir we are going to have to go there. To go there open your terminal and type in.

cd /lib/firmware

Now that you have moved lets double check to make sure this next code tells us where we are in the computer file dir. This next code stands for "print working directory"

pwd

are you at /lib/firmware if so good if not go back one step

Now that we are in the firmware directory. We have to extract the download to do this type in

sudo -s

then enter your password then

tar -xzf b43-all-fw.tar_.gz

then

exit

Now it is time to reboot

sudo reboot

Do you have wireless now ? If not you did some thing wrong.
If you have some troubles please post here and some one will help you out


Well I hope that this clears some stuff up about the b43fwcutter and the b43sta and also the b43-legacy have fun with your wire less! Please don't forget if you have one of these cards and they are working please post your lsmod and dmesg with model number of the card thanks again also I would like to say that I am working on a how to install with out the internet for the b43sta but do not have the hardware for it yet I am working on it. give me a couple of days thanks again and happy wireless
Joseph

When I try to do tar -xzf b43-all-fw.tar_.gz it says it's not in the directory and a few other error messages.

[chili555]

When I try to do tar -xzf b43-all-fw.tar_.gz it says it's not in the directory and a few other error messages.

Back up to here and try again:

Now in your Ubuntu Box [computer] please make your way to your Home folder

Once you are at your home folder right click on your home folder and make a new folder and call it wireless

Now that you have made a new folder called wireless in your home directory. It is time to move the downloaded file into the new folder called wireless

Next we need to move that folder to the firmware directory to do this open your terminal and type in
Code:

sudo cp -r ~/wireless/* /lib/firmware/

Now lets double check to make sure the download made it to the firmware directory. Too do this type this into the terminal
Code:

ls /lib/firmware

Do you see it there ? Good if not it did not moved. Go back to the last step and try again. But if you do see it lets move on to the next step

Ok so now that the download is in the firmware dir we are going to have to go there. To go there open your terminal and type in.
Code:

cd /lib/firmware

Now that you have moved lets double check to make sure this next code tells us where we are in the computer file dir. This next code stands for "print working directory"
Code:

pwd

are you at /lib/firmware if so good if not go back one step

Now that we are in the firmware directory. We have to extract the download to do this type in
Code:

sudo -s

then enter your password then
Code:

tar -xzf b43-all-fw.tar_.gz

[Chimaster345]

could not turn the page so i posted sorry