12.04 live cd not loading because of b43 error

[lamaistres]

Hi. Tried a fresh install using the 12.04 live disc. In the end, I have a purple screen with the ubuntu logo and no CD activity. I tried all boot options (F6) with the same result. Therefore, I disabled quiet and splash from the boot option to see what was going on in the background.


I'm seeing a few lines of errors concerning b43, which I believe is the driver for my broadcom wifi chip. after the error, I have a bunch of lines that seem to deal with b43 and then I get, "panic occurred, switching back to text console". And that's as far as I can go.

Is there possibly a way of not loading the wifi driver while the live CD starts "Ubuntu without installing"?

Thanks.

I'm installing 12.04 on a Compaq Presario v2000 laptop. It's a few years old but never had any problem installing Ubuntu in the past.

[steftanguy]

Hello,

i had the same problem, but i've solved like this :
- Insert your device into your computer containing the installation ISO of Ubuntu (Whether CD, DVD, USB stick or whatever)
- position yourself to "Try Ubuntu without installing" or "Install Ubuntu" but DO NOT PRESS ENTER
- instead press F6 (or TAB for me), you should be able to write in a textbox.
- now go (in the textbox) more to the right that can, leave intact the existing text and write, appended to it (and being careful that after the two dashes there is a space), the string b43.blacklist=yes
- after that press Enter

Now it's ok for the installation, but after you must install the firmware to have the wifi : sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer (with an ethernet cable plugged-in)

[lamaistres]

steftanguy, Thanks for your help. Blacklisting the driver allowed me to boot into unity on the live CD. Tested my other hardware and everything seems to be working. So, now it's time to install 12.04. Hope everything goes well.

Thanks again.

[DemonSharkKisame]

Hello,

i had the same problem, but i've solved like this :
- Insert your device into your computer containing the installation ISO of Ubuntu (Whether CD, DVD, USB stick or whatever)
- position yourself to "Try Ubuntu without installing" or "Install Ubuntu" but DO NOT PRESS ENTER
- instead press F6 (or TAB for me), you should be able to write in a textbox.
- now go (in the textbox) more to the right that can, leave intact the existing text and write, appended to it (and being careful that after the two dashes there is a space), the string b43.blacklist=yes
- after that press Enter

Now it's ok for the installation, but after you must install the firmware to have the wifi : sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer (with an ethernet cable plugged-in)

Thank you! I am curious though: would blacklisting my wireless card carry over to an actual install or would it only persist for the live session? If it does carry over: how would I go about de-blacklisting it? If it doesn't carry over, I'm worried that I'd be left with an unbootable system since I don't know if Ubuntu would fail to boot on a real install like it does on live media...

[jadtech]

yes black list will im pretty sure translate to being black listed on install so make sure you have a cable to hard wire into the router to download the wireless drivers after ..

the info for that is all in the post you quoted

[DemonSharkKisame]

yes black list will im pretty sure translate to being black listed on install so make sure you have a cable to hard wire into the router to download the wireless drivers after ..

the info for that is all in the post you quoted

Mhm, I actually have the proper drivers and firmware files backed up on an external drive, so would simply installing the drivers/firmware make my card work or would I need to deblacklist the card first so it'll show up (I've noticed that blacklisting the b43 module will make the card just not show up at all)?