HOWTO: Broadcom 4318 Wireless Cards

[compwiz18]

DasGoat:

Back again. Here is my situation a bit more accurately....the kernel I installed originall was the one from the PC disk vice the 64-bit PC. Apparently I am working on 32-bit ubuntu, I am using an AMD Turion 64 processor--however the 64-bit live CD would not work when I tried it. I
the latest software updates for the 32-bit package. I loaded NDISWrapper the way your page instructs. lsmod shows that bcm43xx is not loaded and ndiswrapper is loaded.

lahartm@JOSEPH:~/Desktop$ ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
bcmwl5 driver present, hardware present

toolbelt@JOSEPH:~/Desktop$ iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"Kings"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:12:17:CE:96:7C
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Power Managementff
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-39 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

toolbelt@JOSEPH:~/Desktop$ iwlist eth1 scan
retrieved ell 04 - Address: 00:12:17:CE:96:7C
ESSID:"Kings"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality:0/100 Signal level:-41 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0


toolbelt@JOSEPH:~/Desktop$ sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.210
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.254


iface eth1 inet static
wireless-essid Kings
wireless-key open <hexdec key here>
address 192.168.1.111
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.254

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcp

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

auto eth1

auto eth0


My network monitor shows packets sent, but not received. I tried deactivating my wired network, however doesnt change the situation. There have been multiple restarts of the system in my troublshooting process. My gut says I am really close to having this working. Any suggestions?

Instead of setting your encyption to open, try something else...

If you need to know how to do this, just ask

[compwiz18]

I'm confused (as normal) but I thought compwiz was working on anew script? Yet the date on the first post is still from July. has it been updated?

I'm dubious, since I totally wacked my install running the old install (yeah, the scrip is probably changed). I just want to be sure the script has been updated.

BTW, a funny think happened on the way. Edgy seems to find my wireless card, assigns the net work id and key (I still have to tell it "open") and enable the card, but the light never turns on. I want to try nbound's instructions, but I am hesitant.

As an aside, does this work with Kubuntu as well?

The trick is to look at the modified date, not the post date
(modified date is at the end of the post). And yes, I posted the new script.

[compwiz18]

Ok, its working--
Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft, 64 bit, compaq presario v5000 laptop, bcm4318.
Aparrently the broadcomm native (bcm43xx) works under this release with firmware cut from

wl_apsta.o

this is what I did:

got fwcutter




cut the firmware from wl_apsta.o


that spit out something like


loaded the bcm module


ran iwconfig


that spits out something like


brought up my wireless device (yours could be different)


ran ifconfig


which gave me the following info


trying to scan worked!



so i connected to the interet and started this post:


if you are following this, don't forget to


add the line


and remove or put a # in front of the line

@aroswald1977: Can you run uname -a for me, please? I'm trying to get your method to work, but not having a whole lot of luck...

[bourne-]

i have just finished the script (it is a attachment to this post). Use it like so:

sudo ./install-ndiswrapper -i
./install-ndiswrapper --help #give more usage infomation

Although the script is not tested it follows EXACTLY what i did when installing it manually in edgy RC. Because shell has been acting very strange in edgy i am also going to post how to do it manually:

Step 1: install ndiswrapper 1.8

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.8

Step 2: install the windows drivers

#go to the directory that contains bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys
sudo ndiswrapper -i bmcwl5.inf

Step 3:

sudo echo "# does not work with Broadcom 4318 wireless cards" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo "blacklist bcm43xx" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo "ndiswrapper" >> /etc/modules
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

Now reboot for the changes to be in effect

sudo shutdown -r now

EDIT: Fixed a little typo in both the manual how-to and script

Where can I get the bcmw15.sys and .inf files from?

[rekahsoft]

Where can I get the bcmw15.sys and .inf files from?

they are located on the front with the script/s in a single tar.gz archive...In the archive you download from the front page (of this thread by the way) there is another tar.gz the windows drivers (bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys) are within.

[blackest_knight]

Take a look here and download the attachment.
instant broadcom 4318 wireless
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...&postcount=585

[HeresJohnny]

Sorry if this is already answered. I tried looking for it and was unsuccessful. I did a clean install of 6.10, and it installed the 2.6.17-10 kernel. Your script requires use of the 2.6.17-7 kernel. Is there a way to resolve this difficulty?

Btw, I used this script to successfully get wireless working in Dapper, and I really hope it will work in Edgy, b/c I just got my main complaint with Ubuntu (lack of support for CJK input methods) fixed in Edgy, and now I'll be very happy if I can fix this once again. Thanks, compwiz18, you da man.

[compwiz18]

Sorry if this is already answered. I tried looking for it and was unsuccessful. I did a clean install of 6.10, and it installed the 2.6.17-10 kernel. Your script requires use of the 2.6.17-7 kernel. Is there a way to resolve this difficulty?

Btw, I used this script to successfully get wireless working in Dapper, and I really hope it will work in Edgy, b/c I just got my main complaint with Ubuntu (lack of support for CJK input methods) fixed in Edgy, and now I'll be very happy if I can fix this once again. Thanks, compwiz18, you da man.

Try your hand at kernel compiling....that is the only suggestion I have...2.6.17-10-generic just doesn't work, and I have no idea why.

Follow these steps: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217657
and I hope you have a fast internet connection...the kernel is rather large.

If you have an AMD K8 processor (this includes things like AMD Turions, etc), you can download the kernel from my server, compiled for Edgy 64, and your wireless card will work with it, and then there is no need to compile it.

Thanks to birdman3131 for providing some temporary hosting for the kernels at http://linux.punkforjesus.com/kernel/index.htm.

Follow the link. Download. Reboot, and select the new kernel in GRUB (look for 2.6.18.5)

If need be, reinstall usplash, should fix the splash screen problem, if you have one.

[Toolbelt]

Instead of setting your encyption to open, try something else...

If you need to know how to do this, just ask

Das Goat....good news, I got it to work without encryption, bad news, won't work with WEP. I have not tried other types, and I do not quite know how to do that, although I think it ivolves editing the /etc/network/interfaces file. I am working with a Linksys G Broadband 4-port router.

I spent some time reading several dozen of these posts. I have a Drapper 32-bit install on this dv8000, AMD64 Turion and the rather infamous bcm4318 wireless...I am wondering if I should go to Ubuntu Edgy...folks appear to be mroe successful in getting that to work than Drapper, at least judging by the posts. I would like to know if I should upgrade my Ubuntu version to Edgy. I don't have the time to commit to t/s this issue, but I am stuck with it.

[bourne-]

i have just finished the script (it is a attachment to this post). Use it like so:

sudo ./install-ndiswrapper -i
./install-ndiswrapper --help #give more usage infomation

Although the script is not tested it follows EXACTLY what i did when installing it manually in edgy RC. Because shell has been acting very strange in edgy i am also going to post how to do it manually:

Step 1: install ndiswrapper 1.8

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.8

Step 2: install the windows drivers

#go to the directory that contains bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys
sudo ndiswrapper -i bmcwl5.inf

Step 3:

sudo echo "# does not work with Broadcom 4318 wireless cards" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo "blacklist bcm43xx" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo "ndiswrapper" >> /etc/modules
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

Now reboot for the changes to be in effect

sudo shutdown -r now

EDIT: Fixed a little typo in both the manual how-to and script

Ok well I downloaded the files needed, I got the .inf and .sys file from the first page of this post. I then downloaded the file listed at the bottom of rekahsofts post. When I tried the first step of your tutorial it says:
"E: couldn't find package ndiswrapper-common"
So am I missing ndiswrapper file itself?
K so I went ahead and downloaded ndiswrapper. file name is ndiswrapper-1.8.tar.gz. So how do I go about installing it?