Broadcom BCM4313

[mark.soames]

I'm having serious problems with my wireless networking on 13.10. I've tried to fix it for hours and hours but to no avail. Previously, I would be connected for any period of time between 10 seconds and 4 or 5 hours before the connection dropped and I got the 'wireless is disabled by hardware switch' error. A recent upgrade made the situation even worse, so I embarked on an ill-fated quest to try and put ane end to it. Most recently, I've tried the solutions listed at http://askubuntu.com/questions/55868...reless-drivers and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2191126 and http://askubuntu.com/questions/31607...m4313-on-13-04 . Now, through my inane attempts to resolve the problem, my wireless card isn't being recognised at all.

Any help here would be enormously appreciated, especially in attempting to undo whatever damage I've done. As you can probably tell, I'm a novice at this.

EDIT: I've just seen the sticky on wireless issues,

Model is Samsung s3511.

$ lspci


00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

$ lsusb


Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0a5c:219c Broadcom Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0bb4:0ffe HTC (High Tech Computer Corp.) Desire HD (modem mode)
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 2232:1020  
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$ ifconfig


eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr e8:11:32:86:e9:73  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)


lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)


usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 82:39:2f:96:a9:e1  
          inet addr:192.168.42.114  Bcast:192.168.42.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::8039:2fff:fe96:a9e1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:182719 errors:7 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:7
          TX packets:106474 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:256298106 (256.2 MB)  TX bytes:14819315 (14.8 MB)

$ iwconfig


lo        no wireless extensions.


eth0      no wireless extensions.


usb0      no wireless extensions.

$ lsmod


Module                  Size  Used by
rndis_wlan             44355  0 
rndis_host             14087  1 rndis_wlan
cdc_ether              13967  1 rndis_host
usbnet                 37607  3 rndis_host,rndis_wlan,cdc_ether
cfg80211              401762  1 rndis_wlan
usb_storage            48294  0 
parport_pc             31981  0 
ppdev                  17391  0 
bnep                   18959  2 
rfcomm                 53664  12 
binfmt_misc            13140  1 
joydev                 17097  0 
intel_powerclamp       14239  0 
coretemp               13195  0 
samsung_laptop         14062  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     40402  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek    50315  1 
uvcvideo               71309  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc      13048  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13170  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         39125  1 uvcvideo
videodev              107508  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
snd_hda_intel          42658  8 
microcode              18894  0 
snd_hda_codec         164003  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13272  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                89488  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc         14230  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            25094  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                55383  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device         14137  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_timer              24447  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
psmouse                90642  0 
snd                    60790  26 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
serio_raw              13189  0 
mei_me                 13933  0 
intel_ips              18055  0 
btusb                  23443  0 
mei                    66411  1 mei_me
i915                  594442  5 
bluetooth             323656  22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
lpc_ich                16864  0 
soundcore              12600  1 snd
drm_kms_helper         46867  1 i915
drm                   242400  6 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13197  1 i915
video                  18777  2 i915,samsung_laptop
mac_hid                13037  0 
lp                     13299  0 
parport                40795  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
ahci                   25579  2 
libahci                26619  1 ahci
r8169                  61562  0 
mii                    13654  2 r8169,usbnet

$ dmesg


[   52.665649] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[   52.759112] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bb4, idProduct=0ff9
[   52.759121] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
[   52.759127] usb 2-1.2: Product: Android Phone
[   52.759132] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: HTC
[   52.759137] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: HT2ATW501607
[   53.116758] usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[   53.116830] scsi4 : usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0
[   53.116909] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[   54.115067] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     HTC      Android Phone    0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[   54.115524] scsi 4:0:0:1: Direct-Access     HTC      Android Phone    0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[   54.115991] scsi 4:0:0:2: CD-ROM            HTC      Android Phone    0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[   54.119127] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[   54.121299] sd 4:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[   54.126364] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[   54.127364] sr1: scsi-1 drive
[   54.127572] sr 4:0:0:2: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
[   54.127896] sr 4:0:0:2: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 5
[   54.130588] sd 4:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[   58.865590] usb 2-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 4
[   59.318845] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
[   59.416372] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bb4, idProduct=0ffe
[   59.416377] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
[   59.416380] usb 2-1.2: Product: Android Phone
[   59.416382] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: HTC
[   59.416384] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: HT2ATW501607
[   59.688158] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[   59.691068] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[   59.691073] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[   59.691075] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   59.691077] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   59.691079] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   59.691081] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   59.691082] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[   59.906701] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[   59.993016] rndis_host 2-1.2:1.0 usb0: register 'rndis_host' at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2, RNDIS device, 82:39:2f:96:a9:e1
[   59.993043] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_host
[   60.126659] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_wlan
[  458.900337] systemd-hostnamed[2983]: Warning: nss-myhostname is not installed. Changing the local hostname might make it unresolveable. Please install nss-myhostname!
[  499.492558] perf samples too long (2526 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 50000
[ 1619.975030] perf samples too long (5021 > 5000), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 25000

$ sudo lshw -C network


  *-network UNCLAIMED     
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:fc500000-fc503fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 06
       serial: e8:11:32:86:e9:73
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168e-3_0.0.4 03/27/12 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:40 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:fc900000-fc900fff memory:fca04000-fca07fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 4
       logical name: usb0
       serial: 82:39:2f:96:a9:e1
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device ip=192.168.42.114 link=yes multicast=yes

$ iwlist scan


lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.


eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.


usb0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

$ lsb_release -d


Description:	Ubuntu 13.10

$ uname -mr

$ uname -mr

That should be everything.


With many thanks in advance.

[jimbo6]

Sounds suspiciously like yet another Realtek wifi card issue. From my experience and reading on the topic, it appears that realtek cards are just poorly supported on Ubuntu, although they perform just about flawlessly on PCs when dual booting.

According to this site:
"Realtek wireless chipset

2.3. In case you have a Realtek wireless chipset that often loses connection and runs below its ordinary speed, that chipset probably runs on the buggy driver rtl8192cu. You caninstall an improved driver like this".
https://sites.google.com/site/easyli...oject/internet

I'm going through an issue which is yet to be resolved:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2212089

First take note of your specific Realtek chipset and then read these posts which have had some success:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2044532
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...6#post12926946
https://sites.google.com/site/easyli...ject/reserve-7
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2206392

This rebuild of the driver looks most promising, but failed to work for me:
https://github.com/FreedomBen/rtl8188ce-linux-driver

However, this last post pretty much sums it up:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2196909&page=2

Which in essence means two things:
- [post #11]: Wait for a stable version of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to come out (due to be release within a month, but advised to wait another four weeks to allow for the teething phase").
- [post #13]: Realtek wireless cards just aren't supported and are likely to encounter further problems in future. Ditch it and get another wireless card that is supported.

I know it's a rather disappointing result.

[varunendra]

Welcome to the forums Mark!

First of all, please always use 'Code' tags to post commands and their outputs. It preserves the formatting and makes the post clean, compact and more readable. Please follow the "Using Code Tags" link in my signature to see how.

Onto the problem -

Please open a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and try loading the driver manually -

sudo modprobe -v brcmsmac

If this makes it work, we'll need to find out why it isn't loading automatically. To help with that, please post the output of -

grep -R 'blacklist brcm' /etc/modprobe.d/

@ jimbo,

Your research about the Realtek issue and your desire to share it with others is really appreciable. However, the OP here has a Broadcom card, not a Realtek -

02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

So those suggestions you linked to don't apply here.

PS:
@ jimbo, I couldn't get enough time to review all the posts in your thread. Hopefully, I'd be able to steal some time and will be posting my suggestions, if any, in a short while from now.

[mark.soames]

@jimbo

Thanks for all your efforts to try and help resolve my issue, but as varunedra's said, it's the wrong card!

@ varunedra

That's amazing, the first command suddenly reloaded my card

sudo modprobe -v brcmsmac[sudo] password for mark: 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/net/mac80211/mac80211.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/drivers/bcma/bcma.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/brcm80211/brcmutil/brcmutil.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/lib/cordic.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/brcm80211/brcmsmac/brcmsmac.ko

The output of the second command is as follows:

~$ grep -R 'blacklist brcm' /etc/modprobe.d/
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf:blacklist brcm80211
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf:blacklist brcmfmac
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf:blacklist brcmsmac

Sorry about the code boxes in my first post by the way, they appeared fine when I was writing it, but apparently not. Hopefully these ones have worked ok.

Thanks again for your help.

[chili555]

Sounds suspiciously like yet another Realtek wifi card issue. From my experience and reading on the topic, it appears that realtek cards are just poorly supported on Ubuntu, although they perform just about flawlessly on PCs when dual booting.

And this has exactly what to contribute to a problem with his:

Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

???

[varunendra]

So far looks as suspected - a bad side-effect of your previous attempts to fix the issue. Usually it is easy to fix though. Please do -

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf

Reboot and see if the driver "brcmsmac" is loaded automatically -

lsmod | grep brcm

You should see "brcmsmac", along with its helping drivers in the above output.

If it doesn't load automatically, or if it loads but still there is some problem, please post back what it is, plus the following outputs-

lsmod
dmesg | egrep 'brcm|b43|wl'

Let's hope removing the blacklist file is all you need.

[varunendra]

And this has exactly what to contribute to a problem with his: ???

Hi Doc!

As I initially suspected, and as you might have also figured out already, jimbo most probably intended to post in this thread : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2206392 (he later has)

So a case of "Oops! Wrong thread!!"

[mark.soames]

@Varunedra

Yes that seems to have done it, amazing! Thank you so much!

lsmod | grep brcm produces the following:

~$ lsmod | grep brcmbrcmsmac              529716  0 
cordic                 12518  1 brcmsmac
brcmutil               15066  1 brcmsmac
mac80211              517444  2 b43,brcmsmac
cfg80211              401762  3 b43,brcmsmac,mac80211
bcma                   40966  3 b43,brcmsmac

So it looks like removing the blacklist file did it.

I can't thank you enough for helping me fix this. If any problems arise, I'll report back, but at the moment it looks like my problems are over. Happy days!

Thanks again Varunedra.

[varunendra]

Glad it worked so easily.

If it works now, I'm pretty sure it *should* keep working later. Just keep one thing in mind - DON't install the proprietary "STA" driver (wl) if recommended by "Additional Drivers" feature. That one would break the current driver and itself is not likely to work well.

Please mark the thread as [SOLVED] now that it is. If the problem returns, feel free to revert that prefix and post back the update.

[mark.soames]

Alas, my problems have returned.

I'm getting this again:

grep -R 'blacklist brcm' /etc/modprobe.d/
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf~:blacklist brcm80211
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf~:blacklist brcmfmac
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf~:blacklist brcmsmac

Thanks in advance.