HOW TO: Configure wireless cards with Broadcom chipsets

[NUboon2Age]

Broadcom BCM4318 Airforce One 54g Rev 02 wireless...

I have the same wireless adapter as Canada Lee. I haven't experienced the issues that Canada Lee was talking about so I can't comment on that. But it was a bear for this Linux newbie to figure out how to install 'manually', via command line and editing files and so forth so I Just wanted to pass along that I got the basic functions working on my 10.04/Lucid Lynx system by taking the following all-GUI steps (step 0 is the only thing that is more involved):

0) You probably wouldn't be here if your wireless adapter was working out-of-the-box from an Ubuntu install. So you might need a proprietery Windows wireless driver and you can probably tell that by reading some of the discussions here and/or by looking at the charts and documentation at http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users
If you fall in this category, figure out which Windows driver your adapter needs.

1) Get the Windows .inf and .sys driver files you need for your adapter and put them somewhere logical. These are on the Windows support disks from the manufacturer of the computer, or you can find them on the web.

For me it is the bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys files. Today I found them in this zip file:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/note...3.100.46.0.zip

2) Reading these forums and the above mentioned website I learned that my adapter uses Broadcom b43 driver which requires firmware support, so I:
a) Run Synaptic Package Manager (System-Administration->Synaptic Package Manager) & get fwcutter, install
b) Run jockey (ie. System->Administration->Hardware Drivers) and confirm Broadcom fwcutter firmware is installed and activated, and if not, install/activate it.

3a) Run Synaptic to install ndisgtk if its not already installed.
3b) Run ndisgtk (ie System->Administration->Hardware Drivers->Windows Wireless Drivers) and 'Add' a driver by pointing it at the driver's .inf file (in my case the bcmwl5.inf).

4) Run Synaptic to install (or reinstall if its already there) modemmanager

5) Reboot, and voila! Wireless is working for me.

(I'm not sure exactly what magic configuration modemmanager does under the covers, but it works. ndisgtk takes care of configuring ndiswrapper and the blacklist items in the .conf files. )

[internazional]

Hi,

i've been my Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) card with fwcutter driver on ubuntu for quite a few years now, but i'm planning to do a revamp on my laptop, so figured it would be nice to try ndiswrapper driver, since fw-cutter driver keeps failing me with random disconnects, i've read about better wifi range while using ndiswrapper as well.

I follow the instructions and get my driver listed after ndiswrapper -l command:

WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4318) present (alternate driver: ssb)

The problem is that it still won't appear in my Networks panel, since wlan0 isn't listed by iwconfig command:

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 was listed in iwconfig before blacklisting all the b43, b43legacy, ssb drivers.
Have spent a few days browsing for the answer, but no clues so far :/

[NUboon2Age]

Hi,

I follow the instructions and get my driver listed after ndiswrapper -l command:

Quote:

WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:431 present (alternate driver: ssb

)

I don't think the warning is at all important (a red herring). You can resolve it by renaming the ndiswrapper file to ndiswrapper.conf .

The problem is that it still won't appear in my Networks panel, since wlan0 isn't listed by iwconfig command:

wlan0 was listed in iwconfig before blacklisting all the b43, b43legacy, ssb drivers.
Have spent a few days browsing for the answer, but no clues so far :/

Also it might be cleaner to use ndisgtk (aka Windows Wireless Driver) to do the driver installation for you. You just start it and point to the bcmwl5.inf file. It will handle all the blacklising & modprobe stuff cleanly.

Also it helped me to install/reinstall modemmanager and then reboot. I don't know why, but it worked. See my post right above yours for my full run down.

[internazional]

Hi,

I've tried your trial above earlier already, it makes no difference: wireless won't appear neither in gnome panel, neither in iwconfig list.
Anyway, i prefer performing tasks in terminal myself vs ndisgtk, since then i know what exactly is happening.

[NUboon2Age]

Hi,

I've tried your trial above earlier already, it makes no difference: wireless won't appear neither in gnome panel, neither in iwconfig list.
Anyway, i prefer performing tasks in terminal myself vs ndisgtk, since then i know what exactly is happening.

Did you do the whole thing? Including reinstalling modemmanager and rebooting? That step was needed for me too.

Which driver (ie. which .inf file) are you using?

wlan0 was listed in iwconfig before blacklisting all the b43, b43legacy, ssb drivers.

If you have everything blacklisted, maybe the correct driver is blacklisted too, preventing it from being used by modprobe and therefore not being visible gnome panel, etc.

This is why I think its smart to use ndisgtk to make sure the blacklisted drivers are correct (ie. that the one you're trying to use isn't blacklisted and the one's you're not using are). Yes, you could do it manually, but you'll need to know exactly which ones to blacklist and unblacklist.

If you wanted to learn what's ndisgtk does in this regard you might do a before and after look at the blacklist items. And do a modprobe before and after

Reading your earlier note I'm wondering if you're trying to make it work with only ndiswrapper and w/o fwcutter at all (which would imply that you hadn't used jockey -- aka Hardware Drivers) to install the firmware. Its likely that won't work since the firmware that fwcutter makes available is likely required in order to make any driver work. So I'd start there.

Also, I know it won't appeal to your desire to know exactly what's happening, but there is another program worth experimenting with that handles parts of this process called wifix (you can find it at Sourceforge) that others have recommended.

[internazional]

Yes, i followed all of your insturctions.

I tried unblacklisting the drivers in question and using ndisgtk to install both bcmwl5 / bcmwl5a drivers. wlan0 gets listed by iwconfig command, but there are no wireless networks shown to connect to. I think it is simply because unblacklisting allowed b43 and b43legacy drivers loaded to modprobe again

modprobe -l | grep "b43"
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/b43/b43.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/b43legacy/b43legacy.ko

But obviously this is wrong, since both of the drivers don't suit me, since both aren't to be used with ndiswrapper. In that perspective, i think ndisgtk is of no use at all, since i think it does no blacklisting at all.

I also tried wifix, but it didn't help me.

Concerning of what i am trying to achieve:
as i said earlier on, i am able to make my broadcom wifi function by installing restricted drivers from the System -> Admin. -> Hardware drivers, which installs fwcutter - but the driver is faulty, does random disconnects, which requires me to restart my router, so i'm trying to make my wifi work with the help of ndiswrapper and bcmwl5 driver.

[Canada Lee]

This is an update about the random disconnects, in case this can benefit anyone else.

I thought it might have been the network manager periodically scanning to see what available wifi is in the area, and it randomly hanging...like when it sends a command to scan for avail wifi, it hangs, or maybe waiting for a response, it waits forever.

But I doubt that is the issue.

So far since I diagnosed my problem and solved it by playing a MP3 forever using rhythmnbox, my prob has stayed in the closet and has never shown its face. So thats a few months of it being suppressed.

I recently connected to my net using the ethernet cable, and turned off my wifi radio, as well as right clicking on Network Manager and turning off Enable Wireless.

Being as I was using ethernet, and all wireless was off, I thought, HEY I should be able to QUIT rhythmnbox now...I dont need to keep the wifi AWAKE...

Surely enough, minutes later everything was sleeping...the little led light by the ethernet cable was lit solid...and the display was showing a still image of what was displayed last when it WAS awake. Swiped my finger cross the touchpad...and immediately the display updated...this confirmed my suspicion that it was sleeping...then the ethernet light starts flashing...I watch the display and all the speed counters are dropping to ZERO...then a couple of minutes it starts making connections and the speed counters start increasing...

So, this random disconnects of mine, due to some kind of inactivity timer is not the BROADCOM driver...I thought the broadcom driver might have been written to be power saving or something...But when I right click on Network Manager and click on Connection Information, it shows the ETH0 connector using a different driver, not a broadcom one...

So this prob is either some kinda power savings mode, or inactivity for all communications. Not just broadcom, not just wifi... A little more system wide than that.

In my Ubuntu, I have turned off all forms of power savings I can find...spin down drives...turn of monitor...suspend etc etc.

And being a laptop, it may be a part of the BIOS. I have flashed the BIOS with the latest available from the Acer website. And going into the BIOS settings, there are no ACPI or power savings settings anywhere. So they do not allow you to change them.

Playing an MP3 repeatedly keeps the system awake when using the ethernet as well...so I am still forced to play a MP3 to solve my prob whether I use wireless or wired.

Ubuntu may not even have any control over this problem if its embedded inside the BIOS itself.

Hope this helps someone.