Broadcom B43 high latency and Packet loss

[johnehowe]

I am still having issues with my Broadcom B43 (4311) wireless card despite doing all of the obvious upgrades to the b43-fwcutter driver and firmware. It is working but I am still getting high latency times (Avg 14ms) and 2+% packet loss. If I use an PCMCIA NetGear wg511 card then all is well. Anyone have any ideas for improving this?

[Ayuthia]

I am still having issues with my Broadcom B43 (4311) wireless card despite doing all of the obvious upgrades to the b43-fwcutter driver and firmware. It is working but I am still getting high latency times (Avg 14ms) and 2+% packet loss. If I use an PCMCIA NetGear wg511 card then all is well. Anyone have any ideas for improving this?

Which revision of the 4311 card do you have (lspci -nn)? Also which kernel are you using (uname -r)?

You might even try the wl driver (Broadcom STA) if you have no issues with using a prorietary driver.

[johnehowe]

Sorry, I did not include

Rev 2

2.6.24-21-generic


01:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver [14e4:4319] (rev 02)

[Ayuthia]

Sorry, I did not include

Rev 2

2.6.24-21-generic


01:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver [14e4:4319] (rev 02)

You might try Intrepid. The 2.6.27 kernel uses newer firmware and has some improvements in signal and transmission.

14e4:4319? That is a new one for me! If it is really a 14e4:4319, it might not work with the wl driver. I don't recall seeing that number anywhere.

[johnehowe]

I would prefer not to use a proprietary driver but if it fixes the problem then we have to do what it takes, right! Can you point me in the right direction for the wl driver (Broadcom STA) that you reference.

[Ayuthia]

It should be in System->Administration->Hardware Drivers. Just select the Broadcom STA option. If it is not there, you might check and see if the module is already there:

sudo updatedb
locate wl.ko

It should be in /lib/modules/2.6.24-21-generic/volatile if I recall correctly.

[johnehowe]

It should be in System->Administration->Hardware Drivers. Just select the Broadcom STA option. If it is not there, you might check and see if the module is already there:

sudo updatedb
locate wl.ko

It should be in /lib/modules/2.6.24-21-generic/volatile if I recall correctly.

When I ran the above commands the db is updated but the wl.ko appeared to do nothing. Looking in Hardware Drivers the only driver listed is the B43 that I am currently using that is having issues. Any further assistance would be appreciated. I am so close to getting the Broadcom to work correctly.

[Ayuthia]

When I ran the above commands the db is updated but the wl.ko appeared to do nothing. Looking in Hardware Drivers the only driver listed is the B43 that I am currently using that is having issues. Any further assistance would be appreciated. I am so close to getting the Broadcom to work correctly.

Unfortunately, my child has overtaken my laptop that has Intrepid and an updated Hardy so I cannot see what the next steps should be exactly. I think that there is a file in /etc/init.d called linux-restricted-modules. You might try to see if you can start it:

sudo /etc/init.d/linux-restricted-modules restart

That might bring it up for you. If not, there is a way where you can compile the drivers yourself:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=896713

[johnehowe]

I am on the right path with your help. I was able to get the Broadcom working great once prior to a reboot. I was able to get it to use the BCM43xx instead of the newer B43 in Synaptics. However, I can not get it to work again. It keeps wanting to use the B43 in Hardware Drivers. How can I clear the B43 out of Hardware Drivers and get it to enable the older 43xx. Each time that I enable in Hardware drivers it is installing the B43 instead of using the BCM43xx that I installed in Synaptics.

[Ayuthia]

I am on the right path with your help. I was able to get the Broadcom working great once prior to a reboot. I was able to get it to use the BCM43xx instead of the newer B43 in Synaptics. However, I can not get it to work again. It keeps wanting to use the B43 in Hardware Drivers. How can I clear the B43 out of Hardware Drivers and get it to enable the older 43xx. Each time that I enable in Hardware drivers it is installing the B43 instead of using the BCM43xx that I installed in Synaptics.

You will need to blacklist the b43 driver:

echo blacklist b43 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo update-initramfs -u

You will also need to check and see if you have the b44 module. It is the Broadcom 44xx series of the wired ethernet card. If you do, you might need a workaround to avoid having the ssb module interfere with your bcm43xx driver.

I did not blacklist the ssb module in hopes that the b43 module being blacklisted will prevent the need of the ssb module loading. My understanding is that only the b43 and b44 modules load the ssb module.