Hello. I installed Slackware 12 on my laptop with a wifi card that is supported in the 2.6.24 kernel (b43 driver).

From the fresh install, I upgraded to -current and after that, I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.24.2, with all the drivers I need.

The module b43 loads fine, but no wireless device is present in ifconfig or iwconfig. I assume this has something to do with the rc scripts, but I can't figure it out.

./rc.inet1 start, restart, etc., doesn't do anything for the wireless, and ./rc.wireless start tells me it can only be started by rc.inet1.

A few days ago I tried Slackware 12 with a 2.6.24 kernel (not upgrading to -current), and also the b43 module loaded fine, and wlan0 was added automatically, I didn't have to do anything. So it's definitely something with the scripts, when upgrading to -current.

Any hints?? Thanks!

What card are you using, and what chipset, etc. does it have on it? Given that you're using the b43 module, I'm assuming it's a Broadcom of some sort; do you have a 4306? 4308? Also, what kind of machine (brand, processor, chipset) are you using it in?

Have you dealt with a Broadcom NIC before? At this point in history (2.6.23 kernels and up, more or less), it's (usually) a matter of running the appropriate firmware cutter (b43-fwcutter or bcm43xx-fwcutter), then loading the appropriate module (b43 or bcm43xx), and doing whatever network configuration is necessary on your distribution.

What are you seeing in dmesg, and in /var/log/messages or whatever the slackware equivalent of that is? Also, what does lspci (eg., "lspci -vv") show the card to be in the first place?

From the sound of it, you don't have the correct firmware in /usr/lib/firmware; the dmesg output is pretty blunt about what it's not able to find, etc.

I'd suggest reading this:
http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/user...devicefirmware
and this:
http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/?go=devices

Make sure your chip is supported first and see if you can figure out which of the three (b43, legacy, or bcm43xx) combinations of fwcutter, firmware, and driver you're going to need to use; at worst, you can use the process of elimination...

I would also keep these links handy:

http://sidulus.textdrive.com/bcmwl5sys.zip
http://bcm43xx.berlios.de
http://svit.epfl.ch/stuff/wl_apsta.o

FWIW I have the whole 9 packaged up (the firwmare, the cutters, etc.); go ahead and send me a "PM" if you want to.

- Larry

Well, thanks for the answer. The card is a broadcom 4311 rev 02. I know about the b43 driver, and the firmware.. as I said, I already tried the card with the same kernel on a fresh slack 12 install a few days ago, in the same laptop.. and it worked like a charm. I kept all the files I needed (firmware, etc.), followed the same instructions as before, but nothing happens this time..

lspci -v shows:

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Unknown device 1375
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at b8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information
Capabilities: [e8] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 1a-00-da-ff-ff-73-3d-4d
Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting

Nothing happens in dmesg when I load/unload the b43 module..

I really have no idea, because I tell you, I tried this with the same kernel, firmware, etc., a few days ago..

Actually, what I DO notice from lspci -v is that the IRQ 11 is already taken by the video card and an USB controller. I'm not sure about how these IRQ sharing thing works, anyway USB and video card are working fine.

Unless I'm very mistaken, a stock Slackware install would have been a 2.6.21 kernel, and I believe that had the bcm43xx driver, not the b43 driver. The reason this would be important is that the b43 driver seems to need different firmware, so if you just kept the firmware from the original install, it might not work with b43.

Yes, I meant to say a fresh Slackware 12 install plus a custom kernel, 2.6.24, compilated by myself.

What I mean is that the only thing that could have messed this up is the upgrade to -current, and not a kernel issue, but more likely an rc.d issue.

I will reinstall everything, being fresh installs I don't have any important data and it takes just a few minutes.. first I will install slackware 12 from the dvd, upgrade the kernel and if everything works, I will see then what to do. I'm not too much into upgrading to current, it's the first time I do it; I wonder if I can keep a custom kernel in the process..

SOLVED!!

I am really sorry for my stupidity. I was doing everything ok. The problem is that my card is "rev 02", and it needs a 2.6.24 special patch to work.. I did that a few days ago but I completely forgot about it now.

Thanks for the help anyway!

That's interesting; you wouldn't happen to have a link for that laying around, would you?

I'm glad to hear that your card is working (again).

- Larry

Sure, the patch is here:

http://linuxwireless.org/download/b4...4.2_for_4311_2

That is ONLY for the 4311 Rev 02 card.. which is the only one that needs patching anyway.