Hello,

I am having a problem with the linux broadcom driver for the BCM4312.

uname -r :
2.6.27.7

I'm running Slackware on an HP Mini-Note 2133.

I can use the Makefile to build the kernel module (wl.ko), but when I, insmod wl.ko, I get the following error;

error inserting 'wl.ko': -1 Invalid module format

Can anyone tell me what this means and how I can remedy it?

Many thanks,
James

A couple of questions:

- Is this a full install of Slackware (and I'm assuming it is 12.2)
- Have you messed with the kernel in any way (and are you using hugesmp or something else)?
- Did you follow Broadcom's instructions for compiling this? You don't simply run make.
- Did you run depmod -a after you compiled the module?

I'm using that driver with that kernel on my Dell Mini, and as long as I followed the Broadcom instructions, it went without a hitch.

- It is a full install of 12.2, finished yesterday. It's the first time I've installed slackware but I think everything went fine.
- I don't think I've done anything differently that could mess with the kernel. Just followed te installation guide.
- I used Broadcoms instructions.
- I haven't ran depmod. In what way should it be used?

Thanks.

As root, run depmod -a which will update the kernel modules map. With luck, that should take care of the problem. If it still persists, it would be a good idea to first clean the Broadcom driver directory and then recompile the driver. I know the make command they use to compile this is kind of long and (at least with my typing) subject to typos. One common mistake to look for, particularly if you're new to the command line, is to substituting an apostrophe( ' ) for a backtick ( ` ). They are NOT the same thing and also might lead to this situation since the Broadcom compile command uses a backtick.

Thanks for your help, unfortunately this doesn't seem to have any effect :/ I suppose I must be doing something fundamentaly wrong. It's not my typing, as I have been using a backtick.
One thing to note, when the module is compiling, I recieve the warning :
"modpost: missing MODULE_LICENSE() in ./wl.o"
I don't know if that could cause any problem?

As long as that is a warning and not an error, things should be fine. In general, warnings don't affect the outcome of compiles.

I've been doing a little googling, and the only consistent reason for the "invalid format" error is that they grabbed the wrong package. You absolutely need the 32 bit driver for Slackware, so if you accidentally grabbed the 64 bit one, that might cause this. I would completely remove your existing driver download and get a fresh one just in case you originally got the 64 bit package.

I'll give it a go. Pretty sure I downloaded the correct one. I used to have Arch Linux on this laptop and the same driver seemed to work. Will let you know what happens. Thanks for your help.

[EDIT]
Just checked the filename and it's hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5_10_27_14.tar.gz

So I'm guessing it wasn't that I downloaded the wrong one. Shall try re-downloading anyway...

[EDIT2]
Re-downloaded, followed broadcom instructions to the letter, recieved same error when trying to insmod.
Would it be worth trying ndiswrapper and using the windows driver? I would have tried already but I can't seem to find it...

Does anyone have any more ideas?

Do you mean you can't find ndiswrapper or the windows driver? For ndiswrapper, you might check slackbuilds.org, they have a build script and link to the source code. For the Windows driver, have a look in the HP website or even the Broadcom website. I suspect that HP has it somewhere.

Your wl predicament is really weird. If you want to pursue this further, I would try to insert the module and then go looking through your log files (/var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages, output of the dmesg command) and see if there is any additional information on why it is failing to load.

Sorry I didn't think of this earlier, but I think I know what might be wrong. Try compiling the Broadcom driver like this:

Note those are backticks around the uname -r command. If I remember correctly, a default install of Slackware has a couple of directories in /lib/modules and if you're pointing to the wrong one when you compile, that would cause an error. By evaluating uname -r as part of the compile command, that should guarantee that you compile against the right thing.

I can't find the windows driver. Weird, I would have thougt so too, but can't find links to it anywhere.

I'll check the logs and let you know.

Nice idea, unfortunately I had already thought of it :P And I've also tried the other directory in /lib/modules.

Thanks a lot for your patience, I hope we can get this sorted.