BCM4312 desperate

redbook · 01-11-2008, 08:35 AM

Suse 10.3 compaq v6000 laptop bcm4312 network

has anybody out there managed to get this network card working, i have tried ndiswrapper (no joy). bcm43xx drivers with firmware download (still not joy) I get a blue light but no connection , mac address does not match card.

kilgoretrout · 01-11-2008, 05:29 PM

I have a Compaq Presario F700 with a built in bcm4311 wireless card that I finally got working but it was a real pain and I'm not even sure why it works. Like you, the bcm43xx drivers would make the blue on light come on, but no networks where seen IIRC. Then I tried ndiswrapper and that wouldn't work and the blue light wouldn't come on. Fooling around trial and error, I finally got it working by running this sequence after booting up:

# rmmod bcm43xx
# rmmod ndiswrapper
# modprobe ndiswrapper

Also, I had to add bcm43xx to /etc/modprobe.preload:

Code:

# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.
# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY
# for old kernel use /etc/modules

bcm43xx
nvram
amd64_agp
evdev

and /etc/modprobe.conf has neither bcm43xx or ndiswrapper. Unless modprobe.preload and modprobe.conf were configured this way, the above sequence would not work and ndiswrapper would not work at all unless bcm43xx was loaded early in the boot process and later removed per my above code.

It seems to be a timing problem of some sort and the sequence appears to work around that. If you can get this sequence to work, you can automate the whole thing by editing rc.local to run those commands at the end of the boot process.

redbook · 01-12-2008, 03:06 AM

Thanks for that unfortunately it did not work - for some strange reason the mac address does not match the card. I think this is the major problem.

Hangdog42 · 01-12-2008, 07:45 AM

I think you're going to have to provide a LOT more detail than just saying "it doesn't work". What commands are you entering and what are the results? Are there any entries in your log files from either ndiswrapper or bcm43xx? Do you have both loaded at the same time? What are your iwconfig outputs?

Basically we need more to go on.

redbook · 01-13-2008, 04:42 AM

Thanks,

I have had to put it all on hold for the moment due to time restraints, but rest assured I will not let it beat me. I will return to this in a couple of weeks when things quieten down.

Fire! · 01-17-2008, 01:27 PM

I had similar problems.

Read my post at: http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/in...howtopic=62511

(edit; you must use the XP driver supplied by the vendor of your laptop only!)