For some reason I am still not being able to connect to my wireless network.
[root@localhost ~]# ls /lib/firmware
b43 ipw-2.4-boot.fw iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
ipw2100-1.3.fw ipw-2.4-bss.fw iwlwifi-3945.ucode
ipw2100-1.3-i.fw ipw-2.4-bss_ucode.fw LICENSE.ipw2100
ipw2100-1.3-p.fw ipw-2.4-ibss.fw LICENSE.ipw2200
ipw2200-bss.fw ipw-2.4-ibss_ucode.fw zd1211
ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw-2.4-sniffer.fw
ipw2200-sniffer.fw ipw-2.4-sniffer_ucode.fw

[root@localhost ~]# b43-fwcutter -l
b43-fwcutter version 008

Extracting firmware is possible from these binary driver files:

<driver> <filename> <microcode> <MD5 checksum>

b43legacy wl_apsta.o 295.14 e08665c5c5b66beb9c3b2dd54aa80cb3
b43 wl_apsta.o 351.126 9207bc565c2fc9fa1591f6c7911d3fc0
b43 wl_apsta_mimo.o 351.126 722e2e0d8cc04b8f118bb5afe6829ff9
b43 wl_ap.o 410.2160 1e4763b4cb8cfbaae43e5c6d3d6b2ae7

What Am I missing...do I have to do something to ifcfg wlan0...I have done modprobe b43. What about modprobe.d...? Do I have to do something to my system-config?...?????????? If I try using wireless assistant...it gives me a message saying no wireless device found..close.!!

/tmp/b43-fwcutter-008
/tmp/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0 these files are here???

# nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=00:1B:24:6D:C8:27
IPV6_AUTOCONF=yes
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet.....................Here is a copy of what my ethernet looks like. All there is in devices and profiles is eth0...which is the ethernet connection that I am using right now. Do I need to configure a wireless (wlan0) file...Or is this supposed to be done for me???
I noticed that my /etc/modprobe.d file does not have an alias. It is "modprobe.d," and not modprobe...???

Offline

Compaq Presario V6107AU running Fedora 7 with a Broadcom wireless chipset.
Kernel: 2.6.22.7-85.fc7 x86_64

/var/log/messages shows this:

Sep 23 19:31:34 c211-30-78-254 firmware_helper[4763]: Loading of
/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw for b43 driver failed: No such
file or directory
Sep 23 19:31:35 c211-30-78-254 kernel: b43-phy0 ERROR: Microcode
"bcm43xx_microcode5.fw" not available or load failed.
Sep 23 19:31:35 c211-30-78-254 kernel: b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and
download the correct firmware (version 4)
Sep 23 19:31:37 c211-30-78-254 NetworkManager: <WARN>
nm_device_802_11_wireless_scan(): could not trigger wireless scan on
device eth1: Network is down
Sep 23 19:33:37 c211-30-78-254 kernel: b43-phy0 ERROR: Microcode
"bcm43xx_microcode5.fw" not available or load failed.
Sep 23 19:33:37 c211-30-78-254 kernel: b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and
download the correct firmware (version 4)

So it loaded the b43 driver and was looking for
/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw
It tells me to get the firmware from
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware
... which then says to download
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...0.53.0.tar.bz2
... which when extracted has a wl_apsta.o
... which when extracted with b43-fwcutter ( as per instructions in
the link above ) does NOT produce a file called
/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw, as shown below:


# b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/ broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta.o
This file is recognised as:
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 351.126
MD5 : 9207bc565c2fc9fa1591f6c7911d3fc0
Extracting b43/ucode4.fw
Extracting b43/ucode5.fw
Extracting b43/ucode11.fw
Extracting b43/ucode13.fw
Extracting b43/pcm4.fw
Extracting b43/pcm5.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0initvals4.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0bsinitvals4.fw
Extracting b43/a0g0initvals4.fw
Extracting b43/a0g0bsinitvals4.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
Extracting b43/a0g0initvals5.fw
Extracting b43/a0g1initvals5.fw
Extracting b43/a0g0bsinitvals5.fw
Extracting b43/a0g1bsinitvals5.fw
Extracting b43/lp0initvals13.fw
Extracting b43/lp0bsinitvals13.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0initvals13.fw
Extracting b43/b0g0bsinitvals13.fw
Extracting b43/a0g1initvals13.fw
Extracting b43/a0g1bsinitvals13.fw

So I am confused about the instructions from the website.
Instead, I downloaded the XP drivers from Compaq / HP and extracted
the firmware files instead using bcm43xx-fwcutter ( instead of
b43-fwcutter )
.... which produced the file that the b43 driver was looking for (
/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw ) and other firmware files.

So why was the b43 driver looking for a firmware file that cannot be
produced by b43-fwcutter ( but produced by bcm43xx-fwcutter ) ?
Does this mean I am using a v3 firmware ? ... but I though b43 driver
is only for v4 firmware ?

So I am confused as per above...

--I found this file as well.

Have you actually read the b43 site I linked to earlier? You can't use the wl_apsta.o file as the source for firmware for b43. That will only work for bcm43xx, which isn't on FC7.

This is from your error messages:
So until you get the proper firmware for the driver installed, you're not going to get anywhere.

First off that quote up there you are trying to reference I don't know where that is trying to lead to...It does not provide any usefulness at all. As far as for version 4 firmware:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr..............and
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2..........-->> the website says this is the version 4 firmware. So there is a little bit of confusion cause the version 4 firmware is the wl.apsta.o firmware as per the b43 website. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

OK, the b43 site is here. The links to the files for version 4 firmware are near the bottom.

OK...If you are referring to the B43 version 4 firmware. That tar contains the file wl.apsta.o.......................
If this is not the file that I need...and obviously cause I have no wireless......Then I need some kind of website reference to where I can get the proper firmware. Cause everything else that has been linked or offered as advice has been a dead end.

Well, that is supposedly the official site for b43, so if you extract firmware from the file that they suggest, I would think it would work. It might be a different version of wl_apsta.o. At any rate, the errors posted suggested that what you have installed now isn't right, so you may as well give this a try. Beyond this, the only advice I can give is to tell you to dump FC7 and try a less annoying distro.