Hi All,
I have tried to install in my notebook (AMD64) this broadcom BCM4318 wireless card in a Fedora FC8. I have followed some suggestions in how to do that but even with those information, my installation seems to be failed.
I did some steps (see bellow) and I would appreciate if someone else that has seem similar behavior or problem could give me some tips.
When I try to start my card I am getting this:

[root@localhost firmware]# ifup wlan0
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0:0 ; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0:0.

Thanks in advance,
Rgds

marcos


0) Some info about my broadcom card:

# lspci -vv

03:07.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Gateway 7510GX
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 64
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 22
Region 0: Memory at c0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]

[root@localhost firmware]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption keyff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

virbr0 no wireless extensions.

[root@localhost firmware]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:03:25:33:08:F8
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:18

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:6631 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6631 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:4341584 (4.1 MiB) TX bytes:4341584 (4.1 MiB)

virbr0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet addr:192.168.122.1 Bcast:192.168.122.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::200:ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:6397 (6.2 KiB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:C0:A8:A9:FD:58
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-C0-A8-A9-FD-58-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)


1) Checking whether the driver is installed:

[root@localhost firmware]# ndiswrapper -l
[root@localhost firmware]#
[root@localhost firmware]#
[root@localhost firmware]#


2) List of broadcom files that was supplied by Gateway (AMD64) for my notebook:

[marcos@localhost wireless]$ cd bcm40100/
[marcos@localhost bcm40100]$ ls
amd64 Bcmnpf64.sys bcmwlhlp.chm bcmwltry.exe launcher.ini ReleaseNotes.html wltrynt.dll
atl71.dll BCM_REL_4_100_15_5_WHQL.exe bcmwliss.dll bcmwlu00.exe layout.bin setup.exe wltrysvc.exe
bcm1xsup.dll bcmwl564.sys bcmwlnpf.sys data1.cab mfc71.dll Setup.ini
bcm43xx64.cat bcmwl5.inf bcmwlpkt.dll data1.hdr msvcp71.dll setup.inx
bcm43xx.cat bcmwl5.sys bcmwls32.exe data2.cab msvcr71.dll Setup.iss
BCMLogo.gif bcmwlcpl.cpl bcmwls64.exe ikernel.ex_ preflib.dll WLBCGCBPRO731.DLL
BCMLogon.dll bcmwlhlp.cab bcmwls.ini is.exe readme.txt wltray.exe

I am going to use bcmwl5.inf bcmwl5.sys (I suppose that they are for 64 bits).

3) Doing the installation:

[root@localhost firmware]#
[root@localhost firmware]# ndiswrapper -i /home/marcos/wireless/bcm40100/bcmwl5.inf
installing bcmwl5 ...
[root@localhost firmware]#

4) Looked at ndiswrapper directory to check if the files were copied to that place:

[marcos@localhost ~]$ cd /etc/ndiswrapper/
[marcos@localhost ndiswrapper]$ ls
bcmwl5
[marcos@localhost ndiswrapper]$ cd bcmwl5/
[marcos@localhost bcmwl5]$ ls
14E4:4303.5.conf 14E4:4312.5.conf 14E4:4319.5.conf 14E4:4320.5.conf 14E4:4324.5.conf 14E4:4329.5.conf bcmwl564.sys
14E4:4311.5.conf 14E4:4318.5.conf 14E4:431A.5.conf 14E4:4321.5.conf 14E4:4328.5.conf 14E4:432A.5.conf bcmwl5.inf
[marcos@localhost bcmwl5]$

5) Viewing driver installation status;

[root@localhost firmware]#
[root@localhost firmware]# ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4318) present (alternate driver: ssb)
[root@localhost firmware]#

Question: Does anybody knows what is this "alternate driver: ssb"??

6) CHecking my alias:

[root@localhost firmware]# ndiswrapper -m
module configuration already contains alias directive
module configuration already contains alias directive
[root@localhost firmware]#

7) modprobe.conf is:

[marcos@localhost bcm40100]$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf
alias eth0 sky2
alias scsi_hostadapter libata
alias scsi_hostadapter1 pata_atiixp
alias snd-card-0 snd-atiixp
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-atiixp index=0

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper


8) blacklist is:

[marcos@localhost bcm40100]$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/
...
...
# ISDN - see bugs 154799, 159068
blacklist hisax
blacklist hisax_fcpcipnp

# Wireless Lan
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist bcm43xx_mac80211

9) Trying to activate wlan0:

[root@localhost firmware]# ifup wlan0
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0:0 ; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0:0.

Question: Does anybody knows what these errors means?

First your wireless device is working;
Second it looks like kudzu or something else is causing a minor issue;
Suggestions, first disable the kudzu service;

chkconfig --levels 2345 kudzu off

next, check the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory and remove the possible file ifcfg-wlan0:0

Then restart the network service;

service network restart

You may want to install the driver from here (direct link) instead of using the one supplied from Gateway;

ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/note...bit/80211g.zip

After extracting the files and from the directory where the files reside type;

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

Hello Leonard
Thanks for your help.
I tried your suggestion and still did not work (please, see steps bellow).
It seems that is not finding the right device or is sending the wrong parameters to the wlan0.

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ifup wlan0
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0:0 ; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0:0.

THanks once again
Rgds
Marcos

0) Disabling Kudzu service:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# chkconfig --levels 2345 kudzu off
[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]#

1) Removing ifcfg-wlan0 file:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# rm /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0
rm: remove regular file `/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0'? y

1) Removed the current driver:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ndiswrapper -r bcmwl5
[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]#

2) Installing the new driver:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ndiswrapper -l
[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
installing bcmwl5 ...
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2

3) Checking whether was installed or not:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4318) present (alternate driver: ssb)

Note: What this alternate driver (alternate driver: ssb) means??

4) I found that is linked to maybe the BCM4318... Not 100% sure.

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# lsmod | grep ssb
ssb 38469 1 b43

5) Restarting net service:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# service network restart
Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]

6) Looked at network-scripts dir but there was no "ifcfg-wlan0" file.

ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

7) Because of that I belive that the network was failing its Activation when i tried via System->Adminstration->Network->Network COnfiguration.

8) Did reboot and "iwconfig" afterthat:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:xxxxxxxxxxx
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
virbr0 no wireless extensions.
sit0 no wireless extensions.

7) Failed again when sending "ifup wlan0" command:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ifup wlan0
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0:0 ; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0:0.

8) Now, I can see that "ifcfg-wlan0" is in the network-scripts directory:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
ifcfg-lo ifdown-ipsec ifdown-sit ifup-eth ifup-plip ifup-sl network-functions
ifcfg-wlan0 ifdown-ipv6 ifdown-sl ifup-ippp ifup-plusb ifup-tunnel network-functions-ipv6
ifdown ifdown-isdn ifdown-tunnel ifup-ipsec ifup-post ifup-wireless
ifdown-bnep ifdown-post ifup ifup-ipv6 ifup-ppp init.ipv6-global
ifdown-eth ifdown-ppp ifup-aliases ifup-ipx ifup-routes keys-wlan0
ifdown-ippp ifdown-routes ifup-bnep ifup-isdn ifup-sit net.hotplug

9) Tried again ifup wlan0 command with no luck:

[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]# ifup wlan0
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0:0 ; Invalid argument.
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Cannot assign requested address
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
Failed to bring up wlan0:0.
[root@localhost WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo)]#

1) You need to blacklist ssb and b43 if you want to use ndiswrapper - although, IMHO, b43 is now fine for useage with the BCM4318 (the older bcm43xx is not).

2) If you want to use b43, install the firmware recommended by the developers (this is why it currently won't load for you - b43 loads and detects your wireless hardware first, before ndiswrapper, but you don't have the firmware installed, so the interface cannot be brought up):

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...reinstallation

Hmmm...... I guess it is time I try the newer b43 driver again then. Last time I tried this driver it still had transmission power issues.

Hello cathectic and Leonard
Sorry for the delay...
I tried adding ssb and b43 to black list but still did not work.

Then, I followed your suggestion to use IMHO, b43 with the BCM4318.

[marcos@localhost wireless]$ cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0
[marcos@localhost broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0]$ ls
kmod libbcmcrypto.so nas WHERE_FROM wl
[marcos@localhost broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0]$
[marcos@localhost broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0]$
[marcos@localhost broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0]$
[marcos@localhost broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0]$ cd kmod/
[root@localhost kmod]# b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware 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
[root@localhost kmod]#
[root@localhost kmod]#

After that I got a protection fault and had to shutdown fedora.
It seems that we have 2 approaches for doing that:
1) using ndiswrapper
2) using b43-fwcutter

If I use ndiswrapper do I need to remove it before trying the 2nd option (b43-fwcutter)?
The same thing, if I use b43-fwcutter, do I need to remove ndiswrapper ?

ANother question, after I run "b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o", what should be the next step? Rebooting the system and starting the network service again?

THanks for your time guys,
Marcos

It is perfectly OK to have both the kernel driver and ndiswrapper available, but only one should be in use at a time. This is kind of like the nv versus nVidia or ati versus fglrx (ATI) graphics drivers, both can be available but only one is used at a time.

The ndiswrapper driver cannot work if the b43/bcm43xx driver is not blacklisted.

The b43[bcm43xx]-fwcutter utility simply 'extracts' the firmware or microcode for use with the kernel driver(bcm43xx) and that is all it does.

The next step is to (using the b43/bcm43xx kernel driver) to restart the network service (using the correct alias line entry in /etc/modprobe.conf) or reboot the system. The tricky part is which frimware is being used, the older version 3 firmware files depends on softmac kernel module while the newer version 4 firmware files depends on the mac80211 kernel module (this needs to be blacklisted also when using ndiswrapper also in some cases). The version 4 firmware files can be somewhat of a problem to get 'right' for your Broardcom wireless device.

Well after downloading and installing the 2.6.24-rc8 kernel from source, I have the following comments.

Yes the b43 and b43legacy kernel modules do work with the BCM4318 wireless, but the connection is still flaky at best. The connection first starts at anywhere from 1 to 6 Mb/s and may get to the full 54 Mb/s speed but is not constant. Re-downloading the same kernel source as a test shows this, the download rates varied greatly during the process. I did run this test a number of times, during the downloads the connection rates were from 6 to 54 Mb/s and where constantly changing. Also did a number of transfer tests from one system to another locally (Intranet) with the same results. So while the b43, b43legacy and bcm43xx may work the transmission power issues are still an issue. Think I will stay with ndiswrapper for awhile longer.

Hi all,
This is my very first post, Im a noobie in sci-linux and completely ignorant about this ..can someone help me out?

I got a BCM4310 wireless driver and after some problems with the version ( 16 and 18) I got to fix it updating the wireless-tools.

Anyway, the driver is recognized by the pc (I even can see the available networks with the iwlist scan , the blue light is on ..everything looks OK), but when I try to activate the thing it takes TONS of time (ok, I may be overreacting a lil to appear the SCIOCSIFFLAGS cannot assign requested address .

I have read the posts before but still have no idea what this is and I cant connect ..pls HELP.

After much screwing around trying dozens of solutions (b43-fwcutter didn't work and neither did following any of the methods to install the bcmwl5.inf & sys from the windows drivers using Ndiswrapper); I just typed the following into a terminal... "sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer" This correctly configured the right firmware and drivers automatically and up popped a lovely box just asking me for a network password. Other than if you also have wireless turned off with a hardware button which you can check wusing "rfkill list" I think this might solve many people's problems.