WiFi - Broadcom 4306 on kernel 2.6.24 (b43 module)
 

Hi,

I have a HP Presario zv6015 laptop with Debian 4.0 installed (using the official unstable repository). When running the kernel 2.6.23, everything works fine, even the Broadcom 4306 wireless card (using module bcm43xx shipped with the kernel). But when I boot with the new kernel 2.6.24, the wireless network stops working. I tried everything found in http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 and searched a lot of solutions on the Internet, but had no success. Both modules b43 and b43 legacy were tried. Can anyone help me? Following is the output of some commands and content of some config files to help the diagnostic.

Thanks

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using debian linux with kernel linux-image-2.6.24-1-686
updated as of 01/31/2008 from the official debian unstable repository

firmware extracted to /lib/firmware/b43
broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0 - extracted with b43-fwcutter 009
broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5 - extracted with b43-fwcutter 010

firmware extracted from these files, found at http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43:
broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta_mimo.o
broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta.o
broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver/wl_apsta_mimo.o

b43-fwcutter version 009: obtained from the official debian unstable repository as of 01/31/2008
b43-fwcutter version 010: compiled from sources found at http://www.bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/

--- 'lspci' output - BEGIN ---
03:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)
--- 'lspci' output - END ---

--- /etc/network/interfaces - BEGIN ---
# I changed the ESSID, nickname and password to placeholders
iface lo inet loopback
auto lo

iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid WiFiNetworkESSID
wireless-mode Managed
wireless-channel 6
wireless-nickname nickname
wireless-key open s:password
hostname nickname
auto eth1
--- /etc/network/interfaces - END ---

--- 'dmesg' output - BEGIN ---
b43-phy1: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found
phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'simple'
udev: renamed network interface wmaster0 to eth1
--- 'dmesg' output - END ---

--- 'iwlist eth1 scan' output - BEGIN ---
eth1 Interface doesn't support scanning.
--- 'iwlist eth1 scan' output - END ---

--- 'ifup' output - BEGIN ---
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.
Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.0
Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

eth1: unknown hardware address type 801
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not supported
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not supported
eth1: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/eth1/
Sending on LPF/eth1/
Sending on Socket/fallback
receive_packet failed on eth1: Network is down
option_space_encapsulate: option space agent does not exist, but is configured.
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
send_packet: Network is down
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
send_packet: Network is down
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 21
send_packet: Network is down
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 19
send_packet: Network is down
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
send_packet: Network is down
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
--- 'ifup' output - END ---

You will need to use the windows xp driver with ndiswrapper.

I have tried to get this card working on my computer using the instructions provided in other forums, but I had to modify those instructions slightly to get this card working.

Make sure that you cabextract all the files from the winxp driver into a single directory. Leave all the files inplace when pointing ndiswrapper to the driver.

Don't know why this works, but it does.

Good luck.

Uh, no. The native drivers will work with that chipset.

I've been seeing in a few places that the b43 driver isn't quite ready for prime time. The new wireless stack became standard in 2.6.24, and I have the sneaking suspicion it is at the root of a lot of issues, particularly with the Broadcom drivers. To be honest, unless you really need 2.6.24 for some reason, I wouldn't jump just yet.

Now with that said, you might want to check a couple of things.

- Did the firmware get installed to /lib/firmware? You also might consider just loading the firmware from one of the files. I'm not sure how good b43 is at picking the right firmware files.

-Are there any errors in your log file (/var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog and the output of dmesg) that might shed some light on what b43 is doing?

Sure the kernel driver MIGHT work, but you will not be able to use features such as packet bursting or the 54 Mb/s speed.

If you want ALL features supported by the card, use NDISWRAPPER.

Try to connect, wait for fail then run dmesg. Guessing your phy0 device will show a no-op'ed mac. As in ff;ff;ff;ff;ff;ff.

If thats the case look into my thread in the wireless section about broadcom and F8.

Cant on mine. Will not work. Maybe the same for any 24 or newer. You can not rmmod ssb and keep everything working. Then soon as you bring it up b43 starts regardless of blacklist.