I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop and have a broadcom BCM4312 wireless network mini card provided by dell. Just got Powerpack 2009 and created a dual boot system everything works but wirless network adapter. Checked the MCC hardware menu and my network card shows up but says no module installed. I tried to use ndiswrapper to install the driver from the windows partition does not show my network adapter so I downloaded a hybrid Linux driver module from Broadcom. I untared the driver to a file in my home directory and changed to that directory and proceeded to make and install the module per the instructions. Below is the procedure I I did and the problem I got directly from the command line.

This is the directory I untarred the module to

[robin@localhost hybrid_wl]$ ls -l
total 532
-rw-rw-r-- 1 robin robin 525867 2009-01-07 15:58 hybrid-portsrc-x86-32_5_10_27_12.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x 2 robin robin 4096 2008-12-17 15:45 lib/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 robin robin 1695 2008-12-17 15:50 Makefile*
drwxr-xr-x 5 robin robin 4096 2008-12-17 15:45 src/

This is the command I performed

[robin@localhost hybrid_wl]$ make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27-desktop-1mnb/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/drivers/build M-`pwd`

and this is what happened

make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.27-desktop-1mnb/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/drivers/build: No such file or directory. Stop.

and went back to my command prompt and did not install the module.

I have a 2.13GHz Celeron processor and 2GB of DDR memory on a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop with 12GB hard drive and everything works but wireless network. If anyone can help installing the Broadcom hybrid kernel module will appreciated.
Thanks rbixler1957

######################### UPDATE#############################
I solved the problem and posted the procedure it took in my last post to this thread.
Thanks all rbixler1957

Before you try to install the Broadcom driver, you may be best served to configure the wireless adapter in MCC. IIRC, when I did this, MCC installed the required drivers for me. My wireless PCI Network adapter was recognized, and the module was installed. The only hitch for me was getting the WEP2 configuration correct (to match the existing configuration on my router).

Open MCC (Tools > System Tools > Configure your computer in the Menu system).

Select Network & Internet in the navigation list (left).

Click the Set up a new network interface (LAN, ISDN, ADSL, ...) icon.

Select the wireless option then click the Next button.

Follow the prompts in the subsequent screens.

HTH,

I have tried that and this is all I get.

Wireless
Select the network interface to configure:
* Use a Windews driver (with ndiswrapper)

My network interface does not show up in the menu. When I select use a Windows driver with ndiswrapper I located the driver on the Windows partition and then I get (looking for required software and drivers) and then I get (unable to find the ndiswrapper interface).

I also have another computer with Mandriva Free 2008 spring with a broadcom BCM4318 wireless card and it showed up in the wireless configuration screen and I had no problem installing it with ndiswrapper. I also looked in the install & remove software program and ndiswrapper is checked supposed to be installed.

I know I should get the options in the network setup screen as shown below from my other computer.

Wireless
Select the network interface to configure:
* Boadcom BCM4318 Wireless LAN controller
* Use a Windews driver (with ndiswrapper)

Below is the information in the hardware section in the MCC.

Identification
Vendor: ‎Broadcom Corporation
Description: ‎BCM4312 802.11b/g
Media class: ‎Network controller

Connection
Bus: ‎PCI
PCI domain: ‎0
Bus PCI #: ‎11
PCI device #: ‎0
PCI function #: ‎0
Vendor ID: ‎0x14e4
Device ID: ‎0x4315
Sub vendor ID: ‎0x1028
Sub device ID: ‎0x000b

Misc
Module: ‎unknown

If you were pointing the Network configuration tool at the driver file (.sys) itself you may get that error. Try pointing at the .inf file for the wireless card (usually found on the CD that came with the device) instead.

Note: I have not used NDISwrapper here and this information is derived from the DrakX tools user manual.

HTH,

Did you say you are trying to use a Linux native driver? If you have tried ndiswrapper, then the system is 'stuck' on it, it won't try to use a native driver.

You have to remove the connection entirely first, then try the native driver. Fortunately in 2009 the 'remove network connection' tool works.

One thing dealing with wifi in Mandriva: have a lot of patience. (and think windows) You may have to run through the set up tool a few times, reboot at least once, even click on a step and walk away for a few minutes before assuming it's not doing anything.

I do find with broadcom, however, that ndiswrapper is the way to go.

I tried that and all I get unable to find the ndiswrapper interface and when I click next I get unable to find network interface for selected device (usung ndiswrapper driver) however I after some research I found that the reason I could not make that hybrid module from broadcom was because I did not have gcc installed and the make command was not installed. I installed gcc with the urpmi command and performed the make command again and the hybrid module was made in the hybrid_wl file I created per Broadcom.

Then I followed the installation proceedure per Broadcom I entered the modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip command per broadcom to make available the 802.11 TKIP crypto module and then performed the insmod wl.ko command in the hybrid_wl file located in my home directory and checked the hardware configuration window in the cintrol center and now the module unknown now says wl indicating now the networl interface now has a module then I went to configure the network card and lo and behold my network interface now shows up in the wireless configuration window.

I went thru the steps and configured the card and had success and was happy with my wireless working until I rebooted my computer and then it all disappeared but when I go to the hardware display in the control center it still shows the module as wl and is installed but when I go to configure the network I get the same problem I started with. Note I have used ndiswrapper on another computer with another broadcom wireless network card on Mandriva Free 2008 spring and had no problems and it is still working.

If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it because I was so happy I finally got it working Thanks.

When you configured it and it worked, did you do so with the network center that comes up with the icon on the panel at lower right?

If so, DON'T. Always configure an interface the first time with the full-blown tool in the Mandriva control center. Otherwise it won't persist between boots.

mcc > network and internet > configure a new connection.

I think Mandriva putting that network center applet in the 'system tray' was a mistake. Handy for what it does, but it doesn't do everything.

Dear catworld
I always set the network up in the MCC. I only use the icon on the right panel to start the wireless network if it does not start on boot on my other computer. However I found that if I go thru the same procedure as shown below.
After logging in as su on the command-line I enter the command:
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip and then cd to the hybrid module directory I created in my home directory and enter the command insmod wl.ko the network will come back up. I have found that when I cat the /proc/modules file I get the entry's as shown below:

af_packet 21120 4 - Live 0xf9251000
wl 1075588 0 - Live 0xf93e1000 (P)
ieee80211_crypt_tkip 12800 0 - Live 0xf925a000
ieee80211_crypt 8580 2 wl,ieee80211_crypt_tkip, Live 0xf9256000

indicating the wireless network is now installed and after rebooting it is no longer there in the /proc/modules file and I have to manually go thru the same procedure each time I boot to bring up my wireless which is a good thing at this time because I can at least use my wireless interface. Now all I have to do is find out how to make the entry's permanent so it will load upon boot.

At this time the hybrid module is located in my home directory and I am not sure if it has to be in another directory or which files I need to modify to look for the module upon boot. If you or anyone else could help I will post the whole procedure to help other Linux users avoid this problem. Until then I will keep researching for a fix otherwise I can now make the wireless work manually.
Thanks rbixler1957

Put the call in /etc/modprobe.conf. The modules go under /lib/modules down in the folder naming your current running kernel. use uname -r to see what kernel you're booting.

catworld
Thank you for the information I will work on that and report back.
rbixler1957

Dear catworld
I tried to modify the /etc/modprobe.conf file with help from the man pages but nothing worked. However I stumbled across a forum ( http://jomcode.com/fadhil/?p=59 ) when I was searching where I got the broadcom hybrid driver from and tried part of their procedure and had great success now I will post the whole procedure below.
I want to thank ernie and catworld for all their help.

First download the Linux broadcom hybrid module, you can get it here: http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php and then create a new folder in the home directory called hybrid_wl. Copy the downloaded tar file (hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5_10_27_14.tar.gz) to the hybrid_wl file and then open a konsole and change to the hybrid_wl directory by entering cd /hybrid_wl on the command-line. Now untar the file by entering the tar command: tar -xzf hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5_10_27_14.tar.gz you should get the entrys shown below if you ls -l the hybrid_wl file.

[root@localhost hybrid_wl]# ls -l
total 532
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 524816 2009-01-25 09:07 hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5_10_27_14.tar.gz*
drwxr-sr-x 2 54224 users 4096 2009-01-19 16:01 lib/
-rw-r--r-- 1 54224 users 1655 2009-01-19 17:04 Makefile
drwx--S--- 5 54224 users 4096 2009-01-19 16:01 src

The next step is making the module but first you will have to have some kernel header files installed, GCC and the make command installed. You do this by entering gurpmi gcc make on the command-line. You will have to enter the root password and then click install and accept the dependencies, this will install gcc and the make command. Now we have to find the kernel version you are using by entering uname -r and you should get something like this:
2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb
this is your kernel version. Now enter ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb on the command line and look for two file shortcuts called build and source they should look like this:

[robin@localhost 2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb]$ ls -l
total 2816
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2009-01-28 09:16 build -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/
drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 2009-01-25 11:16 kernel/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 465310 2009-01-28 06:54 modules.alias
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 36 2009-01-28 09:16 source -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/

This means the build and source headers are installed, if not follow this procedure enter gurpmi kernel-devel on the command-line and you will get a pop-up menu giving you kernel options to choose, Select the one closest to your kernel version and enter the root password and install and this should install the headers. Now we are ready to make and install the module. From this point on we will do everything as the root user. Open a konsole and enter the su command enter the root password and type:

cp /hybrid_wl /lib/modues/2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/kernel

this will copy the hybrid_wl file to kernel file. Then we change to the hybrid_wl directory with the cd command as shown below:

cd /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/kernel/hybrid_wl

Now we will perform the make command and build the module.

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/kernel/hybrid_wl/build M=`pwd`

Now when you ls -l this directory you should get somthing that looks like this:

built-in.o
hybrid-portsrc-x86_32_5_10_27_6.tar.gz
lib
Makefile
modules.order
Module.symvers
src
wl.ko
wl.mod.c
wl.mod.o
wl.op

While in this directory enter on the command-line
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip
enter
insmod wl.ko
enter
now you should be able to see the wireless interface in MCC when setting up a wireless interface and should work after configuring. But you will have to enter the modprobe command everytime you reboot to make the wireless work.

To make the wireless start upon boot every time I performed the following procedure. I changed to the hybrid_wl directory located in the kernel directory and copied the wl.ko file to the /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-desktop;1mnb/kernel/net/wireless file with this command:

cp wl.ko /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-desktop-1mnb/kernel/net/wireless/

and changed to that directory by using this command cd /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-686/kernel/net/wireless, and then entered the command:
depmod -a to create module dependencies.

now after rebooting my wireless network interface loads on boot and works every time.

Well done! Thanks for the explanation. Apparently you had a unique/new enough chip set you had the extra hoops to get through.

If you can edit the original subject line you might want to put [SOLVED] or the like in there for seekers of the future....