Broadcom 4318 wireless card in FC6: installed with ndsiwrapper as eth1

I used ndiswrapper1.31 with FC6 on acer aspire 3100.

It installed nicely, and the driver too, downloaded from Broadcom's site.

So the driver seems to work, and, in fact, 'ifconfig'/'iwconfig' recognize the card as a wireless one, with 'eth1' identifier.
I used the same configuration I use in windows.

However I still can't connect.

When I try 'ifconfig up', or 'iwconfig up', it tells me something like this:
"Aquiring IP information for eth1...
Initialization incomplete, Check the cable?"

It's like when I connect through 'eth0' without having plugged the cable, so I suppose it can't find the access point.

What did I miss?
Is it correct that the card is recognized as 'eth1' instead of 'wlan0', as ndiswrapper's tutorials report?

thanks for your attention

The kernels for FC6 comes with a wireless module for the Broadcom chipsets called bcm43xx. The module is broken for the 4318 Broadcom chipset and needs to be blacklisted in order for ndiswrapper to work; http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/?go=devices

As root edit the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file and add something like;

# wireless drivers
blacklist bcm43xx

Also check the /etc/modprobe.conf file for the eth1 entry and maybe change this to something like;

alias eth1 ndiswrapper

You also need to create a new file in the /etc/sysconfig/modules directory named something like 4318.modules which has the line entry; modprobe ndiswrapper

It does not matter if the wireless device is aliased as eth1 or wlan0 as long as the system knows the alias is for ndiswrapper in all related files. This can be changed in the /etc/modprobe.conf file as the example above. If you change the alias to be wlan0 then you need to copy/rename the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 file to ifcfg-wlan0 and edit the DEVICE= line inside the file to be; DEVICE=wlan0

It would be a god idea to restart the system after your done.

Thank you, but I still can't find the precise cause of the problem.

I configured eth1 using gnome's utility (system-config-network), and I inserted the passphrase as well.
However that configuration didn't regard wpa encryption, so I left passphrase field empty, and I properly configured wpa_supplicant.
It function nicely, I think.

The fact is that , from iwconfig's output, the device can't find the access point, it tells me that Signal is 0, so, though the initial configuration was wrong, and you helped me to fix it, it still can't connect.

There could be two problems:
- the device emits no signal
- the device can't find access point

What should I do?

thanks for yuor attention

Sometimes you need to tell the wireless device the GATEWAY IP address (the wireless routers IP address). This is done by editing the ifcfg-something file located in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory, sample below;

# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
IPV6INIT=no
ONBOOT=no
ONHOTPLUG=yes
USERCTL=yes
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=eth1
HWADDR=
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
DHCP_HOSTNAME=Linux
IPADDR=
NETMASK=
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1
DOMAIN=
ESSID=
CHANNEL=1
MODE=auto
RATE=

It didn't work.
it doesn't seem an IP problem, it seems it can't find the router's signal I suppose...

Ok, here is my actual situation:

WPA_supplicant is active on eth1, and keeps scanning, without results

eth1 is detected usign ndiswrapper, correctly loaded at boot time
bcm43xx isn't loaded

<iwconfig eth1> shows this:

eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"localhost"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm   
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          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

<ifconfig eth1> shows this:

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CE:11:A3:F0  
          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:217 Memory:e2000000-e2002000

<ifup eth1> says this:

Determining IP information for eth1... not complete; link not available. Check the cable?

It is translated from Italian, so it may not correspond to English version

if I try <ping 192.168.1.1>, to contact router, it says:

connect: network unreachable

<ndiswrapper -l> says:

bcmwl5 : driver installed
	device (14E4:4318) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx)

</etc/modprobe.conf> looks like this:

alias eth0 sis900
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
options snd-card-0 index=0  
options snd-intel8x0 index=0  
remove snd-intel8x0 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-intel8x0
#alias eth1 3c501

instead </etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper>:

alias eth1 ndiswrapper

</etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant> calls </usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant> in this way:

daemon wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper -ieth1 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

</etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf> contains the following configuration:

# home net
network={
	ssid="MyOwnNet"
	scan_ssid=1
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	psk="very secret psk"
}

Is there anything I should report in addition to this?
Is there anything missing/wrong?

...
However, just today, I discovered that my card doesn't work on Windows either!!!
I thought it was due to rebooting the same machine with different drivers, so I firstly rebooted windows, then I uninstalled each driver , rebooting windows each time, always after having turned off the pc.
No results!
It can't find that router!

Naturally, my card used to work on windows last time I worked with it, and, since I reset both ways the drivers and the machine itself, I fear that my wireless card got broken during my working period under linux, what a mess!!!

Is such an unlucky situation possible?!

As a suggestion until you can connect to the wireless router is to disable wpa on the router and maybe use static IP address's in both Windows and Linux with in the router's IP address range. It is OK to use the same IP address (say 192.168.1.50) on a dual boot system.

A copy of my /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0 file and other related files;

ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=yes
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=wlan0
HWADDR=
BOOTPROTO=none
IPADDR=192.168.49.40
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.49.10
DHCP_HOSTNAME=Asprie5000
DOMAIN=
ESSID=
CHANNEL=6
MODE=Managed

RATE=Auto

$ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"AP_Router"  Nickname:"Aspire5000"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:0A:E9:09:EC:60
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:25 dBm
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:87/100  Signal level:-40 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:150  Invalid misc:268046   Missed beacon:0

$ ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
        device (14E4:4318) present

$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf
alias eth0 sis900
alias eth1 orinoco_cs
alias eth2 prism54
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-intel8x0 index=0
remove snd-intel8x0 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-intel8x0

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/modules/4318.modules
modprobe ndiswrapper

$ sudo cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-wlan0
KEY=C1C6F42FB850F647D7BF72774C

Ok, as usual, working during Christmas's holidays on computers brings me bad luck...

Both in Windows and Linux I get the same problem: radio signal is 0, or, more precisely, disabled, and there was nothing I could do via software to fix it.
Broadcom's utility in Windows tells me to turn the hardware swicth on...what am I supposed to do?
Open my notebook and twist a switch which I didn't actually turn off?
SIGH!

PS:Lenard thank you! the configuration is perfect now

Oh god! my wireless adapter is switched on now!(mystery...)

Everything works really fine, with WPA disabled; instead, if I turn wpa on, it stop working.

I know that ,for configuring wpa, there are lots of tutorials and guides, but I can't figure out the problem yet.

Here are some outputs:

Originally Posted by /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 TYPE=Wireless DEVICE=eth1 HWADDR=00:16:ce:11:a3:f0 BOOTPROTO=dhcp NETMASK= DHCP_HOSTNAME= IPADDR= DOMAIN= ONBOOT=no USERCTL=yes IPV6INIT=yes PEERDNS=yes ESSID= CHANNEL=11 MODE=Auto RATE=Auto

Originally Posted by wpa_supplicant.conf ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant ctrl_interface_group=wheel # home net network={ ssid="MyOwnNet" scan_ssid=1 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK proto=WPA pairwise=CCMP TKIP group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40 psk="text pass phrase" #psk=hex passphrase calculated with wpa_passphrase, tried both ways priority=1 }

Originally Posted by ifconfig eth1 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:CE:11:A3:F0 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:217 Memory:e2000000-e2002000

Originally Posted by iwconfig eth1 eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B Encryption keyff Power Managementff 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

Originally Posted by wpa_supplicant -ieth1 -Dndiswrapper -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf Trying to associate with 00:14:c1:2a:16:d0 (SSID='MyOwnNet' freq=2462 MHz) Association request to the driver failed

One of the most annoying aspects of this situation is that some people seems to have the same configuration of mine, and it works for them!!:P

Thansk for your attention!

All I can suggest is to review everything and make sure it is correct on both ends, the router(server) and the laptop(client).

I checked...

When I ran wpa with debugging infos I got this , I hope interesting, output:

Originally Posted by service wpa_supplicant start Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'ndiswrapper' ctrl_interface 'N/A' Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant' ctrl_interface_group=500 (from group name 'tavs') Line: 5 - start of a new network block ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=8): 4d 79 4f 77 6e 4e 65 74 MyOwnNet scan_ssid=1 (0x1) key_mgmt: 0x2 proto: 0x1 pairwise: 0x18 group: 0x1e PSK - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED] priority=1 (0x1) Priority group 1 id=0 ssid='MyOwnNet' Initializing interface (2) 'wlan0' EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0 EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0 SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf Own MAC address: 00:16:ce:11:a3:f0 Driver does not support WPA. wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec Added interface wlan0 Daemonize..

There's something wrong, isn't it?
I can't explain why ndsiwrapper shouldn't be able to use that stupid wpa enc, since the driver I loaded within is the same I use in windows, in the same pc, and it works!

Uh, I've reconfigured eth1, and fedora ,this time, has found the card as wlan0, and not eth1, anyway it's the same thing as you can see, it loads always ndiswrapper, whose module has been properly aliased, of course

Hi,

got exactly the same thing with a broadcom wlan interface and ndiswrapper, on debian.

If you use -Dwext in stead of -Dndiswrapper, it works, so it's a bug in the broadcom/ndiswrapper combination (or some function is not supported).

cheers,
Jeroen.