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steviebob 09-20-2012 08:05 PM
Broadcom 4315 802.11g/b problem
 
Hi, I just bought this laptop a few days ago and decided to install Slackware on it (since it's my favorite distro). Everything ran smoothly except for one thing:

I couldn't get my wireless card (Broadcom 4315) to play nicely.

At first it wouldn't work at all. After some research I installed the Broadcom hybrid drivers for linux, and it worked! Well, kinda...

It wouldn't stay connected to anything. It would stay connected to the ap at my house for about 10 seconds, disconnect and then try and try again to reconnect, but fail every time. About an hour of researching later, I found out other people had the same problem. One kernel upgrade later (to the latest version, 3.5.4) and it shows up, but now nothing shows up in the scan (using wpa_gui)

Here are some cli results:

Code:
bash-4.1# iwconfig
eth1      IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:""  Nickname:"darksta"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated 
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s  Tx-Power:24 dBm 
          Retry min limit:7  RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0  Missed beacon:0

bash-4.1# iwlist scan
eth1      Failed to read scan data : Invalid argument

First 100 lines of "wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd":
Initializing interface 'eth1' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'wext' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='0'
update_config=1
Line: 5 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=15):
    4b 69 6c 6c 49 74 57 69 74 68 50 68 69 72 65      KillItWithPhire
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=13): [REMOVED]
proto: 0x2
key_mgmt: 0x2
pairwise: 0x8
group: 0xe
auth_alg: 0x1
disabled=1 (0x1)
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Line: 16 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=15):
    4b 69 6c 6c 49 74 57 69 74 68 50 68 69 72 65      KillItWithPhire
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=13): [REMOVED]
proto: 0x2
key_mgmt: 0x2
pairwise: 0x8
auth_alg: 0x1
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Line 23: removed CCMP from group cipher list since it was not allowed for pairwise cipher
Priority group 0
  id=0 ssid='KillItWithPhire'
  id=1 ssid='KillItWithPhire'
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=22 WE(source)=19 enc_capa=0xf
  capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf flags 0x0
netlink: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:26:5e:1d:fd:c0
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
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
WPS: UUID based on MAC address - hexdump(len=16): 7b 5d 16 c6 ae ac 56 8f b0 04 50 b2 e8 19 87 a6
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
ctrl_interface_group=0
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'eth1' added
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'eth1' added
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=8
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'eth1' added
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b1a len=40
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x11003 ([UP][LOWER_UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'eth1' added
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Starting AP scan for wildcard SSID
Scan requested (ret=0) - scan timeout 5 seconds
CTRL_IFACE monitor attached - hexdump(len=22): 2f 74 6d 70 2f 77 70 61 5f 63 74 72 6c 5f 32 33 33 36 2d 34 38 00
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=10):
    49 4e 54 45 52 46 41 43 45 53                    INTERFACES     
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=18):
    47 45 54 5f 43 41 50 41 42 49 4c 49 54 59 20 65  GET_CAPABILITY e
    61 70                                            ap             
CTRL_IFACE: GET_CAPABILITY 'eap'
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=6):
    53 54 41 54 55 53                                STATUS         
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=13):
    4c 49 53 54 5f 4e 45 54 57 4f 52 4b 53            LIST_NETWORKS 
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=22):
    47 45 54 5f 4e 45 54 57 4f 52 4b 20 31 20 64 69  GET_NETWORK 1 di
    73 61 62 6c 65 64                                sabled         
CTRL_IFACE: GET_NETWORK id=1 name='disabled'
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x11003 ([UP][LOWER_UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'eth1' added
Wireless event: cmd=0x8c02 len=29
WEXT: Custom wireless event: 'Conn NoNetworks 03 00'
EAPOL: disable timer tick
EAPOL: Supplicant port status: Unauthorized
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=4):
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=4):
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=4):
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=4):
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
Scan timeout - try to get results
Failed to get scan results
Failed to get scan results - try scanning again
Setting scan request: 1 sec 0 usec
RX ctrl_iface - hexdump_ascii(len=4):
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
Starting AP scan for wildcard SSID
    50 49 4e 47                                      PING           
Starting AP scan for wildcard SSID
Any ideas?

Many thanks for any help
~Steve

frankbell 09-20-2012 08:11 PM
I had a long thread about the BCM 4313; you might learn something from all the replies that I got. I think that linking you up to it will be a lot more useful than me trying to make a withdrawal from my memory banks.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...urrent-926077/

There is also excellent background information at Linuxwireless dot org.

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

steviebob 09-20-2012 08:33 PM
Thanks for the reply, frankbell. I tried the things said on the thread you linked, with a little bit of success.

Turns out my card is a BCM4312. After a little playing around with b43-fwcutter, my card showed up as wlan0, but I get the following message from wpa_supplicant:

Code:
Trying to associate with 58:6d:8f:5b:85:5c (SSID='KillItWithPhire' freq=2437 MHz)
Associated with 58:6d:8f:5b:85:5c
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=58:6d:8f:5b:85:5c reason=0
And it repeats the above message over and over, constantly booting me off the network. Kind of infuriating haha.

Oh yeah, and I already blacklisted wl (the Broadcom Hybrid drivers), ssb and bcma, if that helps any.

Regards,
~Steve

ReaperX7 09-20-2012 08:39 PM
The b43 module needs ssb to work.

frankbell 09-20-2012 09:03 PM
I never had to mess with ssb and can't help with that.

The Arch wiki mentions it: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless

You don't mention what network manager you are using. If you aren't using wicd, you might want to give it a try.

It's in Slackware extras. http://mirrors.slackware.com/slackwa...37/extra/wicd/

steviebob 09-20-2012 09:03 PM
ReaperX7: Thanks for the info. I took it off the blacklist. The thing is, it's been doing this for a few days before I blacklisted anything.

EDIT: I am stumped. Nothing seems to be working :/

ReaperX7 09-20-2012 09:37 PM
You may need to completely uninstall the Broadcom-sta driver.

However, I do have to ask, are you running a Firewall?

mrascii 09-21-2012 12:02 AM
If the wifi card is easy to replace (it's a Mini-PCI Express most likely) you might consider replacing it with an Intel card (Pro/wireless 3945ABG perhaps) which is fully supported in the kernel and can be bought new for about $10USD including shipping.

DNA
AKA mrascii

steviebob 09-21-2012 02:35 AM
ReaperX7: I am not running a firewall at the moment, no. I will try your suggestion in the morning, my brain is about tuckered out. Haha.

mrascii: Well if it comes down to that, the wifi card out of my old laptop was fully supported, so I might just use that.

EDIT: Well, I decided to just take out the old wifi card and replace it with the one I had in my old laptop, was the easier and faster way of going about this. Thanks for all the help everyone :)


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