[SOLVED] broadom 4311 and broadom sta driver not working

R Tanner · 02-22-2010, 03:04 PM

is this a problem? You can see I'm running as root so...

It looks like it did create the b43-fwcutter-012 directory though so seems like everything is okay..just wanted to make sure that i get this right to a T

Code:

root@darkstar:/media/disk/2nd Install# tar xjf b43-fwcutter-012.tar.bz2
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/README: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/md5.c: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/b43-fwcutter.1: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/md5.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/Makefile: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/mklist.py: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter.c: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter_list.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

Hangaber · 02-22-2010, 03:09 PM

Rather coincidentally, I tried to get my wireless working on my laptop just last night. I'm posting the following in hopes that my success helps you. I've never manually setup the wireless on my laptop, and this worked really well for me. My initial mistake was to only read 'parts' of the guide in the URL below... so I initially messed with rc.wireless.conf.... but then I adjusted that back to default once I actually read through the guide properly.

My Laptop has a Broadcom BCM4311.

Initially, when I tried to use the card, the /var/log/messages told me to go get the b43 driver.

From slackbuilds.org, I obtained and installed b43-fwcutter and b43-firmware (in that order).

Using Alien BOB's guide here, I first modified just a few lines in rc.inet1.conf

Something like;

Code:

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
WLAN_ESSID[4]="MyESSIDHere"
WLAN_MODE[4]="Managed"
WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"

(I could probably change this from [4] to [1], and comment out the other [1] lines... but my initial goal was to just get it working.)

I edited /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf (according to the Alien BOB's guide, which matched near perfectly). Worked great.

My KEY is really funky, and long. It contains all kinds of characters including quotes, slashes, etc, so I used wpa_passphrase to convert the string from funkystring to hex.
wpa_passphrase MyESSIDHere MyFunkyStringKeyHere
- of, which now I realize would have been better for me...
wpa_passphrase MyESSIDHere
(Then type or paste the funkystring in when it asks me to)

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 wlan0_stop # not even sure this was needed
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 wlan0_start # gave me a minor error about setting a "nickname" I think, but anyway...
ifconfig # Shows that I got a 192.168.* ip from my crappy wireless router.

The laptop could then ping the router and other machines in my LAN.

R Tanner · 02-22-2010, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_penguinator

Okay looks good, you have the correct *modules* loaded...and you get points for persisting...for this is the way of Slack...but you still need to install the *firmware* for your card before you can go any further...go here...

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

follow the instructions _exactly_ listed there for getting b43-fwcutter-012 and broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2 installed...when you have that done report back for further assistance...you will be only a few simple steps away from slack wifi nirvana

holy crap! its freakin picking up some wifi man!! this is awesome. that just made my day. i can't tell you how siked i am. i'm at work though and the network i want to connect to isn't broadcasting...how do i connect to a non broadcasting essid? i also have an ethernet cable here...how do i connect with that? I've tried the following to no avail

looking at my ethernet cord there is a green solid light and a blinking yellow light...any thoughts anyone?

Code:

root@darkstar:~# ifconfig eth0 down
root@darkstar:~# ifconfig eth0 up
root@darkstar:~#

thanks so much everyone for your help...you are all awesome! i'm one step closer to being a true slacker lol

mryuck · 02-22-2010, 06:39 PM

Congratulations!

Code:

iwlist scan

will list access points but I don`t know about hidden essid`s. You might be able to connect by mac address.
As for ethernet you probably only need to

Code:

dhcpcd eth0

To get an ip address.
As for generic kernel, sorry I didn`t explain it better. You already had everything you needed. You just need to change the symbolic links in /boot to point to the *generic* ones instead of *huge*. The initrd is necessary for generic kernel.
This example is from the README.initrd
in /boot

Code:

mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.29.5 -m mbcache:jbd:ext3 -f ext3 -r /dev/hdb3

This assumes a root on /dev/hdb3 (which yours probably isn`t) and it assumes your using ext3 filesystem (which you might be).
The example also has a different kernel version than what you have.

Code:

uname -r

will display your kernel version.
Once successful with mkinitrd you will have initrd-tree and initrd.gz in your /boot directory.
Then in /etc/lilo.conf you will need to add a line like

Code:

initrd= /boot/initrd.gz

Don`t forget to

Code:

lilo

when finished with editing /etc/lilo.conf.
Of course this might be just a GIANT pain after getting wifi working!

the_penguinator · 02-22-2010, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R Tanner

holy crap! its freakin picking up some wifi man!! this is awesome. that just made my day. i can't tell you how siked i am. i'm at work though and the network i want to connect to isn't broadcasting...how do i connect to a non broadcasting essid? i also have an ethernet cable here...how do i connect with that? I've tried the following to no avail

looking at my ethernet cord there is a green solid light and a blinking yellow light...any thoughts anyone?

Code:

root@darkstar:~# ifconfig eth0 down
root@darkstar:~# ifconfig eth0 up
root@darkstar:~#

thanks so much everyone for your help...you are all awesome! i'm one step closer to being a true slacker lol

progress is good yes...to keep things easier for you for now, get and install wicd which you will find in /extra on any slack mirror...it's a pretty slick little app that makes a simple job, even simpler

if you have made any changes to /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf , comment them out and return it to its original state, then reboot...when you start up kde or whatever, you'll have a wicd icon in your panel, click on it and it will identify all wireless networks within range...you will need to know the encryption keys to access the networks unless they are open WEP nodes...if you've got your ethernet cable in, wicd will id that network as well and you will need to put in the appropriate info to connect to that as well...but obviously you don't need both at the same time yes?

there really are only 3 files you need to know how to edit to do wifi manually with slack, but often you get conflicting and sometimes irrelevant info when you ask for help...after you've got your machine connected, do some reading about

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
/etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

so you'll know what wicd is doing for you and then

man wpa_passphrase

R Tanner · 02-22-2010, 09:44 PM

so i'm not exactly sure what i'm doing wrong...i'm trying to connect to a network with a wpa2 passphrase and when i try to do so through wicd it says its validating authentication (at the bottom of the gui) and then it says its obtaining an IP address but that it fails to obtain an ip address...any ideas what I need to do differently? i've tried to connect by getting a key via wpa_passphrase and then setting the key via iwconfig but it tells me invalid arguments...

sorry i can provide what i'm typing in the console if you need..i'm just in the middle of trying to catch a bus

PTrenholme · 02-23-2010, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R Tanner

is this a problem? You can see I'm running as root so...

It looks like it did create the b43-fwcutter-012 directory though so seems like everything is okay..just wanted to make sure that i get this right to a T

Code:

root@darkstar:/media/disk/2nd Install# tar xjf b43-fwcutter-012.tar.bz2
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/README: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/md5.c: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/b43-fwcutter.1: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/md5.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/Makefile: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/mklist.py: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter.c: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012/fwcutter_list.h: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: b43-fwcutter-012: Cannot change ownership to uid 1000, gid 1000: Operation not permitted
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

This looks like you're trying to extract the tar file to a directory called "2nd Install" on the media/disk drive. I suspect that /media/disk/2nd Install may be a CD or DVD that you've mounted "read only," which would make it difficult to write to the disk. It could be a USB drive, but, again, it may be mounted ro.

In any case, try creating some directory on your hard drive (mkdir ...) and use cd to change your working directory to that new one. Then try the tar command again.

<edit>
And, after I looked at the rest of your thread following the message I quoted, since you seem to have things now working, you can probably disregard this as irrelevant.
</edit>

R Tanner · 02-23-2010, 03:55 PM

i do have things working...as long as the network is open and doesn't require a passkey/passphrase. I'm going to try to connect to a network that requires a wpa2 key tonight and see if I can figure it out...it kept telling me "unable to obtain ip address" when i was trying yesterday.

mryuck · 02-23-2010, 04:27 PM

you need to look at /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. I don`t think iwconfig supports passphrase without wpa_supplicant but I`m not sure.

the_penguinator · 02-23-2010, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R Tanner

i do have things working...as long as the network is open and doesn't require a passkey/passphrase. I'm going to try to connect to a network that requires a wpa2 key tonight and see if I can figure it out...it kept telling me "unable to obtain ip address" when i was trying yesterday.

yeah that will happen if you don't know the passphrase for the network you're trying to connect to...it's a security thing yes?

but it does sound like you're getting somewhere...have you tried to connect to your own wireless network yet?

R Tanner · 02-23-2010, 10:36 PM

so when trying to run wpa_supplicant this is what i get...i think the general gist is it can't find an access point...how do i rectify this? lol

Code:

root@darkstar:~# wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -d
Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'default' 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'                                                                               
eapol_version=1                                                                                        
ap_scan=1                                                                                              
fast_reauth=1                                                                                          
Priority group 10                                                                                      
   id=0 ssid='Katies Corner'                                                                           
Priority group 0                                                                                       
   id=1 ssid=''                                                                                        
Initializing interface (2) 'wlan0'                                                                     
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=22 WE(source)=21 enc_capa=0xf                                               
  capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf flags 0x0                                                         
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5                                                               
Own MAC address: 00:1a:73:bc:14:37                                                                     
wpa_driver_wext_set_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                                  
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures                                                                    
wpa_driver_wext_set_drop_unencrypted                                                                   
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver                                                                 
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec                                                                
WPS: UUID based on MAC address - hexdump(len=16): 8e eb 4d 0d 1b eb 54 b1 ba 8b 4e 26 3b 23 e5 1d      
WPS: Build Beacon and Probe Response IEs                                                               
WPS:  * Version                                                                                        
WPS:  * Wi-Fi Protected Setup State (0)                                                                
WPS:  * Version                                                                                        
WPS:  * Wi-Fi Protected Setup State (0)                                                                
WPS:  * Response Type (2)                                                                              
WPS:  * UUID-E                                                                                         
WPS:  * Manufacturer                                                                                   
WPS:  * Model Name                                                                                     
WPS:  * Model Number                                                                                   
WPS:  * Serial Number                                                                                  
WPS:  * Primary Device Type                                                                            
WPS:  * Device Name                                                                                    
WPS:  * Config Methods (0)                                                                             
WPS:  * RF Bands (3)                                                                                   
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                                                                       
Using existing control interface directory.                                                            
ctrl_interface_group=0                                                                                 
ctrl_iface bind(PF_UNIX) failed: Address already in use
ctrl_iface exists and seems to be in use - cannot override it
Delete '/var/run/wpa_supplicant/wlan0' manually if it is not used anymore
Failed to initialize control interface '/var/run/wpa_supplicant'.
You may have another wpa_supplicant process already running or the file was
left by an unclean termination of wpa_supplicant in which case you will need
to manually remove this file before starting wpa_supplicant again.

Failed to add interface wlan0
State: DISCONNECTED -> DISCONNECTED
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_wpa
wpa_driver_wext_set_drop_unencrypted
wpa_driver_wext_set_countermeasures
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
Cancelling scan request
Cancelling authentication timeout
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=0, operstate=6

mryuck · 02-23-2010, 11:01 PM

In /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf did you put your_64_char_psk where it said to?
To get the 64_char_psk you could do

Code:

wpa_passphrase youressid "passphrase"

Also you should have a gui program called wpa_gui. If you can`t find it just type wpa_gui in a terminal.

the_penguinator · 02-24-2010, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R Tanner

so when trying to run wpa_supplicant this is what i get...i think the general gist is it can't find an access point...how do i rectify this? lol

okay, _you_ don't run wpa_supplicant, it is a program that gets called by another program...wpa_supplicant has a configuration file called /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf...into which you would copy the results of doing
foo@foo$wpa_passphrase <your ESSID> <your_clever_encryption_keywords>

but only if you were configuring your wifi manually

since you're using wicd, you don't need to do that...in order to attach to a WPA/WPA2 encrypted wireless network, you need to know the encryption key for that network and enter it in the appropriate field when you click the <properties> button on the wicd gui...ergo...if you don't have the key, it must not be your door

I think you're mistaking wpa_supplicant for some other kind of program

R Tanner · 02-24-2010, 07:57 AM

ahh..that makes sense...hence why it's called a daemon program. So my question is do I have to use the wicd gui? I would prefer to do everything from a command prompt. I haven't been able to figure out how to connect to even an open network through a command prompt though. I mean I can always set the essid for the wlan0 but that doesn't connect me.

So I guess now that I think about it, I'm not sure I really understand exactly what you mean when you say I'm not supposed to run wpa_supplicant directly. Looking at the man page it looks like thats what I'm supposed to be able to do. Or is the wicd program calling wpa_supplicant, thereby causing problems when i try to call it?

the_penguinator · 02-24-2010, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R Tanner

ahh..that makes sense...hence why it's called a daemon program. So my question is do I have to use the wicd gui? I would prefer to do everything from a command prompt. I haven't been able to figure out how to connect to even an open network through a command prompt though. I mean I can always set the essid for the wlan0 but that doesn't connect me.

So I guess now that I think about it, I'm not sure I really understand exactly what you mean when you say I'm not supposed to run wpa_supplicant directly. Looking at the man page it looks like thats what I'm supposed to be able to do. Or is the wicd program calling wpa_supplicant, thereby causing problems when i try to call it?

in order of your asking, no you don't have to use wicd, but if you're just learning about wifi configuration it makes life simpler...if you want to learn to configure manually, stick with one network -preferably yours- and learn how to do that first...obviously everything can be done from the cli but it sounds like you're trying to access different wifi networks and that sounds like it's a bit beyond your level of knowledge at this point...

you're right, you as a user don't run wpa_supplicant, wicd is running the scripts for you and you're doing nothing but creating error messages when you try to run it manually...