Getting wireless to work with a BCM4306

C-Sniper · 06-23-2007, 11:35 AM

I currently am trying to connect to a wireless network(currently im runing 50ft of lan cable to get this to work)and i have the 2.6.20.3 kernel with the bcm4306 module installed. I also used the FW-cutter to install the rest of the module. now it says that it isworking yet i cant connect to anything.
-heres my iwlist

Code:

 # iwlist scanning
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1      No scan results

iwconfig

Code:

# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11b/g  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"*************"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.484 GHz  Access Point: Invalid
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Tx-Power=19 dBm
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level=-256 dBm  Noise level=-256 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

and the ifconfig

Code:

ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0F:B0:6C:37:C0
          inet addr:192.168.1.101  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20f:b0ff:fe6c:37c0/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1429 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1308 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1485371 (1.4 MiB)  TX bytes:219557 (214.4 KiB)
          Interrupt:20 Base address:0x2000

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:90:4B:AC:B2:E5
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:2352 (2.2 KiB)
          Interrupt:10 Base address:0x4000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  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:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

GregLee · 06-23-2007, 12:29 PM

Your goal is to use iwconfig to give information about the network you want to join until "iwconfig eth1" shows that the access point has been found. If there's a WEP key, e.g., you need to supply it. You may need to supply the SSID, and other info.

C-Sniper · 06-23-2007, 12:48 PM

i already have the network key and i have put into the wireless network under the settings tab. but still no connection. i have also supplied the SSID,and thats about it.

GregLee · 06-23-2007, 01:09 PM

It may help to say "ifconfig eth1 up" before calls to iwconfig. I suggest you use iwconfig to supply the key and the SSID -- "man iwconfig" will tell you how. Look at the output of "iwconfig eth1" to check the info you supplied was correctly understood. (And later, when all that's working, then figure out how to use the higher level interface to accomplish the same thing.)

C-Sniper · 06-23-2007, 04:14 PM

ok ill give that a try thanks.
"man iwconfig" just said "no manual entry:

ingrix · 06-24-2007, 02:45 AM

If your iwlist is telling you that you can't scan, you might not have the wireless card really supported, but you kind of tricked iwconfig into thinking you do. I learned that the hard way after toying with one for some three days, and I thought I might save you some trouble

As a suggestion, broadcom doesn't seem to like Linux very much, so perhaps try ndiswrapper if nothing else works. It does a pretty good job about things. I would listen to these other people first though before installing stuff. They might have some neat tricks.

Alien Bob · 06-24-2007, 04:21 AM

Quote:

"man iwconfig" just said "no manual entry

I think there is something missing on your box. The iwconfig man page is installed with the wireless-tools.

Eric

C-Sniper · 06-24-2007, 12:57 PM

well all i know is that i followed a few steps on a website and i was able to enable the BCM43xx support through the kernel when i was recompiling it. Then i had to use the FW-cutter to get it fully installed using the wl_apsta.o file.

and i havent installed anything for the keys and SSID i was just using the standard X11 interface. menu-> settings-> internet and network -> wireless network

Alien Bob · 06-24-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-Sniper

and i havent installed anything for the keys and SSID i was just using the standard X11 interface. menu-> settings-> internet and network -> wireless network

This is not available in my Slackware 11.0's KDE menu. Did you install something else or are you running some other Desktop Manager than KDE?

Eric

C-Sniper · 06-27-2007, 07:57 AM

nope.... i didn't install anything. i am running all this as root however but other than that the only thing ive installed is Firefox 2.0.0.4.

Carpo · 06-27-2007, 09:06 AM

you need to install wireless network tools when you install slackware for that to show in the menu, i have the same card and i have it all working but for some strange reason it never seems to pick up the gateway, all other information is there ip netmask just not the gateway all is set correctly in wiress and rc.inet1.conf, and it does say its connected and i can browse the network just not the net :/

C-Sniper · 06-29-2007, 01:47 PM

well i think at this rate i will just wait for Slackware 12.0 to come out and try fixing it there. thanks to everyone for their help and support.