[SOLVED] linux-2.6.37-rc5 - brcm80211 staging driver

rfernandez · 12-14-2010, 07:51 PM

Hi, guys.

Here's the problem: I have a Broadcom BCM4313 wireless card (14e4:4727) which is supported by the FOSS brcm80211 driver.

With my main kernel (2.6.36.2) I have compat-wireless-20101213 compiled in and working fine with the brcm80211 module driver, but when I try the native staging-driver brcm80211 from 2.6.37-rc5 my wireless card does not work, showing "wlan0: no wireless extensions" when I do a "iwconfig". The thing is: I have absolutely no idea how to walk this through, so I hope someone could lend me a hand on working this out.

I have the output from "lshw -C network" from both 2.6.36.2 and 2.6.37-rc5, as below:

Code:

# uname -r
2.6.36.2
# lshw -C network

  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:12:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: c0:cb:38:35:70:74
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=brcm80211 driverversion=2.6.36.2 firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.101 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 memory:fbc00000-fbc03fff

Code:

# uname -r
2.6.37-rc5
# lshw -C network

  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: BCM4313 802.11b/g LP-PHY
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation                                                                                                              
       physical id: 0                                                                                                                            
       bus info: pci@0000:12:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: c0:cb:38:35:70:74
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=brcm80211 driverversion=2.6.37-rc5 firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes
       resources: irq:17 memory:fbc00000-fbc03fff

I chose lshw for it's ease of use, but any other command output you'll may need I'll post 'em right away. Thanks in advance.

System specs: Dell N5010 notebook, Intel Core i5-460M, 320GB hdd, Intel HD Graphics, BCM4313 (Dell 1501N Wireless) wireless card (with brcm80211 module-driver), RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (r8169 module-driver), OS: Slackware64-current, Multilib - last synced: 12-10-2010

rfernandez · 12-15-2010, 10:06 AM

Well, the problem is solved.

As I am a custom-kernel-builder (does such a thing exist?

), I left the following option out

Code:

[*] cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility

under Networking Support -> Wireless -> cfg80211 - wireless configuration API, which has the following description:

Quote:

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT:

Enable this option if you need old userspace for wireless
extensions with cfg80211-based drivers.

Symbol: CFG80211_WEXT [=y]
Type : boolean
Prompt: cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility
Defined at net/wireless/Kconfig:113
Depends on: NET [=y] && WIRELESS [=y] && CFG80211 [=m]
Location:
-> Networking support (NET [=y])
-> Wireless (WIRELESS [=y])
-> cfg80211 - wireless configuration API (CFG80211 [=m])
Selects: WEXT_CORE [=y]

So, this is needed in order to make use of brcm80211 staging module-driver.