[SOLVED] No wifi in kernel 3.18.0-rc4

business_kid · 03-26-2015, 05:09 AM

I had to do a kernel 'git bisect' and have tried to build a current kernel. It fails to deliver wifi, and complains of /proc/net/wireless file being missing.

Where the <expletive deleted> do I set that? I'm running slackware-current dated 09/14. The wifi is a B43 using the standard kernel driver. It is a usb chip somehow linked to the pci bus via SSB, and that is appearing on the lspci output, which is a fair sign of kernel recognition.

dijetlo · 03-26-2015, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Seems like when I had a laptop that used the b43 module I had to take it through a process to get it to work. As I recall I found it on SBO / Slackbuilds.org.

I just lsmod | grep b43 to see if the kernel sees it and has loaded the module, otherwise I could find references to it in messages when it was detected during boot.

business_kid · 03-26-2015, 01:11 PM

Will get to that box and double check module loading. It looks good - showing in lspci. I will check firmware too. That thing is offline due to the wifi issue.

dijetlo · 03-26-2015, 01:46 PM

Slackbuilds b43-firmware and b43-fwcutter were the packages, maintained by none other than r.workman (who is likely lurking about giggling at our ineptitude...)

This is the homepage for the project

business_kid · 03-27-2015, 04:49 AM

Thanks for the replies, guys. This is not a newbie question.

This box has run b43 for years and ran it on this install. This is a kernel issue. That's all that changed. The details:
lsmod |grep b43 shows

b43
bcma
ssb

According to logs, it's loading firmware version 666.2.

ifconfig wlan0 up does just that. (No bytes ever sent/received, etc).
iwconfig shows wlan0 as having no wireless extensions, and shows sit0 that I know nothing about.

cat /proc/net/wireless shows "No such file or directory"

The logs show it finds the Broadcom 4311 WLAN, the PHY, and the Radio and loads the b43xx driver [ Features: PL ]. But nothing works. All the wireless utilities give me the middle finger :-(.

On a reboot, it throws these errors
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" <blah>
Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" <blah>

set failed on wlan0: invalid argument
followed by a string of ioctl errors as it tailspins.

I'm thinking either

Some files have been moved to sys and my software wants them in /proc and I have to rebuild with some "keep those old files in /proc" setting
The b43 modules or part of it is incorrigibly knackered by all this git bisecting that has gone on.

colorpurple21859 · 03-27-2015, 05:29 AM

/proc/net/wireless is a copy of /proc/net/dev according to /usr/include/linux/wireless.h. I got the info from here http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_...xtensions.html.

dijetlo · 03-27-2015, 07:25 AM

This is the output from the laptop I was referencing above with the wlan0 up

Code:

ash-4.3$ cat /proc/net/wireless
Inter-| sta-|   Quality        |   Discarded packets               | Missed | WE
 face | tus | link level noise |  nwid  crypt   frag  retry   misc | beacon | 22
 wlan0: 0000   70.  -39.  -256        0      0      0      7     22        0

bash-4.3$ sudo lsmod | egrep 'bcma|b43|ssb'
b43                   365616  0 
bcma                   32438  1 b43
mac80211              471627  1 b43
cfg80211              412363  2 b43,mac80211
ssb_hcd                 2477  0 
ssb                    52264  3 b43,b44,ssb_hcd
pcmcia                 34796  2 b43,ssb
mmc_core               90004  4 b43,ssb,sdhci,sdhci_pci
bash-4.3$ sudo lsmod | grep b43
b43                   365616  0 
bcma                   32438  1 b43
mac80211              471627  1 b43
cfg80211              412363  2 b43,mac80211
ssb                    52264  3 b43,b44,ssb_hcd
pcmcia                 34796  2 b43,ssb
mmc_core               90004  4 b43,ssb,sdhci,sdhci_pci

ash-4.3$ sudo dmesg| grep b43
[    8.881286] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found (core revision 10)
[    8.897052] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 4, Type 2 (G), Revision 8
[   44.350072] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)

bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/             
allhwsupport        hwpctl              qos
bad_frames_preempt  hwtkip              verbose
btcoex              nohwcrypt           
fwpostfix           pio                 
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/allhwsupport 
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/bad_frames_preempt 
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/btcoex             
1
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/fwpostfix 
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/hw        
hwpctl  hwtkip  
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/hwpctl 
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/hwtkip 
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/nohwcrypt 
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/pio       
0
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/qos 
1
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/verbose 
2
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/                   
coresize    holders/    initstate   parameters/ sections/   uevent
drivers/    initsize    notes/      refcnt      taint       
bash-4.3$ cat /sys/module/b43/initstate 
live

I hope that helps, if you need any other configuration data off a working example, let me know.

business_kid · 03-28-2015, 04:39 AM

Code:

bash-4.3$ sudo lsmod | egrep 'bcma|b43|ssb'

Thanks, that one proved to be interesting. I have no mac80211, no b44, no sdhi, no sdhi_pci, and no ssb_hcd.

AFAIK, I do not need b44, sdhi*, or ssb_hcd. But I do need mac80211. Here we go building again.

business_kid · 03-28-2015, 08:59 AM

Right -sending this from the offending box. We are sorted. It's singing on wifi, so I presume all the files are correct enough.

In the config, mac80211=y is not good enough, apparently. It's now a module. I also added FUSE_FS=m as well, and that sorted it out.

The git bisect did mess around whether something was set to module, or in the case of fuse, at all. I never had a good .config for this box before on such a late kernel, so that's good. (Hmmm, better check sound and the other stuff before I crow).

Thank you all for suggestions & help.

dijetlo · 03-28-2015, 10:55 AM

I've seen you do the same for others. It was my pleasure, and of course, Kudos on the save.

business_kid · 03-29-2015, 10:53 AM

Thanks. I ran off and checked other stuff - sound notably and sound id good, as far as that goes (not very far).

The powersaving seems ok also, so the only untested item is bluetooth, and I really don't care. Bluetooth was always dependent on the sun not being behind a cloud (Rare in Ireland), balancing forces from the correct coordination of planets & galaxies, and a complete lack of disturbance in the Space/Time continuum. :-P.