Did you look for those files in "/lib/firmware"?

Also, as PTrenholme mentioned, if you are trying to use ndiswrapper with the Windows driver for the same device at the same time as you are loading b43, it will not work.

PTrenholme,

Here is where I am. modprobe -r ndiswrapper gives me the following output:

FATAL: Error removing ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/ubuntu/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper.ko): Operation not permitted

Also, David1357, I think my firmware is not correct or is missing, I've looked in my lib/firmware directory and there is no b43/ucode5.fw. Output from dsmeg:

.
[46.340083]firmware:requestingb43/ucode5.fw
[ 46.376131] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 46.376144] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[ 46.448134] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input11
[ 46.524064] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 46.529468] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 46.529483] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

I think if I can get the ndiswrapper properly removed and get the firmware what it wants, it would work. I'm I close?

In Ubuntu you need to precede any command needing "administrative" access with the sudo directive. Hence, to remove ndiswrapper, use sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper.

As to the location to which the firmware is extracted, you need to specify that with the -W /lib/firmware option to the b43-fwcutter command. (See man b43-fwcutter for detials.) Note that, here, too, you'll need to precede the commnad with the sudo directive since you would not, normally, be able to write to the /lib directory.

Oh, check to make sure that the firmware subdirectory exists before you do the extraction. (ls /lib/firmware) If it doesn't existe, do a sudo mkdir /lib/firmware to create it.

PTrenholme,

Ok, I have b43 and b43legacy directories in lib/firmware. And when I ran sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper, only prompt came back, --no errors -- unlike before.

I ran dmesg again - and I still get the following error: Says it can't find b43/ucode5.fw -- but it is there. I have not rebooted the system yet.

46.240386] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
[ 46.340083] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 46.376131] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 46.376144] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).
[ 46.448134] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input11
[ 46.524064] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 46.529468] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[ 46.529483] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

You shouldn't need to reboot.

When you say the firmware is "there," do you mean that you've done a ls /lib/firmware/b43/ and seen ucode5.fw in that list? If so, do a long listing (ls -l /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw and confirm that the description line starts like this:The "root root" in that string means that the file is owned by "root" and belongs in the "root" group. The "-rw-r--r--" means that the owner can read and write to the file (the rw- after the first -), members of the "root" group can read the file (the next three symbols, r--), and that anyone can read the file too (the last three symbols). FYI: the very first - indicates that the file is not a "special" one, and the third - in each of the three sets of three symbols would be an x if the file could be executable. If the "file" is a directory descriptor, an x would mean that the directory was readable by, respectively, the owner, group, or others.)

Anyhow, if the permissions are not as I specified, you can change the owner and group by using sudo chown root:root /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw, and the access permissions by sudo chmod u=rw,g=r,o=r /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw

That has the same time stamp in both dmesg outputs. You need to look further down. Or you need to "sudo rmmod b43 && sudo modprobe b43".

PTrenholme and David1357,

ls -l /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw produces this output:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22384 2009-03-31 22:40 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw

It reads as you said it should correct? I didn't need change it. However since last night have rebooted the system and now the previous error messages that I found in the dmesg out is no longer there. Now the relevant part looks like this.

[ 27.680265] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
[ 27.772051] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 27.824909] firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw
[ 27.828733] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
[ 27.863834] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
[ 28.100032] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 28.216473] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 28.218400] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 28.218850] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
[ 28.382548] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[ 28.392358] [fglrx] Reserved FB block: Shared offset:0, size:40000
[ 28.392364] [fglrx] Reserved FB block: Unshared offset:7fb1000, size:44000
[ 28.392367] [fglrx] Reserved FB block: Unshared offset:7ff5000, size:b000
[ 29.044091] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:c0:02:3a:9f:6e
[ 29.045525] wlan0: authenticated
[ 29.045528] wlan0: associate with AP 00:c0:02:3a:9f:6e
[ 29.047605] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:c0:02:3a:9f:6e (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=1)
[ 29.047608] wlan0: associated
[ 29.082984] wlan0: disassociating by local choice (reason=3)

I'm going to try to bring up the wireless...see what happens. I let know if I am successful. Many thanks for all your help.

PTrenholme and David1357,

VICTORY!! Thanks again. You guys were very, very helpful and patient.

Kudos to both of you.

Spearhead 40

You are very welcome. I think we all get a vicarious thrill to hear that someone else got something working.