Hi everybody.I am sure you are all tired of seeing these wireless problems over and over again. There is so much information out there I am just overwhelmed with it at this point so I just thought I would ask. I have been running various versions of ubuntu for several years and have been able to figure things out with great success so far, however now i am stumped. I have an older Uniwill laptop with a broadcom 4303 wireless card built in. It worked perfectly with ubuntu 10.04. I remember having to install the special driver from the additional drivers list for it when installing 10.04 and it worked fine until I clean installed 11.04.
This is what I am seeing:

paul@laptop:~$ lshw -c network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
product: SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet
vendor: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]
physical id: 4
bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0
logical name: eth0
version: 91
serial: 00:a0:cc:dd:5f:da
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=sis900 driverversion=v1.08.10 Apr. 2 2006 duplex=full ip=192.168.0.102 latency=64 maxlatency=11 mingnt=52 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:19 ioport:cc00(size=256) memory:dbffa000-dbffafff memory:dbfa0000-dbfbffff
*-network:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4303 802.11b Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: memory:dbff8000-dbff9fff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
paul@laptop:~$
It is my understanding "unclaimed" means there is no driver installed. Please if somebody has come across this and has any ideas I would appreciate it. Seems like these wireless cards are a real bear at times.
Thanks in advance.

product: BCM4303 802.11b Wireless LAN Controller

You have a broadcom bcm43xx card - this card uses proprietary firmware.
The proprietary drivers can be activated under the desktop menu System > Administration > Hardware/Additional Drivers using an existing Internet connection (eg - a wired network).

http://ipnlinux.org/?q=node/12

Thanks, did that and apparently I already had the newest version of that driver.

Reading state information... Done
bcmwl-kernel-source is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
paul@laptop:~$

When I look in the system>administration>additional drivers tab I only have one listed. For my graphics card. nvidia cards support.
That is stumping me now, why isn't it seeing the wireless there?
Thanks in advance.

try these two commands to see the results:
and

Ok, etech3, did that here is the result.
paul@laptop:~$ lshw -c network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
product: SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet
vendor: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]
physical id: 4
bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0
logical name: eth0
version: 91
serial: 00:a0:cc:dd:5f:da
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=sis900 driverversion=v1.08.10 Apr. 2 2006 duplex=full ip=192.168.0.102 latency=64 maxlatency=11 mingnt=52 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:19 ioport:cc00(size=256) memory:dbffa000-dbffafff memory:dbfa0000-dbfbffff
*-network:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4303 802.11b Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: memory:dbff8000-dbff9fff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
paul@laptop:~$ lspci | grep -i wireless
00:0a.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4303 802.11b Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
paul@laptop:~$
I am just stumped as to how to activate the card. I think that is what I have to do right? I have the driver and the card is there but the two won't get together. Is there code for "switching on" the card? My computer doesn't have the wireless on/off button like newer ones do.
Thanks everybody..

I have a Broadcom card and when setting it up, I find Linux Wireless to be an invaluable source. This page has the instructions for enabling it. Read them thoroughly before continuing - also see dmesg (open a terminal and type in 'demesg' and read through for the wireless card errors) - before applying the instructions.

Following the instruxtions it tells you
How do you find "the proper" location in Debian and is it a different location for Ubuntu?

Just navigate to /lib/firmware, and see if the directory exists. If it does, look in there to see if other firmware files are stored there. Most likely, that is the default location for firmware files in your system, since I have never personally seen a different location for them.

OK basically I think I have the right drivers installed. My problem is they are not showing up in the drivers list. I ran the b43 installer and restarted and it still won't show up on the list. Only the nvidia graphics driver will show.is the driver installed and just not running? Or is there something else I have to do to get the system to find the card? I seem to think there is a step I am missing that activates either the driver or the card. Any more ideas are very welcome. I am probably going to reinstall 10.04 again if I cant get this working. A laptop is kind of a pain to use with a cat5 cord dragging along.

I would have gone for

iwconfig

... and this may sound silly, but make sure you've got wireless switched on.
This is something that, these days, normally "just works".

Note: normally you'd install the drivers through the HW drvers dialog. The device then get counted as enabled if the driver is installed. From what you say, the dialog never listed the card as requiring special drivers in the first place. Is this correct?

Ok, I did iwconfig and I get this


paul@laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

I assume that means the card is not on. How does one switch it on. (I don't have any external switch on the laptop, or quick-key I am aware of.)I am betting that is my problem. I wish I had written down how I did it forever ago on 10,04. I don't remember it being much of a chore.
Yes you are correct. The dialog box for hardware drivers is not displaying anything to do with the wifi. only graphics.
Thanks,

That would be a safe bet.
There is always a switch of some kind - mine is fn+F10 - look for something that looks like a wireless symbol anywhere (start close to the wireless led). And it can be anywhere - I've seen a physical switch just under the front of the chassis on a Toshiba. What brand of laptop?

I will look. It is a uniwill. I will try to find the original documentation for the laptop. Get back to you.

I dont have a switch or button for wifi. I found the original manual for the laptop and there is no hotkey for toggling wifi on/off. You are supposed to switch it into airplaine mode thru the os interface. I am going to reinstall 10.04. I know I can get it working on that version. Thanks every body for your help. There must be something different enough between versions that makes it work on the older one.

pbowe, run this command and post the output please:

lspci -vnn | grep 14e4

I'm used to dealing with misbehaving Broadcom hardware, from that output I can tell you how to get your wireless working with ease.