I partitioned 250 Gb HDD on eMachines model eME7322 runninig Windows 7 Premium to allow 100 Gb for Linux OS. I burned CD of Debian-7.1.0-amd64-netinst which loaded and installation ran until warning of missing firmware "brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw and bcm43xx-hdr-0.fw". I didn't know what to do and skipped it. Everything completed and the OS was loaded and partitions correctly formatted. GRUB works find BUT there is no wireless connection to wifi router. I used a wired connection to the router for the installation, otherwise there is no access to internet.

There is no problem in Windows as the laptop always finds any available wifi signal, so the wireless card is functioning OK.

I subsequently found the missing firmware at git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/brcm. I downloaded and saved all the files
Mode Name Size
-rw-r--r-- bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin 269595 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- bcm43xx-0.fw 96224 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw 180 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- brcmfmac43236b.bin 348160 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- brcmfmac4329.bin 253748 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- brcmfmac4330.bin 222126 logstatsplain
-rw-r--r-- brcmfmac4334.bin 451566 logstatsplain

There was no brcm directory in /lib/firmware, so I mkdir brcm and cp all the files to it. However, on rebooting there is still an error at the loading of brcm files. I can't read the verbose loading record as it whizzes past and don't know how to step through it. It seems something is still missing as I just catch a line ..."brcmsmac ... failed."

Hi,

your wireless chip needs that non free firmware. AFAIK the simplest way to get it by installing the firmware-b43-installer package.

To do this make sure you have a "contrib" line in your /etc/apt/sources.list
Eg
Then update the package list, as root run:
Then install the package which will download and install the firmware, as root run:
See https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx for more information.

Evo2.

PS. You can delete the files that you manually downloaded.
PPS. If you want to install something *always* try to do it with your package manager before attempting to do it manually.

Thank you evo2.

I rm all the files I had copied to /lib/firmware/brcm and then rmdir brcm itself.
I edited sources.list adding the "contrib" line.
Then, performed the apt-get update and apt-get install firmware-b43-installer, which showed additional space being used.
I removed the wired connection to my router and rebooted. I was hoping that a new network icon would appear on the right of top bar. There was nothing.
I opened the network troubleshooting and opened a terminal.
Terminal: nm-tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Wired
Driver: tg3
State: unmanaged
Default: no
HW Address: 60:EB:69:8C:F1:A9

Capabilities:
Carrier Detect: yes

Wired Properties
Carrier: off

I did not understand why the wired connection was still showing when I had removed it. However, "State: connected" seemed significant although I did not understand the next page in the troubleshooter guide "Check that the wireless adapter was recognized"
I typed lshw -C network and pressed Enter. "If this gives an error message, you may need to install the lshw program on your computer."
bash reported that command not found.

As a noob, I feel completely out of my depth with this. Thank you for your assistance. Is the "lshw program" a package I must install?

is there a hardware switch that must be enabled to toggle wifi (like the blue fn button and f6 or something).

what do these commands yeild:
maybe will fix it ?

LOL Well scheidz, if I felt out of my depth before, I am drowned now :-)

tuddy@tycornel:~$ echo uname: && uname -a -m -p && echo lspci: && lspci && echo lsusb: && lsusb && echo lsmod: && lsmod && echo ifconfig: && ifconfig && echo ifconfig -a: && ifconfig -a && echo iwconfig: && iwconfig && echo resolv.conf: && cat /etc/resolv.conf && echo route: && route -n
uname:
Linux tycornel 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.46-1+deb7u1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
7f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 05)
7f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
7f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
7f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
7f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)
7f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)
lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:6366 Alcor Micro Corp. Multi Flash Reader
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 15d9:0a4c Trust International B.V. USB+PS/2 Optical Mouse
lsmod:
Module Size Used by
parport_pc 22364 0
ppdev 12763 0
lp 17149 0
parport 31858 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
bnep 17567 2
rfcomm 33700 0
bluetooth 119455 10 rfcomm,bnep
binfmt_misc 12957 1
uinput 17440 1
nfsd 216170 2
nfs 308313 0
nfs_acl 12511 2 nfs,nfsd
auth_rpcgss 37143 2 nfs,nfsd
fscache 36739 1 nfs
lockd 67306 2 nfs,nfsd
sunrpc 173730 6 lockd,auth_rpcgss,nfs_acl,nfs,nfsd
loop 22641 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 30824 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 188858 1
brcmsmac 473905 0
joydev 17266 0
i915 378417 3
snd_hda_intel 26259 2
acer_wmi 26081 0
snd_hda_codec 78031 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
sparse_keymap 12760 1 acer_wmi
drm_kms_helper 31370 1 i915
cordic 12352 1 brcmsmac
drm 183952 4 drm_kms_helper,i915
snd_hwdep 13186 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 68083 3 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
snd_page_alloc 13003 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
crc8 12426 1 brcmsmac
brcmutil 12905 1 brcmsmac
mac80211 192806 1 brcmsmac
cfg80211 137243 2 mac80211,brcmsmac
snd_seq 45126 0
snd_seq_device 13176 1 snd_seq
snd_timer 22917 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
iTCO_wdt 17081 0
intel_ips 17650 0
rfkill 19012 5 cfg80211,acer_wmi,bluetooth
psmouse 69265 0
i2c_algo_bit 12841 1 i915
acpi_cpufreq 12935 1
i2c_i801 16870 0
serio_raw 12931 0
pcspkr 12579 0
snd 52889 13 snd_timer,snd_seq_device,snd_seq,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek ,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
i2c_core 23876 5 i2c_i801,i2c_algo_bit,drm,drm_kms_helper,i915
coretemp 12898 0
mperf 12453 1 acpi_cpufreq
evdev 17562 21
iTCO_vendor_support 12704 1 iTCO_wdt
ac 12624 0
video 17683 1 i915
battery 13146 0
processor 28157 1 acpi_cpufreq
wmi 13243 1 acer_wmi
button 12937 1 i915
soundcore 13065 1 snd
power_supply 13475 2 battery,ac
ext4 350763 1
crc16 12343 2 ext4,bluetooth
jbd2 62115 1 ext4
mbcache 13114 1 ext4
usbhid 36418 0
hid 81328 1 usbhid
usb_storage 43870 0
sg 25874 0
sr_mod 21899 0
cdrom 35401 1 sr_mod
sd_mod 36136 3
crc_t10dif 12348 1 sd_mod
broadcom 13032 0
thermal 17383 0
thermal_sys 18040 3 thermal,processor,video
tg3 118977 0
libphy 19057 2 tg3,broadcom
ahci 24997 2
libahci 22860 1 ahci
libata 140630 2 libahci,ahci
ehci_hcd 40215 0
scsi_mod 162269 5 libata,sd_mod,sr_mod,sg,usb_storage
usbcore 128741 4 ehci_hcd,usb_storage,usbhid
usb_common 12354 1 usbcore
ifconfig:
bash: ifconfig: command not found
tuddy@tycornel:~$

Apologies, schneidz. Yes, there is a toggle switch for wifi. a blue fn key held and F3. It is on. I checked in Windows.

Thank you for looking at this.

Hi,
Excellent.

Did any sort of network icon appear?
Even with the cable disconnected your eth0 device still exists.

I don't know what this "troubleshooter guide" is, but in this case it doesn't matter. The lshw command will list the various hardware your computer has, but we already know from your other post that you have a BCM43225 802.11b/g/n. For the record, yes the lshw command is provided by the lshw package which, if you wanted to you could install with the following command:
In general, if you want to find out what package provides a given program you can use "apt-cache search". For example, try running the following:
Anyway futher on to the problem. So that we can see if the firmware has been loaded please run the following command and post the output:
This searches (using the grep command) for the string (of "keyword") firmware in the log file that contains information from the linux kernel.

Next, please run the following two commands and post their output
This will list information about the status of all your network (wired, wireless, virtual etc) devices.

And
This will print information specific to wireless network devices.

Evo2.

@evo2 Just for the record, Debian provides a Desktop Help->Networking, web, email & chat->Wireless, which runs for many pages stepping one through investigative actions very much as you are now kindly doing. Thank you.
Results of grep search
Result of /sbin/ifconfig -a
Result of /sbin/iwconfig
Nevertheless, I have installed firmware-b43-installer as aptitude search of new packages shows
Could it be that this installer does not support BCM43225 802.11b/g/n? The supported chipsets above suggests that BCM4322 is limited to 14e4:432b (whatever that is!)

Regarding the network icon, I think this must be an odd outline of a "monitor on a table" which could mean device connected to network. When I click it a dropdown menu shows "Wired - unmanaged" and "Network Settings"->a new window where a network proxy may be configured. I experimented with this but nothing I entered could be saved.

kestreltowers

Hi,

this is all very useful information. From dmesg it is now clear that we have been chasing the wrong driver and wrong firmware. Please see https://wiki.debian.org/brcm80211

Basically, you just need to install the firmware-brcm80211 package
and reload the driver eg
(or reboot if you really want to).

HTH,

Evo2.

1 members found this post helpful.

@evo2 OH JOY! Oh rapture. It is good to have my laptop independent once more of its wired connection. The solution was simple with your assistance. Thank you. It highlights the problem for any beginner. There is no way I could have stumbled by chance on the commands of enquiry and understood the results without your help. Thanks must also go to LinuxQuestions for providing this forum.

kestreltowers