Unable to connect to wireless network - Broadcom BCM4311
I was told by an experienced Linux user/IT professional that older Broadcom wireless cards had embedded code preventing access through non-Windows OS's. I was told that there were drivers that were basically "hacks" for skirting this issue. I've tried two different drivers and neither seems to be doing the trick. My current driver is the "Broadcom STA wireless driver".
Symptoms
Here's what the terminal says about my wireless card: 05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01) Subsystem: AMBIT Microsystem Corp. Device [1468:0422] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: wl Kernel modules: wl, ssb |
Welcome to LQ!
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What we need at this point is some more information, particuarly: -Distro your using -The computer you're using -How you installed the sta driver -A brief description of how you're trying to connect and authenticate -The outputs from ifconfig and iwconfig |
Thank you for your help.
- I had to look up the term "distro"... I assume Ubuntu is what you're looking for. - Acer Aspire 5610Z. - I installed the driver through the Hardware Driver utility in Ubuntu. - It's trying to connect automatically. I try and authenticate by entering my password in the box that pops up. I authenticate with my router/network password. I also tried using my router security key as well... just in case. - Here are the outputs you asked for: tim@tim-laptop:~$ ifconfig eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1b:38:26:0a:89 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) Interrupt:21 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1c:26:0e:aa:f3 inet6 addr: fe80::21c:26ff:fe0e:aaf3/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:31 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:2707 TX packets:31 errors:6 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:3503 (3.5 KB) TX bytes:4495 (4.4 KB) Interrupt:19 eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:60:6e:6f:07:09 inet addr:192.168.0.103 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::260:6eff:fe6f:709/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:2440 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:1594 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:1146876 (1.1 MB) TX bytes:290618 (290.6 KB) lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:720 (720.0 B) TX bytes:720 (720.0 B) ************************************************************** tim@tim-laptop:~$ iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. eth1 IEEE 802.11 Access Point: Not-Associated Link Quality:5 Signal level:0 Noise level:199 Rx invalid nwid:0 invalid crypt:2 invalid misc:0 eth0 no wireless extensions. eth2 no wireless extensions. tim@tim-laptop:~$ |
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In addition to what alan99 noted, this is odd:
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Also, please post the output of lsmod. Like alan99, I suspect there may be some driver conflicts going on that would require some blacklisting. |
My SSID and Password are "permanently" saved. When the authentication window pops up those fields are already populated. There isn't a place to enter my security key. The edit window for my network shows:
-SSID-populated -Mode-Infrastructure or Ad-Hoc -BSSID-unpopulated -MAC Address-unpopulated (when I enter the MAC ID from my router, I cannot exit the edit window... maybe not the right format (0024017B1C77)) -MTU-Automatic How do I blacklist or unload the module? Here's the lsmod output tim@tim-laptop:~$ lsmod Module Size Used by binfmt_misc 6587 1 ppdev 5259 0 snd_hda_codec_realtek 203168 1 fbcon 35102 71 tileblit 2031 1 fbcon font 7557 1 fbcon bitblit 4707 1 fbcon softcursor 1189 1 bitblit vga16fb 11385 0 vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb joydev 8708 0 b44 25542 0 ssb 37336 1 b44 pcmcia 33024 0 snd_hda_intel 21877 2 snd_hda_codec 74201 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm_oss 35308 0 snd_mixer_oss 13746 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_pcm 70662 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss asix 12131 0 snd_seq_dummy 1338 0 snd_seq_oss 26726 0 lib80211_crypt_tkip 7596 0 snd_seq_midi 4557 0 snd_rawmidi 19056 1 snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event 6003 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi snd_seq 47263 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event snd_timer 19098 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq snd_seq_device 5700 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq usbnet 14943 1 asix i915 282354 3 wl 1959598 0 uvcvideo 56990 0 drm_kms_helper 29297 1 i915 snd 54148 16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_se q_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device yenta_socket 20408 1 rsrc_nonstatic 10015 1 yenta_socket mii 4381 3 b44,asix,usbnet videodev 34361 1 uvcvideo acer_wmi 13861 0 v4l1_compat 13251 2 uvcvideo,videodev drm 162471 4 i915,drm_kms_helper sdhci_pci 5470 0 sdhci 15462 1 sdhci_pci lib80211 5046 2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl pcmcia_core 32964 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic led_class 2864 2 acer_wmi,sdhci psmouse 63245 0 serio_raw 3978 0 intel_agp 24177 2 i915 soundcore 6620 1 snd snd_page_alloc 7076 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm agpgart 31724 2 drm,intel_agp i2c_algo_bit 5028 1 i915 video 17375 1 i915 output 1871 1 video lp 7028 0 parport 32635 2 ppdev,lp tim@tim-laptop:~$ |
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The lsmod output looks pretty normal. The b43 driver is not loading, which is good because it would definitely conflict with the wl driver. Now that said, ssb is loading because of b44 (the driver for your wired connection) and that may be causing trouble. Try adding ssb to your blacklist (/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf) and then reboot and see if that helps. If you just want to unload it without rebooting, you could try this: Code:
modprobe -r wl |
Are you using wpa on your router? Do you have WPA supplicant installed or configured on the laptop?
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I wanted to thank everyone for their help. As it turns out, my wireless card is fine... I am able to connect to wireless networks that are not password protected.
Now I need to figure out how to connect to my own network. I'll start another, appropriately titled thread if I need help. Thanks again. |
I've since purchased a new computer but I'm thankful that I finally figured out the issue with my wireless router.
Quite simply... the security key is case sensitive. |
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