which driver for broadcom wireless on laptop?
 

trying to figure out which driver to install for wireless card.
Running OpenSuSE 10.1 Turion 64 bit on an HP Pavilion dv5115nr

here is wireless card:
# lspci
06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

here is PCI ID:
# lspci -n
06:02.0 Class 0280: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)
Here is all entries with 14e4:4318 (rev 02) from
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...index.php/List

49. Card: Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] in HP Compaq nx6125 AMD Turion 64 notebook

* Chipset: Broadcom BCM4318 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
* PCIID: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)
* Driver: 32-bit driver version 3.100.64.0 from HP support page (download SP30676.exe)
* Other: 32-bit Gentoo Linux system with ndiswrapper 1.5 and Linux Kernel 2.6.14.2. I used the files bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys.

50. Card: Broadcom BCM94318 built-in on Compaq Presario V2311US (V2000Z) Turion64

* Chipset: Broadcom BCM4318 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
* pciid: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)
* Driver: Works in 64-bit mode with bcmwl5.inf (with BCMWL564.SYS) in WL_T60H906(8.0.10.0,XP64_logo) obtained from Acer at ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/note...bit/80211g.zip
* Other: Fedora Core 3 x86_64 on kernel 2.6.12-1.1372_FC3 and ndiswrapper-1.2-0.lvn.3.3.rpm. Please note, does NOT work with netbc564.inf from Linuxant web site as of 8/22/05, so use the drivers from the Acer website above. Official product webpage: http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wir...tions/BCM94318

51. Card: Broadcom BCM4318 installed in a Gateway 7510GX

* Chipset: Broadcom BCM4318 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
* pciid: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)
* Driver: 64-bit Driver from http://csd.acer.com.tw/SI/Download2.nsf/1815c7c6f8aff65d48256bdd0035cffd/eab20c4cf34cbba94825702e0016527b/$FILE/80211g.rar
* Other: This is the only driver I could get to work with the AMD Athlon 64 mobile processor that comes with the Gateway 7510GX using Suse 9.3 Pro. Unpack the .rar, and a ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf and you are set to go!

49 is out because its 32 bits, but 50 and 51 are 64 bits, but neither of them is my laptop model.
what to choose?

To be honest, try both and see which one works best (if at all). The other alternative would be to check the HP site and see if they have any drivers for your card. For you the important bit is to make sure that they are 64 bit drivers and not 32 bit drivers.

turns out i can't get 51 because you need an acer account
so i tried 50, but i don't think it worked:

# ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
Installing bcmwl5
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
# ndiswrapper -l
Installed drivers:
bcmw15 invalid driver!
bcmwl5 driver installed, hardware present
# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
sit0 no wireless extensions.
# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

Yeah, that invalid driver statement tells the whole tale. Have you checked the HP web site for drivers for this card?

I downloaded the driver from HP on your suggestion.
I think it is the same, but i tried it anyway.
Looks like the problem is that the driver is 32 bit only

# ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
Installing bcmwl5
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2
Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMode|2

----------

/var/log/messages:
May 19 18:11:06 laptop kernel: ndiswrapper: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
May 19 18:11:06 laptop kernel: ndiswrapper version 1.10 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
May 19 18:11:06 laptop loadndisdriver: loadndisdriver: load_driver(361): couldn't load driver bcmwl5
May 19 18:11:06 laptop kernel: ndiswrapper (check_nt_hdr:149): Windows driver is not 64-bit; bad magic: 010B
May 19 18:11:06 laptop kernel: ndiswrapper (load_sys_files:213): couldn't prepare driver 'bcmwl5'
May 19 18:11:06 laptop kernel: ndiswrapper (load_wrap_driver:111): loadndiswrapper failed (65280); check system log for messages from 'loadndisdriver'

Yeah, a 32 bit driver simply isn't going to work on a 64 bit system.

You might want to have a look at this thread. There is a link directly to the Acer zip file and you won't need an account to get it. You might want to give it a try.

So, i finally got the wireless to work. 3 things:

1. Instead of using ndsiwrapper, i used driverloader (http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/). It costs $20 for a license, but imho is well worth it. The driverloader sw is good and the tech support is also good.

2. Go into ActionTec configuration page and make sure settings were correct (broadcast the ESSID, make sure that the ESSID string is not empty, disable all MAC address filtering, mae sure that the channel is set between 1 and 11 (mine was 9 which is fine) . disable CTS protection mode, use latest firmware version for your access point)

3. There is an enable/disable wireless connection in the BIOS. It was disabled, simply changed it to enable.