how to create an AP with a BCM4313 wireless card?

gtludwig · 01-16-2013, 06:04 AM

Hello all,
First of all, happy 2013!
At work I use a Dell Latitude E6420 laptop that has the following Wireless LAN Controller:

Code:

# lspci -vnn 
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Dell Inspiron M5010 / XPS 8300 [1028:0010]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at e6d00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
        Capabilities: [48] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
        Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-57-ff-ff-5f-44-6d
        Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
        Kernel driver in use: wl

I installed Slackbuild.org's broadcom-sta driver and it provided me wl driver.

I use this laptop on the wired network, but there are also some very weak wireless signals at the office I like to use for my phone and tablet, so I'd like to use the wireless adapter as an AP for my wifi gadgets.

The guides I used were:
http://www.slackwiki.com/Broadcom_Wireless
and
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:net...s_access_point

However, when I attempt to start hostapd, the following happens:

Code:

root@cpc-7863:~# /etc/rc.d/rc.hostapd start
Starting HOSTAPD:  /usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /var/run/hostapd.pid /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
ioctl(SIOCGIFINDEX): No such device
hostap driver initialization failed.
rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory
ELOOP: remaining socket: sock=4 eloop_data=0x1721150 user_data=(nil) handler=0x4366a0
root@cpc-7863:~#

I also tried to change /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf driver entry from 'nl80211' to (default) 'hostap' and interface from wlan0 to eth1 as stated on ifconfig / iwconfig bellow.

Code:

root@cpc-7863:~# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 172.16.8.171  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 172.16.8.255
        inet6 fe80::7a2b:cbff:fec4:e7d6  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 78:2b:cb:c4:e7:d6  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 247962  bytes 75093116 (71.6 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 1039  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 53212  bytes 5613682 (5.3 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 20  memory 0xe6e00000-e6e20000

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 429  bytes 31943 (31.1 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 429  bytes 31943 (31.1 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

root@cpc-7863:~# iwconfig
eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:""  Nickname:"cpc-786"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:72 Mb/s   Tx-Power:24 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

lo        no wireless extensions.

How can I make this work?
Thanks in advance!

frankbell · 01-16-2013, 08:47 PM

Sorry. Reading comprehension failure.

Richard Cranium · 01-17-2013, 02:06 AM

What version of hostapd are you using?

Did you turn up logging output in hostapd.conf to see what the logs are telling you?

What do you have in /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf for eth1?

What are the contents of /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf? (Remove any password/passphrase information from the copy that you post here.)

gtludwig · 01-17-2013, 05:17 AM

@frankbell, I'm sorry I was unable to make myself clearer. I want to configure my notebook as an AP for my mobile devices when I'm connected to the internet on the wired (eth0) interface, but something has gone awry.

@Richard Cranium,
logging output, I think so...
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf, all configs are empty
/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf is attached (just remove the .txt extension).

ml4711 · 01-17-2013, 09:30 AM

Before using too much time on this, see if your device actually supports the AP function.
Run as root this command (you vil get a lot of output) - look for Supported interface modes:

Code:

iw phy phy0 info
...
 Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * AP/VLAN
                 * WDS
                 * monitor
                 * mesh point
...

This output is for a D-Link Corp. - Ralink USB device.

frankbell · 01-17-2013, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtludwig

@frankbell, I'm sorry I was unable to make myself clearer. I want to configure my notebook as an AP for my mobile devices when I'm connected to the internet on the wired (eth0) interface, but something has gone awry.

No no no! I misread your post. You were quite clear. I was a dunderhead.

allend · 01-17-2013, 08:39 PM

Quote:

How can I make this work?

It looks like you wont. http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...=92269#p470232

gtludwig · 01-18-2013, 05:22 AM

@allend, thanks for the info!

@ml4711, apparently this laptop isn't very wireless friendly on Slackware. I see the WiFi led on, but wicd won't find any networks. Also, when I attempt either of the following commands:

Code:

# iw list
# iw phy phy0 info

I get this:

Code:

nl80211 not found.

Now I wonder, shouldn't nl80211 be available after installing SlackBuild's broadcom-sta package?

Thanks in advance,

frankbell · 01-18-2013, 08:33 PM

Did you install bw-fwcutter and bw-firmware in addition to the driver?

You can read about my struggles to get Broadcom working with Slack here. The replies I got may be helpful to you; they were to me.

ml4711 · 01-19-2013, 04:13 AM

Quote:

@ml4711, apparently this laptop isn't very wireless friendly on Slackware. I see the WiFi led on, but wicd won't find any networks. Also, when I attempt either of the following commands:

Code:

# iw list
# iw phy phy0 info

I get this:
Code:

Code:

nl80211 not found.

Now I wonder, shouldn't nl80211 be available after installing SlackBuild's broadcom-sta package?

No - that wireless adapter just doesn't work with iw,
because it obviously does not (yet?) use nl80211 (code written and compiled against nl80211.h).

With this device you can only use the old tools iwconfig / iwlist.

slacktroll · 01-19-2013, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtludwig

@allend, thanks for the info!

@ml4711, apparently this laptop isn't very wireless friendly on Slackware. I see the WiFi led on, but wicd won't find any networks. Also, when I attempt either of the following commands:

Code:

# iw list
# iw phy phy0 info

I get this:

Code:

nl80211 not found.

Now I wonder, shouldn't nl80211 be available after installing SlackBuild's broadcom-sta package?

Thanks in advance,

What about just

iwconfig eth1 mode master?
if that works, you don't need hostapd, just set the essid to something, turn on encryption and there you go?

(otherwise you canactual use mode ad-hoc but haha that might be slow)