Just installed wifi driver, internet is really choppy and I'm not sure why.
 

I just installed Slackware 14 on my T42 thinkpad laptop, which has no on-board wifi because mine is 6mos older than the first model that does... But it was a gift, and I'm not one to scoff at free things. So to fix the need for wifi I bought this pcmcia card and installed the appropriate driver (downloaded b43-cutter and used the b43 driver). The device is recognized but only the 2.4Ghz range is available. I had debian on the laptop before with the same driver and it worked on both frequencies. Being that I'm new to slack I don't know what I might have missed or what I need to do to troubleshoot this.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Important Update: I wound up installing broadcom-sta from slackbuild on a clean slackware 14 install, patched it with the included patch, now when I try to modprobe wl it kicks back the following:

I have no idea what this means. Can anyone provide some insight?

Having used a desktop version of a similar card, the Linksys WMP600N, I believe the problem is the kernel version you're using. Slackware 14 comes with an older kernel, 3.2.29, where the wifi driver was still in a poor state. To verify this, check for dropped packets on the wlan0 interface with:
Here are your options:

• Upgrade your kernel. I'm currently running kernel 3.9.11 and get good performance and also 5GHz support.
• Download the closed-source driver for your card from Broadcom. It will work well for kernels up to 3.4 or so. I don't remember getting 5 GHz support with it and I stopped using it after realizing the rt2800pci driver worked better.
• Stay with the same kernel version and utilize backports to use a newer driver with an older kernel. See here: https://backports.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page.

Well I just tried to connect to my network but it won't connect. I'm using wicd-gtk because I can't figure out the cli for wicd. I also don't know how to go about upgrading the kernel on this OS. Would there be any detriment to upgrading to the latest kernel version?

slacker,
Have you tried just uninstalling the b43 stuff and trying to use "broadcom-sta" from
slackbuilds.org instead?
Broadcom is notoriously crap for Linux support. Some chips work best with the b43-cutter
thing and some only work with the broadcom-sta.

The CLI interface for wicd: just run "wicd-curses" in a terminal.

Yeah, that can be tricky sometimes: you can use wicd, or Network Manager (kind of bloated), or try a manual configuration like this: http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...ckware:network. I set my connection manually as it always connects faster that way. If you need some help I can try to give you a step-by-step guide.

An easy way to test if the latest kernel drivers will fix your problem: try running a live CD like Arch that uses the latest kernel and see if you can connect to your network with no dropped packets. If it works, you should be able to replicate that in Slackware.

As far as upgrading the kernel, there can be some downsides. First, if you have an Nvidia card and use proprietary drivers sometimes the binary drivers won't build on the latest kernel without patching. AMD proprietary drivers sometimes have problems with too new of a kernel. Also, you can come across kernel regressions or just new bugs if you're too cutting edge. I usually stay a few revisions behind the latest and let the Arch guys test out the latest kernel. Hopefully this will help if you want to update your kernel: http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...kernelbuilding.

STDOUBT:
Oh my... I can't believe I never saw anyone mention that! This makes it sooo much easier! Thank you!

I haven't tried broadcom-sta, because I honestly don't know the difference between it and b43.

vik:
I would be fine with that for my home network, but once this is up and running, I'm going to be using this laptop for on-site troubleshooting (I'm an IT tech by trade, mostly residential Windows/networking stuff) so I'll need to be able to connect to a multitude of networks and manually setting up each one just isn't feasible.
STDOUBT mentioned wicd-curses and I never knew that was a thing so I'm quite pleased with that.

What keeps happening is the connection with wicd gets to the "Obtaining IP address" then it just quits or dies or stops or something. Not really sure where to go with that except to try the broadcom-sta that STDOUBT suggested.

As far as kernel things, I was using this laptop as a trial run type thing before loading it up on my desktop so that's when proprietary drivers would become an issue. This laptop is pretty basic. Never heard of kernel regressions though, could you explain that for me?

In my (admittedly limited) experience with Broadcom chips, that is caused by the kernel module, so yeah, try the broadcom-sta, and if that doesn't work, I would try a newer kernel.

That could be a driver problem but it sounds like it might be a wireless config setting problem. Honestly I never had much luck with wicd. Try NetworkManager and see if that works for you. It is installed by default with Slackware 14 so you should just be able to do
.
If you're using KDE there should be a network configuration option in the menu somewhere. If you're using another Desktop Environment install network-manager-applet from SlackBuilds.org. Once you get it working, go to a website and see if you're getting dropped packets.

By regressions I mean bugs that were fixed in previous versions of the kernels that somehow creep up again in later kernels.

I have NetworkManager, but I'm primarily using a cli interface. How does one use NetworkManager from cli?

root:~# NetworkManager --help

This might happen if you haven't set your wpa key in wicd-curses. Run wicd-curses as root, use the right arrow on your router and set the wpa key there. Then run wicd-curses again as user.

I made sure to check that, my key is set, the key type is correct, everything is right. Also, networking can only be managed by root on my system, I can't even get wicd-gtk to do anything without root level permissions.

Well, that didn't do much but it got me in the right direction... sort of. I went through the man pages and read everything there, but I still don't know how to use it to actually scan for and connect to a network from cli. nmcli is the tool I need I think, but can't figure out how to use it to scan and connect to anything, even after RTFM.

I had to uninstall wicd and install NetworkManager and reboot to have NetworkManager actually be the working app. I had installed NM and rebooted (just because) and wicd remained 'in charge', so the reason I uninstalled it.

Can you run this?

In addition to turning on NetworkManager as mention above you also need to turn off wicd with "chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.wicd".

Brian

I find that key problems hang at the Authenticating stage and don't get to the obtaining ip address stage. When it hangs at the ip address stage in my own experience it has been related to drivers.

Brian

Yes, that's right. If we can see the wicd log we might get some more clues.

It definitely could be driver-related: easiest way to test that theory is run an Archlinux Live CD (latest kernel) and see if you can connect to the network with it.

If you're not using X there's a python program called cnetworkmanager you might want to try http://vidner.net/martin/software/cnetworkmanager.

Sorry for the delay, the entire wicd log can be seen here. If more logs are needed, let me know. .
As the system initializes everything before login, there are a few messages that look suspicious but I don't know what log those are saved to.

Would I be able to initialize the broadcom driver within a live cd?

Can you check these things in wicd?

- Check that you have selected the correct Driver in the Advanced tab in preferences WPA/WPA2/WEXT.
- Shut down the wicd gui, and try to connect with wicd-curses.
- Check if there are any error messages from dmesg after running wicd. Post the output here.
- Install and run wireshark and make it listen on your wireless interface and post the output here.

hmmm.... if it is a driver issue, as a _last_ resort you may try the windows driver via ndiswrapper (if it works) and blacklist the kernel driver from loading. I know it sound ridiculous, but I had a laptop that worked better with the windows wireless driver.

I'll do this tomorrow and get back to you with the results.


I've tried ndiswrapper under debian, only allowed access to 2.4 Ghz range, and only on the 2.6 kernel.

You probably need a newer kernel and the latest firmware. Some of the earlier firmware has problems and the b43 driver included in 3.2 may be immature for that chipset. The best thing you can do at this stage is compile a 3.10.x and take it from there.

You haven't explained where you got the firmware from or how you installed it?

Or you can try the broadcom-sta driver first.

Got the driver from here. I just installed broadcom-sta from slackbuilds last night but it isn't showing up in lsmod. I tried modprobe wl and it kicked back this:
Not sure what this means exactly.

I've never had to do a manual kernel upgrade, where would I start with that?

The broadcom-sta/wl driver is a pain... I would suggest building a newer kernel and trying b43 first.

If you still want to press on with wl, this post may be useful: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post4797896

If you followed the instructions in your link to wireless.kernel.org, you should have extracted the firmware to
The slackbuild may have been simpler (and cleaner): http://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.../b43-firmware/

To build a kernel: http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...kernelbuilding

Get a 3.10.x kernel config from here: http://slackware.mirrors.tds.net/pub...rent/source/k/

Go for the 'generic' config for your architecture (if you use x86 - you will probably want the smp config). The only change you'll need to make is to build in your root file system (this avoids you having to create an initrd).

In order:

Yes it was extracted to /lib/firmware/b43 and it seems that I should just remove it from the system now that I'm trying to use broadcom-sta, but I can't seem to figure out how to uninstall the firmware...

That guide is for building the 2.6 kernel on 13.37, same procedure for building 3.10 on 14 I'm assuming?

My laptop isn't capable of smp (it's from 2003, so.. you get the idea). When I installed the current kernel, I had to use huge.s. Since I'm new to all this, I don't know if I should use config-huge-3.10.9 or config-generic-3.10.9?

You don't need to remove the firmware - and you can't uninstall it because of the method you used to install it. You could delete it, but I would strongly suggest just leaving it there.

You seem to be somewhat confused however, so I'll try to clarify:

If you're using broadcom-sta (wl) just use your existing kernel, don't compile a newer one and just follow the post I linked to, which deals with applying some patches to work around the error you were getting.

If you're going to stick with b43, you need the firmware (which you extracted from the broadcom-sta driver) and you will need a newer kernel (if you want a newer b43 module, you need a newer kernel because b43 is included in the kernel).

Yes, just adapt it to suit (make sure you substitute your kernel version string).

You may need the non smp kernel and you may not. smp itself is not an issue on single cores (I run an smp kernel on a single core Pentium 4), but if you have an old CPU which does not support NX bit, then you definitely will need the standard non smp x86 config.

Whether you use huge or generic is up to you. If you use generic, you will have to create an initrd, or just build your file system driver into the kernel. This is a matter of ticking a box when you run make xconfig (see the howto).

So, If I already installed broadcom-sta with sbopkg, I'm guessing that whole patching thing won't work.

I read through that and it mentions a few things with lilo, but I'm having an issue with that too. Lilo didn't install right when I installed slack, and I haven't been able to figure out how to reinstall/reconfigure it.

Remove, it patch it, build it again and install it again. Then try to insert the wl module again.
If lilo isn't installed correctly, then how are you booting?

You just said firmware can't be removed. So can I just removepkg? Edit: That was stupid, I meant to say remove package with sbopkg? Which I did just now.

Ticked the "create usb boot disk" option. I've been looking at trying to reinstall it but I have more experience with grub and don't want to wind up having to just reinstall everything. Well, actually, at this point that may be a more preferred route; start from a clean slate and such.

Figured a new comment was required for this:

I removed, patched, built, and installed it again. Rebooted per the post you linked, logged back in, ran modprobe wl but still receive
What does this mean? What do I have to do now?

New update

I wound up installing broadcom-sta from slackbuild on a clean slackware 14 install, patched it with the included patch, now when I try to modprobe wl it kicks back the following:

I still have no idea what this means.

As I said earlier you seem to be confused about the wl driver and the firmware. From your earlier post, it seemed like you didn't use the slackbuild to install the firmware, but built b43-fwcutter and extracted it manually.

grub is in /extra on the Slackware installation media. If you're happier with grub, just remove lilo and install it.
If the kernel module is still unusable, even after this:

Clean installing Slackware would have made no difference, this is not windows.

At this point your best bet is to build a newer kernel and try b43 + the firmware.

It means that the kernel is refusing to load the module. It's an upstream problem. If the suggested patches don't help, I'm out of ideas on that one.

Actually, yes, I was confused. I was thinking of wl driver as firmware and that was my stumbling block. Sorry. I did build the b43-fwcutter manually. Should I use the slackbuild after upgrading the kernel, or would it matter either way?

IIRC the version included is grub 0.97, I was planning on install grub 2 later on. Thanks though!
Ah, well ok thanks for clearing up the error at least. I was thinking the module had a messed up line in the coding or the call for it was wonky or something, wasn't sure.

True, very very true. I needed to fix my partitions and table anyway, and once I finished with the install the system is actually running a bit smother. I think I botched something during install the first time. I'm going to build a newer kernel and update the thread when I go through that.

Thanks for the patience while I'm still learning :study:

There is a slackbuild for b43-fwcutter and another for the firmware. If you install via the slackbuild, it's simpler and slackware packages are created.
Then try grub2 from slackbuilds or just stick with lilo.
Usually if there is typo or syntax error in the source itself, it won't build.

Sorry this took so long, I got tied up with a few things. So, I fixed up the new kernel, currently using 3.10.12, I have b43 installed and all that. I can now connect, but only to 2.4ghz. Device still isn't showing 5ghz range. Is there something else that I missed or that needs to take place?

You might try this:

http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=17368

Tried it, quality of connection didn't seem to change (still slow as molasses), and the 5ghz band is still no where to be found.

Update:
Internet speed seems to be fluctuant. At times it is normal speed, at others it is slow as molasses in Canada in January (yay analogies!). This doesn't seem to be caused by the network or network instability. The device itself seems to be unpredictable. I'm not sure how I would test this with 100% certainty.

5Ghz range still unavailable. Not sure why. The wifi pcmcia adapter worked fine with the b43 firmware under debian.

This site might be useful:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

You might send a question to the b43 mailing list as well?

http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/b43-dev

First link - tried earlier in the thread.

Second link - I will do that. I didn't realize there was a mailing list. [Edit] The mailing list didn't accept an email from any email address I tried

Could you please tell us which Debian version and which kernel you used? That would allow us to compare drivers and firmware. If possible, exact names of packages used would help.

Also, did you install firmware in Slackware using packages built using the SlackBuilds available @ http://slackbuilds.irg? In that case, did you build and install first b43-fw-cutter? Then did you build and install b43-firmware or b43-legacy-firmware?

Ran under 6.0.7, which ever kernel version was default. Quick google search tells me it was 2.6.32.

Slackbuilds has a couple different tools that act as package managers for downloading from the site. I used sbopkg, with a queue file set up to download and install b43-fw-cutter first, then download and install b43-firmware. Legacy was never used.

Thanks for the info. Please complete your answer though, as I added questions to my previous post while you were answering it.

done

I had a look at the source package b43-fwcutter_015-14.1.debian.tar.gz for Wheezy and in file firmware-b43-installer.postinst, for your card [14e4:4328] it says to use firmware broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2, which is exactly the same used to build the package on Slackware. So I still don't understand this difference in behaviors.

In this page you device is told to have a PHY version N (r2).

In the same page I see as Feature "not working yet":
5GHz for N-PHY cards

So I'd suggest you try again to use the braodcom sta/wl driver instead. Other than that some people recommend to pass the options pio=0 and qos=0 to the driver but I'm not sure that will help for your device.

If you want to try you could use this command as root:
Correction: I should have written
PS Re-reading this thread I don't see a full output of "lsmod". please provide it (with the card plugged-in, of course).

PPS When you had the "exec format error", are you sure you built the wl module for your ARCH (32bit vs 64bit)?

Hm. perhaps I had the wl module in debian then. I could have sworn it was the b43, because I followed that page's instructions for the b43 and fw cutter. I'm not sure what would have happened.

Tried that, didn't net any noticeable result.

Thought I had provided that. Oh well, here it is.

I am positive. I can rebuild a wl module for 32bit though, see what happens.