wireless woe's
 

i have managed to get the wireless card working

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)

using 2.6.24.5 kernel (stock), but am getting a few errors and issues.

carp-lap:/etc/rc.d# ./rc.inet1 restart
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

is one little issue, the other is it wont pick up or keep the gateway ip even if i do route add default gw 192.168.1.15 - route default gw 192.168.1.15 wlan0 , does not keep it there if the laptop is rebooted of if i do ./rc.inet1 stop/restart, so i have to manually keep adding it

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf

GATEWAY="192.168.1.15"

IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
IPADDR[4]="192.168.1.4"
NETMASK[4]="255.255.255.0"
USE_DHCP[4]=""
DHCP_HOSTNAME[4]=""
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
WLAN_ESSID[4]=phoenix
WLAN_MODE[4]=Managed
WLAN_RATE[4]="54M auto"
WLAN_CHANNEL[4]="11"
##WLAN_KEY[4]="key.removed"
##WLAN_IWPRIV[4]="set AuthMode=WPAPSK | set EncrypType=TKIP | set ##WPAPSK=key.removed"
WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"
WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="wext"


/etc/wpa_supplicant

# This line enables the use of wpa_cli which is used by rc.wireless
# if possible (to check for successful association)
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
# By default, only root (group 0) may use wpa_cli
ctrl_interface_group=0
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

# WPA protected network, supply your own ESSID and WPAPSK here:
network={
scan_ssid=0
ssid="phoenix"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
psk=key.removed
}

# Plaintext connection (no WPA, no IEEE 802.1X),
# nice for hotel/airport types of WiFi network.
network={
key_mgmt=NONE
priority=0
}

dmesg

Registered led device: b43-phy0:tx
Registered led device: b43-phy0:rx
Registered led device: b43-phy0:radio
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input16
Registered led device: b43-phy0:tx
Registered led device: b43-phy0:rx
Registered led device: b43-phy0:radio
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:12:17:e7:4c:0d
wlan0: RX authentication from 00:12:17:e7:4c:0d (alg=0 transaction=2 status=0)
wlan0: authenticated
wlan0: associate with AP 00:12:17:e7:4c:0d
wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:12:17:e7:4c:0d (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=1)
wlan0: associated
wlan0: switched to short barker preamble (BSSID=00:12:17:e7:4c:0d)
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present


The other issue is that when using knemo to monitor the connections, it tells me that encryption is off, but seeing as i have set the router to only allow secured connections can i safely ignore what its telling me or is it a case of the encryption really is off, due to the errors above, although the transfer rate is about right for the encryption level i have selected - i get the same speed under windows with same encryption level

now i know its probably something minor i have overlooked but this is the first time i have tried to get wireless working on this laptop, so any help is greatly appreciated. :)

From the dmesg it looks like you're connected to the AP. What happens when you type 'iwconfig?'

I have almost the same problem with WPA2 with AES encryption, I never manged to get WPA2 working so I use WEP, I use the rt61 firmware included with Slackware, I did a little research about wpa_supplicant and I never really figured it out completely because i cant use it but I believe the rt61 & a lot of other wifi cards are not compatible with wpa_supplicant and according to their website http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/ if you scroll down to "Supported wireless cards/drivers" you will see which cards are supported, if you are using ndiswrapper then you are probably ok with wpa_supplicant and AES it not supported so use TKIP...

A few standard broadcom wireless questions:

Are the broadcom drivers built into the kernel or are they modules? Hint: they only seem to work when built-in. Don't bother including the legacy drivers you won't need them for your card.

Did you download and install the proper firmware for the wireless card? Hint: when you check to see if the drivers are built-in hit ? and it will tell you which version of the firmware to install. I think it even tells you where to get it.

Did you install wpa_supplicant correctly? There are several tutorials availiable. It a shame there isn't a slackbuild script for it. :(

I have a tutorial I wrote for broadcom that I have to upload, if I get a chance tonight I'll do that.

Eric

I never got this one to work (I've got a rev 3, too), so I'm actually using an old kernel on my Slack 12.1 laptop. I hope you come up with something. I did not try to compile the drivers into the kernel as just suggested.

Brian

Hi:

I would be keen to see that having wrestled with a BCM 4312 myself. BTW have you seen that slackbuilds.org now has firmware and fwcutter scripts available for broadcom cards?

Andrew

I have uploaded a pdf of the tutorial here. Hope it helps.

Eric

Thanks for the guide em - i will look at it later - not had chance to look at the pcs as i have had a lot on.

@wheelsg - will post that when im back tomorrow afternoon (that and i have the laptop working again, been waiting on a part)