Kubuntu 11.04 and Broadcom BCM4311 wireless not working

NeilForde · 06-04-2011, 05:27 AM

(Originally posted in Linux Newbie forum but no response. Hope okay to repost here)

Hi

Yet another Linux newbie with wireless problems I'm afraid. I saw some postings that appear very similar but I don't have any Linux experience and don't wish to make uncontrolled changes to the environment without expert advice.

Background: I have an old laptop (HP Pavilion dv9000) with Vista installed and a troubled history (overheating motherboard failure), so I put it on the shelf and replaced it with a new Windows 7 laptop (Dell Studio 1555). But I have been intrigued by the Ubuntu reviews and thought I would dig out the old laptop and install Kubuntu 11.04 (replacing the 2 Vista partitions with a single Kubuntu partition).

Kubuntu installation was easy and I am impressed by the Kubuntu interface, but I soon noticed that it was not detecting my wireless router, which works fine for everything else (Dell, Sony Bravia TV and also an internet radio). The wired connection is okay (using it now) so I guessed the problem was Kubuntu not recognising the Broadcom BCM4311. The network interface tool shows the wired connection but the Wireless tab is greyed out.

I also installed Wicd Network Manager but that just confirmed what I knew.

I noticed other threads have asked for the lspci and lsusb details so here they are:

lspci

Code:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 LPC Bridge (rev a3)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP51 SMBus (rev a3)
00:0a.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PMU (rev a3)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 IDE (rev f1)
00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Serial ATA Controller (rev f1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:14.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP51 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g (rev 01)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G73 [GeForce Go 7600] (rev a1)
07:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
07:05.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
07:05.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 0a)
07:05.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 05)

lsusb

Code:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 03f0:171d Hewlett-Packard Wireless (Bluetooth + WLAN) Interface [Integrated Module]
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62c0 Microdia Sonix USB 2.0 Camera
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

What do I need to do now?

TobiSGD · 06-04-2011, 05:41 AM

Connect your laptop with the wired connection to the net. Then use Ubuntu's driver installer to install the driver and firmware for that wireless device.

NeilForde · 06-09-2011, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Connect your laptop with the wired connection to the net. Then use Ubuntu's driver installer to install the driver and firmware for that wireless device.

Wired connection is working fine (using it now). I thought that the required driver (Broadcom I assume) was already installed, but I am unable to find the driver installer in Kubuntu to check it and install the firmware. I have seen some other forums that have instructions for doing this in Ubuntu (I assume with Unity), but not for Kubuntu which is very different. Can you advise how to do this?

Cheers.

cascade9 · 06-11-2011, 01:09 PM

Just typing 'drivers' in kickoff should bring up jockey-kde (jockey-xxx is ubuntus hardware drivers installation tool).

If that fails, jockey-kde should be in the menu....somewhere. Or you could launch it from console, though I'm not sure if you can use the standand console ('sudo jockey-kde') or if you have to use the kde run dialog box (alt+F2 to bring it up, 'kdesudo jockey-kde' to bring up jockey-kde).

NeilForde · 06-15-2011, 08:47 AM

Thanks. All I could find was the Additional Drivers utility, so assume this is what you mean.

In addition to several unactivated NVIDIA drivers it shows
Broadcom STA proprietary wireless driver, with the following description

This package contains Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driverfor use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-, BCM4321-,BCM4322-, BCM43224-, and BCM43225-, BCM43227- and BCM43228-basedhardware.

This driver status is reported as activated and currently in use. If this is correct why doesn't it detect the wireless router?

BTW, I'm not getting email notifications of replies to this thread, hence my delay in replying. Any ideas why this is happening?

cascade9 · 06-16-2011, 04:06 AM

Yes, thats right, Additional drivers utility = jockey.

I'm really not that great at wireless issues, so hopefully somebody else sees this and helps. If not, I'll give it a shot.

As for the forums issues, have you checked all your settings in the control panel?

zatarregaza · 07-24-2011, 10:50 AM

Was there ever a fix on this? I'm running into the same the problem. I recently wiped everything out and went from 10.04 where wireless worked to 11.04 where wireless is not working.

I too see the Broadcom STA proprietary wireless driver in Additional Driver. In fact I have a chassis switch that when I switch it off I get a notification that wireless was turned off. Weird thing is when it is turned on and I type in "ifconfig" I do not see a wireless listing. "Iwconfig" is the same.

NeilForde · 01-18-2013, 11:10 AM

Having failed to resolve this with Kubuntu 11.04, I decided to try again once 12.10 was released. I had also installed a better router in the interval (maybe my old router was part of the problem).

Rather than attempt to upgrade (wasn't sure how to do this anyway) I did a full guided install from DVD of the 32-bit 12.10 release (with LVM). This seemed even easier than installing 11.04 although the default desktop is disappointingly dull.

Once up and running, however, it was clear that there was still no wireless connection despite that fact that my router clearly showed my PC in the connected clients (with correct PC name, MAC address and a valid IP address). This tends to suggest that the wireless hardware and firmware is functioning.

The Additional Drivers utility showed the same Broadcom STA wireless driver as before:

This package contains Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-, BCM4321-,BCM4322-, BCM43224-, and BCM43225-, BCM43227- and BCM43228-basedhardware.

Like zatarregaza my PC has a chassis switch, which used to (when it was Windows PC) switch wireless and bluetooth on/off. All it does now is show the bluetooth icon in the status panel, although bluetooth cannot be turned off - I'm not sure if this is related to the wireless problem.

If the wireless problem can not be easily fixed I will have to call it a day with Kubuntu. I am willing to try other distros, perhaps even Ubuntu, should they not have this wireless problem.

Suggestions welcome. Thanks.

tommcd · 01-19-2013, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilForde

The Additional Drivers utility showed the same Broadcom STA wireless driver as before:

This package contains Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-, BCM4321-,BCM4322-, BCM43224-, and BCM43225-, BCM43227- and BCM43228-basedhardware.

Like zatarregaza my PC has a chassis switch, which used to (when it was Windows PC) switch wireless and bluetooth on/off. All it does now is show the bluetooth icon in the status panel, although bluetooth cannot be turned off - I'm not sure if this is related to the wireless problem.

First off, make sure you have the switch set right to turn on the wireless NIC. If the wireless is turned off on your computer, then none of us can fix that for you.
Second, see these tutorials for installing the Broadcom driver on Ubuntu:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/38327...reless-working
http://www.howopensource.com/2012/10...u-12-10-12-04/

tp11235 · 02-21-2015, 03:08 PM

I had a frantic afternoon with wifi after I updated Ubuntu on an HP Mini 110 with the STA driver. The laptop tethered to my iPhone, but would not connect to the router.

I fixed it by downgrading the router to 802.11g only. Not an issue with a machine that only worked at that speed anyway! I don't pretend to know why it works, Maybe the router was confusing the driver, but why did it work on the original 3 year old version of Ubuntu?