(SOLVED) Broadcom 4311 issue with PCLOS 2012

[dsonyay]

Ah, OK.. I'll be home this evening and will work on this.

Thanks for all the help.
david

[dsonyay]

True, but the problem you are having is not from having multiple kernels installed but from a particular package build in a way that prevent the package from being installed if a newer kernel is also installed.

You would have got the same error even if you only had one kernel installed if the kernel was not specifically liked by the package.

Well Well Well... you were correct.  I uninstalled the latest kernel, as well as the latest dkms-broadcom package and all the bcm packages.   

I then rebooted and was able to successfully run load the rpm for the older dkms-broadcom package.

Thanks... now I'll reboot and see if I can install the broadcom wifi card.   Stand by.

[dsonyay]

My Broadcom BCM4311 WiFi card has finally connected to the internet.

Here's what I had to do:
(through Synaptic)
1.  Installed kernel 2.6.38.8-pclos3.bfs
2.  Removed dkms-broadcom-wl package 5_100_82_112
3.  Removed kernel 3.2.18 (important if you want to manually install the dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36 rpm package
from here: ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/www.pclinuxos.com/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.nonfree/dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm )
4.  Removed these BCM packages:
b43-firmware
b43legacy-firmware
bcm43xx-firmware
REBOOT.

After logging in, I installed the rpm.  I put the .rpm package in /tmp folder and  I simply typed this:
 rpm -ivh /tmp/dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm

The rpm installed without a glitch this time.  So make sure you boot up with the 2.6.38.8 kernel, with the 3.2.18 kernel COMPLETELY removed.  Without removing 3.2.18, I could not get the rpm to load.  Of course there may have been alternative commands to use, but I'm not aware.

I then went into Synaptic and reloaded the BCM packages:
b43-firmware
b43legacy-firmware
bcm43xx-firmware

Note:  removing the BCM packages, may not have been necessary (you might want to skip this to see if it works)

My wifi light came on this time as the BCM package loaded up.

Now I went into PCC > Network & Internet > Set up a new network interface > Wifeless (WiFi) > wlan0:wlan0

From this point I went to the folder holding the .inf file for the broadcom 4311 driver I downloaded from here:
http://download.cnet.com/Broadcom-4311-4312-WLAN-Driver-v4-170-25-19-zip/3000-2112_4-200920.html

After this my wifi worked.

I hope someone gets this resolved with the next upgrade.  I'm using an old kernel and not sure what other packages I'll be able to use with this setup.

[dsonyay]

And thank you to everyone that assisted me.  :-)

[glas]

Hi, just to give you one more idea--- I had the same problem so I did a fresh install of 2010 and then did a full update. Before I applied the update, I did a search for broadcom. When the upgrade shows up I just unmark it and hold it back. Been doing this for 3 months now and everything works fine. Just need to remember on all upgrades to unmark the upgrade on broadcom. In fact just did todays upgrade with the vic removals and firefox 16.01 update.

[muungwana]

Hi, just to give you one more idea--- I had the same problem so I did a fresh install of 2010 and then did a full update. Before I applied the update, I did a search for broadcom. When the upgrade shows up I just unmark it and hold it back. Been doing this for 3 months now and everything works fine. Just need to remember on all upgrades to unmark the upgrade on broadcom. In fact just did todays upgrade with the vic removals and firefox 16.01 update.

This is a simpler way of doing it.

It is possible to set a package not to be updated. Do it manually and one day you might forget while updating causing you unnecessary work to revert back the change.

There are threads on the forum on how to hold back a package.

[dsonyay]

Hi, just to give you one more idea--- I had the same problem so I did a fresh install of 2010 and then did a full update. Before I applied the update, I did a search for broadcom. When the upgrade shows up I just unmark it and hold it back. Been doing this for 3 months now and everything works fine. Just need to remember on all upgrades to unmark the upgrade on broadcom. In fact just did todays upgrade with the vic removals and firefox 16.01 update.

Do you mean a fresh install of 2012? 

[dsonyay]

Hi, just to give you one more idea--- I had the same problem so I did a fresh install of 2010 and then did a full update. Before I applied the update, I did a search for broadcom. When the upgrade shows up I just unmark it and hold it back. Been doing this for 3 months now and everything works fine. Just need to remember on all upgrades to unmark the upgrade on broadcom. In fact just did todays upgrade with the vic removals and firefox 16.01 update.

This is a simpler way of doing it.

It is possible to set a package not to be updated. Do it manually and one day you might forget while updating causing you unnecessary work to revert back the change.

There are threads on the forum on how to hold back a package.

Sure, I could do that.  When I do my weekly Synaptic update--- Reload > Mark All Upgrades (and then make sure it doesn't try to upgrade the dkms-broadcom-wl and kernel packages).. and then hit "Apply"

Sounds OK?

[muungwana]

kernels do not get auto updated.

kernels are "special" packages because:

1. they do not get auto updated.
2. there usually are multiple revisions of the kernel kernel version in the repositories.
3. its possible to have more than one kernel installed.

[Just17]

I got confused, so maybe someone could clarify please ....

dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm  is installed.

Presumably this is the driver to be used.

Yet another driver is d/loaded from CNET and this seems to be the driver that gets used using Ndiswrapper .....

I went to the folder holding the .inf file for the broadcom 4311 driver I downloaded

So, is the dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm in use at all?

Would it have worked without using Ndiswrapper?

No, I don't have this device, but am trying to understand what was done and what was used and is now in use.

Thanks for any clarification 

[TerryN]

I got confused, so maybe someone could clarify please ....

As with all things Linux there is a choice  

You can use "native Linux" drivers of which there are (currently) 3:

wl = The proprietary drivers from Broadcom
b43/b43legacy = Open Source drivers (bundled with kernel but need firmware packages installed separately)
brcmsmac/brcmfmac = Open Source drivers (newer, using new mac80211 kernel infrastructure also bundled with later kernels)

Or you can extract the driver used by Windows and run it under ndiswrapper (which is like running programs under Wine).  Which works best seems to be, at best, a lottery and depends entirely on the hardware chipsets used.

dkms-broadcom-wl is the package which provides the wl driver and I believe it is the currently the default configuration for most of the Broadcom chipsets detected.  Some people (me included) find it doesn't work well with their adaptors and have more success with the b43 drivers.

Terry.

[Just17]

I got confused, so maybe someone could clarify please ....

As with all things Linux there is a choice  

You can use "native Linux" drivers of which there are (currently) 3:

wl = The proprietary drivers from Broadcom
b43/b43legacy = Open Source drivers (bundled with kernel but need firmware packages installed separately)
brcmsmac/brcmfmac = Open Source drivers (newer, using new mac80211 kernel infrastructure also bundled with later kernels)

Or you can extract the driver used by Windows and run it under ndiswrapper (which is like running programs under Wine).  Which works best seems to be, at best, a lottery and depends entirely on the hardware chipsets used.

dkms-broadcom-wl is the package which provides the wl driver and I believe it is the currently the default configuration for most of the Broadcom chipsets detected.  Some people (me included) find it doesn't work well with their adaptors and have more success with the b43 drivers.

Terry.

I guess I should clarify what confused me ......

This file (driver?) was found and installed

dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm

What part did that have to play when Ndiswrapper was later used?

The firmware packages were installed separately.

[TerryN]

This file (driver?) was found and installed
dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm
What part did that have to play when Ndiswrapper was later used?

There is no relation between them. 
You either use the native Linux driver (dkms-broadcom-wl) or use the Windows driver (which the user downloaded) with ndiswrapper.  The choice is made when you configure the interface in PCC.

Terry

[Just17]

This file (driver?) was found and installed
dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm
What part did that have to play when Ndiswrapper was later used?

There is no relation between them. 
You either use the native Linux driver (dkms-broadcom-wl) or use the Windows driver (which the user downloaded) with ndiswrapper.  The choice is made when you configure the interface in PCC.

Terry

Thank you for the confirmation.

The fact that it is listed as something to do for others who might have a problem is what threw me.

[TheGhost]

This file (driver?) was found and installed
dkms-broadcom-wl-5.60.48.36-1pclos2010.i586.rpm
What part did that have to play when Ndiswrapper was later used?

There is no relation between them. 
You either use the native Linux driver (dkms-broadcom-wl) or use the Windows driver (which the user downloaded) with ndiswrapper.  The choice is made when you configure the interface in PCC.

Terry

Thank you for the confirmation.

The fact that it is listed as something to do for others who might have a problem is what threw me.

I can see your confusion too. It comes from this:

....

Now I went into PCC > Network & Internet > Set up a new network interface > Wifeless (WiFi) > wlan0:wlan0

From this point I went to the folder holding the .inf file for the broadcom 4311 driver I downloaded from here:
http://download.cnet.com/Broadcom-4311-4312-WLAN-Driver-v4-170-25-19-zip/3000-2112_4-200920.html

After this my wifi worked.

Dsonyay, could you clarify that? Did you selected "use Windows driver (with ndiswrapper)" when you configured the card, or did you select the default Linux driver?

Both options can be used, but they are mutually exclusive. That is why we are confused, on which one was the option that eventually worked for you.

In any case, anyone having this same problem can look at your post, follow your steps, and get it working; one of the two methods should work.
Explaining which one worked for you will be just to make the post more clear.

Good job in getting it working by the way.