Broadcom Wireless Device and Linux

[ericb1220]

Upon cold or warm boot my wireless device is not consistently recognized. When I begin to configure the wireless , there is no sign of my device / Broadcom Corporation BC4311 802.11b/g WLAN. If I attempt the ndiswrapper bcmwl5, I receive a message that there is no device for this driver.  About 10% of the time the driver is recognized. Has anyone seen or have experiences similar to this ? Is there anyway of fixing this problem besides 10 on and offs and a prayer?

[russell.eberhardt]

I had a similar problem with a friend's HP Laptop - until I realised that the WiFi light was also a touch switch to turn WiFi on and off - DOH

Russell

[ElCuervo]

Have you tried the other bcmwl drivers? I don't have a 4311, but my 4318 works with the airforceone driver, and I only found that out by experimenting.

[jlf001]

What kernel are you using?  If it's the 2.6.33 series, try kernel 2.6.32.21.  I had several broadcom problems and this took care of it.

Jeff

[dccombs]

You can try directly installling the "bcm43xx" firmware from the repositories. Just search "bcm43xx" .

Also as mentioned above, with ndiswrapper, you will have to experiment with the other files on the oem driver  disk.

[ka9yhd]

I believe the b43 module works with the BCM 4311

I have just upgraded to the kernel-2.6.33.7-pclos4 and it now works with Broadcom devices.  the 2.6.33.7-pclos1, 2.6.33.7-pclos2, and 2.6.33.7-pclos3 kernels had a problem with them.  Something was preventing the Broadcom modules from working.

I have the internal wireless on this laptop using the BCM4318 and an external PCMCIA wireless card which has the BCM4306 and both work.

[jlf001]

I believe the b43 module works with the BCM 4311

I have just upgraded to the kernel-2.6.33.7-pclos4 and it now works with Broadcom devices.  the 2.6.33.7-pclos1, 2.6.33.7-pclos2, and 2.6.33.7-pclos3 kernels had a problem with them.  Something was preventing the Broadcom modules from working.

I have the internal wireless on this laptop using the BCM4318 and an external PCMCIA wireless card which has the BCM4306 and both work.

Same here for my broadcom devices.  All are now working with the new kernel.

Jeff

[johnmart]

I have the same issue as the OP.
Broadcom 4311 wireless. Kernel 2.6.33.7-ver1.bfs. But my problem is intermittent. Occasionally on booting, the wireless is unrecognised. If I reboot, same result. If I shut down completely & restart then wireless is usually detected & connects straightaway. Weird. The driver is wl.
When this kerrnel was patched I applied the upgrade, but both wired & wireless were dead soo I reverted to this kernel.
Another weirdness is that wireless is recognised as ath0.
Wired is recognised as eth1 until eth16. It is also wlan0,wlan1 & wlan2. This is what I get from the network manager-active interfaces.
Maybe I should start my own thread. 

[ka9yhd]

Broadcom 4311 wireless. Kernel 2.6.33.7-ver1.bfs

You will need to update your kernel to 2.6.33.7-pclos4.bfs

There was a problem with the kernel 2.6.33.7 pclos1 through pclos3 which affected the Broadcom module and prevented it from working.  With the pclos4 the problem has been fixed.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,79712.0.html

[Wildman]

Tex has updated the latest drivers for Broadcom .....my 4313 which was not even seen by the system, now works well..
woot..a Big thanks to Tex..

[johnmart]

Changing to that kernel fixed my Broadcom too.
Thanks Tex!