BCM43225 Wifi not working in 11.4 KDE and Tumbleweed

English Network/Internet
1

Acer Aspire One 721-3620
Linux 2.6.38.2-19-default x86_64 - Tumbleweed
KDE 4.6.2 (4.6.2) “release 3”

Fresh install of 11.4 and wifi wouldn’t work.

I read numerous threads indicating this device would work in 2.6.38 kernels so I upgraded to Tumbleweed to get this kernel version but still no joy.

It shows not connected in Yast and Network Plasmoid.

I really like this new baby laptop and would like to get the internal wifi working.

/sbin/lspci

06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)

/sbin/lspci -n

06:00.0 0280: 14e4:4357 (rev 01)

dmesg

    6.523105] brcm80211: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
    6.528400] brcm80211 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

    6.528409] brcm80211 0000:06:00.0: setting latency timer to 64

    6.684439] wl0: Broadcom BCM43xx 802.11 MAC80211 Driver (1.82.8.0) (Compiled at 17:32:46 on Apr  8 2011)

/usr/sbin/iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

/usr/sbin/iwlist scan

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

Thanks

2

On 04/14/2011 03:36 PM, Ski K2 wrote:

> wlan0 Interface doesn’t support scanning : Network is down

This usually means that the wireless switch is off. You can check that with
‘/usr/sbin/rfkill list’.

3

Thanks Larry I’ll run that.

I’ve fiddled/toggled the switch but without the led working it’s impossibe for me to know when it’s on or off.

It’s a combination of Fn key and F3, not a dedicated switch like I’m used to seeing and I’m guess that’s complicating things.

4

0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

5

Found this thread

11.4 RC1 - Anyone gotten the Broadcom brcm driver working?

Did this

modprobe -r acer_wmi

Got general protection fault

Wifi is now working :slight_smile:

Not to try finding out what acer_wmi does and black list it.

6

On 04/14/2011 05:06 PM, Ski K2 wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2324019 Wrote:
>> On 04/14/2011 03:36 PM, Ski K2 wrote:
>>
>>> wlan0 Interface doesn’t support scanning : Network is down
>>
>> This usually means that the wireless switch is off. You can check that
>> with
>> ‘/usr/sbin/rfkill list’.
>
> 0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no

The switch would lead to a hard, not a soft, block. Try

code
sudo /usr/sbin/rfkill unblock all
/usr/sbin/rfkill list

7

see my post above

reading about acer_wmi now

seems to control function keys.

would be nice to have both working

http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/laptops/acer-wmi.txt

8

From my VERY limited knowledge it looks like acer_wmi hasn’t been updated since 2008?

9

So I don’t have a working wifi switch on this netbook so to turn of wifi and bluetooth I can

rfkill block all

to turn off my wifi and bluetooth transmitters ???

10

Blacklisting the acer_wmi driver solved my issue.

The device boots and wifi now connects as expected.

It would be nice, however, if I had the correct function hotkey functionality on this netbook.

Thanks Larry :slight_smile:

11

Same notebook with same problem with 11.4. Can anyone please explain how to blacklist acer_wmi module?

12

Ok figured out now, problem solved. Blacklist blacklist acer_wmi module in following steps:

  1. Open dolphin in root by terminal command kdesu dbus-launch dolphin
  2. Find file /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf
  3. Add “blacklist acer_wmi” to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf

Working great now!

13

On 04/17/2011 06:36 AM, adsum01nl wrote:
>
> adsum01nl;2325347 Wrote:
>> Same notebook with same problem with 11.4. Can anyone please explain how
>> to blacklist acer_wmi module?
>
> Ok figured out now, problem solved. Blacklist blacklist acer_wmi module
> in following steps:
>
> 1) Open dolphin in root by terminal command kdesu dbus-launch dolphin
> 2) Find file /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf
> 3) Add “blacklist acer_wmi” to the end of
> /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf
>
> Working great now!

Until you file a bug against the acer-wmi module, it will never be fixed.

What I suspect is that blacklisting that module gets you around the problem of a
non-functioning rfkill switch handler. The problem is that you lose the ability
to disable the wireless when you need to for regulatory or safety reasons.

14

I’m baaaaaaaack :slight_smile:

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Blacklisting acer_wmi has created additional problems that weren’t apparent and took awhile to identify. System freezes!

As long as the power is attached to the laptop system freezes are infrequent.

As soon as I go on battery power the system will lockup within minutes of getting to the desktop.

Perhaps related to a botched back out of a failed ATI build service driver install when I select failsafe from the grub menu the boot stops at CLI login prompt and fails to startx.

Perhaps I need to start a new thread for the failsafe issue?

When I un-blacklist acer_wmct.

i I see no lockups, however, I’m left with no wifi. :slight_smile:

I’ll look to see if a bug report has been filed on the acer_wmi/brcm80211 driver conflict.

Any ideas on a workaround would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

15

adsum01nl

Are you not getting system lockups while on battery after blacklisting acer_wmi ?