dell wireless as suggested by larry and sticky

user · December 31, 2008, 10:29am

This is the output of the system as detailed by the sticky on the wireless forum:

a) result of “/sbin/lspci”

0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)

b) result of “usr/bin/lsusb”

Bus 006 Device 006: ID 0a5c:4503 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 006 Device 005: ID 0a5c:4502 Broadcom Corp.
Bus 006 Device 004: ID 413c:8126 Dell Computer Corp. Wireless 355 Bluetooth
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp.

c) result of “/sbin/lspci -n”

0b:00.0 0280: 14e4:4328 (rev 03)

d) result of “dmesg | less”

usb 6-2.1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 6-2.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 6-2.1: New USB device found, idVendor=413c, idProduct=8126
usb 6-2.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 6-2.1: Product: BCM2045
usb 6-2.1: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp
usb 6-2.2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
usb 6-2.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 6-2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0a5c, idProduct=4502
usb 6-2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
usb 6-2.2: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp
usb 6-2.3: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 6
usb 6-2.3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 6-2.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0a5c, idProduct=4503
usb 6-2.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
usb 6-2.3: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp
udevd version 128 started

Note: All mention of Broadcom here would seem to be other devices on the usb bus not related to the wireless card. I did not see any mention of the wireless card after this command.

e) result of “/usr/sbin/iwconfig”

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

f) /usr/sbin/iwlist scan

All: Interface does not support scanning

Notes: All of the above were carried out on a fresh install of SUSE 11.1, kde 4.1.
The wifi light is not lit.
I did have it working under ndiswrapper for a short period of time last night – I posted details of this in forum hardware – tags:wireless,dell inspiron 1525

Any help would be appreciated to get a driver working without ndiswrapper as Larry tells me a kernel update knocked that out whack and will always do so.

Thanks Folks!

e-jones · December 31, 2008, 5:26pm

Try the following:

BCM4312 works with 11.0 using the b43 driver. In fact, I’m using one now.

The bottom line with the native driver on Linux is that you need to install the
firmware. It is not distributed by anyone due to the restrictions of Broadcom.
Because you have network access while in Linux, you should open a terminal and
enter the following command:

sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware

This will install the necessary firmware. If you have blacklisted any drivers to
try to get ndiswrapper installed, reverse those changes.

To configure the wireless device, you should use YaST. Select Network Devices /
Network Settings. Your wireless device will likely show up there, but add it if
not. My preference is to use NetworkManager (selected in the global tab). Once
you have added the device there and finished, click on the KNetworkManager icon,
select “Edit Connections” and add a wireless connection.

If your laptop has a wifi kill switch, please be certain that the switch is on.

lwfinger · December 31, 2008, 8:36pm

The BCM4328 is one of the units that currently does not work with b43
and you will need to use ndiswrapper.

Larry