no wireless on my acer 5942g with bcm43xx

pier_andreit · October 22, 2013, 1:55pm

On my laptop acer aspire 5942g I installed opensuse 12.3 with kde, LAN works but wireless not.
it has a button to press to enable wireless, in windows it works and is red illuminated by default,
in opensuse not illuminated, pressing it doesn’t have any effect.
investigating acer 5942 should have a broadcom wireless card:
in the windows drivers folder dowloaded from acer site I found this:
bcm43xx.cat
and in this site I found some instructions:
**sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree **
sudo apt-get install linux- headers-generic
** sudo apt-get install –reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source **
**sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl **
**sudo modprobe wl

**I should have done the equivalent in opensuse but it don’t works.

How can I have my wireless working???

manythanks, ciao pier

mjgumbau · October 22, 2013, 11:35pm

Hi pier_andreit,
use the command:

$ sudo lspci
(post result)
to see if your os recognize your wireless card.

If was true execute next command to see if is soft/hard blocked:

$ sudo rfkill list
(post result)
(to install: $ sudo zypper install rfkill)

Good luck.

pier_andreit · October 23, 2013, 4:45am

hi

here is lspci

linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DMI (rev 11)                                                                                                                              
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 11)                                                                                                           
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Management Registers (rev 11)                                                                                                
00:08.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Semaphore and Scratchpad Registers (rev 11)                                                                                         
00:08.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor System Control and Status Registers (rev 11)                                                                                        
00:08.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor Miscellaneous Registers (rev 11)                                                                                                    
00:10.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link (rev 11)                                                                                                                   
00:10.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Routing and Protocol Registers (rev 11)                                                                                         
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)                                                                                       
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)                                                                                   
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)                                                                                             
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)                                                                                             
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 05)                                                                                             
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 05)                                                                                             
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 05)                                                                                             
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)                                                                                   
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)                                                                                                                          
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)                                                                                                 
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)                                                                                    
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)                                                                                                         
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Madison [Radeon HD 5000M Series]                                                                                        
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
06:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): JMicron Technology Corp. IEEE 1394 Host Controller
06:00.1 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller
06:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller
06:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller
06:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-Core Registers (rev 04)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 04)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 04)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 04)
ff:03.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller (rev 04)
ff:03.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Target Address Decoder (rev 04)
ff:03.4 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Test Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Address Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Rank Registers (rev 04)
ff:04.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Thermal Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Control Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Address Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Rank Registers (rev 04)
ff:05.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Thermal Control Registers (rev 04)
linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba #

I suppose it is this:
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)

here is rfkill list


linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # rfkill list
0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: no
1: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba #

if it helps, if I press the wireless button (it doesn’t lit on) it change in:


linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # rfkill list
0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba #

but wireless doesn’t works…
if it helps, the bluetooth works, and it has the button-procedure too, if I press the bluetooth button the “yes” or “no” appears in the 2: hci0: session…

many thanks, ciao pier

lwfinger · October 23, 2013, 5:14am

On 10/22/2013 09:46 PM, pier andreit wrote:

> but wireless doesn’t works…
> if it helps, the bluetooth works, and it has the button-procedure too,
> if I press the bluetooth button the “yes” or “no” appears in the 2:
> hci0: session…
>
> many thanks, ciao pier

The person that told you to report the lspci output should have asked for
‘/sbin/lspci -nn’. That way we would have known the PCI ID of the device;
however, for the BCM43225, it should say 14e4:4357. If it does, then your device
will work with driver brcmsmac.

My suspicion is that you have not installed the kernel-firmware package. You can
check that with ‘ls /lib/firmware/brcm/’. You should see 7 files in that directory.

If those files are present, then make sure that the switches are set to have no
“yes” in the rfkill output, and run


sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan

Please post the output.

In the future. please post wireless problems in the wireless forum.

pier_andreit · October 23, 2013, 9:30pm

yes it does:

linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # lspci -nn
----
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4357] (rev 01)
----

looking for brcmsmac with yast package manager I found it as a file in the kernel, is it the one you are telling about?

it seems are there seven files:

linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # ls /lib/firmware/brcm/
bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin  bcm43xx-0.fw  bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw  brcmfmac43236b.bin  brcmfmac4329.bin  brcmfmac4330.bin  brcmfmac4334.bin

here is

linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # iwlist scan
eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba #

ok:), I have always doubt about…

lwfinger · October 23, 2013, 11:46pm

On 10/23/2013 02:36 PM, pier andreit wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2592935 Wrote:
>> On 10/22/2013 09:46 PM, pier andreit wrote:
>> The person that told you to report the lspci output should have asked
>> for
>> ‘/sbin/lspci -nn’. That way we would have known the PCI ID of the
>> device;
>> however, for the BCM43225, it should say 14e4:4357. If it does, then
>> your device
>> will work with driver brcmsmac.
> yes it does:
> Code:
> --------------------
> linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # lspci -nn
> ----
> 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4357] (rev 01)
> ----
> --------------------
> looking for brcmsmac with yast package manager I found it as a file in
> the kernel, is it the one you are telling about?

No, but you will also need that.

> lwfinger;2592935 Wrote:
>> My suspicion is that you have not installed the kernel-firmware package.
>> You can
>> check that with ‘ls /lib/firmware/brcm/’. You should see 7 files in that
>> directory.
> it seems are there seven files:
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # ls /lib/firmware/brcm/
> bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin bcm43xx-0.fw bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw brcmfmac43236b.bin brcmfmac4329.bin brcmfmac4330.bin brcmfmac4334.bin
> --------------------
>
>
> lwfinger;2592935 Wrote:
>> If those files are present, then make sure that the switches are set to
>> have no
>> “yes” in the rfkill output, and run
>>
>>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
> >
> --------------------
>>>
>>
>> Please post the output.
> here is
> Code:
> --------------------
> linux-ytvj:/home/rosalba # iwlist scan
> eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>

OK, you have the required firmware, but no wireless device. Did you ever play
with wl? If you did, then it blacklisted brcmsmac so that it will not load.
These are the kinds of problems that are created when you try to follow
arbitrary instructions that you read from the net.

Find the file in /etc/modprobe.d/ that blacklists brcm, ssb, b43, and brcmsmac
and delete those lines.

pier_andreit · October 24, 2013, 7:53pm

It is a fresh install, the only play with wlan was when I posted this post at the beginning:

**sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree **
sudo apt-get install linux- headers-generic
** sudo apt-get install –reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source **
**sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl **
**sudo modprobe wl

**
I searched inside all the files in /etc/modprobe.d/, I didn’t find brcm, ssb, b43, and brcmsmac, I found this file that could be related:
50-iwl3945.conf
it contains:
options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1
I deleted the line and restarted, but wireless doesn’t works and iwlist scan give the same result as before, reinserted the line now

lwfinger · October 24, 2013, 8:24pm

On 10/24/2013 12:56 PM, pier andreit wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2593168 Wrote:
>> On 10/23/2013 02:36 PM, pier andreit wrote:
>>
>> OK, you have the required firmware, but no wireless device. Did you
>> ever play
>> with wl? If you did, then it blacklisted brcmsmac so that it will not
>> load.
>> These are the kinds of problems that are created when you try to follow
>> arbitrary instructions that you read from the net.
>>
>> Find the file in /etc/modprobe.d/ that blacklists brcm, ssb, b43, and
>> brcmsmac
>> and delete those lines.
>
> It is a fresh install, the only play with wlan was when I posted this
> post at the beginning:
>
> *sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree *
> sudo apt-get install linux- headers-generic
> * sudo apt-get install –reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source *
> *sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl *
> *sudo modprobe wl
>
>
> *
> I searched inside all the files in /etc/modprobe.d/, I didn’t find brcm,
> ssb, b43, and brcmsmac, I found this file that could be related:
> 50-iwl3945.conf
> it contains:
> options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1
> I deleted the line and restarted, but wireless doesn’t works and iwlist
> scan give the same result as before, reinserted the line now

That line did not mention blacklist, thus it could not have been the problem. In
addition, it deals with Intel, not Broadcom, hardware.

I do not have time at the moment to figure out the next step, and I will not be
available until Monday. Sorry.

pier_andreit · October 25, 2013, 7:49pm

…many thanks for everything, hoping you’ll be in a good place, bye to monday:)