suse 11.2 + Broadcom; scan fails to find wireless net

English Network/Internet
#1

I have tried to follow the sticky postings to get the Broadcom wireless to work on my 2004 Compaq laptop.

Even though my wireless still isn’t working, I feel like I have much better traction here than with other distros I tried (Fedora and Ubuntu). I’m upgrading from Win 7 beta (and Vista before that and XP before that), where it was working, so I don’t suspect a hardware fault.

Suse 11.2 installed without error.

The firmware installation for the Broadcom went without error. The “blue light” on the machine shows it is now enabled.
However, scans (and attempts to connect blindly) do not find my home network.

FWIW the router is a D-Link 615.

Here are the technical details:

(*) lspci gives me:
02:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03)

(*) from dmesg:
Linux version 2.6.31.5-0.1-desktop (geeko@buildhost) (gcc version 4.4.1 [gcc-4_4-branch revision 150839] (SUSE Linux) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT 2009-10-26 15:49:03 +0100

(*) from dmesg:
11.180046] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found (core revision 5)
11.502049] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded Features: PML, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]

(*) iwconfig:
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

(*) iwlist scan gives:
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

(*) Yes, I have confidence that the Dlink 615 is up and running. My Windows boxes are seeing and connecting. I use WPA Personal, if that makes any difference. I did try to create and delete a connection for the router a couple times, but because the scan fails to find the network - that’s drawing my attention at the moment.

Apologies, it has been many years since I ran a Linux machine and I certainly am not good with networks, so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks, Mayur

#2

On 12/14/2009 08:36 AM, clockandflame wrote:
>
> I have tried to follow the sticky postings to get the Broadcom wireless
> to work on my 2004 Compaq laptop.
>
> Even though my wireless still isn’t working, I feel like I have much
> better traction here than with other distros I tried (Fedora and
> Ubuntu). I’m upgrading from Win 7 beta (and Vista before that and XP
> before that), where it was working, so I don’t suspect a hardware
> fault.
>
> Suse 11.2 installed without error.
>
> The firmware installation for the Broadcom went without error. The
> “blue light” on the machine shows it is now enabled.
> However, scans (and attempts to connect blindly) do not find my home
> network.
>
> FWIW the router is a D-Link 615.
>
> Here are the technical details:
>
> () lspci gives me:
> 02:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306
> 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03)
>
> () from dmesg:
> Linux version 2.6.31.5-0.1-desktop (geeko@buildhost) (gcc version 4.4.1
> [gcc-4_4-branch revision 150839] (SUSE Linux) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT
> 2009-10-26 15:49:03 +0100
>
> () from dmesg:
> 11.180046] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found (core revision 5)
> 11.502049] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded Features: PML,
> Firmware-ID: FW13 ]
>
> () iwconfig:
> lo no wireless extensions.
>
> eth0 no wireless extensions.
>
> wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
>
> wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:""
> Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point:
> Not-Associated
> Tx-Power=20 dBm
> Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
> Encryption key:off
> Power Management:off
> Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
>
>
> () iwlist scan gives:
> lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> wlan0 No scan results
>
> () Yes, I have confidence that the Dlink 615 is up and running. My
> Windows boxes are seeing and connecting. I use WPA Personal, if that
> makes any difference. I did try to create and delete a connection for
> the router a couple times, but because the scan fails to find the
> network - that’s drawing my attention at the moment.
>
>
> Apologies, it has been many years since I ran a Linux machine and I
> certainly am not good with networks, so any advice is appreciated.

Your device is supported by b43. Have you installed the firmware?
Check by looking at the output of ‘dmesg | grep b43’. If you get a
message that the firmware is missing, then you need to issue the command

sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware

That command requires a network connection. If you do not have one in
Linux, do the following:

Using any method that you have to access the Internet, download this
http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

Then copy it into your home directory. Once you have it there, you
should enter the following:

tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware
sudo b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware
broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver/wl_apsta_mimo.o

These three commands will skip the download step and extract the
firmware in the same way that the /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware does.

#3

Thanks.

Yes, I tried to say that I installed the firmware, but maybe my grep did not catch the lines you expected to see indicating it was installed. In my package, I did not have to download anything, the installation script was sitting in one of the directories (/usr/sbin I think?)

When I executed it, it indicated that it both b43 and b43legacy installed without any errors. I was surprised that the script installed both - maybe that’s my problem.

Before I installed the firmware, the device was dead - no little blue light indicating it was on. (When I was trying to get ubuntu working, their advise in their help system told me to go to windows to enable the device again (!)) So when I installed this firmware under openSUSE, I was very relieved to have the visual feedback that the device had become active. (The little button to enable/disable does not work under either OS. I see that there are instructions on setting kernel configurations for that, but I need to take this one step at a time. :\ )

Let me try to revisit/reinstall and I’ll post my results, but I wanted to answer your question.

Thanks again, Mayur

#4

continued from the posts above…

Just so that I don’t overlook anything: does 32b versus 64b make any difference? (Do I need to do anything special to make sure I get 64b drivers/installers rather than 32b? I expect that the firmware for the Broadcom must be the same.)

I’ve installed 11.2 x86_64, running on an AMD Athlon64.

Thanks,
Mayur

#5

Ran the script to install the firmware again, with essentially the same results:

The download occurred without error. The installation of b43 and b43legacy firmware seemed to occur without error.

However, scans for wireless networks don’t find anything. Manual config for my wireless network does not allow it to connect. (I’m using WPA security, but not hidden.)

I can’t seem to find any errors where openSUSE indicated that the firmware is not installed. Results from various commands were as posted above.

I have one outstanding test: should I ditch the 64b OS and try a 32b install? My laptop is topped out with 1GB of RAM so the 64b space has no immediate value to me.

Thanks, Mayur

#6

I don’t think it is something related to 64bit anyway.
I don’t know about your wmaster0 interface. What is that?

Also, your card supports only b/g modes. Check your router to see it is set up to support these modes.

#7

On 12/15/2009 07:46 AM, clockandflame wrote:
>
> Ran the script to install the firmware again, with essentially the same
> results:
>
> The download occurred without error. The installation of b43 and
> b43legacy firmware seemed to occur without error.

Once the firmware is installed, there is no need to do it again. You
get both b43 and b43legacy firmware because you need to get deep
within the hardware to be able to know which is required. Installing
both is safer.

> However, scans for wireless networks don’t find anything. Manual config
> for my wireless network does not allow it to connect. (I’m using WPA
> security, but not hidden.)

Does the command ‘sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan’ show anything? If the
scan is not run as root, then the scan is passive and may not show
anything.

> I can’t seem to find any errors where openSUSE indicated that the
> firmware is not installed. Results from various commands were as
> posted above.
>
> I have one outstanding test: should I ditch the 64b OS and try a 32b
> install? My laptop is topped out with 1GB of RAM so the 64b space has no
> immediate value to me.

No, your device will work as well with 64- as with 32-bit. The
firmware is the same for both. It runs in the processor on the card.
Switching from 64- to 32-bit would not affect that cpu.

The wmaster0 device is a pseudo device created by mac80211. Ignore it.

Some of the 14e4:4320 devices have problems with Bluetooth
coexistence. We can test this with the following commands:

sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv b43
sudo /sbin/modprobe -v btcoex=0
sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
/usr/sbin/iwconfig

Post the output from those commands.

#8

Thanks. Yes, I had “su” to super-user in the output I posted.
Let me run these for you again:

mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv b43
root’s password:
mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv b43
mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v btcoex=0
FATAL: Module btcoex=0 not found.
mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

mayur@linux-na3f:~> /usr/sbin/iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

mayur@linux-na3f:~> dmesg | grep b43
10.592994] b43-pci-bridge 0000:02:02.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNK3] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
10.807345] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found (core revision 5)
37.685068] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
37.708949] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw
37.727671] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
37.745209] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
37.884040] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
37.926058] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
37.929928] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
37.934670] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
238.708463] b43-pci-bridge 0000:02:02.0: PCI INT A disabled
mayur@linux-na3f:~>

If this looks different from my last post, it’s because I did go ahead and reinstall the whole thing (over wired network installation). I put on the 32b (i586) version of 11.2 and reran the firmware installation script. I had exactly the same results as before.

Thanks for the ongoing help, Mayur

#9

Looking at that output, it didn’t look right to me. I expected to see two more devices under iwconfig as I did in my original post.

I reboot the machine and ran the commands in that same order again with the same results. When I began the tests, the light for the wireless was on, but at the end of the test the light for the wireless device was off and I couldn’t seem to get it to re-enable even though the network toolbar gadget at the bottom right of KDE is checked, indicating that it should be enabled.

(sigh) I don’t know enough about linux or wireless networking…
Thanks, Mayur

#10

I guess I should also mention that this laptop does not support bluetooth, nor is there any bluetooth device within close proximity of it…

#11

And to answer the other person, the router has been working fine with other 802.11g devices (like other g laptops, and like this same laptop running Windows XP, Vista and 7beta).

Router continues to work for the other computers in the house.

Thanks, Mayur

#12

On 12/15/2009 11:42 AM, Larry Finger wrote:
> On 12/15/2009 07:46 AM, clockandflame wrote:
>>
>> Ran the script to install the firmware again, with essentially the same
>> results:
>>
>> The download occurred without error. The installation of b43 and
>> b43legacy firmware seemed to occur without error.
>
> Once the firmware is installed, there is no need to do it again. You get
> both b43 and b43legacy firmware because you need to get deep within the
> hardware to be able to know which is required. Installing both is safer.
>
>> However, scans for wireless networks don’t find anything. Manual config
>> for my wireless network does not allow it to connect. (I’m using WPA
>> security, but not hidden.)
>
> Does the command ‘sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan’ show anything? If the scan
> is not run as root, then the scan is passive and may not show anything.
>
>> I can’t seem to find any errors where openSUSE indicated that the
>> firmware is not installed. Results from various commands were as
>> posted above.
>>
>> I have one outstanding test: should I ditch the 64b OS and try a 32b
>> install? My laptop is topped out with 1GB of RAM so the 64b space has no
>> immediate value to me.
>
> No, your device will work as well with 64- as with 32-bit. The firmware
> is the same for both. It runs in the processor on the card. Switching
> from 64- to 32-bit would not affect that cpu.
>
> The wmaster0 device is a pseudo device created by mac80211. Ignore it.
>
> Some of the 14e4:4320 devices have problems with Bluetooth coexistence.
> We can test this with the following commands:
>
> sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv b43
> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v btcoex=0
> sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
> /usr/sbin/iwconfig
>
> Post the output from those commands.

My bad - the command should be

sudo /sbin/modprobe -v b43 btcoex=0

You didn’t post any output from the modprobe command with the -rv
switch. That indicates that b43 was not loaded at the start. Is it
blacklisted? Have you been playing with ndiswrapper or the Broadcom wl
driver?

The usage of the Bluetooth coexistence does not involve having
Bluetooth on the computer - only the connection between the wireless
chip and the associated radio.

#13

Thanks Mr. lwfinger.

Yes, I thought it was strange that the command did not output anything. You can see I ran it twice to make sure.

Similarly the latest command you gave me does not output anything either:

mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v b43 btcoex=0
root’s password:
mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v b43 btcoex=0
mayur@linux-na3f:~>

As for futzing with the ndiswrapper or Broadcom wl driver - or blacklisting it - please don’t think I’m being fresh when I say I have no idea where to start to do those things. I’ve installed the OS using wired network install, and I installed the Broadcom firmware as instructed. Anything beyond that is, well, beyond me. :slight_smile:

Thanks for your continued help,
Mayur

#14

Let me post this as well:

I’m getting a new result from the scan query you gave me, Mr lwfinger. I think this is because the typo before may have given a false test result.

mayur@linux-na3f:~> sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
root’s password:
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:24:01:CE:3D:B3
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=66/70 Signal level=-44 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:“Tasmania”
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000007209c180
Extra: Last beacon: 1088ms ago
IE: Unknown: 00085461736D616E6961
IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: Unknown: 0706555320010B1B
IE: Unknown: 200100
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101020003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C334C101BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: 2D1A4C101BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3401001B00000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: 3D1601001B00000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
IE: Unknown: DD7B0050F204104A00011010440001021041000100103B00010310470010565AA94967C14C0EAA8FF349E6F5931110210006442D4C696E6B1023000D442D4C696E6B20526F75746572102400074449522D363135104200046E6F6E651054000800060050F204000110110006442D4C696E6B100800020084103C000101
Cell 02 - Address: 00:14:6C:08:5F:E2
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=31/70 Signal level=-79 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:“ALEXUS”
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000d109e91f78
Extra: Last beacon: 699ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0006414C45585553
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 2A0106
IE: Unknown: 2F0106
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD06001018020100

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

mayur@linux-na3f:~>

I read this and I see “Tasmania” which is my home network…

Holy Wireless, Batman! It looks like “Tasmania”, the home network, is suddenly visible! I swear I didn’t do anything in this session except run the new modprobe commandline that was posted!

I tried to connect and it seems to have succeeded!

Before my brain explodes, is there enough information for you to infer what has happened? From my perspective, nothing changed. I reboot several dozen times today - why would one more make any difference?

Thank you for your time & patience.
Mayur

#15

After seeing the wireless network for the first time, I reboot again. Immediately after it came up, the home network was visible and I was able to connect.

I’m reading the ‘man’ on ‘modprobe’. Mr lwfinger - did you fix the problem by having me force loading of the Broadcom driver (with bluetooth disabled) at the kernel level?

Thanks so much! You’ve really been a huge help.
I’m really digging openSUSE.
Mayur

#16

On 12/15/2009 07:16 PM, clockandflame wrote:
>
> After seeing the wireless network for the first time, I reboot again.
> Immediately after it came up, the home network was visible and I was
> able to connect.
>
> I’m reading the ‘man’ on ‘modprobe’. Mr lwfinger - did you fix the
> problem by having me force loading of the Broadcom driver (with
> bluetooth disabled) at the kernel level?
>
> Thanks so much! You’ve really been a huge help.
> I’m really digging openSUSE.

I do not think that you even disabled btcoex. If you had, you would
have seen the following:

finger@larrylap:~> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v b43 btcoex=0
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/net/mac80211/mac80211.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/char/hw_random/rng-core.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/mmc/core/mmc_core.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/ssb/ssb.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32.1/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/b43/b43.ko
btcoex=0

The situation was that you already had the driver loaded. That is why
I gave you two modprobe commands, one with the r switch to remove the
driver and one without to reload it. In the most recent set, you did
not do the first, thus the load did nothing.

I’m not sure what the problem was, but just enjoy.