Troubles with Broadcom BCM43228 and 64bit openSUSE 12.3

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

I have recently installed openSUSE 12.3 on a freshly bought laptop (Acer Aspire V5).

The main problem was that the wireless (according to lspci, ‘Broadcom Corporation BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n’) did not work at all. I tried /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware, and also the offline version described in the forum. The script completed with the message ‘b43legacy firmware successfully installed.’. I rebooted, but there is still no wireless in YaST, and a naive ‘ifup wlan0’ failed.

Then, I decided to postpone the problem and try to get the system up to date by eth0, hoping that the troubles would evaporate. The update took two days, and only then I started to suspect that I had installed the 64bit version of 12.3. Trying to confirm this, I found that there is no kernelversion command, but /etc/SuSE-release says ‘openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64)’ which probably proves the fact. Needless to say, a fresh firmware install after the update brought the same negative result as before.

I have to explain that this all happens in rural India where I am currently travelling. The vendor who sold the laptop to me downloaded the install DVD on my request, because he has the fastest internet connection around; nevertheless, it took 5 days to complete. I had explained to him that I want 32bit, but I failed to check it in the short time when I had access to his USB DVD drive for installing. During installation, I was too much in a hurry to notice.

Now I fear that the troubles with the wireless are much aggravated by the 64bit nature of the operating system (there are some other incommodities, too: The KDE desktop behaves strangely and I cannot make the Compose key work, which is really annoying). Moreover, I expect that installation of software from various sources will be more complicated, and the 64bit will prove a permanent burden in the future.

Is there any advice what to do? If I could make the wireless work, I might be able to download the 32bit install DVD in the course of the next weeks, and try a reinstall if I can get a USB DVD drive somewhere, or I find out how to make a memory stick bootable. But is there any realistic chance to have the BCM43228 run on a 64bit system? If so, how shall I proceed?

As a highly suboptimum alternative, I have an 11.4 installation DVD (I hope it’s 32bit). Would that be an option, if anything else fails?

#2

On Fri 02 Aug 2013 12:46:05 PM CDT, masala wallah wrote:

Hi,

I have recently installed openSUSE 12.3 on a freshly bought laptop
(Acer Aspire V5).

The main problem was that the wireless (according to lspci, ‘Broadcom
Corporation BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n’) did not work at all. I tried
/usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware, and also ‘the offline version’
(http://tinyurl.com/ayq3jcx) described in the forum. The script
completed with the message ‘b43legacy firmware successfully installed.’.
I rebooted, but there is still no wireless in YaST, and a naive ‘ifup
wlan0’ failed.

Then, I decided to postpone the problem and try to get the system up to
date by eth0, hoping that the troubles would evaporate. The update took
two days, and only then I started to suspect that I had installed the
64bit version of 12.3. Trying to confirm this, I found that there is no
kernelversion command, but /etc/SuSE-release says ‘openSUSE 12.3
(x86_64)’ which probably proves the fact. Needless to say, a fresh
firmware install after the update brought the same negative result as
before.

I have to explain that this all happens in rural India where I am
currently travelling. The vendor who sold the laptop to me downloaded
the install DVD on my request, because he has the fastest internet
connection around; nevertheless, it took 5 days to complete. I had
explained to him that I want 32bit, but I failed to check it in the
short time when I had access to his USB DVD drive for installing. During
installation, I was too much in a hurry to notice.

Now I fear that the troubles with the wireless are much aggravated by
the 64bit nature of the operating system (there are some other
incommodities, too: The KDE desktop behaves strangely and I cannot make
the Compose key work, which is really annoying). Moreover, I expect that
installation of software from various sources will be more complicated,
and the 64bit will prove a permanent burden in the future.

Is there any advice what to do? If I could make the wireless work, I
might be able to download the 32bit install DVD in the course of the
next weeks, and try a reinstall if I can get a USB DVD drive somewhere,
or I find out how to make a memory stick bootable. But is there any
realistic chance to have the BCM43228 run on a 64bit system? If so, how
shall I proceed?

As a highly suboptimum alternative, I have an 11.4 installation DVD (I
hope it’s 32bit). Would that be an option, if anything else fails?

Hi
Nothing wrong with 64bit and wireless??

Without seeing the device PCI ID I would suspect either kernel-firmware
package is needed, else the broadcom-wl rpm and broadcom-kmp for your
kernel.

The command uname -a will give you all that you need with respect to
arch kernel in use etc.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 1:16, 3 users, load average: 0.04, 0.10, 0.14
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

#3

On 08/02/2013 02:46 PM, masala wallah wrote:
> 64bit will prove a permanent burden in the future.

i don’t know why you say that…most openSUSE folks now are using 64
bit, with not more trouble than those few who use 32…sure, there
are a few places that 64 has not yet gone and that is NO problem
because 32 bit software runs just fine in a 32 bit system…

i suggest you closely read and carefully follow the advice in the
stickies at the top of the wireless forum http://tinyurl.com/4lq2s9z

the info in there gets most folks going…but, if you still have
trouble then post all the info those stickies ask for…but, this
time to the correct (wireless) forum [there are folks in that forum
who know how to help you, the best way.]

ps: next time install from the Live DVD, it is much smaller but with
a network connection you can easily have all the software you
want…however, with the full DVD you are sure to get lots of stuff
down the wire that you will never use…

–
dd
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Caveat
http://tinyurl.com/DD-Complaints

#4

uname -a gives
Linux linux-kpe7.site 3.7.10-1.16-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri May 31 20:21:23 UTC 2013 (97c14ba) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Is the PCI ID the one visible with lspci -nn? The relevant line is
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4359]

In the output of rpm -q --all, I can find the line /usr/share/doc/packages/kernel-firmware

However, grepping for ‘broadcom’ in rpm -q --all, I get only a few matches
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/b44.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x/bnx2x.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/cnic.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/phy/broadcom.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/b44.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x/bnx2x.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/cnic.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/phy/broadcom.ko
/lib/firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx
/usr/share/doc/packages/kernel-firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx

However, probably due to the /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware script (or its offline version), there is a directory /lib/firmware/b43 with 122 files therein.

Is there a package missing? If so, where can I get it? From the openSUSE software management? In order to get eth0 connection, I have to switch location (currently, I am on my old laptop connected per wireless).

#5

Thank you and good to know. I have been out of the business for a few years, and the advice was different then.

I have done so; the very first post addresses my problem quite exactly, but the solution did not work for me.
I am guilty of reading the other posts there very quickly, though.

I will keep this in mind. Of course, it means, I will need a DVD drive and a LAN simultaneously. You will perhaps not believe, but this smells like a problem in this part of the world.

Warm regards,
Gernot

#6

On Fri 02 Aug 2013 01:56:03 PM CDT, masala wallah wrote:

malcolmlewis;2576330 Wrote:
>
> Without seeing the device PCI ID I would suspect either
> kernel-firmware package is needed, else the broadcom-wl rpm and
> broadcom-kmp for your kernel.
>
> The command uname -a will give you all that you need with respect to
> arch kernel in use etc.
>

uname -a gives
Linux linux-kpe7.site 3.7.10-1.16-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri May 31
20:21:23 UTC 2013 (97c14ba) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Is the PCI ID the one visible with lspci -nn? The relevant line is
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43228
802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4359]

In the output of rpm -q --all, I can find the line
/usr/share/doc/packages/kernel-firmware

However, grepping for ‘broadcom’ in rpm -q --all, I get only a few
matches
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/b44.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x/bnx2x.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/cnic.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/phy/broadcom.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/b44.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnx2x/bnx2x.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/cnic.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.ko
/lib/modules/3.7.10-1.16-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/phy/broadcom.ko
/lib/firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx
/usr/share/doc/packages/kernel-firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx

However, probably due to the /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware script
(or its offline version), there is a directory /lib/firmware/b43 with
122 files therein.

Is there a package missing? If so, where can I get it? From the
openSUSE software management? In order to get eth0 connection, I have to
switch location (currently, I am on my old laptop connected per
wireless).

Hi
You need the broadcom-wl package from packman;
http://packman.links2linux.org/package/broadcom-wl

So you need;
broadcom-wl-5.100.82.112-11.5.x86_64.rpm
broadcom-wl-kmp-desktop-5.100.82.112_k3.7.10_1.16-11.5.x86_64.rpm

Install those and reboot.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
up 2:43, 3 users, load average: 0.35, 0.24, 0.17
CPU AMD E2-1800@1.70GHz | GPU Radeon HD 7340

#7

On 08/02/2013 04:06 PM, masala wallah wrote:
> DenverD;2576339 Wrote:
>> > ps: next time install from the Live DVD, it is much smaller but with
>> >a network connection you can easily have all the software you
>> >want…however, with the full DVD you are sure to get lots of stuff
>> >down the wire that you will never use…
> I will keep this in mind. Of course, it means, I will need a DVD drive
> and a LAN simultaneously. You will perhaps not believe, but this smells
> like a problem in this part of the world.

i think the Live DVD (used to be CD) will give you a complete enough
install so you can unhook the the DVD, go on the net and then just
get what you need that didn’t come on the Live…(just for browsing,
email and etc most everything is on the Live…except the multimedia
codecs stuff from packman (which is not on the full DVD either)

–
dd

#8

Thank you, this indeed solved the problem. I am somewhat ashamed that I didn’t think of that, but the firmware keptme so much occupied that I forgot about the drivers. :-]

Warmest regards from the monsoon-ridden Himalaya,
Gernot