I’m afraid I can’t. It did work, however, under openSUSE since, I don’t know, 11.0? Until I installed 11.4 on Friday.
Post result of this again
/sbin/lspci -nnk
Apparently, it still uses b43, despite running
# modprobe -rv b43
0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4328] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1500 Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-card [1028:000a]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
try removing anyb43 packages
b43-fwcutter
b43-firmware
try the modprobe to remove again
and then to insert wl
switch off wireless switch on laptop, shutdown.
Startup
Check again. If necessary modprobe to insert wl again
reboot
check lspci info
I only had b43-fwcutter installed, I removed it and after again removing b43, inserting wl, rebooting, inserting wl again, lspci still says it’s using b43-pci-bridge 
Check in
/etc/modprobe.d
For a file: 50-broadcom-wl-blacklist.conf
Contents should be
modules blacklisted for broadcom-wl
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist ssb
blacklist b43
blacklist ndiswrapper
# cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-broadcom-wl-blacklist.conf
# modules blacklisted for broadcom-wl
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist ssb
blacklist b43
blacklist ndiswrapper
The reason I’m giving these curious directions is because I tried b43 on my 11.4 install and it still didn’t work (didn’t in 11.3 either)
But it locked up the device and it wasn’t getting removed with modprobe. I decided to shutdown the wireless and the machine. It worked for me. (seem to recall same in 11.3)
And FYI, the device was locked from function in windows.
I’m out of ideas
Well, this machine hasn’t seen Windows since 2007, when I bought it.
Thanks for the help anyway, appreciate it.
just a me2 to let you know there are more people with this issue.
Got it!
First I installed the firmware:
sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
I messed around trying all sorts of stuff (sorry folks my memory is not that good!)
Issued command:
modprobe -rv b43
I went to YAST and upgraded networkmanager and every installed package that had “networkmanager” in the name (using the search dialog).
Issued command modprobe -v b43
Blue light came on!
I issued:
killall knetworkmanager
followed closely by
knetworkmanager
Then I was able to go to the tray icon and click “Enable Wireless” at which time a puzzled look appeared on the console, as it were. I took this to be knwetwork manager’s way of expressing its surprise at seeing the network was already up.:sarcastic:
That’s great, I’ll have to try that as soon as I get back to my office and am no longer dependent on the laptop 
I ended up figuring my WLAN card was fried, which it seems like, and ordering a new one, but my laptop wouldn’t boot with a foreign card - BIOS complained about an illegal configuration and there was no way of getting BIOS not to refuse, even in the advanced settings. So I ended up getting a USB wireless adapter from Netgear. Works like a dream on a friend’s laptop with OpenSUSE 11.4 (out of the box, plugged it into a booted system and it worked!) but not on mine, despite two new installs (64 bit, then 32 bit…). No clue why not. Kubuntu recognizes it and can work with it, also straight out of the box, so I guess I’m stuck with that for now, even though I like SUSE better. Good luck to those that are still struggling!
On 03/18/2011 03:06 AM, erget wrote:
>
> That’s great, I’ll have to try that as soon as I get back to my office
> and am no longer dependent on the laptop I ended up figuring my WLAN
> card was fried, which it seems like, and ordering a new one, but my
> laptop wouldn’t boot with a foreign card - BIOS complained about an
> illegal configuration and there was no way of getting BIOS not to
> refuse, even in the advanced settings. So I ended up getting a USB
> wireless adapter from Netgear. Works like a dream on a friend’s laptop
> with OpenSUSE 11.4 (out of the box, plugged it into a booted system and
> it worked!) but not on mine, despite two new installs (64 bit, then 32
> bit…). No clue why not. Kubuntu recognizes it and can work with it,
> also straight out of the box, so I guess I’m stuck with that for now,
> even though I like SUSE better. Good luck to those that are still
> struggling!
What does lsusb give as the USB ID for that stick?
With the live CD it reports:
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0846:4260 Netgear, Inc. WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
The light on the stick still doesn’t turn on though and there’s no way to establish a wireless connection.
On 03/18/2011 02:36 PM, erget wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2307568 Wrote:
>> What does lsusb give as the USB ID for that stick?
>
> With the live CD it reports:
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0846:4260 Netgear, Inc. WG111v3 54 Mbps Wireless [realtek RTL8187B]
> --------------------
>
>
> The light on the stick still doesn’t turn on though and there’s no way
> to establish a wireless connection.
That driver has been in every kernel since 2008 and requires no external firmware.
What does the following command show?
sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
Similar issue for me.
Networkmanager has enable wifi grayed out. If I change to ifup, I am able to scan and find my routers, but am unable to access to the net.
I remember having a bit of an issue with 11.3 but was able to fix it. I came back to try 11.4… not having much luck. Will have to go back to Kubuntu if I can get this fixed up… a netbook is no good with out net 
This is what I figured out to work my wireless:
Install broadcom-wl driver & the kernel that match yr OS like : broadcom-wl-kmp-desktop.
Reboot,press the hardware wifi button to ‘on’,it doesn’t show as ‘on’,it’s ok,now add a Network Manager plasmoid on yr desktop,left click on it to open a dialog,now the ‘Enable Wireless’ box in this dialog should be able to tick,tick it,u’ll see yr hardware wifi button turn ‘ON’.
Just try it.
Yes, the Netgear stick isn’t the problem, but the fact that I can’t use wireless at all. I think it’s an anomaly that’s restricted to my laptop.
Unfortunately, I can’t test that command for at least a week since I’m traveling right now. Will get back to you
I confirm that marcoslai’s solution worked in my case. I replaced the network manager applet (package “NetworkManager-kde4”) with the network manager plasmoid (package “plasmoid-networkmanagement”). This way, I could click on enable wireless, which was initially greyed out.
Note: I have an Asus 1015PEM netbook and I installed the broadcom-wl driver (and broadcom-wl-kmp-desktop for my kernel), which works fine. The last obstacle was to be able to actually enable the wireless access through the network manager applet or plasmoid.
Hello,
I am relatively new, could some kind person please help a non-computer windows orientated person get my wifi card to chat to my netcomm myzone wifi router?
This is the output about the opensuse version I am running and the network card I have. I am sorry if you are repeating yourself but I am not used to know how to do anything with computer systems at all.
Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company BCM4312 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [103c:137d]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Thanks
New Geek