Wireless card not working!

Can some one help me to get my wireless card working on my HP dv8000 laptop (the AMD notebook not the intel) because i can’t connect to any wireless signals.

Help Please.
Kevin:(

krdna4th wrote:
> Can some one help me to get my wireless card working on my HP dv8000
> laptop (the AMD notebook not the intel) because i can’t connect to any
> wireless signals.

What does the command ‘lspci -v’ show about your wireless?

Larry

how do i figure that out I’m new to Linux. And don’t know to much bout linux terms and what not.

Well i guess it is working because I went into yast checked out my network settings and my wireless card was listed and i needed to download a package called Kinternet but I got a message saying the content isn’t accessible.

A lot of things in Linux are done in a console (or konsole), also called a
terminal. If you are using KDE, click on the chameleon, and there should be a
Terminal Program icon in the favorites listing. If it isn’t there, click on
Applications, then System, and scroll down to the Terminal icon.

Once the terminal is started, you can type the command ‘/sbin/lspci’. It will
put out many lines of data - one of which be contain the string “Network
Controller”. Copy that line by highlighting it with the mouse, pull down the
Edit menu item, and select copy. Note, a CTRL/C will not work here. You will
then be able to paste that data into any graphical application, such as a
browser. If you have to enter it manually, I want to know the model of your
wireless device.

Once I know what device you have, I will figure out the next step.

Larry

Not necessarily. Many wireless cards need firmware (a program for the processor
in the device) to be installed separately. Until we know what device you have,
we have no idea of your next step.

krdna4th wrote:

>
> Can some one help me to get my wireless card working on my HP dv8000
> laptop (the AMD notebook not the intel) because i can’t connect to any
> wireless signals.
>
> Help Please.
> Kevin:(
>
>
Moved from Network to Wireless forum.

this is what yast network settings say about my card
BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (Not connected)
MAC : 00:14:a5:a1:89:02
• Device Name: wlan0
• Started automatically at boot
• IP address assigned using DHCP

krdna4th wrote:
> this is what yast network settings say about my card
> BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (Not
> connected)
> MAC : 00:14:a5:a1:89:02
> • Device Name: wlan0
> • Started automatically at boot
> • IP address assigned using DHCP

When you open a terminal and enter the command

dmesg | grep b43

what do you see?

What do you see when you enter the command

sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan

From this pair of outputs, we will figure out where you are. BTW, the BCM4318
is a version that works well with b43.

Larry

I am using gnome if that is of any help,this is what I got when I entered the first command

b43-phy0: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input8
b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file “b43/ucode5.fw” not found or load failed.
b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to b43 - Linux Wireless and download the latest firmware (version 4).
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input9
b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file “b43/ucode5.fw” not found or load failed.
b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to b43 - Linux Wireless and download the latest firmware (version 4).
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file “b43/ucode5.fw” not found or load failed.
b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to b43 - Linux Wireless and download the latest firmware (version 4).
input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input11
b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file “b43/ucode5.fw” not found or load failed.
b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to b43 - Linux Wireless and download the latest firmware (version 4).

and this is what i also got for the second command

We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

#1) Respect the privacy of others.
#2) Think before you type.
#3) With great power comes great responsibility.

root’s password:
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan0 Interface doesn’t support scanning : Network is down

I was also wondering if there are any books you would recomend getting to help out with me understanding openSUSE 11.0

krdna4th wrote:
> I am using gnome if that is of any help, but when i entered those two
> lines you told me to i got cammand not found and for the second one no
> such file or directory.

That simply cannot be!!! Every Linux system has the dmesg and grep commands. I
don’t use Gnome and do not know how to open a terminal there, but you seem to
be. Please open one and enter the commands

which dmesg
which grep
set

For the last one, we are only interested in the lines that start with PATH=…
My default one was
PATH=/opt/kde3/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:
/usr/games:/usr/lib64/jvm/jre/bin:/usr/lib/mit/bin:/usr/lib/mit/sbin:/usr/lib/qt3/bin

I have the feeling that yours is missing the /usr/bin portion. It seems as if
sudo is not in your path.

Larry

This is probably a syntax error. I have found myself forgetting the first “/” in typing /usr/sbin and then the command.

On another note … do you know whether, if I switch to Gnome from KDE, if I have to reinstall the firmware for the broadcom nic ?? I did it once to get wireless up and running in KDE4. If it’s firmware it’s loaded into the device (wireless modem) itself isnt’ it? So I shouldn’t need to install again. Or … is it compiled against the kernel for that (KDE) desktop environment.

I am trying the new Gnome DE and though it sees the wireless network broadcast, and the WPA Supplicant is installed and the security key is entered, it cannot connect.

Psquared wrote:
>
> This is probably a syntax error. I have found myself forgetting the
> first “/” in typing /usr/sbin and then the command.
>
> On another note … do you know whether, if I switch to Gnome from KDE,
> if I have to reinstall the firmware for the broadcom nic ?? I did it
> once to get wireless up and running in KDE4. If it’s firmware it’s
> loaded into the device (wireless modem) itself isnt’ it? So I shouldn’t
> need to install again. Or … is it compiled against the kernel for that
> (KDE) desktop environment.
>
> I am trying the new Gnome DE and though it sees the wireless network
> broadcast, and the WPA Supplicant is installed and the security key is
> entered, it cannot connect.

Firmware is firmware is firmware! It was compiled for a totally different
processor than you are using, and is operating system independent. It even is
used for Windows!!! You do not have to change it when you switch from KDE to
Gnome, or when you change kernel versions. Firmware is NOT the driver!! The
driver is executed by the host CPU - firmware is executed by the CPU inside the
adapter.

Are you using NetworkManager or ifup?

Larry

That’s what I thought. (about firmware) Not much point in running sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware again because I did it once already and my wireless worked in KDE.

I am using Gnome NetworkManager. It sees the networks because it detects them and their strength - including mine. When I try to connect to it from the taskbar, a window opens up and shows the ESSID and asks for the WPA key. When I enter it I get a message saying I need to do this in NetworkManager. However, when I open that application it shows all the correct entries, including the WPA key, but says my wlan is “not connected.”

Maybe I just need a hard reboot after all these updates to make sure all the files are in the right place.

Psquared wrote:
> I am using Gnome NetworkManager. It sees the networks because it
> detects them and their strength - including mine. When I try to connect
> to it from the taskbar, a window opens up and shows the ESSID and asks
> for the WPA key. When I enter it I get a message saying I need to do
> this in NetworkManager. However, when I open that application it shows
> all the correct entries, including the WPA key, but says my wlan is
> “not connected.”
>
> Maybe I just need a hard reboot after all these updates to make sure
> all the files are in the right place.

In the KNM applet under KDE, one needs to click on the “Edit Connections” and
add a connection for your network. I don’t know about Gnome.

Larry

So even if the NM detects the presence of the wireless broadcast and has the right ESSID I would still need to add it?

The thing is, that NM says my Wlan0 is “not connected” which is what I saw in KDE before I installed the firmware. Maybe I am missing a Gnome component. I’ll check for updates and see.

I tried the command above: sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware after establishing a wired connection and it worked! The crazy thing is I had just done this same step on the same machine in a previous installation of suse11. I would have thought the firmware would have stayed in the NIC…? I guess in this case it doesn’t. Anyway, that worked for me, Wireless is working now. Hope that helps someone.

BigLizardInMyBackyard wrote:
> I tried the command above: sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
> after establishing a wired connection and it worked! The crazy thing is
> I had just done this same step on the same machine in a previous
> installation of suse11. I would have thought the firmware would have
> stayed in the NIC…? I guess in this case it doesn’t. Anyway, that
> worked for me, Wireless is working now. Hope that helps someone.

In the NIC, the firmware is kept in volatile RAM. It is just the
operating system for the on-board computer. Turn the power off and it
goes away. The permanent copy is kept on disk. When you install, not
update, openSUSE, that disk copy is destroyed and must be reloaded.

Hint: Keep a copy of the files in /lib/firmware/b43 and
/lib/firmware/b43legacy in some backup location. If you have to reload
again,just restore those files and your wireless will work.

Larry