Broadcom-STA "wl" wifi drivers

[bigpup]

Slacko64 5.8.8
Live CD first boot.
New Netgear WNA3100 USB wireless adapter
Broadcom BCM43231

Network Wizard

Wireless not recognized.

Tried to setup using ndiswrapper using Windows driver.
Normally works in other Puppies.

After identifying the Windows .inf file to use.
Ndiswrapper setup does nothing.

Edit:
If I try Simple network Setup.
Trying to use Windows driver, I get this message.

error windows driver does not seem to work. It has been uninstalled.

I tried a windows driver from Windows 7 64 version and a Windows XP driver.
Same results with all.

Any ideas on a fix?

Thanks!

[peebee]

Any ideas on a fix?

Thanks!

Hi bigpup

Don't think I've ever uploaded the Slacko64 5.8.8 k3.13.1 pet ......

Anyway it's now available at:
https://app.box.com/s/d3dv96z5gvj61n9zumh1

Hope it helps / works....

Cheers
peebee

[bigpup]

Don't think I've ever uploaded the Slacko64 5.8.8 k3.13.1 pet ......

Anyway it's now available at:
https://app.box.com/s/d3dv96z5gvj61n9zumh1

Hope it helps / works....

Cheers
peebee

Does not seem to have any affect.
Still have same problem.

Keep in mind Slacko64 5.8.8 is an alpha and may have other problems causing this.

What is this Pet suppose to provide?

[peebee]

What is this Pet suppose to provide?

The latest Broadcom STA wl.ko driver for 64 bit systems - compiled for Slacko64 k3.13.1....

Did you reboot after installing? You may also need to do

Code: Select all

depmod -a

in a terminal before the new driver is completely installed

Quick check - do

Code: Select all

rfkill list wlan

in a terminal - if anything is soft blocked do

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock wlan

otherwise suggest you create a pdiag pack and post / pm it.

Warning - it may well be that like #dsj you have such a "new" Broadcom device that it is currently unsupported....

[bigpup]

Thanks for the help.
I will try your suggestions and report back.

Warning - it may well be that like #dsj you have such a "new" Broadcom device that it is currently unsupported....

There is a good chance that is the problem. I just got it new.

All Puppies, so far, I have had to use ndiswrapper and Windows driver.
That does not seem to want to work in Slacko64 5.8.8

[bigpup]

The latest Broadcom STA wl.ko driver for 64 bit systems - compiled for Slacko64 k3.13.1....

Does that include driver for USB wireless devices?

[dsj]

Finally I have managed to get the broadcom wireless working in Puppy Precise 5.7.1

Read the complete article at

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt

This is what I did

Fresh Install of Puppy Precise 5.7.1 in USB Stick & created save file while rebooting.

Reboot

Install the provided broadcom pet

http://e-nautia.com/peebee/disk/share/b ... recise.pet

Reboot

In a Terminal issued the following commands

rmmod bcma

modprobe cfg80211

modprobe lib80211

modprobe wl

Simple Network Setup was able to detect my connection & I configured it & presently posting from my connected laptop.

On reboot loaded these modules via Boot Manager for automatic loading of modules & automatic wireless connection.

Thanks a lot Peebee. Sorry for the delayed post as I was away for 4 days. (':D')

[peebee]

Finally I have managed to get the broadcom wireless working in Puppy Precise 5.7.1

Hi #dsj - that's really good news - shows that the basic driver is working - just needs the detection and configuration logic to configure things correctly for your device - hopefully this will follow in the not too distant future....

[bigpup]

Slacko64 5.8.8
Live CD first boot.
New Netgear WNA3100 USB wireless adapter
Broadcom BCM43231

peebee,

I tried you suggestions, but still does not work.

It seems there is nothing in Linux for this device.
Did a Google search and everyone is having to use ndiswrapper and the Windows driver.

The problem is I can not get ndiswrapper to work in Slacko64 5.8.8

I posted about this in the Slacko64 topic.

I even went to Slackware64 14.0 salix repository and installed the ndiswrapper that was there.
It tried to work, but not completely.
I think it was the wrong kernel version.
Not sure if that matters?

[peebee]

Slacko64 5.8.8
Live CD first boot.
New Netgear WNA3100 USB wireless adapter
Broadcom BCM43231

peebee,

I tried you suggestions, but still does not work.

Hi bigpup

If you want to post or pm me the outputs from pdiag then I'll have a look to see if I can determine the problem.

Can you do 2 - the first after a clean boot of just Slacko64, the second after installation of the pet and depmod -a and a reboot.

Thanks
peebee

[bigpup]

peebee,

I have been working on my problem in the Slacko64 topic.
Making some progress with the help of 01micko.
Seems to be no Linux drivers for this Netgear WNA3100 USB wireless adapter
Broadcom BCM43231.
Trying to use ndiswrapper and Windows driver.
ndiswrapper having problems, because Slacko64 is 64 Bit.

I am going in circles for now.

If you happen to determine a Linux driver, that is known to work for this hardware, that would probably solve the issue. So far, I have not found one.

Thank you very much for your support with wireless hardware.!!!

[01micko]

Bad news bigpup.

BCM43231 and BCM43236 (rev <= 2) have another architecture and can't be easily supported by brcmfmac. They have less memory on the chip and can't run full MAC firmware, so they require implementing some extra code in the Linux driver. On the other hand they are not standard soft MAC devices, so they can't be supported by brcmsmac or b43.

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Dri ... mac_driver

If ndiswrapper doesn't work sell that thing on ebay or craiglist or whatever and do some research on something that is supported and purchase that. I avoid broadcom at any possibility.

EDIT:

If you install cd that comes with the adapter on Windows 64 bit machine, files of the driver is installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\NETGEAR\driver\WIN764 and its name is bcmwlhigh6.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/n ... ar_WNA3100

Last hope?

Download: http://01micko.com/packages/bcmwlhigh6.zip

[bigpup]

01micko,

Thanks for the info and your research.

I already knew about a lot of it.
The Windows driver you posted is the one I have been trying to use.

Seems the issue is ndiswrapper working in 64 bit Linux.

Example:

However, you use it under ndiswrapper on 64 bit Ubuntu, you will get a lot of uninitialized variables.

If ndiswrapper doesn't work sell that thing on ebay or craiglist or whatever and do some research on something that is supported and purchase that. I avoid broadcom at any possibility.

It works fine if you use ndiswrapper in a 32 bit Linux.

I agree, this USB adapter is not very good for Linux.

Thanks to all for trying to help!!!

[ozsouth]

I managed to compile this for slacko 5.7.0. Is 6.2 mb, so I can't post it here. Runs my BCM43142 (14e4:4365) much faster than the default slacko wl driver. Signal strength is near 90% as against 30% for default. Shows as an eth not a wlan & lib80211_crypt_tkip has to be loaded manually.

[peebee]

I managed to compile this for slacko 5.7.0. Is 6.2 mb, so I can't post it here. Runs my BCM43142 (14e4:4365) much faster than the default slacko wl driver. Signal strength is near 90% as against 30% for default. Shows as an eth not a wlan & lib80211_crypt_tkip has to be loaded manually.

Many thanks for alerting me to this new version - I'll try to compile it and then edit this post to report progress.

[later1] have compiled on both Slacko5.9.3 k3.4.94 and Tahrpup5.8.3 k3.14.11 and it seems to compile and install / load fine on my HP550 laptop with wpa encyption - I had no problems with lib80211_crypt_tkip - which encryption are you using? both sns and frisbee used.

2 small patches to wl_linux.c to change eth% to wlan% and to define module licence - diff attached
[/later1]

[later2]pet size is 2.6mb compared with 1.6mb for 223.141 version....
[/later2]

Cheers
peebee

[ozsouth]

Peebee - I used slacko 5.7.0 (k 3.10.32) & wpa & wpa2 & each of the 3 connect progs - must be my ham-fisted attempt to compile (I just followed the text file enclosed with the hybrid-wl driver). My resultant driver (6.2 mb) is obviously dodgy, even though it (eventually) works. I'm not as bright as my Gloucestershire grandmother was. Would be great if you could post a pet for slacko 5.7.0.

[peebee]

Would be great if you could post a pet for slacko 5.7.0.

I've created pets (2.6mb) for the 6.30.223.248 drivers for both Slacko5.7 and 5.7.0 and uploaded them to:

https://app.box.com/s/d3dv96z5gvj61n9zumh1

remember to reboot after installation....

[ozsouth]

Thanks Peebee, much appreciated.

[ozsouth]

withdrawn

[bobc]

My wifi works when running live, but after I install to hard disk its hopeless. I went rooting around looking for a cause and found a files called messages, and it has what looks like a couple errors:

wl: module liscense 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel

wl driver 6.30.223.141 (r415941) failed with code 21

kernel BUG at include/net cfg80211.h:2930!

Searching the wl driver failed error has led me to this thread. It looks like if I guess the correct file and download it, copy it to that machine and install it, I might be able to get it working?

I can eliminate the 2 _64 files, I think, but how do I know which of the others to get?

Assuming I can figure out how to install it, do I need to do any modprobe or create any blacklist files or get rid of the wl.conf in /etc/modprobe.d which references both the failing wl and the b43 that was loaded when running live that i have been trying to load?

I asked about this in the beginner thread, but will delete that post since nobody has answered anyway, if I get a reply here. This seems like an old thread, but seems appropriate,, so that's why this post here...

Thanks for any help..

PS: I noticed 3.10.32 in the text of that messages file, so I downloaded that file, installed it and rebooted, but still have no wifi, and no b43 in lsmod