Help with ndiswrapper and Broadcom wireless

[celejar]

On Sat, 4 Jul 2009 13:51:30 -0400
JoeHill <joehill@...> wrote:

> Thierry Chatelet wrote:

...

> > Another branch of this driver, based on the Devicescape 802.11 Stack, which
> > should be the future in Linux wireless support and which supports advanced
> > capabilities (namely, full WPA support), can be found in the wireless-dev
> > tree:
> > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-dev.git
>
> I would like to try this, but I am completely unfamiliar with how to approach
> this. Is this similar to subversion? How to I retrieve this code?

You may find this link helpful:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/git-guide

Celejar
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[Florian Kulzer-3]

On Sun, Jul 05, 2009 at 15:39:47 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> Florian Kulzer wrote:

[...]

> > What, then, makes you think that you have a "Broadcom Corporation
> > BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)" wireless adapter? Is there a PCMCIA card
> > with this chipset?
>
> That's weird. I swear when I started this whole thing, I ran 'lspci', and got
> that output. I mean, really, where else could I have gotten that? It was pasted
> from a terminal, and I don't have any other machines in here with wireless :-)

I also assumed that you had pasted the text because it was a verbatim
copy of the relevant part of /usr/share/misc/pci.ids. I was therefore
very surprised when nothing showed up with lspci.

> On the front of the notebook, there a label which says 'Broadcom Wireless', and
> underneath that is an antenna symbol, the word 'Wireless', and a switch to turn
> the wireless on or off. I of course have tried all this with the indicator in
> both positions.

Just to be sure: Did you reboot after changing the state of the switch?
It might also be worthwhile to enter the BIOS setup and look for an
option related to the wireless interface. (The accessibility of such an
option, should it exist, might depend on the on/off setting.)

> However, now when I run lsusb, I get this:
>
> Bus 002 Device 003: ID 03f0:171d Hewlett-Packard Wireless (Bluetooth + WLAN)
> Interface [Integrated Module]

Do you have any USB devices plugged in that could be (mis)identified
like that? I do not immediately see how a network device could shift
from the PCI to the USB subsystem like that.

> Could I have changed something when I installed the Windows driver from HP with
> ndiswrapper? I've since removed the driver _and_ ndiswrapper.

As far as I remember, there are network adapters whose Windows drivers
can put them in a state that makes them unusable under Linux (until one
boots Windows and changes the relevant configuration). It may be
possible that a Windows driver under ndiswrapper can have the same
effect. Unfortunately I do not know enough about this issue to judge how
likely such a scenario is for the BCM4328.

If there is a Windows installation on the laptop then I would use it to
check the wireless configuration. Trouble can hide behind seemingly
innocuous configuration options like "energy saving" or "auto-suspend".

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          Florian   |


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[JoeHill-2]

Florian Kulzer wrote:

> Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or some
> error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that you might
> need a newer kernel.)

It worked!

Well, I still am not on wireless, because I use WPA on my router and I'm not
sure how to get that configured yet on the notebook, but at least this time
when I repeated your instructions, I got this:

tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/ssb/ssb.ko
rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko
rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/base/firmware_class.ko
rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
tablet:/home/lajolla# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated  
          Bit Rate:14 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm  
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received
          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I learned quite a bit from this exercise, in particular that I will never buy a
machine with a Broadcom chip ;)

Many, many thanks for all your time.

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[JoeHill-2]

JoeHill wrote:

> Florian Kulzer wrote:
>
> > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or some
> > error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that you might
> > need a newer kernel.)  
>
> It worked!
>
> Well, I still am not on wireless, because I use WPA on my router and I'm not
> sure how to get that configured yet on the notebook, but at least this time
> when I repeated your instructions, I got this:
>
> tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/ssb/ssb.ko
> rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko
> rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/base/firmware_class.ko
> rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> tablet:/home/lajolla# iwconfig
> lo        no wireless extensions.
>
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
>
> eth1      IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  Nickname:""
>           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated  
>           Bit Rate:14 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm  
>           Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>           Power Managementmode:All packets received
>           Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
>           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I get no
'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
will be ignored in a future release.
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl WARNING:
All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be
ignored in a future release.
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko

And, of course, I get no wireless :-(

Help!

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[Florian Kulzer-3]

On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:29:50 -0400, JoeHill wrote:

> JoeHill wrote:
> > Florian Kulzer wrote:
> > > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or some
> > > error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that you might
> > > need a newer kernel.)  
> >
> > It worked!
> >
> > Well, I still am not on wireless, because I use WPA on my router and I'm not
> > sure how to get that configured yet on the notebook, but at least this time
> > when I repeated your instructions, I got this:
> >
> > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/ssb/ssb.ko
> > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko
> > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/base/firmware_class.ko
> > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> > tablet:/home/lajolla# iwconfig
> > lo        no wireless extensions.
> >
> > eth0      no wireless extensions.
> >
> > eth1      IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  Nickname:""
> >           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated  
> >           Bit Rate:14 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm  
> >           Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
> >           Power Managementmode:All packets received
> >           Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
> >           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
> >           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
> Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I get no
> 'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
> tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> will be ignored in a future release.
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl WARNING:
> All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be
> ignored in a future release.
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
>
> And, of course, I get no wireless :-(

It seems that your system still does not recognize the presence of the
Broadcom device reliably. You have to check the lspci output before
anything else. (The rmmod lines for the successful attempts show that
the system had already loaded another driver for the device, which only
happens if it is recognized.)

> Help!

Try what I suggested earlier regarding rf switch, BIOS settings and
configuration under Windows. If nothing else helps, install a newer
kernel and rebuild the wl module.

--
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          Florian   |


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[JoeHill-2]

Florian Kulzer wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:29:50 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> > JoeHill wrote:  
> > > Florian Kulzer wrote:  
> > > > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or some
> > > > error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that you might
> > > > need a newer kernel.)    
> > >
> > > It worked!
> > >
> > > Well, I still am not on wireless, because I use WPA on my router and I'm
> > > not sure how to get that configured yet on the notebook, but at least
> > > this time when I repeated your instructions, I got this:
> > >
> > > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/ssb/ssb.ko
> > > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia.ko
> > > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/base/firmware_class.ko
> > > rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/pcmcia_core.ko
> > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> > > tablet:/home/lajolla# iwconfig
> > > lo        no wireless extensions.
> > >
> > > eth0      no wireless extensions.
> > >
> > > eth1      IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  Nickname:""
> > >           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point:
> > > Not-Associated Bit Rate:14 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm  
> > >           Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
> > >           Power Managementmode:All packets received
> > >           Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm
> > >           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
> > >           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0  
> >
> > Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I get no
> > 'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
> > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > will be ignored in a future release.
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > will be ignored in a future release.
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> >
> > And, of course, I get no wireless :-(  
>
> It seems that your system still does not recognize the presence of the
> Broadcom device reliably. You have to check the lspci output before
> anything else. (The rmmod lines for the successful attempts show that
> the system had already loaded another driver for the device, which only
> happens if it is recognized.)
>
> > Help!  
>
> Try what I suggested earlier regarding rf switch, BIOS settings and
> configuration under Windows. If nothing else helps, install a newer
> kernel and rebuild the wl module.

I've been through all the BIOS options, nothing in there about wireless as far
as I can tell. The switch for the wireless has no effect, other than to cause
the device to disappear from lsusb.

This is the weird thing: I did a reinstall of the OS yesterday to get 'clean
slate' (hopefully), and when I first booted up the new install I did lspci and
lsusb. lspci showed the Broadcom device as I originally posted, lsusb showed
the HP integrated wireless device.

I would like to try to install a newer kernel, but I'm having trouble finding
where to get that. I did apt-cache search linux-image to see what was
available, but nothing newer than mine was listed. Right now I have
2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP.

Thanks again.

--
J


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[Florian Kulzer-3]

On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 14:28:13 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> Florian Kulzer wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:29:50 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> > > JoeHill wrote:  
> > > > Florian Kulzer wrote:  
> > > > > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or some
> > > > > error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that you might
> > > > > need a newer kernel.)    

[...]

> > > Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I get no
> > > 'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
> > > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > > will be ignored in a future release.
> > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > > will be ignored in a future release.
> > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> > >
> > > And, of course, I get no wireless :-(  

[...]

> > Try what I suggested earlier regarding rf switch, BIOS settings and
> > configuration under Windows. If nothing else helps, install a newer
> > kernel and rebuild the wl module.
>
> I've been through all the BIOS options, nothing in there about wireless as far
> as I can tell. The switch for the wireless has no effect, other than to cause
> the device to disappear from lsusb.

Since you keep ignoring my questions about this device under Windows, I
will assume that you do not have Windows installed on this laptop.

> This is the weird thing: I did a reinstall of the OS yesterday to get 'clean
> slate' (hopefully), and when I first booted up the new install I did lspci and
> lsusb. lspci showed the Broadcom device as I originally posted, lsusb showed
> the HP integrated wireless device.

I do not understand why you are not posting the relevant part of the
"lspci -knn" output; I have asked for it repeatedly.

> I would like to try to install a newer kernel, but I'm having trouble finding
> where to get that. I did apt-cache search linux-image to see what was
> available, but nothing newer than mine was listed. Right now I have
> 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP.

If you run Squeeze then it should be possible to install a 2.6.30 kernel
from Sid; backports.org has 2.6.30 kernel images for Lenny.

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          Florian   |


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[Rob Owens-2]

On Sat, Jul 04, 2009 at 01:51:30PM -0400, JoeHill wrote:

> Thierry Chatelet wrote:
>
> > On Thursday 02 July 2009 05:09:51 JoeHill wrote:
> > > I first tried to get wireless working following this page on the Debian
> > > Wiki:
> > >
> > > http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx
> > >
> > > but then found out that my particular device was not supported by that
> > > driver.
> > >
> > > I then tried the tutorial on this page:
> > >
> > > http://wiki.debian.org/NdisWrapper
> > >
> > > I have a Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03), so I got the
> > > driver from HP, the vendor of this notebook. It is installed, and shows up
> > > in ndisgtk, but shows 'Hardware present: no'.
> > >
> > > I installed wicd to see if that would at least let me see more of what was
> > > going on, but although it says it's running, when I try to access the wicd
> > > network manager, nothing opens. Gnome network manager shows no wireless
> > > connection.
> > >
> > > Any tips really greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > --
> > > J  
> >
> >
> > A Linux driver for the Broadcom bcm43xx wireless chips.
> > Broadcom never released details about these chips. So this driver is based
> > upon reverse engineered specifications.
> >
> > This driver was included into the Linux kernel since 2.6.17-rc2.
> >
> > Another branch of this driver, based on the Devicescape 802.11 Stack, which
> > should be the future in Linux wireless support and which supports advanced
> > capabilities (namely, full WPA support), can be found in the wireless-dev
> > tree:
> > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-dev.git
>
> I would like to try this, but I am completely unfamiliar with how to approach
> this. Is this similar to subversion? How to I retrieve this code?
>  
> > The bcm43xx-fwcutter tool (required - see documentation for further info) can
> > install with aptitude.
> > So remove ndiswrapper and try again.
> > Give some detail from ifconfig, iwconfig..
>
> I already have the fwcutter tool installed from previous attempts, and I've
> removed ndiswrapper. ifconfig and iwconfig both show no wireless devices.
>
> Many thanks!
>

Any chance you're affected by this:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
(Thanks to somebody on this list for posting that link a while back).

My Dad's got an HP DV6000 laptop and the wireless device started "disappearing" intermittently.  Not it's permanently gone.  It's apparently a known issue with his laptop.  I
bought him a USB wireless device from newegg and it works great.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320107

He's running Ubuntu 8.04, but I also tested the device on Debian Lenny with success.

-Rob


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[JoeHill-2]

Florian Kulzer wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 14:28:13 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> > Florian Kulzer wrote:  
> > > On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:29:50 -0400, JoeHill wrote:  
> > > > JoeHill wrote:    
> > > > > Florian Kulzer wrote:    
> > > > > > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or
> > > > > > some error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that
> > > > > > you might need a newer kernel.)      
>
> [...]
>
> > > > Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I
> > > > get no 'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
> > > > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > > > WARNING: All config files
> > > > need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be ignored in a
> > > > future release.
> > > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > > > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > > > WARNING: All config files
> > > > need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be ignored in a
> > > > future release.
> > > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> > > >
> > > > And, of course, I get no wireless :-(    
>
> [...]
>
> > > Try what I suggested earlier regarding rf switch, BIOS settings and
> > > configuration under Windows. If nothing else helps, install a newer
> > > kernel and rebuild the wl module.  
> >
> > I've been through all the BIOS options, nothing in there about wireless as
> > far as I can tell. The switch for the wireless has no effect, other than to
> > cause the device to disappear from lsusb.  
>
> Since you keep ignoring my questions about this device under Windows, I
> will assume that you do not have Windows installed on this laptop.

Sorry about that, but yes, you're right. I don't even know where I would get
Windows from anymore.

> > This is the weird thing: I did a reinstall of the OS yesterday to get 'clean
> > slate' (hopefully), and when I first booted up the new install I did lspci
> > and lsusb. lspci showed the Broadcom device as I originally posted, lsusb
> > showed the HP integrated wireless device.  
>
> I do not understand why you are not posting the relevant part of the
> "lspci -knn" output; I have asked for it repeatedly.

Okay, but the device is gone again. There is no output for it in lspci right
now:

tablet:/home/lajolla# lspci -knn | grep -iEA2 'broadcom|bcm|wireless|wifi'
tablet:/home/lajolla#

> > I would like to try to install a newer kernel, but I'm having trouble
> > finding where to get that. I did apt-cache search linux-image to see what
> > was available, but nothing newer than mine was listed. Right now I have
> > 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP.  
>
> If you run Squeeze then it should be possible to install a 2.6.30 kernel
> from Sid; backports.org has 2.6.30 kernel images for Lenny.

I'm going to give that a shot, then and I'll report back. Thanks again for all
of your assistance.

--
J


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[JoeHill-2]

Florian Kulzer wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 14:28:13 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
> > Florian Kulzer wrote:  
> > > On Tue, Jul 07, 2009 at 11:29:50 -0400, JoeHill wrote:  
> > > > JoeHill wrote:    
> > > > > Florian Kulzer wrote:    
> > > > > > Try "modprobe -v wl" as root; that should either give you wlan0 or
> > > > > > some error messages that tell us what goes wrong. (I suspect that
> > > > > > you might need a newer kernel.)      
>
> [...]
>
> > > > Okay, now it's hosed again. When I boot up and do 'modprobe -v wl', I
> > > > get no 'rmmod' lines, as above, it's totally different:
> > > > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > > > WARNING: All config files
> > > > need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be ignored in a
> > > > future release.
> > > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko
> > > > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > > > WARNING: All config files
> > > > need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be ignored in a
> > > > future release.
> > > > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> > > >
> > > > And, of course, I get no wireless :-(    
>
> [...]
>
> > > Try what I suggested earlier regarding rf switch, BIOS settings and
> > > configuration under Windows. If nothing else helps, install a newer
> > > kernel and rebuild the wl module.  
> >
> > I've been through all the BIOS options, nothing in there about wireless as
> > far as I can tell. The switch for the wireless has no effect, other than to
> > cause the device to disappear from lsusb.  
>
> Since you keep ignoring my questions about this device under Windows, I
> will assume that you do not have Windows installed on this laptop.
>
> > This is the weird thing: I did a reinstall of the OS yesterday to get 'clean
> > slate' (hopefully), and when I first booted up the new install I did lspci
> > and lsusb. lspci showed the Broadcom device as I originally posted, lsusb
> > showed the HP integrated wireless device.  
>
> I do not understand why you are not posting the relevant part of the
> "lspci -knn" output; I have asked for it repeatedly.
>
> > I would like to try to install a newer kernel, but I'm having trouble
> > finding where to get that. I did apt-cache search linux-image to see what
> > was available, but nothing newer than mine was listed. Right now I have
> > 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP.  
>
> If you run Squeeze then it should be possible to install a 2.6.30 kernel
> from Sid; backports.org has 2.6.30 kernel images for Lenny.

Okay, I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.30 and rebuilt the driver with
module-assistant.

tablet:/home/lajolla# lspci -knn | grep -iEA2 'broadcom|bcm|wireless|wifi'
tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
will be ignored in a future release.
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/net/wireless/lib80211.ko
install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl WARNING:
All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be
ignored in a future release.
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko

It's just not there anymore. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.

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J


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[Florian Kulzer-3]

On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 10:47:03 -0400, JoeHill wrote:

[...]

> Okay, I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.30 and rebuilt the driver with
> module-assistant.
>
> tablet:/home/lajolla# lspci -knn | grep -iEA2 'broadcom|bcm|wireless|wifi'
> tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> will be ignored in a future release.
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/net/wireless/lib80211.ko
> install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl WARNING:
> All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be
> ignored in a future release.
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
>
> It's just not there anymore. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.

Your problem might be due to broken hardware, see Rob Owens's message
earlier in this thread:

http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2009/07/msg00478.html

If you cannot get a warranty replacement then you should consider buying
a cheap and well-supported USB or PCMCIA wireless device, as Rob also
suggested; this approach is often preferable to endless fighting with
flaky built-in hardware.

(The possibility of hardware failure was the main reason why I kept
 nagging about trying the device under Windows, to have an independent
 test under an OS that is "officially supported" by the manufacturer.)

--
Regards,            | http://users.icfo.es/Florian.Kulzer
          Florian   |


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[JoeHill-2]

Florian Kulzer wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 08, 2009 at 10:47:03 -0400, JoeHill wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Okay, I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.30 and rebuilt the driver with
> > module-assistant.
> >
> > tablet:/home/lajolla# lspci -knn | grep -iEA2 'broadcom|bcm|wireless|wifi'
> > tablet:/home/lajolla# modprobe -v wl
> > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > will be ignored in a future release.
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/net/wireless/lib80211.ko
> > install /sbin/modprobe -qr b43 ssb; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl
> > WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it
> > will be ignored in a future release.
> > insmod /lib/modules/2.6.30-1-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
> >
> > It's just not there anymore. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.  
>
> Your problem might be due to broken hardware, see Rob Owens's message
> earlier in this thread:
>
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2009/07/msg00478.html
>
> If you cannot get a warranty replacement then you should consider buying
> a cheap and well-supported USB or PCMCIA wireless device, as Rob also
> suggested; this approach is often preferable to endless fighting with
> flaky built-in hardware.

Good point. I'm certainly not in any hurry to continue this masochistic
exercise. I definitely appreciate your patience.

I found this:

http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/

and this:

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=8942

and I've found a couple of people who can confirm that they are using the rt73
driver without hassle. If anyone else is looking for Linux compatible wireless
devices, this was a useful link for me:

http://linux-wless.passys.nl/query_hostif.php?hostif=USB

> (The possibility of hardware failure was the main reason why I kept
>  nagging about trying the device under Windows, to have an independent
>  test under an OS that is "officially supported" by the manufacturer.)

If only there were some sort of Windows 'live cd' for testing purposes.

Thanks very much for all your help :)

--
J


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