Wireless setup help

[Spikey]

Im having some issues getting my wireless card to connect to my home network in FC6. I followed the steps in the howto guide "Installing the Air Force One Wireless B/G Broadcom 4318 card with Fedora Core 6 - Document Version 1.0.0 (http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcmjp3jt_72pp33kf&revision=_published) ". I did however use a diffrent driver than the one the guide uses (since I am using a diffrent laptop - the Compaq V6105nr)

Everything worked out fine and I did not recieve any errors. After I restarted the computer, I went to:
Administration> Network
there was no device listed in the "Devices Tab" section, but there was the "Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card", Device: eth1, Status: ok in the 'Hardware Tab'.

so i added a new device based on that hardware, and that worked out ok. I left all settings on their defaults.

when i tryed to activate the device, i got the message "Determining IP information for eth1... failed; no link present. Check cable?"

anyone have any thoughts?

thanks

[scotta3234]

1.*and most importantly... Is your card using the broadcom chipset (more specifically the broadcom 4318), in which that guide was written for. Although this guide does work with other broadcom cards.
2. When you say you used a different "driver" did you really mean "firmware" as the how-to only uses fwcutter, the native broadcom drivers, but then tells you where to go and get the firmware from. Unless you just meant you used a more recent version of fw-cutter which is fine.
3. Check to make sure all of your settings in the "NetworkConfiguration" menu are accurate. In particular the "Mode" setting which is usually set to"managed" for some reason. You will probably want this set to "auto."
4. Have you tried enabling NetworkManager, to see if your card can scan for access points? this can be turned on under System/adminstration/services, then checking the box for network manager and starting the service.

[Spikey]

thanks for the quick response.
My card does use the Broadcom chipset, but no, not the 4318 chipset.
lspci resulted in the following:

0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4311 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 1363
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 1363
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company: Unknown device 1363

I browsed the ndiswrapper sourseforge site (http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List) for a compatible card:

I found:
Card:Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card rev 01
* PCIID: 03:00.0 0280 14e:4311 rev 01
* PC: HP pavilion dv6000 series 'DV6105US'
* OS: Slackware 11.0
* Driver Used: Win32 Driver from HP

the driver listed is the same driver as my card uses in windows. I confirmed this by downloading the driver for the above card as well as the driver for my card from ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34001-34500/sp34152.exe and ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34001-34500/sp34152.exe respectively.

So inplace of the BCMWL5.INF that the guide specified, i used the bcmwl5.inf that is for my card.

I did change the setting from managed to auto - didnt help

As for enabling network manager - i cant find it. My KDE does not have System/adminstration/services and i wasnt able to find it.... that being said, lspci did not work for me either, i had to boot using knopixx and then i was able to use it.

[jhetrick62]

I'm also running a broadcom card but I'm not on my FC box right now so I can't confirm the chip. My laptop is very fussy when finding the network. I get the same error sometimes 3 or more times in a row before it grabs a dhcp feed at least from the network in this motel. (I travel for business)

But, by reissuing the command /sbin/ifup wlan0, I was able to get a connection after several errors that match the one that you have.

It was somewhat un-reliable though once on the network and very slow and clunky as compared to using the same laptop on Winxp with the same built-in wireless nic. Not sure if it's this router, or something else as this is a new build for me on usb HD.

Jeff

[ramasees]

Here is a simple guide to get all broadcom 43xx running in fc6 and reliabley with wep and wpa
su yum -y install bcm43xx-fwcutter
next you need the file bcmwl5.sys this will be on the driver disk that came with you card
then simply cd into the directory where you put bcmwl5.sys and enter
/usr/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys
restart and your card should work

[jhetrick62]

So you are saying that bmcwl5.sys needs to be copied to /lib/firmware before you issue the command /usr/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys?

The problem for me will be finding the firmware as this laptop is a Dell so there was no separate disk that came.

Jeff

[ramasees]

no it doesnt matter where bcmwl5.sys is you just need to be in the directory where it is can be on the cd still doesnt matter you just need to be in the directory before you enter the command
/usr/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys

[Spikey]

Hey Ramasees, I just tried the commands you gave above... but it didnt work out so well... this is what i got:

# yum -y install bcm43xx-fwcutter
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Existing lock /var/run/yum.pid: another copy is running. Aborting.


Any ideas?

[ramasees]

yes you have auto update on either wait for in to finish or disabble it in services yum-updatesd last on list

[Spikey]

ahhh, autoupdates... now ic..

alright, the auto updates completed, then I ran (as root):

# yum -y install bcm43xx-fwcutter

that worked, then I rebooted
then as root and from the directory that contained bcmwl5.sys I ran:

/usr/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys

which resulted in:

Sorry, the input file is either wrong or not supported by bcm43xx -fwcutter.
This file has an unknown MD5sum b80bcf0a25aeb3b47030ac83287f784a.


I did a search on the error and a suggestion was made to use bcmwl5.inf or wl_apsta.o instead of bcmwl5.sys. First I tried bcmwl5.inf which gave me the same error as bcmwl5.sys. Then I tryed wl_apsta.o which seemd to have worked. Here is what was displayed:

[root@localhost asdf]# /usr/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o

filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 3.130.20.0
MD5 : e08665c5c5b66beb9c3b2dd54aa80cb3
microcodes : 2 4 5 11
pcms : 4 5

microcode : 2
revision : 0x0127
patchlevel : 0x000e
date : 2005-04-18
time : 02:36:27

microcode : 4
revision : 0x0127
patchlevel : 0x000e
date : 2005-04-18
time : 02:36:27

microcode : 5
revision : 0x0127
patchlevel : 0x000e
date : 2005-04-18
time : 02:36:27

microcode : 11
revision : 0x0127
patchlevel : 0x000e
date : 2005-04-18
time : 02:36:27

extracting bcm43xx_microcode2.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_microcode4.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_microcode5.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_microcode11.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_pcm4.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_pcm5.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval01.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval02.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval03.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval04.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval05.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval06.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval07.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval08.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval09.fw ...
extracting bcm43xx_initval10.fw ...
[root@localhost asdf]#

so I rebooted, but still no wireless. The device is not listed in "Network Configuration" in either the devices or hardware tabs and the light on my laptop that indicates whether the wireless is on or off is orange (off).

any thoughts?
again i appreciate all of your help.

[ramasees]

hi have you used NetwokManager
su - NetworkManager
Also what card do you have? are you sure its a bcm43xx not all broadcom cards are the same

[Spikey]

I don't seem to have NetworkManager
when I type (as root) NetworkManger, I get:

bash: NetworkManager: command not found

Im not sure if this is strange or not but when I type lspci i get:

bash: lspci: command not found

I acutaly hadd to use my knopixx live dvd to execute that command.

I have a broadcom card, but I have no idea if it is a bcm43xx. The compaq website (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00762027&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=3250961&dlc=en&lang=en) for my laptop simply lists it as: 802.11b/g WLAN

I just assumed it was from what i read on the ndiswrapper site (http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/.../index.php)

Also windows xp setup uses bcmwl5.inf (if that helps).

[ramasees]

MMM i dont think your in a root terminal in a terminal type su - then password, the space then dash is important
try that should work

[Spikey]

WOW do I ever feel dumb!

su - did it!

Now when I run NetworkManager I can see the available wireless networks... For whatever reason I cant connect to the one here at work... im thinking it could be because i need to sign in through the web?... hmm but it should still connect first... Oh well I will wait until im off and try to connect to my network at home.

Thanks for all your help

[ramasees]

Good glad i was a help and no you shouldnt be able to connect at all to work without the key unless of course they have no security

[zackf]

Hey guys,

went through the same steps and got my wifi working well, I appreciate all the detailed workthrough - network manager is auto detecting and I can log on to secure networks, but I am not getting very good transfer speed. Has anyone experienced the same problem or have any ideas on how to correct?

[Batman2372]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I also cannot get NetworkManager to run, however, I'm sure I'm logged in as root. I see it in /usr/sbin/ but when I try to run it, I either have absolutely nothing happen, or the bash: NetworkManager: command not found.

I went into Services, and I turned the service on, so I know it's on. But without being able to access it, what good is it to me? :)

Can anyone help me?

[scotta3234]

@Zach... Are you using the native broadcom driver (fw-cutter method) if so, are you also using the stock 2.6.20 kernel? The broadcom drivers are kinda messed up with the stock kernels right now causing extremely slow speeds so I'm using a custom kernel with a different patch applied. This patch SHOULD be stock in the new .21 kernel when it comes out. If you want a link to a custom .20 kernel let me know.

@Batman... you should be able to turn on network manager as a regular user. You just have to be root to change the services. When you go to System/Administration/Services and check the box for networkmanager and hit "start" do you get any message of any kind. It should put a little icon in the top right hand portion of your screen. Does anything happen?

[zackf]

Hey Scott,

I got the link to the custom kernel from another thread I started. Should I run the bcmfwcutter on wl_apsta.o when I install the kernel?

[Batman2372]

@Batman... you should be able to turn on network manager as a regular user. You just have to be root to change the services. When you go to System/Administration/Services and check the box for networkmanager and hit "start" do you get any message of any kind. It should put a little icon in the top right hand portion of your screen. Does anything happen?


No, it doesn't. In the service configuration window, it says it's running in the status window, but I don't see any icon anywhere on my desktop or elsewhere.

[scotta3234]

Just a guess.... but do you have a notifications section added to your panel because this is where the network manager icon would show??? Try right-clicking on your panel and select "add to panel" and then select "Notifications Area." If this isn't the case then we could try removing and reinstalling networkmanager.

[Batman2372]

I'm in KDE, not Gnome, and no, I don't see that icon in my notifications panel. I'll try loading up in Gnome and see what happens.

[scotta3234]

Ahhh.... well that would explain some things. I believe you'll need Knetworkmanager.. and things should work.