Fedora 8 and bcm4328 wireless

[emunity]

I need some help here:

I tried the fwcutter firmware using this guide "http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras"

That would not work for my Dell D820 with a Dell 1505(bcm4328) wireless card.

I rmmod -f b43 an removed the alias from /etc/modprobe.conf

so that pretty much cleaned everything up I am hoping.

Next I tried the ndiswrapper way "http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/ndis-yum-livna"

That did work. I have wireless now.

Here is what I am concerned about and please don't reply unless you know the answer to this.

In the network configuration gui I see two instances of wlan.

Under the hardware tab I see wlan0 the ndiswrapper which sais "configured" and a second wlan, named wlan1 broadcom device unknown bcm4328 which sais "ok".

Under the device tab I see also two instances of wlan.

wlan0 the ndiswrapper is inactive, and the wlan1 b43 device active.


What is going on here? Why are there two instances of wlan in hardware and two in devices?

Is this how ndiswrapper works? I know my wireless is working now but I want to know if what I am seeing in the network configuration gui is normal or not.

I hope someone here who has setup ndiswrapper for the bmc4328 has the same scenario I have and if not then there must be some left over junk from the prior fwcutter installs?

I know the /lib/firmware/ still has the b43 folder in it with the firmware files but I can tell you the module is not being loaded I checked with lsmod and I also removed the alias to it.

So please someone explain this to me.

THanks

[stoat]

...wlan0 the ndiswrapper is inactive, and the wlan1 b43 device active...Is this how ndiswrapper works?No.I know my wireless is working now but I want to know if what I am seeing in the network configuration gui is normal or not.It is not if you want to use ndiswrapper.

According Linux Wireless (http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43), the Broadcom 4328 chipset is not supported by the b43 drivers. But since the Network Configuration utility is showing an active b43 device, you should check a few things before doing anything. Even though you removed the b43 module from the kernel, those built-in Broadcom drivers can sometimes be reloaded at the next boot. That's why people using ndiswrapper with Broadcom 43xx cards usually blacklist the built-in Broadcom drivers (something not mentioned in the fedora unity tutorial you used). The following commands should clear up any doubt about what is responsible for your WLAN connection./sbin/lsmod | sort
dmesg | tail -40No real use in saying anything more until you know that beyond doubt.

[emunity]

I did a google search and read about blacklisting so I did this:

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
blacklist bcm43xx_mac80211
blacklist b43-pci
blacklist b43



OK here are the results:


dmesg | tail -40

addrconf(netdev_up): wlan1: link is not ready
addrconf(netdev_change): wlan1 : link becomes ready
wlan1: no Ipv6 routes present


lsmod | sort


module size used by
ndiswrapper 169500 0




Nothing at all on b43 module nothing!!!!




ok so what is wrong?

[stoat]

If you are connected and happy with it, nothing is wrong really. The Network Configuration utility is a little messy related to the abandoned b43 driver attempt. If you are using NetworkManager to deal with your wireless connections, you won't be seeing much of the Network Configuration utility actually. I guess I'm reluctant to tell you to do anything that can break your working connection.

But if all of this is bugging you, and you are determined to do something about it (and I would understand that), then some ideas that I thought of...

Recheck the wlan0 aliases in /etc/modprobe.conf and /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper. They should both have the alias wlan0 ndiswrapper line.


Deactivate the wlan1 device in the Network Configuration utility. Then edit the the wlan0 device to check for correct router information, activate, save. Try to connect.


If #2 worked, delete the wlan1 device and hardware in the Network Configuration utility, save.


Or delete both devices, recreate and configure a new wlan0 wireless connection, activate, save.


If you are not using NetworkManager, you can also edit the wlan0 device and check the box to activate when the computer boots.