How-to use bcm43xx-fwcutter on Fedora7

[scotta3234]

*These instructions currently work with a new installation of Fedora7 and my Broadcom 1390 mini-pci card. These instructions should also work for other Bcm43xx devices. DO NOT try and use bcm43xx installation methods you may have seen for FC5 and FC6. Fedora7 requires firmware version 4 or higher (4.x).

-Edited June 18 to include a link to different firmware which should work better for broadcom 4318 users.

-Edited June 20th to include a link for how to use the older Softmac driver in place of the new mac_80211.

-Edited October 8 to suggest using the b43-fwcutter package in place of the bcm43xx-fwcutter for use with the b43 driver.

1. Install the b43-fwcutter package. Open a terminal and do:

yum -y install b43-fwcutter

2. Create a folder on your desktop and name it bcm43xx. (In actuality you can call it whatever you like but for the sake of installing just make it the same.)

3. Download the broadcom firmware from here: *Note- Fedora7 uses the bcm43xx_mac80211 driver so you will need a firmware version 4 or higher, (4.x).
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...0.53.0.tar.bz2, and move it into the bcm43xx folder you created on your desktop. Then, Extract the files wl_apsta.o and wl_apsta_mimo.o (located in the kmod folder in the archive you just downloaded),so that they reside inside the bcm43xx folder(screenshot1).

4. Open a terminal and become root, Then go into the bcm43xx directory on your desktop:

cd /home/"your-home-directory-here-without-quotes"/Desktop/bcm43xx

(screenshot 2)

5. Issue the command to cut the firmware:

/usr/bin/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o

6. Make sure NetworkManager is enabled: Go to, System/Administration/Services and check the box for network manager. Save your changes and reboot. (screenshot 3)


-Upon booting your system your wireless light should come on and everything should be working fine.

-If using WPA, make sure you have WPA_Supplicant daemon running under System/Administration/Services.

For those of you having trouble with the 4318 you could try using the older Softmac driver instead of the mac_80211 driver. Although from all of the bugzilla posts I have read your cards should be supported and work with the new driver: https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedo.../msg01009.html

[kvendler]

You mentioned that this should work with all 43xx devices, but I was curious if anyone tried it with the Broadcom 4318 "Airforce One" WLAN and verified that it works. If not, I'm sure I'll find out for myself ;-)

[gcwxj]

I am wondering could my "Broadcom 4318" work using your method. Thanks

[charlie_D]

I know the Broadcom 4306 (rev 3) works via this method, I ran through nearly the same outline this afternoon.

[gamesandglory]

Originally Posted by charlie_D

I know the Broadcom 4306 (rev 3) works via this method, I ran through nearly the same outline this afternoon.

can you link the driver you used? I have the same card but the driver in the original post doesnt seem to work
it is giving the error

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not supported

[charlie_D]

Sure, my steps were slightly different; I blacklisted bcm43xx and loaded the bcm43xx_mac80211 instead, one second and I'll find what I followed for you...

Downloaded the 4.0 firmware to ~fedora (Obviously, I needed an
ethernet connection at this point).

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...0.53.0.tar.bz2

Then:
yum install bcm43xx-fwcutter
bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~fedora/wl_apsta.o
echo 'blacklist bcm43xx' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
modprobe -r bcm43xx
modprobe -r ieee80211softmac
modprobe -r ieee80211_crypt
modprobe -r ieee80211
modprobe -r bcm43xx_mac80211
modprobe bcm43xx_mac80211

Then I plugged along and enabled NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatcher

That info up there is pulled from somewhere, I'm not sure of the original source right now; I had that saved to a text file on my USB key

EDIT: Found it, here's the original link, post #114
http://fcp.surfsite.org/modules/newb...post_id=166437

Charlie

[bogatron]

Does anyone have a link to the 64-bit version of the 4.0 firmware?

[gamesandglory]

Originally Posted by charlie_D

Sure, my steps were slightly different; I blacklisted bcm43xx and loaded the bcm43xx_mac80211 instead, one second and I'll find what I followed for you...

Downloaded the 4.0 firmware to ~fedora (Obviously, I needed an
ethernet connection at this point).

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...0.53.0.tar.bz2

Then:
yum install bcm43xx-fwcutter
bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~fedora/wl_apsta.o
echo 'blacklist bcm43xx' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
modprobe -r bcm43xx
modprobe -r ieee80211softmac
modprobe -r ieee80211_crypt
modprobe -r ieee80211
modprobe -r bcm43xx_mac80211
modprobe bcm43xx_mac80211

Then I plugged along and enabled NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatcher

That info up there is pulled from somewhere, I'm not sure of the original source right now; I had that saved to a text file on my USB key

EDIT: Found it, here's the original link, post #114
http://fcp.surfsite.org/modules/newb...post_id=166437

Charlie

thanks Charlie that worked like a charm

[charlie_D]

np, glad it's working

[kvendler]

I'm having some difficulties getting this to work for my Broadcom 4318 Airforce One (rev 2) WLAN. The firmware link provided only contains one of the two files (wl_apsta.o but not wl_apsta.mimo.o). I went ahead and followed the rest of procedure to no success. Any ideas?

[bogatron]

I found the 64-bit firmware v4 for my 4318, but it would still not work, I could see available networks, but could not connect to anything. I then tried ndiswrapper and got nothing. Ndiswrapper has worked great for me in Core 5 and 6. Has anybody got this to work?

Broadcom 4318 with Fedora 7 x86_64 is what I'm working with.

[scotta3234]

Originally Posted by kvendler

I'm having some difficulties getting this to work for my Broadcom 4318 Airforce One (rev 2) WLAN. The firmware link provided only contains one of the two files (wl_apsta.o but not wl_apsta.mimo.o). I went ahead and followed the rest of procedure to no success. Any ideas?

You might need to blacklist the old bcm43xx driver as described here: echo 'blacklist bcm43xx' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
modprobe -r bcm43xx
modprobe -r ieee80211softmac
modprobe -r ieee80211_crypt
modprobe -r ieee80211
modprobe -r bcm43xx_mac80211
modprobe bcm43xx_mac80211

[spk037]

Originally Posted by kvendler

I'm having some difficulties getting this to work for my Broadcom 4318 Airforce One (rev 2) WLAN. The firmware link provided only contains one of the two files (wl_apsta.o but not wl_apsta.mimo.o). I went ahead and followed the rest of procedure to no success. Any ideas?

I'm also having a problem with that card. I can see the network, it attempts to connect but no go. I've turned all encryption off but get the same. /var/log/messages shows it attempting a dhcpdiscover but it times out without getting an ip.

[Skyriver]

Thanks scotta3234 and Charlie_D!! I used scotta3234 instruction with the file Charile_D provided with my 4306 chip and it worked. Just make sure you have "NetworkManager", "NetworkManagerDispatch" and if you are using wpa encription you should also make sure "wpa_supplication" are all started in Service Configuration, just like scotta3234 explains.

Spk037:Are you using wpa encription? If you are you may check in services to make sure wpa_supplication is started.

Thanks for this tutorial.

[bogatron]

Is there way to remove bcm43xx-mac80211 from the kernel? I deleted all ,ko modules and blacklisted bcm43xx and bcm43xx-mac80211 and yet kudzu still lists bcm43xx-mac80211 as the driver for my Broadcom bcm4318 card.

I have ndiswrapper installed and ready, but cannot connect to any of the networks that it sees...