bcm43xx problem

[ecolodge]

Just like all previous versions of Kubuntu, I cannot get the wireless network working.

During bootup of Live CD (64 bit version) the screen fills up with error messages with

bcm43xx microcode5.fw LOAD FAILED

Has something to do with the Broadcom/Realtek wireless card in my laptop.

My laptop:
HP DV5000
AMD Turion 64

I can supply more info if needed

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

ecolodge,

I'm not certain why you want to use the so called "native" drivers. They limit you to 11Mbps instead of the 54Mbps that your wireless is capable of. The error is most likely due to the firmware being 32 bit and not 64bit. There are still very few "true" 64 bit drivers out there even for your laptop. I'm using a Compaq R4125US which probably has the same or very similar card as yours. Personally, I use ndiswrapper. Yeah I know. "Dirty hack!" I say no more dirty than the fw-cutter "Native" driver. You're still using the Windows driver all the same. My suggestion is you try the repository version of ndiswrapper which is on the cd as well as in the repo's. If that doesn't work, try downloading and compiling ndiswrapper from source. If you do a search for my sig you'll find a post on how I compiled from source to get the 43xx series Broadcom to work in Edgy with ndiswrapper compiled from source. It's about all I can tell you for now other than I'm currently downloading Herd 3 CD via bit torrent to give it a try since the 2.6.17-11 kernel hates ndiswrapper for some reason. Otherwise, I'm running the 2.6.17-10 kernel with ndiswrapper 1.37 compiled from source and the latest winbloze drivers from HP/Compaq. Hope this is of some help.

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Ok, I got Herd 4 downloaded and installed. Neither ndiswrapper works from the install CD. Attempted to compile ndiswrapper 1.37 that I downloaded for Edgy. Not only won't it compile but it gives more errors and won't install at all. Haven't found a how to for the fw-cutter and haven't a clue if the fw-cutter tools were put on the distro disc.

[seenm]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Well same here! what shall i say, ill keep trying to get it working and hope that that the people at broadcom realize that there is more then windows. 8)

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Yesterday I received a link to a copy of the latest ndiswrapper that the Ubuntu developers compiled from source version 1.30. It appears to work intermittently and I've submitted further info on the bug I submitted concerning it. Had I not played with the monitor/video card settings in Feisty I'd be posting it from there. However, I just crashed Feisty doing so. That'll learn me. Now I have to reload Feisty. However, I did keep the file needed to get ndiswrapper working even if it is intermittently. Once I find the link to the file again, I'll post it.

[seenm]

Re: bcm43xx problem

You are not going to believe this but i got it working. the only negative thing is according to KnetworkManager I'm only connected with 24Mb/s instead of 54Mb/s. What i did was i installed the ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 package and it seems to work!!!!!!!!

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

You are not going to believe this but i got it working. the only negative thing is according to KnetworkManager I'm only connected with 24Mb/s instead of 54Mb/s. What i did was i installed the ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 package and it seems to work!!!!!!!!

Good for you. Might I suggest you blacklist the "native" Broadcom driver as well as the ACX driver. I managed to get my Feisty Fawn back up and loaded 420 meg of stuff. Still stuff missing from the repo's from what I see but still digging. Also, you might want to go to www.kde-apps.org to get PyWireless. It gives a much better reading than KnetworkManager as to speed as well as other statistics. I'd love to see the folks at KDE incorporate the features of this app into KnetworkManager myself.

[seenm]

Re: bcm43xx problem

well i had blacklisted the bcm43xx driver but what is the acx driver. Ill have a look at the program you suggested. so did you manage to get your wireless up and going

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

well i had blacklisted the bcm43xx driver but what is the acx driver. Ill have a look at the program you suggested. so did you manage to get your wireless up and going

The acx driver is for another wireless device. It seems to cause trouble with ndiswrapper in Edgy as well as Fiesty. Sometimes blacklisting it doesn't do. Sometimes you have to find the driver in it's specific folder with the file find and then move the driver into a different folder (preferably the root folder) to stop it from trying to load.

And yes, I got ndiswrapper working with Edgy and now Fiesty. There appears to be some timing issue with knetworkmanager with Edgy kernel 2.6.17-11 as well as Fiesty 2.6.20-8 kernel. Knetworkmanager often times doesn't connect on the network if it's the only network in range as well as connects to a different network than your first choice if there is more than one wireless network in range. I've reported the issue to launchpad. Hopefully the developers will take a look at this issue. It certainly isn't the driver's fault.

[Zittergie]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Same here, (tested with Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10 and Feisty Fawn - i386)

As with an ACER Aspire 3003 laptop, as with my new Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A3667G.
Both work with a BCM4318 chipset (AirForce One 54g).

The same error: bcm43xx microcode5.fw LOAD FAILED

My solution is to remove all 'bcm43xx' instance from the /lib/modules/* files
and then use ndiswrapper to install the windows drivers.

A better solution would probably putting the drivers into the blacklist (I will have to take a look at that), because every time an update takes place where the modules are involved, I have to remove the 'bcm43xx' instances again.

Another big problem is that ndiswrapper-tools are not installed as default, and without network you can't apt them
Luckely you can always plug a cable, but that's not very user friendly

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Same here, (tested with Kubuntu 6.06, 6.10 and Feisty Fawn - i386)

As with an ACER Aspire 3003 laptop, as with my new Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A3667G.
Both work with a BCM4318 chipset (AirForce One 54g).

The same error: bcm43xx microcode5.fw LOAD FAILED

My solution is to remove all 'bcm43xx' instance from the /lib/modules/* files
and then use ndiswrapper to install the windows drivers.

A better solution would probably putting the drivers into the blacklist (I will have to take a look at that), because every time an update takes place where the modules are involved, I have to remove the 'bcm43xx' instances again.

Another big problem is that ndiswrapper-tools are not installed as default, and without network you can't apt them
Luckely you can always plug a cable, but that's not very user friendly

If you haven't removed the install CD from the repository list in adept, you have a copy of ndiswrapper and the ndiswrapper utils on the installation CD. Unfortunately in my case they didn't work. However, they may work in your case. It could very well be that they were working and the timing issue I've discovered and requested support for under knetworkmanager #3877 is the cause of the issue. Again, your mileage may vary.

[ecolodge]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Well I kind of get the gist of what everyone is saying, but I'm not nearly as an expert in Linux nor Kubuntu. I was hoping to find an easy alternative WIN OS that works with my wifi out-of-the-box. I remember trying to use ndis wrapper and installing the windows drivers a while back and kept hitting dead ends.

Anyways, maybe in the future it might be possible for a Kubuntu release to work with that hardware without having to really submerse myself into the inner workings of the kernel. Until that day I might have to put up with good ole' XP

[Martijn van Es]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Hey Ecolodge,

Im afraid there wont be a good native driver for this chipset any time soon. This is because there is a law that says it is illegal for consumers to set the strength of a wireless signal. Making the official driver open scource gives any consumer the ability to crank up the power of the signal.

But now how i got it working:
I blacklisted the native driver and downloaded firmwarecutter and installed the .deb package.
I copied the .sys driver file from the CD and gave the command
<code>
sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys
</code>

From that point on it all worked for me.

[TFrog]

Re: bcm43xx problem

Hey Ecolodge,

Im afraid there wont be a good native driver for this chipset any time soon. This is because there is a law that says it is illegal for consumers to set the strength of a wireless signal. Making the official driver open scource gives any consumer the ability to crank up the power of the signal.

But now how i got it working:
I blacklisted the native driver and downloaded firmwarecutter and installed the .deb package.
I copied the .sys driver file from the CD and gave the command
<code>
sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcmwl5.sys
</code>

From that point on it all worked for me.

This is one such way of doing the bcm43xx driver as is the ndiswrapper. I agree about the legalities to a certain extent. However, the true legality is intellectual property. Broadcom who manufactures the chipset refuses to write a linux driver for this chipset as well as others. Matter of fact, the ONLY chipset they do a linux driver for is for their server(professional) wireless cards. It is so stated on the fwcutter project website about the legalities. As to using fwcutter vice ndiswrapper, my preference is to ndiswrapper as it will give you true wireless "G". fwcutter restricts you to 11MBps or wireless "B". We can only hope that all the talk about devicescape with the linux kernel goes through and they are able to get the manufacturers on board with it.

[unix101]

Re: bcm43xx problem

My answer. Buy a linksys WUSB54G, it works out of the box. I have a HP/Compac nx6125 with the broadcom chip (which has been nothing but a problem) and I run kubuntu feisty amd64. I manually load it, sudo ifup wlan0, after booting. It beats having to reset after upgrades.