Broadcom 4318 on a FS Amilo A1650G

[rlangset]

Hi
I have tried many Linux distros too see if I can get my wireless (internal) card too work. It works when I boot into Windows XP, but in Linux it seems impossible to activate the interface.
Now I am trying with Kubuntu 8.10 beta, but still no luck.

lshw -C network shows:

*-network:0
description: Network controller
product: BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:02:05.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64 module=ssb

dmesg | grep b43 in a terminal gives this result:
[ 9.150737] b43-pci-bridge 0000:02:05.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[ 1238.898644] b43-phy1: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
[ 1239.053147] b43-phy2: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
[ 1245.439304] input: b43-phy2 as /class/input/input9
[ 1245.536126] firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
[ 1245.745229] firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw
[ 1245.784810] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
[ 1245.836922] firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
[ 1246.002301] b43-phy2: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 1246.210436] Registered led device: b43-phy2::tx
[ 1246.211061] Registered led device: b43-phy2::rx
[ 1246.212251] Registered led device: b43-phy2::radio
[ 1246.460154] b43-phy2: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
[ 1246.532081] b43-phy2: Radio turned on by software
[ 1246.532097] b43-phy2: The hardware RF-kill button still turns the radio physically off. Press the button to turn it on.

In the BIOS the wireless is set to ENABLED, so this is a bit strange. However, pressing the RF-button is useless - nothing happens.

Well, I also have the windows driver (.inf), so I thought I should try the ndiswrapper way.
I have installed the ndiswrapper tool, but how can I configure the card with this driver?

regards
Rune

[claydoh]

Re: Broadcom 4318 on a FS Amilo A1650G

ndiswrapper may work for this broadcom card, but for my 4318-based pcmcia card, using the b43 linux driver and getting the firmware via fwcutter is much more stable (though ymmv of course)

It seems right now the Hardware Driver Manager in the System menu is somewhat broken (it has worked for in some other alphas previously). Normally this would download the non-free firmware files needed by the native linux driver and activate your wireless card.

If it doesn't work for you, you can simply install the package b43-fwcutter. this will download the files you need, assuming you can connect to the net by wire of course

[rlangset]

Re: Broadcom 4318 on a FS Amilo A1650G

Hmm... Installing b43-fwcutter?

Can't find the package in Adept or Synaptic package manager. Therefore:

Typing sudo apt-get update and then sudp apt-get install b43-fwcutter in a terminal:

.....
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
b43-fwcutter is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-2.6.27-4 linux-headers-2.6.27-4-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.

Maybe I must wait until the stable release?

Or does anyone know how to use ndiswrapper in Kubuntu 8.10?

[claydoh]

Re: Broadcom 4318 on a FS Amilo A1650G

fist thing to try is to re-run fwcutter to make sure it downloaded the firmware fies (I have seen it not do that in some of the early releases)

sudo apt-get install --reinstall b43-fwcutter

and see if that shows it downloading. You may have to restart networking/reboot for the driver to get loaded.

Now, if that doesn't work, then install the package ndisgtk, which is a graphical utility to point ndiswrapper to your driver files (I think you need more than just the inf file, but not positive on that).

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi.../bcm43xx/Hardy has more info on the b43 drivers, and a different method to install the firmware I was unaware of.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...er/Ndiswrapper has an in-depth description about ndiswrapper, and does warn that you will have to disable the native built-in drivers before using it.

You shouldn't have to wait till final as the drivers aren't any different really, but it does seem that broadcom wireless sometimes is still often a problem, even if you have the same chipset as someone who it works for