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Re: Kernel 2.6.20 and bcm43xx driver

Mr Alk3 wrote:

Here is where I am at:
I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 running Debian Etch.  I have a 2.6.20 custom
kernel with the bcm43xx module support. As far as I can tell, when I boot 
the module is loaded and the output of iwconfig only shows eth0 and lo
interfaces with now wireless extensions. When I do a 'modporbe bcm43xx' the wlan0 interfaces appears and seems to work. I am confused though, because when I do and 'iwconfig wlan0 essid <ap name>' it doesn't work. Here is the 
output when I tried to configure iwconfig essid:
+++++++++++++++++
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "byteme"
# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b/g  ESSID:"b"  Nickname:"Broadcom 4311"
         Mode:Managed  Access Point: Invalid
         RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Encryption key:off
         Link Quality=0/100  Signal level=-256 dBm  Noise level=-256 dBm
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
+++++++++++++++++
It only lets me use 5 characters and lowercase for my AP name. My ap essid 
is actually "ByteMe"
+++++++++++++++++
# iwconfig wlan0 essid "bytem"
# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b/g  ESSID:"bytem"  Nickname:"Broadcom 4311"
         Mode:Managed  Access Point: Invalid
         RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
         Encryption key:off
         Link Quality=0/100  Signal level=-256 dBm  Noise level=-256 dBm
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
+++++++++++++++++
I dont understand.  do I need to rename my AP essid to lesser/lowercase
characters?  What could be causing this?

I usually just run a script that modprobes the module, configures my
wireless interface from iwconfig and then runs 'dhclient wlan0'. Should I 
be using /etc/network/interfaces or does it matter?


On 3/1/07, Freddy Freeloader <fredddy@cableone.net> wrote:


Mr Alk3 wrote:
> Here is the output of 'lspci -v' for the NIC
> =====================
> 0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN 
> Mini-PCI Card (rev 01)
>        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 0007
>        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 169
>        Memory at efdfc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
>        Capabilities: [58] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit-
> Queue=0/0 Enable-
>        Capabilities: [d0] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0
>        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
>        Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
> =====================
> I have never used the bcm43xx module to run a broadcom chipset
> wireless card
> and have a few quick questions:
>
> If I do a 'modprobe bcm43xx' as root, is that all I need to do to get my 
> 'ethX' interface to show up?
>
> Is there anymore configuration needed?
>
> At boot up I get this when the wireless card is found:
> =====================
>
> bcm43xx driver
> bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4311, rev 0x1
> bcm43xx: Number of cores: 4
> bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x11, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0xa, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x817, rev 0x3, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x820, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: PHY connected
> bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 4, Type 2, Revision 8
> bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
> bcm43xx: Radio turned off
> bcm43xx: Radio turned off
> bcm43xx: set security called, .active_key = 0, .level = 1, .enabled = 1, 
> .encrypt = 1, .auth_mode = 0
> bcm43xx: PHY connected
> bcm43xx driver
> bcm43xx driver
> bcm43xx driver
> bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4311, rev 0x1
> bcm43xx: Number of cores: 4
> bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x11, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0xa, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x817, rev 0x3, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x820, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243
> bcm43xx: PHY connected
> bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 4, Type 2, Revision 8
> bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
> bcm43xx: Radio turned off
> bcm43xx: Radio turned off
> bcm43xx: set security called, .active_key = 0, .level = 1, .enabled = 1, 
> .encrypt = 1, .auth_mode = 0
> bcm43xx: PHY connected
> bcm43xx: Microcode rev 0x13f, pl 0x66 (2005-10-15  22:46:19)
> bcm43xx: set security called, .active_key = 0, .level = 1, .enabled = 1, 
> .encrypt = 1, .auth_mode = 0
> bcm43xx: Microcode rev 0x13f, pl 0x66 (2005-10-15  22:46:19)
> bcm43xx: Microcode rev 0x13f, pl 0x66 (2005-10-15  22:46:19)
> bcm43xx: Microcode rev 0x13f, pl 0x66 (2005-10-15  22:46:19)
> bcm43xx: Microcode rev 0x13f, pl 0x66 (2005-10-15  22:46:19)
>
>
> Does 'Radio turned off' mean I need to do something more to get the card 
> active?
>
> I have the firmware, the NIC doesn't show up as 'ethX'. 'wlan0 shows up 
> even without ndiswrapper installed.  So, I tried to connect to an AP
> and I
> try to enter the essid and its a no go, with wlan0. My AP name is
> "ByteMe"
> and I can only enter in lowercase and up to 5 characters, so: "bytem"
>
> What is my problem? The driver is loaded and the hardware is recognized, 
> what else is there?
>
> I just joined this mailing list and do not have the time to search for
> this
> topic, sorry if this has already been answered.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Alk3
>
I've seen the "radio off" message in dmesg on my system too when I was
playing with the bcm43xx module.  For some reason that module starts,
then stops, and then restarts the radio.

If you used fwcutter-bcm43xx to extract the software it should have
placed the firmware in the correct location.

As to your problem entering the ssid I'm not sure where you are doing
this.  I always configure my network connections in
/etc/network/interfaces, and if I am going to use a secured AP, in
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf.

You can find the documentation for configuring wpa_supplicant in
/usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant.  There are example configurations given
there.


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I'm a relative noob to wireless as I never owned a laptop until about a year ago. 
What I have done to configure my wireless connections is:
1. I run ifconfig -a to see what interfaces show up. 2. Edit /etc/network/interfaces to add the appropriate entry for the wireless card. 3. If using wpa_supplicant on the wireless interface edit /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with the appropriate network information for home, office, and roaming sites. Here is my /etc/network/interfaces entry for my wireless card. It shows up as eth0 for some reason, but that's no biggie to me. 
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet manual

   wpa-driver wext
   wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface home inet dhcp

iface roam inet dhcp


Here is my entry in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group-wheel

network={
   ssid="my_ssid"
   id_str="home"
   psk="my_secret"
   key_mgmt-WPA-PSK

}

network-{
   ssid=""
   id_str="roam"
   key_mgmt=NONE

}
I could put a priority on the interfaces but I haven't needed to yet as there are no wireless networks close enough to my home to confuse the system. It takes a little while when roaming for the system to give up on "home" but then it picks up any open wireless network I choose using the KwifiManager. (I use Gnome but have full installations of both Gnome and KDE so the full complement of software is available to show people. I also have several gui's available for people to look at too.)
Hope this helps. I'm running Sid rather than Etch, but I think Etch will use the same syntax as Sid as I think it uses the same version of wpa_supplicant. If it isn't just look up the documentation in /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant.
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