Re: setting up WiFi adapter (Broadcom BCM4321 14e4:4328 chipset) in latest version of Debian
On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:51:13 -0800, Colin Reinhardt wrote:
Colin, thanks for the information but it's better that you keep a bottom-
posting style, which means replying to the sender at the bottom of his/
her reply, not at the top, and it is also better that you reply "in
chuncks" to each of the questions, not in a whole paragraph. This makes
the mailing list a better place to live and stay ;-)
> Following all of your suggestions, here is what I've been able to
> discover:
Please, tell us what's the Debian release you are using ("cat /etc/
debian_version" will tell).
> My laptop is HP Touchsmart tx2-1025dx (AMD Turion x2 64 cpu), and there
> is an LED on front for the wireless, which turns green when it is
> enabled/active (in Windows OS at least). It has never come on in Debian
> yet (stays orange = disabled)
Then you have to enable.
How do you enable/disable from windows? Is there a switch to turn it on/
off or are you using a software application for this task?
Run (as root): "rfkill list"
> lspci shows:
> 08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n
> (rev 03)
Okay, so the wifi adapter hardware is properly detected.
> after a fresh reboot,
> lsmod does not show anything I can find loading related to wifi or
> broadcom...
> (what does this mean, or what should I be looking for)?
This can mean that the wifi switch is off so nothing triggers the wifi
adapter and so that kernel does not load the driver.
> however,
> After issuing 'modprobe b43' I get:
> root@HPTx2:/home/colinrei# lsmod | grep b43
> b43 146204 0
> rng_core 3006 1 b43
> mac80211 137372 1 b43
> cfg80211 101496 2 b43,mac80211
> led_class 2433 1 b43
> ssb 38698 1 b43
> mmc_core 45702 2 b43,ssb
> pcmcia 19474 2 b43,ssb
> pcmcia_core 24118 3 b43,ssb,pcmcia
Okay, but this has to be automatically done. If you have a kernel module
loaded "by force" (manually) it does not mean the device will be working.
This module has to be loaded automatically, at system start up.
> based on what I can discern from the broadcom wifi driver info website,
> my pci wifi-chipset should be supported by the 'b43' driver module.
I agree. Indeed, you can use both, "b43" and "wl".
> dmesg shows:
(...)
> Also, just installed the 'lshw' package and it shows me this:
(...)
> ifconfig -a (as root) shows:
> entries for: eth0, lo, pan0. Nothing else...?
>
> Using the Wicd network manager applet in Gnome shows:
> wired network connected,
> no wireless networks found
This is because the adpater seems to be "off" so GNOME cannot see it.
> I also tried adding pci=assign-busses to the kernel command line at
> startup, but that doesnt seem to have done it either.
>
> So... can anyone see the problem? Suggestions or next steps to
> troubleshoot? Thank you,
I would start by ensuring the wireless adapter is properly turned on
(wifi led button → green) so the system can automatically load the b43
kernel driver at booting.
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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