I think this is a peculiar question: I'd like to know what upgrade application would likely be responsible for knocking out my Broadcom BCM4313 wireless card. I'm a long-time user of antiX and know Broadcom's troubled history. But in my case, the card worked fine on earlier versions of antiX. And it worked fine on the live session of antiX 16.1. After the hard drive installation, it also worked fine. After the first synaptic update, though, the wireless conked out, and the usual diagnostics failed to trace the problem to the driver or whatever. Loading a live session again activated the Broadcom card without problem. So I reinstalled and now have wireless operating normally. But I have not performed the first update. Of course, I will eventually want to keep the system updated (and I do have a USB wireless dongle that continues to work after the update). But for convenience I want to keep the internal wireless card working. I'd like to isolate which update is responsible for knocking out a wireless card.

So following is the list of synaptic's first-run updates. All I'm asking for is anyone's educated guess as to which would be responsible for killing the wireless. I have my suspicions, but any insight about this would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance. Here's the list:

libreoffice-common
vim-tiny
libevent-core-2.0-5
libirs-export91
libjasper1
libreoffice-impress
libdns-export100
live-usb-maker
ure
libevent-pthreads-2.0-5
libgd3
install-meta-antix
libreoffice-math
libreoffice-calc
wingrid-antix
libisccc90
fonts-opensymbol
libisc-export95
iso-snapshot-antix
streamlight-antix
cli-installer-antix
libisc95
liblcms2-utils
libbind9-90
uno-libs3
linux-image-4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp
libdns100
libevent-2.0-5
libxpm4
liblwres90
openssl
liblcms2-2
libreoffice-draw
libreoffice-base-core
libreoffice-core
libisccfg90
antix-goodies
vim-common
firefox-esr
antix-installer
gufw
bind9-host
libreoffice-style-galaxy
libisccfg-export90
login
libreoffice-writer
ntfs-3g
passwd
libreoffice-gtk
libssl1.0.0
linux-headers-4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp
faq-docs-antix
yad

Only thing I see/think may cause such a problem, is the new kernel - but I'm no expert. __{{emoticon}}__

After installing the kernel, you may need to re-install the broadcom-sta-dkms package

fatmac wrote:Only thing I see/think may cause such a problem, is the new kernel - but I'm no expert. __{{emoticon}}__

Yes, this was my guess. But I was hoping it might be something else easier to deal with than new kernels. I'll keep it in mind.

anticapitalista wrote:After installing the kernel, you may need to re-install the broadcom-sta-dkms package

Okay. I ran into this, searching the forum for solutions. I'm vague on whether the packages need installing or building (which I haven't looked into). I'll work on this if there isn't any more obvious culprit.

The dkms modules for wl (the broadcast driver) needs rebuilt foe the new kernel. Reinstalling the broadcom-sta-dkms package will rebuild the module. I couldnt get the modules to rebuild any other way, but if you find a method please let us know.

dolphin_oracle wrote:The dkms modules for wl (the broadcast driver) needs rebuilt foe the new kernel. Reinstalling the broadcom-sta-dkms package will rebuild the module. I couldnt get the modules to rebuild any other way, but if you find a method please let us know.

Check. Will report whatever progress I make.

For the longest time, I had an"out-of-tree" module that I had to recompile and rebuild EVERY time I upgraded a kernel (which, of course, required TWO reboots: one after upgrading kernel, then one to rebuild that module ("hid-scrollpoint")). I finally got tired of that and googled dkms. Here's the notes on what I did: (You'll need to modify a bit to work for your broadcomm module):

Goal: Dynamic application of hid-scrollpoint kernel module persistant across kernel upgrades:
From:
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/BuildingKernelModules#head-d313bd351f90d4f25a2143b7bbcff73f927731f0"
linktext was:"https://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Building ... 3f927731f0"
====================================


cd /usr/src
mkdir hid-scrollpoint-1.00
cp /home/turnerjw/scrollpoint/* hid-scrollpoint-1.00
cd hid-scrollpoint-1.00/
touch dkms.conf
vi dkms.conf
================================
PACKAGE_NAME="hid-scrollpoint"
PACKAGE_VERSION="1.00"
BUILT_MODULE_NAME[0]="hid-scrollpoint"
DEST_MODULE_LOCATION[0]="/kernel/drivers/hid/"
AUTOINSTALL="yes"
================================

dkms add -m hid-scrollpoint -v 1.00

Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/hid-scrollpoint/1.00/source ->
/usr/src/hid-scrollpoint-1.00

DKMS: add completed.

dkms build -m hid-scrollpoint -v 1.00

Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping...

Building module:
cleaning build area...
make -j4 KERNELRELEASE=4.8.0-10.1-liquorix-686-pae -C /lib/modules/4.8.0-10.1-liquorix-686-pae/build M=/var/lib/dkms/hid-scrollpoint/1.00/build....
cleaning build area...

DKMS: build completed.

dkms install -m hid-scrollpoint -v 1.00

hid-scrollpoint:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
- Found /lib/modules/4.8.0-10.1-liquorix-686-pae/extra/hid-scrollpoint.ko
- Storing in /var/lib/dkms/hid-scrollpoint/original_module/4.8.0-10.1-liquorix-686-pae/i686/
- Archiving for uninstallation purposes
- Installation
- Installing to /lib/modules/4.8.0-10.1-liquorix-686-pae/kernel/drivers/hid//

depmod.....

DKMS: install completed.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to post this procedure. I haven't tried it yet... I want to study it so I can understand clearly what it's doing. If others dealing with the same issue have tried it I hope they'll chime in. It's much appreciated.

Update: After some testing (just to be thorough) I can at least confirm that it was kernel upgrade that knocked out the wireless.

Same problem with my update - I uninstalled broadcom-sta-dkms and reinstalled broadcom-sta-dkms - problem solved. __{{emoticon}}__

darry1966 wrote:Same problem with my update - I uninstalled broadcom-sta-dkms and reinstalled broadcom-sta-dkms - problem solved. __{{emoticon}}__

Thanks for the comment. Just to be clear: Do you mean simply uninstalling through, for example, synaptic...and then reinstalling the same way? No other procedure was involved?

will also force the rebuild. this is good if you've already lost your internet connection. uninstalling and reinstalling is problematic without an internet connection.

I use apt and simply uninstalled package then installed again. I used ethernet cable.

dolphin_oracle wrote:

Code: Select all

dpkg-reconfigure broadcom-sta-dkms 

will also force the rebuild. this is good if you've already lost your internet connection. uninstalling and reinstalling is problematic without an internet connection.

Exactly why I'm going so slow and asking questions. A clear recovery procedure with options needs to be in place for once the connection is lost. Thanks.