Wifi with a Broadcom 4306 on HP Pavillion 5202

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-08 02:02

To start, I am a newbie to Linux and Debian. I have been using Ubuntu for the last 3 months but it would not run well on my 180MB RAM, but, jockey made Ubuntu work really well. I like Antix, just cant get my wireles up and running.
When I type if config I get:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:3f:25:54:a7
inet addr:192.168.15.3 Bcast:192.168.15.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5679 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6059 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3454551 (3.2 MiB) TX bytes:1282207 (1.2 MiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0xa000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
inxi -F:
Network: Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller BusID: 02:02.0
Card-2 ATI IXP200 3COM 3C920B Ethernet Controller at port 0000a000-0000afff BusID: 00:14.4
Card-3 Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver 8139too v: 0.9.28 at port a000 BusID: 02:03.0

Synaptic say that I have Ndiswrapper and B43fw-cutter installed. When I bring up the program"Windows Wireless Drivers" there are no drivers. I am running Antix 8.5 only, no WindowsOS. I also have a dependency problem with Wicd.

Any help please, no wireless is making this laptop kinda uselss

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-08 04:15

I tried uncommenting in b43.conf and I uninstalled nsidwrapper. Still no dice

rokytnji · posted: 2011-04-08 05:45

Network: Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller BusID: 02:02.0

Is that all inxi -F showed for that readout. Nothing like a Driver like wl,b43 or something showed below that for that card?

I mention this because of plveras post in this thread with the same chip.

post18651.html?hilit=dreaded%20broadcom#p18651

pedro@antiX11:~$ inxi -F
System: Host antiX11 Kernel 2.6.32-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-686-beta1 10 December 2010
CPU: Single core Mobile Intel Pentium 4 (-HT-) cache 512 KB flags (sse sse2) bmips 3190.39
Clock Speeds: (1) 1599.960 MHz (2) 1599.960 MHz
Graphics: Card nVidia NV34M [GeForce FX Go5200 64M] X.Org 1.7.7 Res: 1400x1050@60.0hz
GLX Renderer Software Rasterizer GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.7.1 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio: Card Intel 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller driver Intel ICH at ports b800 bc40 BusID: 00:1f.5
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network: Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller driver b43-pci-bridge BusID: 02:02.0
Card-2 Broadcom BCM4401 100Base-T driver b44 v: 2.0 BusID: 02:01.0

Also. Did you blacklist ndiswrapper as suggested by eriefisher in below thread?

post15385.html?hilit=Broadcom%20BCM4306#p15385

plvera · posted: 2011-04-08 10:21

It looks like your card is being recognized. Did you try ceni to set up wireless?
I don't remember where it is in control center, but in a terminal as root (type su; followed by password), type: ceni
Hopefully your card will show up and you can configure wireless then.

Good luck!

Pedro

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-08 19:12

So far, no program has yet to say that I have a card there. What does Antix label the wireless device as, wlan0? Wicd cannot be started because it had dependency issues (not sure how to solve that either). I will log on this evening to post all of inxi -F. When I looked, I only had 3 network devices, one Ethernet (eth0) plus driver, and one Broadcom Wireless device.

Thanks roky, I will try this evening when the kids goto bed. I forgot about blacklist. Could you explain how to do that, I have seen people talk about it, but I am still a newbie.

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-08 21:52

Results of inxi -F

Code: Select all

System:    Host antiX1 Kernel 2.6.32-1-mepis i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-M8.5-486 Marek Edelman 11 April 2010
CPU:       Single core Intel Celeron (UP) cache 128 KB flags (sse sse2) bmips 5601.59 clocked at 2799.647 MHz 
Graphics:  Card ATI RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP] tty res: 125x37 Gfx Data: N/A for root user
Audio:     Card ATI IXP150 AC'97 Audio Controller driver ATI IXP AC97 controller BusID: 00:14.5
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network:   Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller driver b43-pci-bridge BusID: 02:02.0
                Card-2 ATI IXP200 3COM 3C920B Ethernet Controller at port 0000a000-0000afff BusID: 00:14.4
                Card-3 Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver 8139too v: 0.9.28 at port a000 BusID: 02:03.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 64.1GB (10.8% used) 1: /dev/sda FUJITSU_MHT2060A 60.0GB 
           2: USB /dev/sdb USB_Flash_Memory 4.1GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 54G used: 2.8G (6%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 2.18GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Info:      Processes 96 Uptime 25 min Memory 103.3/184.4MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.9

iwconfig now shows wireless extentions and now there is a wireless in ceni. I am still having trouble getting all the dependencies for wicd. When I try to get all upgrades I get the follwing message:

E: halevt: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 100
E: wicd-daemon: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
E: wicd-gtk: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
E: wicd-curses: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
E: wicd: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

rokytnji · posted: 2011-04-08 23:16

The b43 driver is showing up in your inxi -F output for the broadcom card.

Network: Card-1 Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller driver b43

Blacklisting ndiswrapper is easy. Just go to menu and find run. Open it. Tick run as root box. Type in pcmanfm. Type in password. Then go to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklistconf. If no blacklist.conf text file showing, Make one. From pcmanfm taskbar pick new> text file. Name it blacklist.conf. save it in /etc/modprobe.d. type in it

Code: Select all

blacklist ndiswrapper

save it. Close pcmanfm. You are done. Best I can do for you for now. I just came home to 3 to 4 inches of water on my floors through my whole house which is a very large house because it used to be a hospital. I won't go into detail because my wife screwed the pooch while I was away buying remodeling supplies. So I have a major cleanup (by myself) going on here with a mop, squeegee, and a wet vac. Hope my Asus Micro Desktop and many Laptops in bags which was sitting on the floor in inches of water can be salvaged. Posting from my motorcycle shop which is dry. My life is hell lately and I feel like I have been in a fist fight for a week. Sore, tired, and irritable. Real life saying for me is, sucks to me me this month. __{{emoticon}}__

Happy Trails and good luck with it, Rok

plvera · posted: 2011-04-08 23:50

Here's a link to the Debian Wifi site

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx"
linktext was:"http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx"
====================================

The b43 driver should work with your card. Maybe try the instructions there to get it working. Particularly towards the bottom: moddprobe b43, etc.

good luck!

Pedro

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-09 02:38

I found and blacklisted ndiswrapper, I got as far as getting it set-up. The only problem now is that it wont connect to my router. I am reinstalling and commenting out B43 over again. Any suggestions on how to get the dependent files for wicd? I still have yet to understand how to edit the repos, and how to figure out which ones I need.

plvera · posted: 2011-04-09 11:30

I've given up on wicd and now use ceni exclusively. I don't have a suggestion for the wicd dependency problems, Hopefully someone else does.

So, now you can see you router but can't connect to it? Are you using ceni to configure your wireless and connect?

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-04-09 11:46

For wicd see points 2 and 3 here: Upgrading antiX-M8.5 to squeeze

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page"
linktext was:"http://antix.mepis.org/index.php?title=Main_Page"
====================================

then do apt-get -f install.

For halevt error, maybe best to purge (it is now deprecated)

apt-get purge halevt.

zbrown1029 · posted: 2011-04-09 18:19

I tried to reinstall the OS and start from new, since I finally got results. Now I am having problems updating and dist upgrading. After I do both, I have no working keyboars or mouse. Is it suggested to keep scripts or follow maintainer's?

plvera · posted: 2011-04-09 18:49

Are you installing the new M11 release? If so, it's very current and I would not worry so much about upgrading or definitely dist-upgrading.
As for your question, I always keep the current scripts (which is the default in most cases).

rokytnji · posted: 2011-04-10 03:20

Is it suggested to keep scripts

I do in certain cases. I keep slim for example. Unless You don't know what you are doing (which I gather from your posts). I would just hit enter each time for the default no. Takes a bit of practice running dist-upgrades in testing. Since you are new. I suggest you just upgrade one application at a time, example Iceape, using synaptic package manager after hitting the reload button. Don't go willy nilly making changes till you spend more time in the saddle.

AntiX 11 comes with the latest applications like Flash and Browser already out of Debian Testing. That is why Pivera mentions

Are you installing the new M11 release? If so, it's very current and I would not worry so much about upgrading or definitely dist-upgrading.

and I agree with

I always keep the current scripts (which is the default in most cases).

Because some scripts are AntiX specific.

Still Plodding along, Rok

Edit: @Anti

For halevt error, maybe best to purge (it is now deprecated)

I thought rox needed halevt for mounting partitions. Has that changed? Been out of it for a bit. Space case lately here.

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-04-10 09:53

halevt doesn't work because hal is no longer started with a daemon , simply put there is no /etc/init.d/hal to start that triggers halevt so devices are not mounted.
Rox used halevt to do this, but now in full version, thunar is able to detect the devices, once you then open it, it also automatically appears in rox under /media.