Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card for Dell Inspiron 1545: How to Drive It!

[poma]

On 18.06.2014 22:42, Temlakos wrote:
> On 06/18/2014 04:37 PM, poma wrote:
>> On 18.06.2014 19:11, Temlakos wrote:
>>> On 06/18/2014 12:05 PM, poma wrote:
>>>> On 18.06.2014 17:13, Temlakos wrote:
>>>>> Everyone:
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a three-year-old Dell Inspiron 1545. It came with the Dell
>>>>> Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card.
>>>>>
>>>>> The current output of lspci -k |grep -iA5 wire gives "Dell Wireless
>>>>> 1397
>>>>> WLAN Mini-Card" as a subsystem. The relevant kernel module is "ssb."
>>>>
>>>> $ lspci -k |grep -iA5
>>>> Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
>>>> Try 'grep --help' for more information.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Currently this card will not connect. Nor can I force it to connect by
>>>>> directly editing the network interface. I've tried several times,
>>>>> but I
>>>>> can't get to a MAC address for it.
>>>>>
>>>>> What driver(s) or other kernel module(s) should I install, and
>>>>> where can
>>>>> I get them?
>>>>>
>>>>> Broadcom has a 32-bit and a 64-bit tarball for what they say is a
>>>>> driver
>>>>> for this card. Should I install that on my system?
>>>>>
>>>>> Please advise. It seems a shame to operate any laptop without wireless
>>>>> connectivity.
>>>>>
>>>>> Temlakos
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The complete output of this command:
>>>> $ lspci -knn | grep -A100 Wireless
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> poma
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The output, after a couple of module installations, now reads:
>>>
>>> Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000c]
>>> Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
>>> Kernel modules: ssb, wl
>>>
>>> Still no wireless connection available on that laptop.
>>>
>>> Temlakos
>>>
>>
>> Whence is "wl"?
>>
>> OK, to get to Vendor&Device ID, hit this command:
>> $ lspci -knn | grep -A10 BCM4312
>>
>> Output could look like this:
>> <bus>:<dev>.<func> Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation
>> BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
>>      Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000c]
>>      Kernel driver in use: wl
>>      Kernel modules: wl, ssb
>>
>> "ssb" is a specific bus module, i.e. "Sonics Silicon Backplane driver"
>> Your "BCM4312" is attached to it.
>>
>> BTW do you have the firmware installed?
>>
>>
>> poma
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Earlier I installed the broadcom-wl and kmod-wl packages.
>
> Output reads: 0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: broadcom Corporation
> BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14d4:4315] (rev 01)
> Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
> Kernel modules: ssb, wl
>
> In that order.
>
> Temlakos
>

So you are using the original Broadcom's module i.e. "wl",
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
i.e.
http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/updates/20/SRPMS/repoview/wl-kmod.html
Is that right?

However something there is not quite bright!
The device is advertised as "broadcom", but if you are looking at hwdata databases i.e.
$ grep ^14e4 /usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids
14e4  Broadcom Corporation
$ grep ^14d4 /usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids
14d4  Panacom Technology Corp
"14d4" is not a Broadcom's vendor ID i.e. "14e4"

If your device is advertised with "proper" vendor ID i.e. "14e4" it "should" be supported by "b43" module,
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

And even with that, you should install the firmware,
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Device_firmware_installation
$ man 1 b43-fwcutter
$ less /usr/share/doc/b43-fwcutter/README.too
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/developers

Perhaps the only problem is "wrong" vendor ID, but to conclude that you can play with the kernel's module source code or seek advice at http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Bug_reporting
&
http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-wireless


poma