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

[Temlakos]

On 06/18/2014 05:37 PM, poma wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>

I apologize. I made a typographical error. That top line should end in 
"[14e4:4315] (rev 01).

I gather those commands give me a place to go to get the firmware and 
put it in. I never installed any firmware.

By the way: the Dell Inspiron 1545 has a button with a picture of a 
wireless antenna tower on it. I assume that works in the Windows 
environment to turn wireless connectivity on and off. Does it work at 
all in the Linux environment? Or may I safely ignore it? (It also 
functions as "F2" if I strike the blue "Fn" key first.)

Temlakos