5:19 p.m.
the short question: what is it about upgrading from fc6 to f7 that
completely destroyed my wireless?
the long form: ever since upgrading to f7 (actually, a fresh
install), i've been unable to get wireless access, which i've had
without problems for at least the last couple releases. i've asked
about this before and i've been fighting with this on and off lately,
and i plan on spending time this weekend going at this again. but,
really, has anyone else gone through this and can explain what it is
about f7 that just sucks WRT wireless?
my main system is a dell inspiron 9200 in which i use a linksys
pcmcia card (WPC11-V31) which worked flawlessly with my linksys WAP
until f7. i also have a gateway MX7120 with onboard wireless running
f7 which also utterly fails to connect.
wireless used to be an absolute no-brainer until f7 -- the total
failure. is there something simple i'm overlooking? i can't be more
detailed until i go at this over the weekend but if there's something
stupidly trivial i might have overlooked WRT f7, by all means, make a
suggestion. thanks.
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
6:11 p.m.
Robert P. J. Day wrote:
the short question: what is it about upgrading from fc6 to f7
that
completely destroyed my wireless?
the long form: ever since upgrading to f7 (actually, a fresh
install), i've been unable to get wireless access, which i've had
without problems for at least the last couple releases. i've asked
about this before and i've been fighting with this on and off lately,
and i plan on spending time this weekend going at this again. but,
really, has anyone else gone through this and can explain what it is
about f7 that just sucks WRT wireless?
my main system is a dell inspiron 9200 in which i use a linksys
pcmcia card (WPC11-V31) which worked flawlessly with my linksys WAP
until f7. i also have a gateway MX7120 with onboard wireless running
f7 which also utterly fails to connect.
wireless used to be an absolute no-brainer until f7 -- the total
failure. is there something simple i'm overlooking? i can't be more
detailed until i go at this over the weekend but if there's something
stupidly trivial i might have overlooked WRT f7, by all means, make a
suggestion. thanks.
rday
Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use # lsmod and
see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not seen then do
# modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does nothing your
kernel has the driver you need.
If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel or, yum a
kernel update having that driver.
--
Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
Linux User
#450462 http://counter.li.org.
6:26 p.m.
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> the short question: what is it about upgrading from fc6 to f7 that
> completely destroyed my wireless?
>
> the long form: ever since upgrading to f7 (actually, a fresh
> install), i've been unable to get wireless access, which i've had
> without problems for at least the last couple releases. i've asked
> about this before and i've been fighting with this on and off lately,
> and i plan on spending time this weekend going at this again. but,
> really, has anyone else gone through this and can explain what it is
> about f7 that just sucks WRT wireless?
>
> my main system is a dell inspiron 9200 in which i use a linksys
> pcmcia card (WPC11-V31) which worked flawlessly with my linksys WAP
> until f7. i also have a gateway MX7120 with onboard wireless running
> f7 which also utterly fails to connect.
>
> wireless used to be an absolute no-brainer until f7 -- the total
> failure. is there something simple i'm overlooking? i can't be more
> detailed until i go at this over the weekend but if there's something
> stupidly trivial i might have overlooked WRT f7, by all means, make a
> suggestion. thanks.
>
> rday
>
Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use #
lsmod and see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not
seen then do # modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does
nothing your kernel has the driver you need.
If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel
or, yum a kernel update having that driver.
i've already been down that road. i've used both the official FC
kernels, and built my own as well. the gateway laptop does have the
broadcom drivers loaded, so that shouldn't be a problem.
let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
f7.
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
6:38 p.m.
let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
f7.
Mine worked with FC4 but not FC5 and FC6. F7 works. It is all a
crap shoot. Go back to FC6 or wait for F8.
--
Knute Johnson
Molon Labe...
6:48 p.m.
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Knute Johnson wrote:
> let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
> no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
> so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
> f7.
Mine worked with FC4 but not FC5 and FC6. F7 works. It is all a
crap shoot. Go back to FC6 or wait for F8.
The problem is a little more complex than that...
There is an issue with the Broadcom chipsets (bcm4306 in particular). I
will explain it as well as my information will allow.
Some versions of the bcm4306 chipset work with the version 3 firmware, but
do not have enough memory to load the version 4 firmware. The old bcm43xx
driver uses the version 3 firmware. The new driver (bcm43xx_mac80211?)
only works with the version 4 firmware. So older chipsets do not work
with the new driver. And here is the fun part... Both chipsets have the
same pci id, so it is hard to tell which of the two chipsets you really
have. (Since the kernel module uses the pci id to figure which one to
load, it has to pick one. It does not look at chip revision information.
You have to hack the blacklist and pci info files.)
Fun.
I believe this is a problem that was found after the module was written.
I am not certain if there is a fix possible for this without removing and
replacing hardware. (Which is hard if you have a laptop with the older
chipset, like I do...)
Hope that helps...
--
"ANSI C says access to the padding fields of a struct is undefined.
ANSI C also says that struct assignment is a memcpy. Therefore struct
assignment in ANSI C is a violation of ANSI C..."
- Alan Cox
6:41 p.m.
Robert P. J. Day wrote:
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
> Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>> the short question: what is it about upgrading from fc6 to f7 that
>> completely destroyed my wireless?
>>
>> the long form: ever since upgrading to f7 (actually, a fresh
>> install), i've been unable to get wireless access, which i've had
>> without problems for at least the last couple releases. i've asked
>> about this before and i've been fighting with this on and off lately,
>> and i plan on spending time this weekend going at this again. but,
>> really, has anyone else gone through this and can explain what it is
>> about f7 that just sucks WRT wireless?
>>
>> my main system is a dell inspiron 9200 in which i use a linksys
>> pcmcia card (WPC11-V31) which worked flawlessly with my linksys WAP
>> until f7. i also have a gateway MX7120 with onboard wireless running
>> f7 which also utterly fails to connect.
>>
>> wireless used to be an absolute no-brainer until f7 -- the total
>> failure. is there something simple i'm overlooking? i can't be more
>> detailed until i go at this over the weekend but if there's something
>> stupidly trivial i might have overlooked WRT f7, by all means, make a
>> suggestion. thanks.
>>
>> rday
>>
> Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use #
> lsmod and see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not
> seen then do # modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does
> nothing your kernel has the driver you need.
>
> If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel
> or, yum a kernel update having that driver.
i've already been down that road. i've used both the official FC
kernels, and built my own as well. the gateway laptop does have the
broadcom drivers loaded, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Explain to me how your gateway laptop has broadcom drivers loaded? I
agree that F7 is not a very good version of Linux because it's too new.
Lots of my stuff doesn't work either. But I got my laptop working with
F7 but it was a fight.
let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
f7.
rday
--
Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
Linux User
#450462 http://counter.li.org.
6:50 p.m.
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
Explain to me how your gateway laptop has broadcom drivers loaded? I
agree that F7 is not a very good version of Linux because it's too new. Lots
of my stuff doesn't work either. But I got my laptop working with F7 but it
was a fight.
Just because the driver has loaded does not mean it will work. See my
last message on the version 3 v.s. version 4 firmware issue. My laptop
will load the new broadcom driver. it will not work because my bcm4306
chipset does not have enough memory to load the version 4 firmware.
--
"ANSI C says access to the padding fields of a struct is undefined.
ANSI C also says that struct assignment is a memcpy. Therefore struct
assignment in ANSI C is a violation of ANSI C..."
- Alan Cox
7:34 p.m.
On Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 04:50:49PM -0700, alan wrote:
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
> Explain to me how your gateway laptop has broadcom drivers loaded? I
>agree that F7 is not a very good version of Linux because it's too new.
>Lots of my stuff doesn't work either. But I got my laptop working with F7
>but it was a fight.
Just because the driver has loaded does not mean it will work. See my
last message on the version 3 v.s. version 4 firmware issue. My laptop
will load the new broadcom driver. it will not work because my bcm4306
chipset does not have enough memory to load the version 4 firmware.
Have you followed my directions to setup your box to use the old driver?
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2007-July/msg02069.html
John
--
John W. Linville
linville(a)redhat.com
12:59 p.m.
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, John W. Linville wrote:
On Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 04:50:49PM -0700, alan wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Karl Larsen wrote:
>
> > Explain to me how your gateway laptop has broadcom drivers loaded? I
> >agree that F7 is not a very good version of Linux because it's too new.
> >Lots of my stuff doesn't work either. But I got my laptop working with F7
> >but it was a fight.
>
> Just because the driver has loaded does not mean it will work. See my
> last message on the version 3 v.s. version 4 firmware issue. My laptop
> will load the new broadcom driver. it will not work because my bcm4306
> chipset does not have enough memory to load the version 4 firmware.
Have you followed my directions to setup your box to use the old driver?
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2007-July/msg02069.html
before i do that, i'm just trying to verify what i *have* on this
system. on a gateway laptop running f7, i can see in /var/log/dmesgl
the lines:
bmc43xx_mac80211: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found.
...
followed by a few more lines about that device i can reproduce if
necessary. so that looks like a good sign.
however, when i go to "System" -> "Administration" ->
"Network", there
is no entry for wireless and, if i select that i want to add one, the
only choice i'm given is "Other wireless card". i would have thought
i would be shown the internal broadcom device. am i already confused
by what i should be seeing here?
rday
1:08 p.m.
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
however, when i go to "System" ->
"Administration" -> "Network", there
is no entry for wireless and, if i select that i want to add one, the
only choice i'm given is "Other wireless card". i would have thought
i would be shown the internal broadcom device. am i already confused
by what i should be seeing here?
If you do an
iwconfig
you should see wlan0 listed if all is well. But probably nothing will
be well unless you have the righteous firmware in /lib/firmware already.
-Andy
1:28 p.m.
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
> however, when i go to "System" -> "Administration" ->
"Network", there
> is no entry for wireless and, if i select that i want to add one, the
> only choice i'm given is "Other wireless card". i would have thought
> i would be shown the internal broadcom device. am i already confused
> by what i should be seeing here?
If you do an
iwconfig
you should see wlan0 listed if all is well. But probably nothing
will be well unless you have the righteous firmware in /lib/firmware
already.
right now, i'm doing a fresh install on that laptop, and i'm going to
carefully document what the state of the world is starting there.
first question -- do i need to be running NetworkManager? that's a
new service for me, is it necessary or can i ignore it for now?
also, what should i document when that system comes up? as a prelim
list:
- any references to wireless in dmesg/messages
- output of "iwconfig"
- what shows up in the "Network" admin client
- contents of /lib/firmware related to wireless
anything else?
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
3:33 p.m.
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
> Somebody in the thread at some point said:
>
>> however, when i go to "System" -> "Administration" ->
"Network", there
>> is no entry for wireless and, if i select that i want to add one, the
>> only choice i'm given is "Other wireless card". i would have
thought
>> i would be shown the internal broadcom device. am i already confused
>> by what i should be seeing here?
> If you do an
>
> iwconfig
>
> you should see wlan0 listed if all is well. But probably nothing
> will be well unless you have the righteous firmware in /lib/firmware
> already.
right now, i'm doing a fresh install on that laptop, and i'm going to
carefully document what the state of the world is starting there.
first question -- do i need to be running NetworkManager? that's a
new service for me, is it necessary or can i ignore it for now?
Yes you can ignore it. When everything settles down, including the
wireless drivers themselves, it will allow nice high level decisions
about network connections, at the moment unless you have the right
drivers it is just an annoyance.
The methods I propose here are pretty low level commandline stuff, but
work on all the wireless devices I met.
also, what should i document when that system comes up? as a prelim
list:
- any references to wireless in dmesg/messages
- output of "iwconfig"
- what shows up in the "Network" admin client
- contents of /lib/firmware related to wireless
Yes first check dmesg to see the firmware went in and so on.
The next move is to get the AP authentication working with wireless,
only then do you worry about setting it up as a network interface with
system-config-network. So you need to be aware of the encryption on the AP.
- check you have a wireless interface: iwconfig
- bring it up: ifconfig wlan0 up
- look around: iwlist wlan0 scan
- AP == no encryption --> iwconfig wlan0 channel <n> ; iwconfig wlan0
ap 11:11:11:11:11:11 (<-- AP Mac)
- AP == WEP --> set it up from iwconfig enc <key> ; then as unencrypted
- AP == WPA --> configure wpa_supplicant.
1) wpa_passphrase <SSID> >/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
(type the shared secret and enter)
<SSID> is your AP name
2) edit /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant to say something like
INTERFACES="-iwlan0"
DRIVERS="-Dwext"
3) chkconfig wpa_supplicant on
4) mv /etc/rc3.d/S12wpa_supplicant /etc/rc3.d/S09wpa_supplicant
mv /etc/rc5.d/S12wpa_supplicant /etc/rc5.d/S09wpa_supplicant
(works around an initscript bug that tries to get DHCP before
wpa_supplicant is started during boot)
5) service wpa_supplicant restart
If WPA is working, iwconfig will show something like this
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"froh"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:11:50:AD:CE:38
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption
key:87FC-2359-DC58-434A-3939-7271-4DD2-1178-52FB-B957-221B-4295-1A52-B948-D682-5787
[2]
Link Quality=85/100 Signal level=-23 dBm Noise level=-58 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
Specifically the Encryption key stuff will be present.
- see how you are doing with association: iwconfig will have the AP MAC
and SSID (AP name) if you are associated.
- Give it a test IP by hand, something like
ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.123 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
- can we ping anything?
-Andy
5:32 p.m.
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
The methods I propose here are pretty low level commandline stuff,
but
work on all the wireless devices I met.
> also, what should i document when that system comes up? as a prelim
> list:
>
> - any references to wireless in dmesg/messages
> - output of "iwconfig"
> - what shows up in the "Network" admin client
> - contents of /lib/firmware related to wireless
Yes first check dmesg to see the firmware went in and so on.
from dmesg (reproduced manually so stupid typoes are my fault):
bcm43xx-phy0: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found
ssb: Switching to IEEE 802.11 core, index 1
bcm43xx-phy0 debug ...
... a couple more ...
so it's obvious that the kernel sees the wireless device. onward ...
The next move is to get the AP authentication working with wireless,
only then do you worry about setting it up as a network interface
with system-config-network. So you need to be aware of the
encryption on the AP.
- check you have a wireless interface: iwconfig
yup, wlan0, not currently encrypted, no access point, etc.
- bring it up: ifconfig wlan0 up
huh? i'm not sure why that should work yet, and what i get is:
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory.
nothing in the instructions you gave me talks about downloading new
firmware. shouldn't that be part of the process? or are you not
taking that into account here?
rday
5:48 p.m.
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
> - check you have a wireless interface: iwconfig
yup, wlan0, not currently encrypted, no access point, etc.
> - bring it up: ifconfig wlan0 up
huh? i'm not sure why that should work yet, and what i get is:
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory.
nothing in the instructions you gave me talks about downloading new
firmware. shouldn't that be part of the process? or are you not
taking that into account here?
"My instructions" are generic ones... I don't have your card nor use
your particular driver. Some common cards like ipw2200 and 3945
actually have their firmware in base Fedora packages already, for example.
Bringing the device up with ifconfig is needed for mac80211-based
drivers, it looks like yours isn't.
Normally though the driver takes care of loading the firmware file from
/lib/firmware and sending it to the device itself when the module is
inserted, and again normally it would complain in dmesg if that wasn't
happening. Do you have any firmware for this device in /lib/firmware
already? Because no complaints in dmesg could be interpreted as being
good news...
If you have some firmware in there, a quick sanity test would be to put
the device in Monitor mode and tcpdump on it, something like
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
iwconfig wlan0 channel 6
tcpdump -i wlan0
if that starts showing you packets, you definitely have a device that is
up and working.
-Andy
5:50 p.m.
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
>> - check you have a wireless interface: iwconfig
>
> yup, wlan0, not currently encrypted, no access point, etc.
>
>> - bring it up: ifconfig wlan0 up
>
> huh? i'm not sure why that should work yet, and what i get is:
>
> SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory.
>
> nothing in the instructions you gave me talks about downloading new
> firmware. shouldn't that be part of the process? or are you not
> taking that into account here?
"My instructions" are generic ones... I don't have your card nor use
your particular driver. Some common cards like ipw2200 and 3945
actually have their firmware in base Fedora packages already, for
example.
Bringing the device up with ifconfig is needed for mac80211-based
drivers, it looks like yours isn't.
no, i'm currently following the instructions here to first get the
appropriate firmware:
http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras/
but those instructions are also maddeningly ambiguous since they tell
me to figure out which firmware file to download based on what i read
in a README file, which really doesn't nail it down, so i'm guessing i
want the bcmwl5.sys file but there are dozens of versions listed under
that title in that README file. *man*, i hate crappy documentation.
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
3:22 a.m.
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
but those instructions are also maddeningly ambiguous since they
tell
me to figure out which firmware file to download based on what i read
in a README file, which really doesn't nail it down, so i'm guessing i
want the bcmwl5.sys file but there are dozens of versions listed under
that title in that README file. *man*, i hate crappy documentation.
To be fair, things are this crazy with per-chipset firmwire cutters and
whatnot because Broadcomm and others won't allow redistribution of their
firmware (even though you need to buy their chip to make any use of
it!). Maybe this bit of history about Broadcomm will put it into
perspective
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2783216.ece
Intel for example don't suffer from that madness with regards to their
firmware and the ipw2200 and 3945 firmwares at least are stock Fedora
packages.
-Andy
3:24 a.m.
On Thu, 2 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
> but those instructions are also maddeningly ambiguous since they tell
> me to figure out which firmware file to download based on what i read
> in a README file, which really doesn't nail it down, so i'm guessing i
> want the bcmwl5.sys file but there are dozens of versions listed under
> that title in that README file. *man*, i hate crappy documentation.
To be fair, things are this crazy with per-chipset firmwire cutters
and whatnot because Broadcomm and others won't allow redistribution
of their firmware (even though you need to buy their chip to make
any use of it!). Maybe this bit of history about Broadcomm will put
it into perspective
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2783216.ece
Intel for example don't suffer from that madness with regards to
their firmware and the ipw2200 and 3945 firmwares at least are stock
Fedora packages.
as we speak, i'm starting from scratch with a newly-installed and
updated F7 system, and i'm going to document each step carefully.
more coming soon.
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
3:32 a.m.
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
as we speak, i'm starting from scratch with a newly-installed
and
updated F7 system, and i'm going to document each step carefully.
more coming soon.
Well great, but just bear in mind you'll be documenting what to do for
one specific chipset and one specific driver in this case.
bcm43xx-mac80211 is also meant to be taking over from the old ieee80211
stack driver too and probably acts differently, especially wrt
NetworkManager.
-Andy
3:31 a.m.
On Thu, 2 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
Somebody in the thread at some point said:
> as we speak, i'm starting from scratch with a newly-installed and
> updated F7 system, and i'm going to document each step carefully.
> more coming soon.
Well great, but just bear in mind you'll be documenting what to do
for one specific chipset and one specific driver in this case.
true enough, but at least it will be a working set of instructions
that *might* extend to other situations. one can only hope.
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
8:21 a.m.
On Wed, Aug 01, 2007 at 06:50:36PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
no, i'm currently following the instructions here to first get
the
appropriate firmware:
http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras/
but those instructions are also maddeningly ambiguous since they tell
me to figure out which firmware file to download based on what i read
in a README file, which really doesn't nail it down, so i'm guessing i
want the bcmwl5.sys file but there are dozens of versions listed under
that title in that README file. *man*, i hate crappy documentation.
I added a comment to the bottom of that page:
Users of the softmac-based "bcm43xx" driver should use the firmware from here:
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
FWIW, users of the mac80211-based "bcm43xx-mac80211" driver should use the
firmware from here:
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
For more up-to-date information, please see here:
http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/bcm43xx#devicefirmware
Hth!
John
--
John W. Linville
linville(a)redhat.com
11:32 a.m.
On Thu, 2 Aug 2007, John W. Linville wrote:
On Wed, Aug 01, 2007 at 06:50:36PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> no, i'm currently following the instructions here to first get the
> appropriate firmware:
>
> http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras/
>
> but those instructions are also maddeningly ambiguous since they tell
> me to figure out which firmware file to download based on what i read
> in a README file, which really doesn't nail it down, so i'm guessing i
> want the bcmwl5.sys file but there are dozens of versions listed
under
> that title in that README file. *man*, i hate crappy
documentation.
I added a comment to the bottom of that page:
Users of the softmac-based "bcm43xx" driver should use the firmware from here:
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
FWIW, users of the mac80211-based "bcm43xx-mac80211" driver should use the
firmware from here:
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
that page is still seriously confusing since the example it uses
includes "bcmwl5.sys", which doesn't match *either* of the above.
that page also suggests that, after you install the firmware and
modprobe the driver, running "system-config-network" will show you a
choice of the Broadcom eth1 device. we've already established earlier
today that, after i did what appeared to be the correct firmware
config, i got no such choice.
i am not at all convinced that the instructions on that page are
meaningful. have they actually been tested with F7?
rday
12:03 p.m.
On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 12:32:05PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
On Thu, 2 Aug 2007, John W. Linville wrote:
> I added a comment to the bottom of that page:
>
> Users of the softmac-based "bcm43xx" driver should use the firmware from
here:
>
> http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
>
> FWIW, users of the mac80211-based "bcm43xx-mac80211" driver should use the
firmware from here:
>
> http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
that page is still seriously confusing since the example it uses
includes "bcmwl5.sys", which doesn't match *either* of the above.
that page also suggests that, after you install the firmware and
modprobe the driver, running "system-config-network" will show you a
choice of the Broadcom eth1 device. we've already established earlier
today that, after i did what appeared to be the correct firmware
config, i got no such choice.
i am not at all convinced that the instructions on that page are
meaningful. have they actually been tested with F7?
Beats the crap out of me -- I didn't write them. Why are you fixated
on this one website? Anyway, complain to whomever wrote it.
FWIW, that page seems to be describing the "bcm43xx" driver, while
you appear to be using the "bcm43xx-mac80211" driver. I can't imagine
why the instructions might not match-up perfectly.
John
--
John W. Linville
linville(a)redhat.com
5:41 p.m.
On Wed, 2007-08-01 at 14:28 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Andy Green wrote:
> Somebody in the thread at some point said:
>
> > however, when i go to "System" -> "Administration" ->
"Network", there
> > is no entry for wireless and, if i select that i want to add one, the
> > only choice i'm given is "Other wireless card". i would have
thought
> > i would be shown the internal broadcom device. am i already confused
> > by what i should be seeing here?
>
> If you do an
>
> iwconfig
>
> you should see wlan0 listed if all is well. But probably nothing
> will be well unless you have the righteous firmware in /lib/firmware
> already.
right now, i'm doing a fresh install on that laptop, and i'm going to
carefully document what the state of the world is starting there.
first question -- do i need to be running NetworkManager? that's a
new service for me, is it necessary or can i ignore it for now?
I don't know
whether need to run NetworkManager but running it and
NetworkManagerDispatcher and stop network from running will probably
give you a better wireless experience. It would be worht giving it a
try.
also, what should i document when that system comes up? as a prelim
list:
- any references to wireless in dmesg/messages
- output of "iwconfig"
- what shows up in the "Network" admin client
- contents of /lib/firmware related to wireless
anything else?
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
--
=======================================================================
Sometimes you get an almost irresistible urge to go on living.
=======================================================================
Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam(a)sbcglobal.net
1:31 p.m.
On Wednesday August 1 2007 1:59:58 pm Robert P. J. Day wrote:
before i do that, i'm just trying to verify what i *have* on
this system. on a gateway laptop running f7, i can see in
/var/log/dmesgl the lines:
bmc43xx_mac80211: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found.
...
followed by a few more lines about that device i can reproduce
if necessary. so that looks like a good sign.
Here's a page devoted specifically to the the bcm43xx driver for
Fedora, which I used to set up my HP laptop's Broadcom Wireless
NIC - maybe it will help you
http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras/
--
Claude Jones
Brunswick, MD, USA
1:50 p.m.
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007, Claude Jones wrote:
On Wednesday August 1 2007 1:59:58 pm Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> before i do that, i'm just trying to verify what i *have* on
> this system. on a gateway laptop running f7, i can see in
> /var/log/dmesgl the lines:
>
> bmc43xx_mac80211: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found.
> ...
> followed by a few more lines about that device i can reproduce
> if necessary. so that looks like a good sign.
Here's a page devoted specifically to the the bcm43xx driver for
Fedora, which I used to set up my HP laptop's Broadcom Wireless
NIC - maybe it will help you
http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/bcm43xx-yum-extras/
awesome, i'll follow that as soon as the system is loaded. but let me
make a couple suggestions about that page -- the same sort of thing i
*always* whine about when it comes to tutorials and HOWTOs:
1) why the need to do a general "yum update"? i realize that there
may be *some* packages that need updating, but it doesn't impart any
information if you don't tell the reader *precisely* what packages are
necessary for updating. is it really just the kernel that needs
updating or perhaps other stuff? it's always nice to know that, even
if you advise the reader to just play it safe and update it all.
2) actually, maybe that's my only whine. for now. :-)
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
9:05 a.m.
On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 19:26 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >
> Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use #
> lsmod and see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not
> seen then do # modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does
> nothing your kernel has the driver you need.
>
> If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel
> or, yum a kernel update having that driver.
i've already been down that road. i've used both the official FC
kernels, and built my own as well. the gateway laptop does have the
broadcom drivers loaded, so that shouldn't be a problem.
let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
f7.
Well we need more information since my experience was just the opposite.
Tell us more about how you are configuring the wireless.
--
Aaron Konstam <akonstam(a)sbcglobal.net>
9:30 a.m.
On Thu, 26 Jul 2007, Aaron Konstam wrote:
On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 19:26 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > >
> > Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use #
> > lsmod and see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not
> > seen then do # modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does
> > nothing your kernel has the driver you need.
> >
> > If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel
> > or, yum a kernel update having that driver.
>
> i've already been down that road. i've used both the official FC
> kernels, and built my own as well. the gateway laptop does have the
> broadcom drivers loaded, so that shouldn't be a problem.
>
> let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
> no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
> so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
> f7.
>
Well we need more information since my experience was just the
opposite. Tell us more about how you are configuring the wireless.
after i tackle this again this weekend, if i'm still not having any
luck, i can provide more info. i just wanted to take a shot and ask
if there was a *known* issue with wireless that would have solved my
problem right away. i wasn't trying to be vague, honest. :-)
rday
--
========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
http://fsdev.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
========================================================================
3:33 p.m.
On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 10:30 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
On Thu, 26 Jul 2007, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 19:26 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > > >
> > > Well for sure you have a new kernel. In a root Terminal use #
> > > lsmod and see if your wireless software is in the new kernel. If not
> > > seen then do # modprobe your-kernel-driver from FC6 and if it does
> > > nothing your kernel has the driver you need.
> > >
> > > If it says no such thing then you need to yum a newer kernel
> > > or, yum a kernel update having that driver.
> >
> > i've already been down that road. i've used both the official FC
> > kernels, and built my own as well. the gateway laptop does have the
> > broadcom drivers loaded, so that shouldn't be a problem.
> >
> > let me re-iterate -- until f7, wireless config and usage was a
> > no-brainer. it just worked. now, with f7, it just *doesn't* work.
> > so i'm curious if anyone else noticed problems right after moving to
> > f7.
> >
> Well we need more information since my experience was just the
> opposite. Tell us more about how you are configuring the wireless.
after i tackle this again this weekend, if i'm still not having any
luck, i can provide more info. i just wanted to take a shot and ask
if there was a *known* issue with wireless that would have solved my
problem right away. i wasn't trying to be vague, honest. :-)
rday
If other solutions fail you , you might try the kernels from:
http://www.ezplanetone.com/
which are designed , among other things to have better wireless support.
They are for f7 and they work and the company has a repo for updates.
--
=======================================================================
Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position. --
Christopher Marlowe
=======================================================================
Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam(a)sbcglobal.net
9:01 a.m.
On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 18:19 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
the short question: what is it about upgrading from fc6 to f7 that
completely destroyed my wireless?
the long form: ever since upgrading to f7 (actually, a fresh
install), i've been unable to get wireless access, which i've had
without problems for at least the last couple releases. i've asked
about this before and i've been fighting with this on and off lately,
and i plan on spending time this weekend going at this again. but,
really, has anyone else gone through this and can explain what it is
about f7 that just sucks WRT wireless?
my main system is a dell inspiron 9200 in which i use a linksys
pcmcia card (WPC11-V31) which worked flawlessly with my linksys WAP
until f7. i also have a gateway MX7120 with onboard wireless running
f7 which also utterly fails to connect.
wireless used to be an absolute no-brainer until f7 -- the total
failure. is there something simple i'm overlooking? i can't be more
detailed until i go at this over the weekend but if there's something
stupidly trivial i might have overlooked WRT f7, by all means, make a
suggestion. thanks.
rday
How are you trying to make it work? NetworkManager or some other method?
--
=======================================================================
You have an unusual understanding of the problems of human
relationships.
=======================================================================
Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam(a)sbcglobal.net
6109
days inactive
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29 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
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John W. Linville -
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Knute Johnson -
Robert P. J. Day