Problems with bcm43xx-fwcutter

[Pete Graner]

bof wrote:
> lo,
> 
> I am having some trouble getting bcm43xx to work. I have tried following 
> the HOWTO instructions that you had posted at 
> http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/fedora-ppc/2006-March/000804.html.
> 
> I was able to install it on FC5 using yum, and it would appear to be 
> version -004 as it is in directory /usr/share/doc/bcm43xx-fwcutter-004.
> 
> First of my problems is that the md5sums on many of the links in the 
> README file do not agree with the files downloaded from the listed URLs 
> and extracting files from them fails.
> I also tried extracting from the 
> file that Gateway uses for my system (a Gateway notebook, model MX6440 
> with a Airforce One 54g card apparently using a BCM4318 chip) but that 
> also failed with the md5sum problem.
> 
> I was able to extract an older version of bcmwl5.sys , version 3.20.23.0 
> but with many dire warnings, viz.,

Note dire. They are normal. I'm using a powerbook with the firmware from 
OSX and I get the same ones and they are harmless.

> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_microcode2.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_microcode4.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_microcode5.fw ...
> 
>    *****: Sorry, it's not posible to extract "bcm43xx_microcode11.fw".
> 
>    *****: Extracting firmware from an old driver is bad. Choose a more
>    recent one.
> 
>    *****: Luckily bcm43xx driver doesn't include microcode11 uploads at
>    the moment.
> 
>    *****: But this can be added in the future...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_pcm4.fw ...
> 
>    *****: Sorry, it's not posible to extract "bcm43xx_pcm5.fw".
> 
>    *****: Extracting firmware from an old driver is bad. Choose a more
>    recent one.
> 
>    *****: bcm43xx driver will not work with with core revision 5 or higher.
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval01.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval02.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval03.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval04.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval05.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval06.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval07.fw ...
> 
>    *****: Sorry, initval08 is not available in driver file "bcmwl5.sys".
> 
>    *****: Extracting firmware from an old driver is bad. Choose a more
>    recent one.
> 
>    *****: Luckily bcm43xx driver doesn't include initval08 uploads at
>    the moment.
> 
>    *****: But this can be added in the future...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval09.fw ...
> 
>    extracting bcm43xx_initval10.fw ...

Again nothing to worry about.

> 
> When I issued modprobe bcm43xx, it loaded. I then configured eth1 using 
> ifconfig and found after issueing ifconfig -a, it showed eth1 as having 
> an address of 172.16.5.38 and a HW address of 00:14:!5:85:4E:D5.

In the past I've had to force the card down to a lower rate. By doing an:

iwconfig eth1 rate 10M

then it works just fine. With the newer kernels however it seems to 
default to 10M vice the 54M. So all is well.

Also when trying to use a Nortel or Cisco AP with WEP. I have to bring 
the interface up and let it sit for a few minutes then I can run 
dhclient and it will associate. I normally do:

ifconfig eth1 up
sleep 120
dhclient eth1

and I can normally associate. I still can't get network manager to work 
on my powerbook but I can bring the interface up manually using the 
lines above in a script.

HTH

Pete

> 
> However iwconfig eth1 shows an invalid access point, and I am unable to 
> assign one using iwconfig with the ap switch set to the above mac address.
> 
> Could you advise me on (1) how to get a later file for extraction of the 
> driver (if this is necessary) and (2) why I am unable to bind eth1 to an 
> access point?
> 
> Thanx.
> 
> BOF
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Fedora-ppc mailing list
> Fedora-ppc at lists.infradead.org
> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/fedora-ppc


-- 
Pete Graner                                email: <pgraner at redhat.com>