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

poma pomidorabelisima at gmail.com
Thu Jun 19 14:19:49 UTC 2014


On 19.06.2014 12:55, Temlakos wrote:
> 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
>

The explanation could be found in the user manual, right?
With a little salt and pepper. :)

It should be a switch actually associated with a BIOS that manages the connection and disconnection of wireless devices.
It can be called a "hardware" part of the story.
The other part of it is a "software" one, cause it can be managed in that way.
When you combine these two i.e. hardware & software management, problem arises.
You can read it yourself, all the logs related to the dell-laptop rfkill interface,
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/drivers/platform/x86/dell-laptop.c

What you can try is apply the parameter of module with the value "enabled" adding it to the kernel command line:
"dell-laptop.force_rfkill=1"
If you ever need it.

Did you understood all the steps necessary for working wifi?


poma




More information about the users mailing list