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

Thu Jun 19 14:27:02 UTC 2014

On 06/19/2014 10:19 AM, poma wrote:
> 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
>
>
Well, when I block out enough time to do the job, I will move in this 
order: seek out and download a firmware package, run the commands listed 
in the manual and at the other site, and make sure of the rfkill 
interface. And if I still cannot connect, you know I'll be back here.

Thus far I've saved everything. I haven't had people answer me back so 
fast on a problem I ran into since I first signed on--thank you all. If 
this works, you'll have saved me about $500 US in getting another 
laptop. (Unless I can easily replace the hardware with something that 
obeys the open-hardware conventions of most wireless interfaces today. 
This is the only machine in which I even had to ask about wireless 
connectivity--I have a minitower with a wireless interface, that F20 
found right away, found the service set, and asked me for the WPA 
password. Why can't all wireless interfaces behave this way, 
straight-out-of-the-box? Oh, well.)

Temlakos