HP dv6000z broadcom wireless card not showing up

[empty01]

Okay, I am stumped. I have installed sabayon 3.4f onto my HP dv6000z laptop which has a broadcom wireless card that uses the 43xx drivers...

I initially followed the instructions here for my wireless card:

http://wiki.sabayonlinux.org/index.php? ... 000_Series

It did not work, I also noticed that the light for the wireless card remained blue the entire time.

lspci and iwconfig were not showing the card, ifconfig yields nothing but my wired card.

In a previous install of sabayon the computer recognized the card but now it does not. I am wondering if it may be a kernel option or something else along those lines.

Anyone have any insight?

Thanks

[chickpea]

the kernel drivers for this broadcom card are just real sh@t. I also found that no matter what I did blacklisting the module wouldn't prevent it from loading. I had to recompile the kernel and rip all the broadcom nic drivers out.

Then you will want to do a

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#modprobe ndiswrapper

then do a

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ndiswrapper -i /path/to/bcmwl5.inf

then

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ndiswrapper -ma

and make sure that ndiswrapper is added to /etc/modules.autoload (or something similar I can't remember the exact name of the dir)

Your card should start working and be fairly stable.

[edgevision]

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# modprobe -r bcm43xx
# modprobe ndiswrapper

After you have set up ndiswrapper as chickpea mentioned and as written in the wiki.

[tomcullpepper]

The write up says "add (blah blah blah code, then blah blah blah code, then blah blah blah code.) Then you're good to go!" What the hell do I add the coding to? Where can I find it? How do I add it? Can I please get a write up that doesn't speak like I created Linux?

[edgevision]

The write up says "add (blah blah blah code, then blah blah blah code, then blah blah blah code.) Then you're good to go!" What the hell do I add the coding to? Where can I find it?

Read the instructions. The first two lines with the pound sign mean that they are typed into a terminal window as the super user. To become the super user after launching a terminal window, you type su followed by the super user password. This little tidbit of knowledge is not specific to Sabayon, but to Linux itself.

The first line, modprobe, removes the driver that's already loaded. The second opens up the file you need to edit to blacklist the driver from loading upon startup.

The Broadcom drivers included as modules in the kernel (bcm43xx) are complete garbage, so let's remove those first.

# modprobe -r bcm43xx
# nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

And add:

blacklist bcm43xx

to the bottom of that file.

How do I add it? Can I please get a write up that doesn't speak like I created Linux?

Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the blacklist line. To add that line, you type it in yourself. For your information, at the time of writing that article I had been using Linux for approximately two and a half months. The purpose of this article is not to teach about using Linux, but instead to provide information on how to get your hardware working in Linux.

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/toc.html

Google is your friend. Don't get upset because the article doesn't do everything for you. Instead, appreciate that someone wrote it and if you don't understand something, type a few words into the search box at the top right of your browser.

[chickpea]

Don't get mad at us for helping you for free, when you don't understand. Linux is a user-driven experience that means you are responsible for your system, not me.

See http://www.linux.com/whatislinux/
and

http://www.linuxcommand.org/learning_the_shell.php

See also

http://www.google.com

and

http://www.gentoo-wiki.com

You are responsible for finding the answers, not us. We are just here to help guide your search.

[rbnigh]

I[m afraid I have to sympathize a bit with tculpepper. For a beginner who just wants to get his wireless card working as well as it was on windows this is really a bit daunting. I really appreciate the effort you folks put into guiding us but really, to us, an off hand statement like "o, i had to recompile the kernel", with no further explanations leaves us with a nauseous feeling in the stomach. Reading the instructions about how to 'recompile the kernel' in the sources you suggest only makes things worse. To a beginner, that seems like a rather major operation and I wouldn't even know how to begin. Given that this problem (of Broadcom wireless cards) is rather complex, and has been discussed on this forum, apparently without definitive solution, for some time, a step by step "bcm43xx for idiots" might be in order. I installed Sayabon because it seemed to have this one figured out. I apologize for my ignorance and am anxious to learn. But this isn't exactly an easy one to cut your teeth on. Thank you.

[WarraWarra]

Try to have a look at this one as I posted the actual steps to it here:
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=8933

Note you have to be root in terminal /Konsole = super user in black box with white text type thing = old school dos command prompt look alike.

On desktop there is usually konsole icon = open it , now green text the type:
# su
passwd:
this password is either root or the one you gave during install.

If all goes well then you should be root and able to do the linked stuff , note the sometimes needed 3to5 times needed modprobe -r and then 3to5 times needed modprobe it does happen.

PS> for this no recompile is needed only remove then install then load and test = internet works with all related links at the bottom of the first post.

Hope this helps.

[chickpea]

Given that this problem (of Broadcom wireless cards) is rather complex, and has been discussed on this forum, apparently without definitive solution, for some time, a step by step "bcm43xx for idiots" might be in order. I installed Sayabon because it seemed to have this one figured out. I apologize for my ignorance and am anxious to learn. But this isn't exactly an easy one to cut your teeth on. Thank you.

Look I sympathize, I really do, but the sooner that you understand that not all distros are for all folks and that Linux is not the kind of OS where you call up and I take over your computer and just make it work for you, the sooner that you will truly understand the power of linux, is that it frees you from your dependency on "OS repairmen" and their ilk.

No the broadcom issue is not "solved" in any distro (if you mean a native linux driver). The easiest way to solve this (which has been discussed ad nauseum and has its own dedicated wiki howto) is to use ndiswrapper. Look, really compiling a kernel could not be easier, especially using genkernel. READ the wiki.

http://wiki.sabayonlinux.org/index.php? ... th_Sabayon

http://wiki.sabayonlinux.org/index.php? ... _genkernel

[rbnigh]

Thank you for your answer. The major motivation for taking what is turning out to be an inordinate amount of time to get linux running is to be free of dependency on MS. When I received Vista and saw what a piece of junk it is and how it was going to require relearning as well, I decided that the effort would be better spent learning linux.

The problem with the references and methods you give is that the 'emerge' commands you call for don't work unless you are connected to the internet. So until I solve the problem of this card I cannot do anything with Sabayon on my HP dv6000. My problem, I know. Thank you for your help, in any case.