broadcom b43 wireless not working after update [Solved]

[pottzie]

This is going to be very similar to a post I found from a few weeks ago about my Broadcom b43 wireless not working after an update. This post: viewtopic.php?f=86&t=29232&p=159113&hilit=broadcom+b43#p159113

When the update finished, I got a "You can safely remove this file' message too. I had to do "Equo install net-wireless/wpa_supplicant " (from information I got from the Gentoo Wireless wiki, from my post viewtopic.php?f=52&t=29102&p=158466&hilit=broadcom+b43#p158466 , back in February.)

I just reinstalled net-wireless/wpa_supplicant, and equo didn't complain that it was already installed. I might have to reboot to get that working, and I'll do that after finishing this, but I want to get this information typed before I lose track of what I've done.

Backto the first post about this, I did follow the instructions and run equo query installed b43, and it shows;

Code: Select all

  @@ Searching...
>>      @@ Package: net-wireless/b43-fwcutter-017 branch: 5, [__system__]
>>         Installed:     version: 017 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>>         Slot:          0
>>         Homepage:      http://bues.ch/b43/fwcutter
>>         Description:   Firmware Tool for Broadcom 43xx
>>                        based wireless network devices
>>                        using the mac80211 wireless stack
>>         License:       GPL-2
>>  Keywords:  b43
>>  Found:     1 entry



So I have that. The first post also links to an Ubuntu guide that says I need rndis_wlan, ( I have the bcm4320 chip) although the information seems more pertinent to kernels before 2.6.37. b43-fwcutter and b43-firmware are suggested in the Sabayon post too, but while I don't know if those are installed on my system, or necessary, as I said I did have this broadcom working before, with or without them.

[Matte88]

b43-fwcutter and b43-firmware are suggested in the Sabayon post too, but while I don't know if those are installed on my system, or necessary

Code: Select all

equo s --installed b43

I think it's installed by default

[pottzie]

Yeah, they're there, and I installed b43-fwcutter for good measure.

Code: Select all

localhost pottzie # equo s --installed b43
>>  @@ Searching...
>>      @@ Package: net-wireless/b43-fwcutter-017 branch: 5, [__system__]
>>         Installed:     version: 017 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>>         Slot:          0
>>         Homepage:      http://bues.ch/b43/fwcutter
>>         Description:   Firmware Tool for Broadcom 43xx
>>                        based wireless network devices
>>                        using the mac80211 wireless stack
>>         License:       GPL-2
>>  Keywords:  b43
>>  Found:     1 entry


So I guess what I need to find out is if I'm having an issue with the driver module, or if it has more to do with Network Manager, and there is something wrong on the system side. I just saw that Gentoo says to run iwconfig wlan, and I'm getting: " wlan: error fetching interface information: Device not found."

That's not good. dmesg output:

Code: Select all

[   30.959445] fbcondecor: console 3 using theme 'sabayon'
[   31.073840] fbcondecor: switched decor state to 'on' on console 3
[   31.197130] fbcondecor: console 4 using theme 'sabayon'
[   31.311661] fbcondecor: switched decor state to 'on' on console 4
[   31.434682] fbcondecor: console 5 using theme 'sabayon'
[   31.550397] fbcondecor: switched decor state to 'on' on console 5
[   39.799974] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   40.389354] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (16384 buckets, 65536 max)
[   40.915564] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[   40.952625] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   50.427664] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[   50.431505] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link down
[   50.431591] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp2s3: link is not ready
[   51.818477] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100
[   51.818492] ata1: EH complete
[   55.715923] EXT4-fs (dm-0): re-mounted. Opts: commit=0
[   55.726294] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: commit=0
[   55.731371] EXT4-fs (dm-1): re-mounted. Opts: commit=0
[  125.793708] 8139too 0000:02:03.0 enp2s3: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
[  125.793745] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): enp2s3: link becomes ready
[  627.692117] nf_conntrack: automatic helper assignment is deprecated and it will be removed soon. Use the iptables CT target to attach helpers instead.


[pottzie]

Just tried doing :

Code: Select all

localhost pottzie # lspci -vvnn | grep 14e4
02:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03)
localhost pottzie # modprobe b43


I may have the wrong module, but this is a quick check.

[pottzie]

More output: starting with lsmod, then dmesg | grep b43

Code: Select all

ext3                   92173  0
jbd                    32931  1 ext3
ext2                   46078  0
mbcache                 3591  3 ext2,ext3,ext4
sl811_hcd               7648  0
hid_generic              654  0
xhci_hcd               66436  0
ohci_hcd               21583  0
uhci_hcd               17583  0
ehci_hcd               40104  0
sx8                     9684  0
imm                     7134  0
parport                21628  3 imm,ppdev,parport_pc
pata_pcmcia             6690  0
pcmcia                 33565  3 b43,ssb,pata_pcmcia
localhost pottzie # dmesg | grep b43
[   16.155148] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN found (core revision 5)
[   16.162023] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 2, Type 2 (G), Revision 2
[   16.173254] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
[   16.173263] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43-open/ucode5.fw" not found
[   16.173271] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware for this driver version. Please carefully read all instructions on this website.



[svantoviit]

Why don't you install the firmware (net-wireless/b43-firmware)?

[pottzie]

Actually, that was the first thing I tried. I somehow forgot to mention that, I guess.

I'd forgotten what the output was until I tried it again, just now. Equo, for some reason, doesn't find net-wireless/b43-firmware.

Code: Select all

>>     # net-wireless/mdk
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/ndiswrapper
>>     # net-wireless/prism54-firmware
>>     # net-wireless/prism54-firmware
>>     # net-wireless/python-wifi
>>     # net-wireless/rfkill
>>     # net-wireless/rtl8192su-firmware
>>     # net-wireless/spectools
>>     # net-wireless/wavemon
>>     # net-wireless/wepattack
>>     # net-wireless/wepdecrypt
>>     # net-wireless/wifi-radar
>>     # net-wireless/wimax
>>     # net-wireless/wimax-tools
>>     # net-wireless/wireless-regdb
>>     # net-wireless/wireless-tools
>>     # net-wireless/wpa_supplicant
>> No packages found.


[svantoviit]

My bad, the category of the package is different: it's sys-firmware/b43-firmware.

Code: Select all

equo s -vq b43
net-wireless/b43-asm-0.20091126
net-wireless/b43-fwcutter-017
net-wireless/b43-openfwwf-5.2
sys-firmware/b43-firmware-5.100.138

Since there is no ambiguity you actually need to specify just the package name, if you want to install it.

Code: Select all

equo i -a b43-firmware
>>  @@ These are the selected packages:
>>    # (1/1) [sabayon-weekly] sys-firmware/b43-firmware-5.100.138
>>     Versions: Not installed / NoTag / NoRev ===> 5.100.138 / NoTag / 1
>>    Action:       Install
>>  @@ Packages involved: 1
     Would you like to continue with the dependencies calculation? [Yes/No]

Reboot then and you should be fine.

[pottzie]

Ran equo i -a b43-firmware, rebooted, and I'm posting this wirelessly. Thanks!!!

I've seen several posts saying that an update had broken their broadocm wireless. Don't know if all have the same cause, but I break into a sweat every time I update anything! Hell, I have a Fedora system right now that for some reason won'y display any of my Home directory!!

So while (for me at least) two questions remain unanswered, why equo couldn't find net-wireless/b43-firmware, and why the update broke when I'd previously had it installed, I'm glad to able to connect wirelessly, and I'd say this is solved.

Thanks again, svantoviit.

[svantoviit]

why equo couldn't find net-wireless/b43-firmware

At some point the package category has changed from net-wireless to sys-firmware, so the package net-wireless/b43-firmware was removed from the repositories.
Since it isn't there anymore, you can't find it.

why the update broke when I'd previously had it installed

When a package gets removed from the repository, Entropy asks you if you want to remove it from your system too.
You must have agreed and explicitly allowed the package to be removed.
But you have not installed the new replacement: sys-firmware/b43-firmware.

One has to be careful with upgrades.