8.10 upgrade with BCM4328 Dell 1500

[grogger13]

I have a dell e1705 with broadcom 4328 abgn card. It also has a broadcom 44xx ethernet card.

First setup and working with ndiswrapper on 8.04.

then i upgraded to 8.10 and wireless was broken. On the 2.6.27 kernel, I was prompted with a b43 driver from restricted drivers manager but didn't have an internet connection so i couldn't download the driver. I already had ndiswrapper on the computer so i reinstalled the dirver like i did on 8.04 but nothing happened.

I restarted my computer and used the 2.6.24 kernel and ndiswrapper and the wifi was connected and working. so i install the b43-fwcutter through synaptic so i could use it with 2.6.27.

I noticed in the restricted drivers manual it didn't show b43 in it but "wl" so i downloaded that.

on restart into kernel 2.6.27 it had no affect and so i was forced to go back to 2.6.24 for help on the internet.

I tried completeling uninstalling ndiswrapper to see if that would work and still the card still hasn't been detected but in 2.6.24 wl does work for the card but poorly.

How do i get wifi working on kernel 2.6.27 with ndiswrapper or b43 driver

I used this command
ndiswrapper:
Code:

echo -e '#ssb workaround, added `date`\ninstall ndiswrapper modprobe -r b43 b44 b43legacy ssb; modprobe --ignore-install ndiswrapper $CMDLINE_OPTS; modprobe b44;' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/wl
echo ndiswrapper | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

[PinkFloyd102489]

Dont use ndiswrapper. Use the wl driver that comes with the kernel. Should be able to go into System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers.


After you do so, drop this into /etc/rc.local:

#!/bin/bash
sudo rmmod b44
sudo rmmod ssb
sudo rmmod wl
sudo modprobe wl
sudo modprobe ssb
sudo modprobe b44

Run the commands in the script after activating the wl driver and updating rc.local.

[grogger13]

wl isn't an option in kernel 2.6.27 its only there for 2.6.24 and i had to deactivate and reactivate it on every startup is it worth using wl if i already got ndiswrapper working

[yasha]

I am curious to see the results of this as well, I have a XPS 1710 that I've tried several times to get some linux distro functioning properly on. Previous attempts resulted in the go 7900 GS card turning into a hotplate since the fans would not function with the drivers available and the 4328 broadcom chip/Dell 1500 draft N wlan card not functioning correctly if at all. N was not functional at the time.

Now everything seems to be close to in place, but the proprietary STA wireless driver barely functions. As in it's connection speed is 24mbs, and the actual tray icon lists it's connection as "none", even though it is connected.

[Ayuthia]

I am curious to see the results of this as well, I have a XPS 1710 that I've tried several times to get some linux distro functioning properly on. Previous attempts resulted in the go 7900 GS card turning into a hotplate since the fans would not function with the drivers available and the 4328 broadcom chip/Dell 1500 draft N wlan card not functioning correctly if at all. N was not functional at the time.

Now everything seems to be close to in place, but the proprietary STA wireless driver barely functions. As in it's connection speed is 24mbs, and the actual tray icon lists it's connection as "none", even though it is connected.

Can you post the results of:

lshw -C network
cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist|grep -e b43 -e ssb -e wl -e ndiswrapper
cat /etc/modules|grep -e b43 -e ssb -e wl -e ndiswrapper

Also have you already installed NDISwrapper and the Windows driver?

[euclidsbrother]

I'm kinda having the same issue.. I had installed 8.04 some months on my Dell m1710 with the wireless dranft-n card.. After trying some of the workarounds here. (i think it was the ndiswrapper) i got it working..

I upgraded to 8.10 last nite and now it doesn't recognize my wireless card. I can't remember exactly what I did in the previous version to get it to work..

I'll try the suggestions here and keep an eye on here for any solutions..

Thanks..

[euclidsbrother]

Relevent info from lshw -C network

 *-network               
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0 module=ssb

cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist|grep -e b43 -e ssb -e wl -e ndiswrapper

# replaced by b43 and ssb.

cat /etc/modules|grep -e b43 -e ssb -e wl -e ndiswrapperv

ndiswrapper

It shows up in the Hardware Drivers dialog as having B43 drivers.
It shows up in Network Connections (Wireless) and is configured with my SSID and proper password.

[euclidsbrother]

Got it working.

I removed the b43 driver and then the lshw -C network showed "UNCLAIMED" on that device. Restarted, went to hardware drivers and it offered Broadcom STA driver. Installed that, rebooted again and the wireless manager came up and asked if it could have access to the keyring.. yes.. then it connected right up to my network..

Thanks
-EB

[hboykier]

How did you remove the B43 driver?

[euclidsbrother]

the lshw -C network was showing that the wireless adapter was claimed by B43.

i believe i did: sudo rmmod b43

Then the lshw -C network showed "UNCLAIMED" for the wireless adapter. Then i rebooted and opened up HardWare drivers and the STA driver was listed. Installed, rebooted and it worked.