[shaji007]

just having a small problem with me broadcom wireless network card
for some reason opensuse installs it however when the wireless card is turned on the light next to it stays orange which basicly means it ain on......um

i can give which model of wireless card it is how will i overcome this broadcom 802.11 b/g WLAN

[RobLinux]

http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/ explains why you may have an issue, Broadcom haven't been too helpful, so reverse engineering had to be employed.

Did you get Online Update to work? Which kernel version do you have? Do a "uname -a" or find it in the system info, that KDE can display.

[shaji007]

Originally Posted by RobLinux

http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/ explains why you may have an issue, Broadcom haven't been too helpful, so reverse engineering had to be employed.

Did you get Online Update to work? Which kernel version do you have? Do a "uname -a" or find it in the system info, that KDE can display.

yea ive done all the online updates nothing left really newayz im on version 2.6.22.12-0.1

im on me linux now tapping away on Quanta+ but neway opensuse has installed the wireless card it says broadcom and everything but why isnt it turned on also no wireless networks are found and im like rite next to the router

[RobLinux]

OK, now I know at least you're up to date. What I'd like is some more info, so I can check up on stuff.

Can you run hwinfo as root, and then copy the relevant network bits into a post? It'll run a while, and then at end you'll see something like

76: None 00.0: 10701 Ethernet
[Created at net.124]
Unique ID: usDW.ndpeucax6V1
Parent ID: rBUF.ubpXFPfrSI6
SysFS ID: /class/net/eth0
SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0
Hardware Class: network interface
Model: "Ethernet network interface"
Driver: "forcedeth"
Driver Modules: "forcedeth"
Device File: eth0
HW Address: 00:1a:a0:5e:ef:34
Link detected: yes
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #22 (Ethernet controller)

To save this info in a file, and have it handy in your Documents directory

# hwinfo >& ~/hwinfo.txt
# me=<your login name>
# chown $me !$
# mv !$ /home/$me/Documents

As for the 'why'? The fundamental reason is that Broadcom did not cooperate by providing documentation for their product, so owners could use their Wireless on Linux. That does not prevent hardware support, it just makes things harder.

Once we know what you got exactly, I'll check in the Bugzilla and see if I find a solution.

[shaji007]

74: None 00.0: 10701 Ethernet
[Created at net.124]
Unique ID: usDW.ndpeucax6V1
Parent ID: rBUF.bYAEq7iXviA
SysFS ID: /class/net/eth0
SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0
Hardware Class: network interface
Model: "Ethernet network interface"
Driver: "forcedeth"
Driver Modules: "forcedeth"
Device File: eth0
HW Address: 00:1b:24:69:dc:02
Link detected: yes
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #34 (Ethernet controller)

75: None 01.0: 10701 Ethernet
[Created at net.124]
Unique ID: L2Ua.ndpeucax6V1
Parent ID: JNkJ.wZtoJ4c7zyA
SysFS ID: /class/net/eth1
SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0
Hardware Class: network interface
Model: "Ethernet network interface"
Driver: "bcm43xx"
Driver Modules: "bcm43xx"
Device File: eth1
HW Address: 00:00:00:1a:73:7c
Link detected: no
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #39 (WLAN controller)

[RobLinux]

How badly do you want this? Looks like you actually have to download some firmware for the card to get it working.
Folk do have it working, sometimes with "glitches", but I'd be reasonably optimistic.


Ubuntu Docs - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi.../bcm43xx/Gutsy

They use a similar kernel, and "The Linux kernel version 2.6.22 included in Ubuntu 7.10 continues to use the bcm43xx driver for Broadcom wireless cards. There have been many improvements in the driver over the last few months resulting in a boost to the default data rate from 11Mbps to 24Mbps. There have also been improvements in range and support has been increased to a greater number of cards.
/!\ The firmware code is still not distributed with Ubuntu and must be downloaded and extracted before bcm43xx will work.

Now the exciting bit...

In Software Management, search for "Broadcom"

You should see "bcm43xx-fwcutter - Tool for extracting firmware from Broadcom WLAN drivers"

bcm43xx-fwcutter can be used to extract firmware from Windows WLAN drivers for Broadcom bcm43xx devices. The firmware is necessary to run such a card under Linux using the bcm43xx driver.

Give it a go from "openSUSE 10.2 Option 1 - Original Driver Procedure " at http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Broadcom_...ion_under_SUSE

Good luck and remember not to blame Linux to the Prof, but say "Is it really right the Manufacturers won't document the hardware", get better marks that way

[shaji007]

ah dont worry i actualy kinda falling in love with linux lol...tho im having problems with finding a decent msn programme lol

wireless i want it really badly...that way i cant spend my time exploring it as much as possible

anyways i will try this now if it dont work i will let you know

[shaji007]

just rememberd lol ive tried all these methods hehe just forgot to tell you tho i wasnt sure what i was doing and if it was the right driver as using its my day off 2moro i will spend all day till i fix this so i will let you know.


wait wait


different driver....lol told you i was doing something i didnt understand might work but hey i was on the right tracks

[RobLinux]

Be methodical and it will actually work!

Trouble with flicking switches and pressing buttons that say "Do not press this!" is later on you don't know what you changed that prevents it ever working.

Is Kopete no good? Saw MSN listed. Don't use that kind of stuff, so can't really make informed comment.

[shaji007]

hmm problem before i did anything i read the whole thing

should i start from the botton where it says to delete the original driver

when i did it before i started from the top didnt really work
when it came to creating a new wireless card tru Yast and naming the module....it wouldnt really do anything

and on the end bit of the page where it says to black list the original card
the last procedure

su -c 'kwrite /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-bus-pci-xxx

doesnt work

i was wondering if that was a typo and im meant to do

su -c 'kwrite /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-bus-pci-xxx'

the page comes up in kwrite but its blank.....and i ain got nothing to swap its just a blank page

if it doesnt work then.....well i ain giving up!!!

[RobLinux]

I don't think removing the driver would do any good.

rob@fir:/etc/sysconfig/hardware> cat $PWD/README.hwcfg_and_device_initialisation

Things have changed completely. Have fun.


FIXME: describe changes


Did I tell you that, newly developed stuff tends to change a lot and sometimes there's no documentation?

Have you had a look in the log files? You may find it best to check just after booting, there may be a clue there.
They're in /var/log. You can use "view +/bcm43xx" on files like boot.msg and messages

http://www.linuxseekers.com/content/view/140/141/ got it working with 10.3 alpha, using the firmware he grabbbed from Ubuntu's repositary, doesn't say for sure your downloaded 1 would be different.

Newer "rewritten" drivers - b43 & b43legacy
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware suggest http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...a-3.130.20.0.o as source of your firmware, someone succeeded with that.

May if there's be you should have a dig in https://bugzilla.novell.com/query.cgi yourself, you can search for Open bugs "broadcom bcm43xx" in product openSUSE 10.3. There's one where the guy gets it to work https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=327549

If you see the kind of info they want, and you think you've done all the right things, create an ID and submit a bug, showing link to the most official instructions for 10.3 that you followed.

[monckywrench]

I quit fighting with poorly supported hardware unless I'm bored.

You may wish to use a supported card instead, saving the Broadcom in hope of future support or just swapping it off to a Windows machine.

[RobLinux]

In this case though, support is arriving; it needs good ppl to beta test it, and discover exactly which cards work and which don't for now.