b43 no wireless extensions

deltamalloc · Apprentice Joined: 18 Jan 2013 Posts: 279

I have a b43 compatible wireless network adapter in an old laptop. I have downloaded the drivers, used fwcutter to extract them following the guide at http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
dmesg shows that the driver loads, and that the firmware loads. I get an interface wlan0, however it states no wireless extensions.

I checked the BIOS, and the wireless card was actually turned off, but turning it on again didn't do anything. Still "no wireless extensions". I find it strange though that I get identical results, even though the BIOS has "disabled" the adapter, shouldn't that make the adapter invisible to the system?

Anyway, I tried ifconfig wlan0 up and down, I tried hitting the fn+f2 key on the keyboard to turn the device on and off. Nothing. I get no warnings, no infor, no errors in dmesg or at the console. Just that it has no wireless extensions, iwlist wlan0 scan states that the interface doesn't support scanning.

I know this hardware works though, because it was up and running some time ago with Ubuntu.

Installing wpa_supplicant seems futile, if the interface doesn't even support wireless extensions then wpa_supplicant cannot possibly work. I want to first make it possible to use with iwlist and iwconfig, then do wpa_supplicant.

This is kernel 3.8.13, 32-bit.

666threesixes666 · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:03 pm Post subject:

compile in "wext" to your kernel....

mkultra@mksrv [ ~ ]$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep WEXT
CONFIG_WEXT_CORE=y
CONFIG_WEXT_PROC=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

good luck

ive been tinkering with the idea of making a wiki page for broadcom wifi devices, however i only know b43 and did not have much luck with the other 2 modules.

deltamalloc · Apprentice Joined: 18 Jan 2013 Posts: 279

deltamalloc · Apprentice Joined: 18 Jan 2013 Posts: 279

All I have is:

grep WEXT .config
# CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT is not set

But that is under "network testing" and surely is not related?

666threesixes666 · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:21 pm Post subject:

mkultra@mksrv [ ~ ]$ uname -a
Linux mksrv 3.9.8 #1 SMP Fri Jul 5 02:16:22 EDT 2013 x86_64 AMD Phenom(tm) 9950 Quad-Core Processor AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

mkultra@mksrv [ ~ ]$ cat /boot/config-3.4.47 | grep WEXT
CONFIG_WEXT_CORE=y
CONFIG_WEXT_PROC=y
CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

maybe the configs show up once you mark CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y & depend upon that?

deltamalloc · Apprentice Joined: 18 Jan 2013 Posts: 279

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT is sufficient. Thanks.

The comments in the .config file are misleading.

Gusar · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject:

What is misleading about

666threesixes666 · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:30 pm Post subject:

"old" (-Dwext) and "new" (-Dnl80211)..... and that means?

nl80211 afaik does not work on my box, and wext works great.

Gusar · Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:42 am Post subject:

666threesixes666 · Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:10 pm Post subject:

i have ath5k ath9k_htc prism54g b43 & rtl8187l im set for many situations, and could sweep my b43 problems under the rug for a very long time. ath5k is desktop, b43 is laptop, rest are interchangeable usb.

see post no. 2 of this thread gusar. im not sure i could make this any clearer.

Gusar · Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:28 pm Post subject:

b43, the ath drivers and rtl8187 use netlink. For prism54, there's a deprecated wext driver for pci/cardbus cards in the kernel. Then there's p54pci and p54usb, which are netlink.

No need for a condescending tone, I know a lot about wireless drivers, more than you it seems. None of the drivers you use are wext drivers. They only work with -Dwext and wireless_tools (iwconfig) because CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT is a compatibility layer in netlink.

666threesixes666 · Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:54 pm Post subject:

well your right post number 1 should not need wext, but requests iwconfig. k then resolve post no. 8 plz. "I know more than you" GOOD, POST.

im networkmanager, and would like to dump wext, where does nl80211 pick up where wext left off? what kernel options need set? have you thought about posting this to the wiki, set it in stone to keep this kind of thread off the forums, or down to 1 post pointing at the wiki links?