Wireless Broadcom Driver not working

[nullstone]

Hello Gentoo community! First of all I want to tell you that you have all my respects for this free amazing community!
I'm new in Gentoo world, but I want to learn a lot on this part.

Ok, now my problem, which just damned my brain.
I install Calculate Linux on my laptop, but wireless doesn't work.
I tried everything from this; http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Wifi
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Gentoo
I've searched for help on Calculate Linux forums, but no success.

A result after lscpi | grep -i network:

[Logicien]

Hi,
you are on the good way I think. No in Linux kernel tree Broadcom drivers support your BCM43227 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4358] card. According to http://wireless.kernel.org/, b43, b43legacy, brcmsmac and brcmfmac does not support it.

So, you compile the net-wireless/broadcom-sta package who add the wl module to your running kernel modules. wl should be available now to use. But emerge show that broadcom-sta complain about some options who are activated in the Linux kernel that can cause problems to the wl module.

You have to disable the b43 (B43), ssb (SSB), mac80211 (MAC80211) support and set the PREEMPT_RCU option to something else than "Preemptible Kernel" in the kernel configuration. Than recompile the kernel and reboot. Reinstall the broadcom-sta package after that to see if there's no complain.

You can try to use the wl module without reconfigure and recompile the kernel, but I would do it anyway. Be sure only one Broadcom kernel module driver is load at a time between wl, b43, b43legacy and brcmsmac.

Execute the

[nullstone]

Thanks for the answer.
I disabled I think the MAC80211 from Kernel Configuration, from Devices Driver -> Wireless (something like that), but I don't find the others.

here is the lsmod result, I wish it could be useful:

[Logicien]

The Broadcom wireless kernel support is at Devices drivers/Network devices support/Wireless LAN/. There you can disable everything. The proprietary Broadcom kernel module wl dont need that.

You can make a search in the kernel tree if you type the / character. Than you can use a keyword and press Enter. Everything who match will be displayed with a path to the option.

I do not see any Broadcom module with lsmod. They can be compiled in the kernel, or in modules and not loaded, or not compiled at all. Normally the kernel load the appropriate module who should be wl for your card.
_________________
Paul

[nullstone]

I disabled MAC80211 from kernel configuration, but after a boot up if the ethernet cable is plugged in, the screen is stucked... then, I must to re-enable it.
I didn't understand very well what you said in ^ post. With which command can I search for a module in the kernel?
_________________
Data eater!

[Logicien]

When you are in the Linux kernel menu configuration, if you press the slash (/) character, than a search dialog box will appear. You can enter a keyword to find kernel options in the menu related to that keyword. Than the result in displayed in a window who list all kernel options related with the keyword. You have the path to the options in the Linux kernel menu configuration and other informations.
_________________
Paul

[nullstone]

So, I have to disable each one? Because the MAC*, if is disabled, when I plug the Ethernet Cable, the screen got stucked.
_________________
Data eater!

[Logicien]

It's look like you have an other problem to resolv than the wireless support. Did you install the linux-firmware package? Some nic's need the firmwares of this package to work properly.
_________________
Paul

[nullstone]

[nullstone]

Any another suggestions?
_________________
Data eater!

[HerrSchafer]

Hi! I also have a BROADCOM wireless hardware. In this thread the community has helped me. After that, I intalled WICD and all things works fine; see the part of kernel config, it may help you.
_________________
“Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light.”
― John Milton

[nullstone]

^ thanks for the answer.
I've read the topic.. but I didn't understand too good how you solve it... after you modified the kernel configuration?
Thanks again.
_________________
Data eater!

[HerrSchafer]

[nullstone]

Ahrm.. I emerged wcid, then I /etc/init.d/wcid start-it, it's ok... but the wireless networks still don't appear.
_________________
Data eater!

[Logicien]

Wicd, NetworkManager and other network tools like them manage the Internet connectivity and TCP/IP protocols configuration. They do not manage the hardware detection and support. They are userspace tools. The hardware detection and support is done by the Linux kernel.

nullstone, I told you in my first post, unless something I miss, your Broadcom wireless card [14e4:4358] is not supported by any native Linux kernel driver. I haven't found any reference to [14e4:4358] at http://linuxwireless.org/ . You have to use the broadcom-sta package from Portage that provide the wl module.
_________________
Paul

[nullstone]

I've tried again to emerge the broadcom-sta, but the same errors, such as:

[Logicien]

It may be just a warning with consequences only if one or more of the b43, ssb and mac80211 modules are loaded during the wl module try to load. The same problem can arrive if their support are in the kernel image itself.

Obviously, if you disable completely B43, SSB and MAC80211 in the kernel they will not be in the kernel image and in modules. So, that way, no problem can arrive. For sure they must not be in the kernel image, but, you can keep them as modules if you blacklist them to prevent their load.

Blacklist modules do not prevent them for being loaded all the time. I would prefer in the presence of the b43, ssb and mac80211 modules to create or edit the file /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf with the lines

[raddaqii]

This thread is old, but I had solved this ages ago, and work happily with an Acer Travelmate 8573T and the BCM43227. I see the confusion around
CONFIG_MAC80211 which is rarely needed for consumer grade devices once in a while, so thought I'd share.

You have this:

[khayyam]

[raddaqii]

khayyam, thanks for clarifying. Indeed I had that mixed up.