| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
secretcorporation
n00b
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 71
Location: USA
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:50 am Post subject: bcm43xx frustration! |
 |
|
I don't think the firmware is loading for my bcm43xx driver (also seem to have the same problem with Avermedia DVB-T card)
from var/log/messages:
Jan 8 13:48:11 dv2100 bcm43xx driver
Jan 8 13:48:11 dv2100 bus pci: add driver bcm43xx
Jan 8 13:48:11 dv2100 ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'CCMP'
Jan 8 13:48:11 dv2100 ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
Jan 8 13:48:11 dv2100 ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'WEP'
Shouldn't I be seeing a messages relating to firmware? I haven't been able to find any documentation pertaining to this problem. when I try to bring the card up with ifconfig wlan0 I get:
dv2100 ~ # ifconfig wlan0't se
wlan0: error fetching interface information: Device not found
How should I go about debugging this? I turned up the logging on udev but I got pages of information but nothing related to the bcm43xx and nothing relating to firmware. I am using 2.6.18-gentoo-r6 SMP kernel.
The kernel has PCI express and firmware loading support, I cannot find a fault with my setup. This is beginning to annoy me so much I am thinking about ditching gentoo and installing SUSE!
_________________
In the land of the free you are only one party away from dictatorship at any time. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
vst:
Not really, sorry. I'll write up some documentation if I get a chance.
secretcorporation:
My guess is that you have a bcm4311 or bcm4312 and you didn't patch to allow PCI-E devices. At the very least, please provide the output of lspci -n | grep 14e4 so we can see what card you're using.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
secretcorporation
n00b
Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 71
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
dv2100 ~ # lspci -n | grep 14e4
01:00.0 0280: 14e4:4311 (rev 01)
When you say patch for PCI-express devices?...............I am using a kernel with PCI-express support. Or do you mean I need to patch the bcm43xx driver source as well?
_________________
In the land of the free you are only one party away from dictatorship at any time. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, you need to patch the bcm43xx driver to support PCI-E devices, see the first post in this thread for details. PCI-E support should be included in the next kernel release, 2.6.20.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pvangarde
n00b
Joined: 18 May 2005
Posts: 71
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I just installed suspend2 sources 2.6.18.1 and followed the directions from the first post. My first attempt to connect to an open unsecure network was successful. However:
1) Pinging a host returns multiple duplicates of packets (DUP!). Why?
2) I am getting 2 bars instead of 5, [s]and have 50% smaller bandwidth[/s]. Is this normal? I guess the correct question is, is there any way to make this work with over 11 mbps?
3) To resolve 1 and 2 I tried bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware .../bcmwl5.sys.
The version of the file is 4.30 and is in the supported list (-i reports it can cut firmware). However, I get an error that I can't install older firmware for a few files. Is this because I've initially installed wl_apsta? I cleaned the directory, unloaded the module and repeated 3. Same result. After reloading the module, I can't bring it up (Operation not permitted).
( What's the support for devicescape on gentoo? )
My main concern is about the duplicates, I shouldn't be getting duplicates. I'll analyze the packets and see what mac address they are coming from... to report soon.
UPDATE: The duplicate packets are identical in nature, the host is really replying 3 times for my every ping request.
| Code: |
native fwcutter (apsta)
--- www.yahoo-ht2.akadns.net ping statistics ---
50 packets transmitted, 48 received, +62 duplicates, 4% packet loss, time 48994$
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 438.555/455.173/528.900/16.775 ms
ndiswrapper with bcmwl5a.inf bcmwl5.sys
--- www.yahoo-ht2.akadns.net ping statistics ---
50 packets transmitted, 46 received, 8% packet loss, time 49084ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 435.860/457.619/632.862/31.405 ms
|
I have a compaq v5000 with this chip:
06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
UPDATE2: dmesg is flooded with this:
| Code: | SoftMAC: Authentication response received from 00:14:7c:b7:79:82 but no queue item exists.
|
The last issue that I have and I am uncertain about its nature. Whenever the wlan card is scanning my synaptics touchpad won't function. dmesg reports
psmouse.c: TouchPad at isa0060/serio4/input0 - driver resynched.
psmouse.c: TouchPad at isa0060/serio4/input0 lost sync at byte 1
Now, I have narrowed this down to the particular driver used by the cutter, the cutter itself or some incompatibility with udev. Changing the kernel doesn't help, I've tried over 5 different ones. Using the lame windows driver to run this actually works and I don't get the mouse error. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 1:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| pvangarde wrote: | | I just installed suspend2 sources 2.6.18.1 and followed the directions from the first post. My first attempt to connect to an open unsecure network was successful. |
Please use a newer kernel, there are many bugfixes in each release.
| Quote: |
1) Pinging a host returns multiple duplicates of packets (DUP!). Why?
|
You have a 4318 card. It's TX strength is very low so the AP never receives the ACK from the card after a transmitted packet (the ping) is received. Until we fix TX strength, there's nothing we can do about this.
| Quote: |
2) I am getting 2 bars instead of 5, [s]and have 50% smaller bandwidth[/s]. Is this normal? I guess the correct question is, is there any way to make this work with over 11 mbps?
|
Not until we fix the TX strength issues.
| Quote: |
3) To resolve 1 and 2 I tried bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware .../bcmwl5.sys.
The version of the file is 4.30 and is in the supported list (-i reports it can cut firmware). However, I get an error that I can't install older firmware for a few files. Is this because I've initially installed wl_apsta? I cleaned the directory, unloaded the module and repeated 3. Same result. After reloading the module, I can't bring it up (Operation not permitted).
|
This won't do anything. The v4 firmware will not work with the SoftMAC version of bcm43xx.
| Quote: |
( What's the support for devicescape on gentoo? )
|
There isn't any really. Use git to clone the wireless-dev branch.
| Quote: |
UPDATE2: dmesg is flooded with this:
| Code: | SoftMAC: Authentication response received from 00:14:7c:b7:79:82 but no queue item exists.
|
|
The AP is trying to figure out why you're not responding (ACK signal strength too low). Not much you can do about it.
| Quote: |
The last issue that I have and I am uncertain about its nature. Whenever the wlan card is scanning my synaptics touchpad won't function. dmesg reports
psmouse.c: TouchPad at isa0060/serio4/input0 - driver resynched.
psmouse.c: TouchPad at isa0060/serio4/input0 lost sync at byte 1
|
Use a newer kernel.
| Quote: |
Now, I have narrowed this down to the particular driver used by the cutter, the cutter itself or some incompatibility with udev. Changing the kernel doesn't help, I've tried over 5 different ones. Using the lame windows driver to run this actually works and I don't get the mouse error.
|
NDISWrapper's performance really doesn't reflect at all on bcm43xx. They are completely different drivers with completely different code.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pvangarde
n00b
Joined: 18 May 2005
Posts: 71
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Thank you, this answers all of my questions. I'm looking forward to seeing a native driver that runs airforce on full power! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
psihodelia
n00b
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 15
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject: Config required |
|
|
Jose,
can you please give me your .config where all things work good?
I have iBook G4 and bcm 4306 and I have no good wireless connection with any kernel with any dhcpcd.
Actually, I get connection after /etc/init.d/net.eth1 start but dhcpcd do not get anything if WEP used. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
psihodelia:
I use the configuration in the first post. Which kernel are you using? Have you tried a different dhcp client? There are issues with dhcpcd (try the ~ppc version instead).
As an update for other posters, Larry has fixed both the 1G memory limit issue and 4311/4312 TX DMA issues with his latest patches. Hopefully they'll make it in for 2.6.20, but if not, definitely for 2.6.20.1. One large remaining issue is the 431x TX power issues, which are currently being worked on in mb's tree. These fixes will not make it in for 2.6.20 (since they're invasive and not finished yet), but if things go well, we might have it working for 2.6.21.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
IvanMajhen
Guru
Joined: 10 Jun 2006
Posts: 392
Location: Croatia
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Any progress on TX power? Did you already find any hidden registers that will switch 4318 to full power?
Will you provide patch for 2.6.20 if doesn't make it into vannila? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I do not implement any bcm43xx kernel code because I am tainted (I do the reverse engineering), though I expect that once the specs are complete and the code is working, it will be readily available.
There are no "hidden registers". It's a matter of correctly interpreting the procedure performed by the Local Oscillator calibration and ensuring that the hardware power calibration works correctly. This component is the most complicated part of the bcm43xx driver and as such is a pain to work on, doubly so for me as I'm working from decompiled MIPS/x86/ppc drivers.
I know it's a pain, but please be patient, there's not much I can do to make the process go faster.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Xamindar
Veteran
Joined: 03 Oct 2004
Posts: 1155
Location: California
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Does it support pci-e in the 2.6.19 kernel like they talked about? I used bcm43xx-fwcutter and got the firmware put in /lib/firmware but when I modprobe the module all I have in dmesg is:
Nothing else. What is wrong? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Growlizing
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 94
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Just wanted to drop by and say:
FANTASTIC WORK GUYS 
Thanks. Really.
_________________
Is this where I write something clever? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ONEEYEMAN
Advocate
Joined: 01 Mar 2005
Posts: 3610
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
Hi, ALL,
Just wanted to let everybody know that if you want the driver to work, you can patch it yourself.
I just patched my 2.6.18 gentoo-sources latest stable, and I can associate with AP. (my own).
This is after applying this patch and this patch:
JoseJX, is it possible to put this in the 2.6.19 gentoo-sources?
Thank you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
No, it'll be included with 2.6.20, so there's no reason to put it in Gentoo sources. 2.6.20 should be out in a week or so, Gentoo-sources shortly thereafter.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ONEEYEMAN
Advocate
Joined: 01 Mar 2005
Posts: 3610
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, but I thought that the first kernel that will become stable will be 2.6.19 series and then 2.6.20.
Thank you. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kaydara
n00b
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 28
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
my card is working but i have a strange problem...
| Code: |
localhost kay # iwlist eth1 scan
eth1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:60:B3:E2:62:0B
ESSID:"ap00300A452555"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Channel:11
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=95/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-73 dBm
Extra: Last beacon: 60ms ago
|
| Code: |
localhost kay # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:"ap00300A452555" Nickname:"Broadcom 4318"
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:60:B3:E2:62:0B
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Tx-Power=19 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Link Quality=81/100 Signal level=-40 dBm Noise level=-73 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
|
is this normal, iwconfig and iwlist have different values in Quality ??
the problem is if i go 5m from the router the iwlist show me a Quality 90 Signal, and the iwconfig a 30 Quality signal... have tryed with another pc ( windows ), dont really know where the problem is, if anyone can help me out, i say tanks  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
ONEEYEMAN:
I don't think there's a reason to integrate them if the source already is available in 2.6.20. I do not want to maintain a backport of the patches. Just use the latest kernel instead, what's the problem? :p
Kaydara:
Which kernel? I wouldn't worry about it too much though, those values are both pretty close. Unless you got both of those results at exactly the same time, they're constantly changing.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kaydara
n00b
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 28
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jose, is i take them at the same time, and if i walk away from the AP these values get a lot different like 5m from the AP iwlist => Q: 90 ; iwconfig => Q: 40 ...
the kernel is => 2.6.18-gentoo-r5 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
superuser
Apprentice
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Posts: 166
Location: Colorado, Colorado Springs
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi! 
I have been using ndiswrapper for as long as whole year now and I'm totally fed up with it!
My Broadcom chip is | Code: | lspci -n | grep 14e4:43
02:04.0 0280: 14e4:4318 (rev 02) |
I tried the bmw43xx drivers quite a while ago - but back then the connection was rather bad with a lot of interruptions. I hear things have changed since then and as I read the original post support for bmw4318 is intensely worked on. How do they have progressed since then?
*Thanks* ... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
kaydara:
I'm not sure what you want me to do about it?
superuser:
Many crash bugs and lockup issues have been fixed, but the main issue (TX Power levels) hasn't been fixed yet.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kaydara
n00b
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 28
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 11:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jose, i dont want you to do nothing, but with that information maybe you known any problem or smth.
thkx for your time |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
superuser
Apprentice
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Posts: 166
Location: Colorado, Colorado Springs
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
JoseJX,
could you please give some more details? What does that TX power level issue mean to the driver's usability? Would you already recommend bcm43xx over ndiswrapper for bcm4318-chipped cards?
Thx
superuser |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JoseJX
Retired Dev
Joined: 28 Apr 2002
Posts: 2774
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 4:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
kaydara:
No, I don't see any problem. Most likely one is simply updated more often than the other, resulting in inaccurate values. I wouldn't worry about it.
superuser:
I can't use ndiswrapper since I have a PowerPC based system. For me, the driver works well enough. However, your needs may differ from mine. If your AP is sensitive enough to pick up the lower TX power levels or you are close enough to the AP, then there isn't a problem. If not, the signal loss results in extremely poor performance. You could simply try both and see which better suits your needs, I can't tell you that.
_________________
Gentoo PPC FAQ: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-ppc-faq.xml |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Gentoo on PPC
