2.02 and Broadcom wireless- pulling out my hair

[Hogi]

OK, the first three night spent trying to get wireless to work were still under the classification of fun, but now its wearing off, so I thought I would actually ask:

I'm running puppy 2.02 regression (for support of my internal (not PCMIA) wirless card. I downloaded and installed (I think) bcm43xx-softmac, and unzipped it.
I don't know, and don't understand how to find out, whether or not my firmware suits my adapter. But, in case it did not, I tried "/root/my-applications/bin/bcm43xx-fwcutter MYWINDOWSDRIVERFILE #"

message, "cannot find MYWINDOWSDRIVERFILE"

I understand that I have the syntax wrong. I'm guessing MYWINDOWSDRIVERFILE is a file somewhere in the XP side of my computer, but I couldn't say which.

When I type "modprobe bcm43xx" in the terminal, nothing happens. No error message, but no confirmation that it worked.

I tried to run wag, but it says

"no module loaded
dhcpcd not running
wifi-beta not installed

Could not find interface in /proc/net.wireless
ap test failure
error when scanning"

Basically, my computer is flipping me off!

But, I really want to run pupppy. My hardware:

Compaq V5207NR laptop
Some sort of broadcom wireless card (not a PCMIA)
Running puppy2.02 regression
Belkin wireless router (works well with XP)

I think my problem is an inability to inderstand when I RTFM.
Suggestions, at least, other than giving up?

[Hogi]

Oh, PS, I have a problem with gxine 0.4.6
Volume, even turned all the way up, is very quiet. I have an external volume button, but it does nothing. Anybody know?
Thanks in advance.

[tempestuous]

I downloaded and installed (I think) bcm43xx-softmac, and unzipped it.

bcm43xx-softmac.pup does not need to be unzipped. It's a dotpup which just installs when you click it in ROX.

I'm guessing MYWINDOWSDRIVERFILE is a file somewhere in the XP side of my computer

Yes, it will be one of the Windows driver files, problably ".sys" but don't bother with extracting your own firmware yet. The standard Broadcom firmware in the dotpup should be fine.

When I type "modprobe bcm43xx" in the terminal, nothing happens.

Good. No error message probably means the module loaded OK.
There is one more important command to run before you can use WAG -

ifconfig eth0 up (or eth1, depending on whether an ethernet adaptor has taken the eth0 interface).

If WAG does not work, I suggest you continue setting up the device manually, referring to /root/my/applications/bcm43xx-softmac_README.txt
The bcm43xx driver seems to require a few extra parameters in the iwconfig command, like "rate" "channel"

[Hogi]

Alright, I've tried the suggestions, I think I may be doing them incorrectly. Here is what happens:

First, I have figured out that I have a bcm4311 chipset, and I have found my driver , BCMWL5.sys in windows.

Anyways, I type into a teminal:

modprobe bcm43xx
ifconfig eth0 up
When I enter the iwconfig commant, I get an error. So, I typed in just iwconfig to see what was available.

iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions
eth0 no wireless extensions

I also tried setting up eth1, no sucess.
After typing

modprobe bcm43xx
ifconfig eth0 up

WAG would still not work, also tried using eth1, WAG still not working.
However, Wag now recognizes that I have a card, and it is 'responding.'
But it tells me the module is not loaded.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for any suggestions in advance...

[Hogi]

Alright, its time for round 12, me VS broadcom 4311 wireless chip
I've now invested about 13 hours or more trying to get my wifi card to work.
I've RTMed, and followed instrutions, and have allowed myself to become frustrated. so, I will start from the top:

Goal: to make my Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN work It is a bsm4311 chipset. Its windows driver, which I have as a saved file, is BCMWL5.sys. The card is one that came installed on my now two month old Compaq laptop.

After initial attempts to get it working in puppy 2.02, I have tried the 2.02 regression. I dowloaded the wifi-beta.pup, and installed it, and have followed the instructions in the readme file for bcm43xx.

The main problem (I think) is this:
1. The module will not load.
2. my ethernet card is already using eth0. When I type "ifconfig eth1 up" I get "SIOCGFFLAGS: No such device"

3. If I open a terminal, and type iwconfig, to find wireless devices, as suggested in the wiki, I get
"lo no wireless extensions

eth0 no wireless extensions"

Sorry for the repeat post, I thought I should be a little more specific.

[BlackAdder]

It seems likely that your wireless adapter is a Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN MiniCard (Dell Inspiron E1505, Dell Latitude D620, Dell Inspiron 640m, Dell Inspiron E1405) so I suggest that you try the following:
Remove the bcmwl5 driver from ndiswrapper

Code: Select all

ndiswrapper -e bcmwl5

Install the driver from your CD or Windows. The driver may be inside an .exe file on the CD. What you need is the bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys files. You should be able to dig those out of Windows, or there is advice in the ndiswrapper wiki on how to extract drivers from a .exe.

Code: Select all

ndiswrapper -i /where/those/files/are

It must be the .inf file that you point to and the .sys file must be in the same directory.
Make sure that the driver has installed properly.

Code: Select all

ndiswrapper -l

It should show both driver and hardware present
Now you can try a modprobe etc.

Why? Well Dell seem to enjoy changing the product id. for their adpaters, even though the chipset is the same as for other adapters. The vendor and product id. for the 4311 is 14e4:4311, which the standard driver does not recognise.

Hope that will help with the hair loss.

[marksouth2000]

How much is your hair worth? The last Prism 2.5 card I bought cost USD15. New. In a box. On the high street.

You can get them on ebay for about $5 or $10 easily. They take 2 minutes to set up using WAG or whatever.

Messing with Broadcom chips is a waste of time unless you have a 2.6.18 kernel and the full set of firmware.

[tempestuous]

I dowloaded the wifi-beta.pup, and installed it, and have followed the instructions in the readme file for bcm43xx.

bcm43xx-softmac_README.txt relates to bcm43xx-softmac.pup, not wifi-1.0.4-beta-2.pup.