Bug 6111

Summary:	BCM-4311 wireless interface don't work.
Product:	Mageia	Reporter:	Thomas Spuhler <thomas>
Component:	RPM Packages	Assignee:	Thomas Backlund <tmb>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:
Severity:	critical
Priority:	release_blocker	CC:	ennael1, mageia, mageia, tmb
Version:	Cauldron
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	i586
OS:	Linux
See Also:	https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7828
Whiteboard:
Source RPM:	broadcom-wl	CVE:
Status comment:
Attachments:	dmseg.txt

Description Thomas Spuhler 2012-05-27 04:01:34 CEST

Description of problem:
BCM-4311 wireless interface don't work on an older Dell E105 laptop

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
new mga2

How reproducible:
Every time

Steps to Reproduce:
1.open the Network Manager and the system install the required software (dkms, etc)
2.The network manager reports:
3.Unable to find network interface for selected device (using wl driver)

Googling tells we are using the correct driver.

Comment 1 Manuel Hiebel 2012-05-28 12:19:57 CEST

can you attach the output of dmesg, and grep NM_CON /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-$yourcard

Comment 2 Thomas Spuhler 2012-05-28 18:26:57 CEST

Created attachment 2389 [details]
dmseg.txt

Comment 3 Thomas Spuhler 2012-05-28 18:30:29 CEST

grep NM_CON /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan gives nothing nor does .../ifcfg-eth0 and this is connected

Comment 4 Thomas Spuhler 2012-06-09 02:34:39 CEST

did you have a cahnce to look at this?
I would like to donate this laptop, but w/o wi-fi Linux wouldn't look to good.

Comment 5 Thomas Spuhler 2012-06-15 05:39:07 CEST

Ok, I cannot get this working at all. So I tried the b43-cutter as described at http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Installing_wireless_network_cards_using_the_b43_driver

I now can see the wireless network and the Wi-Fi light came on. I still get the message, connection failed.
Unfortunately, the Networkcenter want to reinstall the Mageia drivers (dkms, etc)

Comment 6 Thomas Spuhler 2012-12-22 19:12:49 CET

OK, sorry for wrong information.
Using the b43 driver makes a nice connection. But the system wants to install the wl driver and I end up with an annoying not working interface in Network-Center.

I know Broadcomm recommends the wl driver, but other distros incl. Ubuntu have the same problem.

Priority: Normal => High
Severity: major => critical

Manuel Hiebel 2012-12-22 20:52:33 CET

CC: (none) => mageia, tmb
See Also: (none) => https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7828

Comment 7 Thomas Spuhler 2013-03-13 16:09:53 CET

Still present in mga3 b-3
Maybe in Live too?
TMB provided a private Live CD a while ago using the b43 to test this and the solution worked.
Also some WEB site list the b43 as a much better solution for the Broadcom chips.
the wl driver should not be installed by the system on these chips. It provides a very negative experience.

Priority: High => release_blocker

Comment 8 Thomas Spuhler 2013-03-16 01:50:59 CET

I just found that Live CD ISO and burned a CD.

This CD not only shows the screen while booting, but the Wi-Fi works as well.
It uses the b43 driver and there is no blacklist for the drivers.

Version: 2 => Cauldron

Comment 9 Thomas Spuhler 2013-04-11 00:44:28 CEST

These now works with Live-CD B-4
It still provides two windows on the Dell laptop, one for wi-fi Broadcom and one for w-lan only.
The w-lan works well, if trying to use the Broadcom, the system tries to install
the wl driver and then says cannot find an interface.
This is now a cosmetic issue
On the Compaq box with the broadcom Airforce-one chip, the wi-fi Broadcom windows doesn't even show and the Wi-fi works just fine.
I'll leave this open for now.

Comment 10 Thomas Spuhler 2013-04-22 18:28:00 CEST

I just did a fresh install of the RC on this older Laptop (I use it for testing).

There is no wi-fi interface showing in Network Center, but by installing the b43 and reboot, all is fine.

Should I close this bug report or keep it open for further improvement?
If we don't make anymore changes, we need to add the procedure to the Release/Install notes.

Sander Lepik 2013-04-22 18:38:52 CEST

CC: (none) => sander.lepik
Assignee: bugsquad => tmb

Comment 11 Thomas Backlund 2013-05-04 18:17:14 CEST

There is now new sets of isos to test broadcom wireless configuration

And to make it more fun...
there is now 4 isos so you can test on both i586 & x86_64 and with
both Gnome and KDE4.

NOTE! the isos have "CD" in their name, but most of them are bigger
than 700M so you need a DVD media if you want to burn them,
otherwise I suggest to use a usb stick to boot from, using:

dd if=name_of_iso of=/path/to/usb/stick bs=1M

And to find the isos:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/mageia/people/tmb/mga3-wl-test/
http://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/mageia/people/tmb/mga3-wl-test/
http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/people/tmb/mga3-wl-test/

(and soon on any mirror carrying mageia people/tmb/mga3-wl-test/ tree)

Comment 12 Anne Nicolas 2013-05-05 20:45:32 CEST

Hi reporter, can you please test this iso as soon as possible as we are starting the last week of bug fixing before final release? Thanks for advance

CC: (none) => ennael1

Comment 13 Sander Lepik 2013-05-05 20:56:55 CEST

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.linux.mageia.devel/25148 - marking has fixed.

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => FIXED