BCM4313 wl driver 6.20.155.1 not working in raring, but 5.100.82.112 does

[Phil Norbeck]

For whatever reason the version of the wl driver supplied in raring (6.20.155.1) does not work correctly with the 3.8 linux kernel. The signal is extremely weak at best (if I'm very close to the router). At worst I cannot connect to the AP at all. I took the version from quantal (5.100.82.112) and installed it. My signal strength is maxed out and the web is now blazingly fast again. It is my belief that the raring driver does not cooperate properly with the 3.8 kernel and needs to be looked at.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch)
Release: 13.04
Codename: raring
3.8.0-14-generic (3.8.0-14.24) x86_64

driver that works: bcmwl-kernel-source_5.100.82.112+bdcom-0ubuntu3
driver that doesn't: bcmwl-kernel-source_6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu6

                description: Wireless interface
                product: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
                vendor: Broadcom Corporation
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
                logical name: eth1
                version: 01
                serial: 70:f1:a1:e3:94:07
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.100.82.112 ip=hidden latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
                resources: irq:17 memory:f0500000-f0503fff

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Robert Bamler (robamler)]

Same here. The card used to work in Quantal. After updating to Raring, it still saw my home wifi network but wasn't able to connect. So I manually downloaded (on a different machine) "bcmwl-kernel-source_5.100.82.112+bdcom-0ubuntu3_amd64.deb" from
http://packages.ubuntu.com/quantal/amd64/bcmwl-kernel-source/download
and installed it with "sudo dpkg -i". dpkg warned me that I was replacing an existing package with an outdated version but went on with it. After a reboot (not sure if that was really necessary), the wifi seems to work just fine.

My machine is an Acer Aspire one 722-C6Cbb laptop. The wireless card, according to the "additional drivers" tab in update-manager is "Broadcom Corporation: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller"

Please let me know if there's any further information that I should provide.

[Urop (urop)]

I have a Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller. The Broadcom Linux STA drivers were working fine under Quantal.

After upgrading to Raring my machine went straight into kernel panic. On further investigation, I can avoid kernel panic on boot if I first disable wireless\wireless networking. My machine will go into kernel panic if I turn on the wireless with the the 3.8.0-19 kernel under Raring however. If I boot Raring, but use the old 3.5.0 kernel, the machine doesn't go into kernel panic, but wireless doesn't work properly. Keeps dropping the connection, sometimes the connection is very week, occasionally it just works fine for a while. If I uninstall the broadcom drivers via "Software & Updates" then I don't get any kernel panic with either kernel - but I don't have any wireless either...

[Urop (urop)]

I made sure my system was purged of all STA stuff

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source

and then tried to install again with the latest kernel (3.8.0-21-generic x86_64) via

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

My system didn't go into kernel panic on boot this time, but it still crashed on login. After purging the STA drivers, I decided to try the brcmsmac ones. They don't work properly. This signal strength is stuck at a very low level when I'm sat a meter from the router. So I purged them too.

So, I tried to compile from source. I downloaded the STA source (64bit) from http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

I tried following the compilation instructions in the readme provided, but I encountered a few problems which I was able to resolve. First one: I got "fatal error: asm/system.h: No such file or directory". I was able to correct this by changing

#include <asm/system.h>

to

#if LINUX_VERSION_CODE < KERNEL_VERSION(3, 4, 0)
#include <asm/system.h>
#endif

in src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c (following https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers/+bug/993506/comments/6)

Second one: error: unknown field ‘ndo_set_multicast_list’ specified in initialiser. I was able to correct this by changing

.ndo_set_multicast_list = wl_set_multicast_list,

to

.ndo_set_rx_mode = wl_set_multicast_list,

in src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c (following http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/compiling-broadcom-driver-947294/#post4689850). The compilation was then successful. I am still getting "WARNING: modpost: missing MODULE_LICENSE() in /home/laputopu/Downloads/hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_112/wl.o", but it doesn't seem to matter. Finally, I had to do

sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_tkip

before doing

sudo insmod wl.ko

and finally I have wireless back. I've attached a patch for the changes to wl_linux.c. I hope that helps someone else.

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

I upgraded my perfectly-working netbook from Quantal to Raring and now wifi doesn't work at all. This bug has been filed and confirmed for months. Importance? "Undecided." Ridiculous. This is absolutely CRITICAL. Ubuntu has become completely unreliable.

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

Poru, if you install the 5.100.82.112 package from Quantal, it will work on Raring directly, and you won't have to build the drivers yourself.

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

This regression was caused by bug 923809. It may be tracked in bug 1154219.

[Urop (urop)]

Thanks Adam. I can confirm that installing the raring package as per Robert Balmers comment #3 works. (My original intention was to try building the v6 driver from source... but I couldn't find it on the broadcom website.)

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

Poru,

I don't know which card you have (I have BCM4313), but there's a good chance you can uninstall bcmwl altogether and use the in-kernel brcmsmac driver. I recommend trying it. If it doesn't work, just reinstall the bcmwl package from Quantal.

[Urop (urop)]

Hi Adam. According to lspci, I've got a "Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)." When I had problems with the v6 bcmwl drivers, one of the first things I tried was the brcmsmac ones to see if there had been an improvement since the last time I tried a few years ago. Unfortunately, the brcmsmac driver was unusable. The signal was showing as extremely weak, even when I was stood right next to the wireless router, and even then the connection was regularly cutting out. The bcmwl v5 drivers that come with Quantal work pretty much perfectly so I'll stick with those. I followed the instructions on ask ubuntu here

http://askubuntu.com/questions/286734/how-to-downgrade-broadcom-wireless-drivers-bcmwl-kernel-source

and have placed

Package: bcmwl-kernel-source
Pin: version 5.100.82.112+bdcom*
Pin-Priority: 1001

within

/etc/apt/preferences.d/bcmwl-kernel-source

to ensure that ubuntu doesn't keep trying to upgrade them back to v6. I think this is what Ubuntu should be doing as a matter of course for all people with 'older' wireless cards that don't work with the newer broadcom drivers.

[Adam Porter (alphapapa)]

Hi Poru,

That's interesting, because the brcmsmac driver works perfectly for
me, and I have exactly the same network controller you have. What
system is it running on? Mine is an Acer Aspire One AO722. I wonder
if there's more to these problems than just the card itself.

[Urop (urop)]

Hi Adam. Sorry for the delay. I've got an hp dm1-4020sa. Here are the specs:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03069141

and here is the lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Complex
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320]
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6250/6310]
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Port
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:15.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
00:16.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0 (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

The bluetooth and wireless are in someway integrated. With the bcmwl drivers, if I turn bluetooth off, my wireless is also switched off.