b43legacy driver missing in Hardy 2.6.24 kernel

[Kyle Brooks]

For some reason the latest kernel included in the alpha 2 release of Hardy is missing the b43legacy wireless driver module. These Broadcom wireless chipsets are very common and the b43 driver does not supersede the b43legacy it supports newer devices, this leaves older chipsets unsupported. This is a very small step to take just change the kernel configuration to compile b43legacy as a module.

[Ricky (ricky485)]

yes, b43 drivers don't work anymore... I tried to install firmware with b43-fwcutter and bcm43xx-fwcutter as it's described in linuxwireless, but it didn't work!

[Kyle Brooks (brookskd)]

Ricky, try installing b43-fwcutter using apt-get install b43-fwcutter using Hardy. You might be in the same boat I am and you chipset is only supported by b43legacy which for some reason is missing from the latest kernel package. I'm making a custom kernel which has the b43legacy driver compiled as a module. Check here to see which one your chipset uses: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#bcm43xx.2Cb43legacy.2Cb43.2Csoftmac.2C...thefullstory

[Ricky (ricky485)]

Kyle, thank you for your reply. I tried installing b43-fwcutter using apt-get, but wireless doesn't work... now I can see my wireless connections, but when it tries to connect it fails to obtain an ip address. I cannot see which module my chipset uses, because link to linuxwireless doesn't work now, I'll try later.

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

Enabled CONFIG_B43LEGACY=m

[gunashekar (gunashekar)]

wireless using b43 does not work still on hardy alpha 3

[bountyx (bountyx)]

Instructions for installing the b43legacy driver in linux can be found at: http://www.bountytech.com/tutorials/tutorials/how-to-install-b43legacy-driver-in-fedora-core-8-linux.html

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

b43legacy is present on all archs for hardy, with linux 2.6.24-5.8 and above.

[ehcpdeveloper (ehcpdeveloper)]

using hardy alpha 4,
my bcm43 wireless worked with:

aptitude install b43-fwcutter

it downloaded and installed necessary files...

my lspci:
bvidinli2@bvidinli-laptop:~/Belgeler/diger$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M56P [Radeon Mobility X1600]
02:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
02:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
02:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
02:06.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
02:06.4 Communication controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 GemCore based SmartCard controller
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5753M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 21)
10:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 01)
bvidinli2@bvidinli-laptop:~/Belgeler/diger$

[Robert Valiant (robert-valiant)]

I hope this comment isn't redundant, but my experience has been that yes -- the b43legacy driver (b43 module) is present, but it doesn't work for me. I have a rev 3 card which does not work with the b43 driver. The b43 module at least causes the interface to be recognized, but it won't associate with an AP. The legacy module loads, but dmesg shows absolutely no activity -- the interface is not recognized at all.

I'm just a dabbler -- I have nothing constructive to contribute. Sorry! :)

[gunashekar (gunashekar)]

b43 driver installs and works since hardy beta on my compaq V6000 laptop.

[gerben (gerben-rotman)]

Can somebody give some links to .deb files we would need to try to get wireless working? Since the upgrade to 8.04 I cannot connect to the internet anymore, so all suggestions involving apt-get and aptitude will not work...

[Stefan (stefan13)]

after installing hardy on my compaq nx9110, hardy could not reboot, but got stuck after restart with a blank screen. Using safe mode showed it gets stuck when it comes to b43legacy. Any ideas how to fix this? I can run hardy now in safe mode, but not boot normally.

[Michael Boratko (boratko)]

Many people are commenting on this saying that their bcm43 card is working, and that's all well and good. If your card is supported by b43 then you should be all set with Hardy. The problem is still that Hardy (even now in release stage) does not recognize and use the b43legacy driver for older cards. This results in older cards, like my "Broadcom BCM4306 (rev 03)" to see AP but not connect to them.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.