Broadcom wifi please help [Partially Solved]

[Scarecrow2000]

Anyway, tell me what kernel you are running and I'll roll you an installable deb file (almost like a setup.exe file in Windows) of the broadcom-sta compiled driver. It does require the broadcom-sta-common package also be installed. They'll be the latest versions I've backported, so get the -common package from here: http://main.mepis-deb.org/mepiscr/testr ... adcom-sta/

I'm an incurable tinkerer, so had to patch the driver to get it to compile on the more recent kernels I build, up to 3.19 for the Liquorix kernel currently.

This is what I'm using to create the packages: https://wiki.debian.org/ModuleAssistant

I would appreciate that a LOT. I am going to have another go at this first though, while I'm doing that I'll get the kernel version. I'm going to look at how you create packages too. You probably think I don't know much but it didn't used to be this way, let me tell you in 1994 when I configured our office network to play multiplayer doom, I was the man !! haha

[Scarecrow2000]

Ahem.. stevepusser, Scarecrow2000, are you guys aware of the "--print-uris" option of "apt-get" command? If yes, stevepusser, do you think it can help?

If the information of all the packages required to install the dkms package (or any .deb package that can install the "wl.ko" driver) is already available in apt-cache, the --print-uris command will list the download URIs of all those packages in one go. You can then download them on another computer with internet connection > copy them over to the target computer > install them altogether with 'dpkg -i *' command.

So, I guess what you should try Scarecrow2000 for a test (without harms), is to run this command -

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apt-get install --print-uris broadcom-sta-dkms

..without sudo (not needed, as we are not going to install anything). It will pretend as if is going to install the package, but instead of actually trying to download and install the packages, it will list the download URIs of all the required packages in the last. If this happens successfully, the rest of the process should be super easy to follow (copy packages > install with 'sudo dpkg -i *').

Thanks !! I'm going to try that right now my user account is not a sudoer anyway so i'll just enter them as is. Which is more secure, being a sudoer or using a root terminal and password ?

[v&n]

Which is more secure, being a sudoer or using a root terminal and password ?

Being sudoer of course. Does all that is required to be done as root, ONLY what is required, and when required. No chance of accidental messing up.

[stevepusser]

I'll be interested in seeing if the "--print-uris" command will work on the machine, considering that it's never had a connection. Maybe it has some kind of installed package database from the installer, but I can see where that could go wrong in several ways.

I could see a duplicate of the install, such as in a virtual machine, providing a good list if the actual machine can't.

[v&n]

I'll be interested in seeing if the "--print-uris" command will work on the machine, considering that it's never had a connection.

Indeed. And that's the only factor where this trick severely limits the advantage over other ways. I'm curious to see the result as well.

I could see a duplicate of the install, such as in a virtual machine, providing a good list if the actual machine can't.

Good idea. A bit cumbersome if the OP doesn't already have a connected system with some virtualization software on it, but pretty straightforward in my opinion.

[Scarecrow2000]

I entered the --print-uris command but it said
could not locate broadcom-sta-dkms
It was on my usb stick should I put it somewhere else ?
I noticed before that it said "reading installed packages" ... maybe that command only knows about installed packages ?

I also got my kernel version while I was doing that.
Linux localhost 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.65-1 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[stevepusser]

Yeah, it's probably not going to work, since the apt-database has never been loaded from online. Also, the broadcom-sta packages are in the non-free section of the repositories, disabled by default, so they have to be added to the source URL and the database reloaded before that'll work.

I'll roll the driver deb for the stock 3.2 amd64 kernel, what I'd work on in the meantime is getting wireless-tools and maybe a connection manager installed if necessary. If you want to see how simple this could be, you could try a download of MX-14 (700 MB) and run a live session to see how the wifi works.

[stevepusser]

Here's the driver deb for the amd64 3.2 kernel and the matching broadcom-sta-common deb: https://copy.com/j0emwneqGO1zrUS8

[Absent Minded]

Not that it is needed but I just wanted to say, "Awesome help fellas."

On another note, OP you could plug-in a supported usb or ethernet to get things up and working. It would be a bit easier to get everything instaled. I must say, I am impressed with your die-hard commitment to this. I hope you stick around. Way to many give up when it doesnt go "as planned." Reminds me of my earlie days and the spirit of things that keeps me here supporting Debian, GNU/Linux.

[Scarecrow2000]

HELLO WORLD !!

Steve you are the man !! I continued trying to install the packages but I had more dependency problems, I was going back and forth between my friends computers and mine trying to get them all then I saw your post so I installed your two packages, rebooted and voila my network manager has WIFI in it !!
Thankyou so much for that and thanks to everyone else who offered their help, I think I learned a few things that I had no clue about 2 days ago.

[stevepusser]

Simply wizard!

Could you edit your initial post and add [SOLVED] to the thread title, then?

I used to use module-assistant quite a bit years ago, but hardware support has become better since then. It's still useful in this case, good thing I remembered it.

Though it's also a good idea to install and use the broadcom-sta-dkms package now that you have a connection, that way the driver is automatically rebuilt for any new kernel upgrades or versions you want. If you use the Debian version, make sure to use the matching Debian -common package. The MEPIS version is a newer version from Broadcom, and is patched to build on recent kernels.

[Scarecrow2000]

Simply wizard!

Could you edit your initial post and add [SOLVED] to the thread title, then?

Sure no problem.

I used to use module-assistant quite a bit years ago, but hardware support has become better since then. It's still useful in this case, good thing I remembered it.

Though it's also a good idea to install and use the broadcom-sta-dkms package now that you have a connection, that way the driver is automatically rebuilt for any new kernel upgrades or versions you want. If you use the Debian version, make sure to use the matching Debian -common package. The MEPIS version is a newer version from Broadcom, and is patched to build on recent kernels.

Im glad you remembered it too, it's awesome you know how to do that im totaly impressed, it worked perfectly.
I'm not sure what you mean about installing the broadcom-sta-dkms package though I see the ones from your package in synaptic and theyshow as installed

[GarryRicketson]

I think I learned a few things that I had no clue about 2 days ago.

That is great, I am glad to see you got it working, I have enjoyed this thread, and also learned a lot.
thanks

[Scarecrow2000]

Not that it is needed but I just wanted to say, "Awesome help fellas."

On another note, OP you could plug-in a supported usb or ethernet to get things up and working. It would be a bit easier to get everything instaled. I must say, I am impressed with your die-hard commitment to this. I hope you stick around. Way to many give up when it doesnt go "as planned." Reminds me of my earlie days and the spirit of things that keeps me here supporting Debian, GNU/Linux.

Well, I hate to give up on something once I started it, it feels like defeat lol.
I'm glad I didnt give up, this old Windows laptop has never run so good. No audio glitches anymore, generaly faster, and using about half the ram windows used and gnome is a much nicer desktop.

[GarryRicketson]

this old Windows laptop has never run so good.

Sort of changing the topic, but since it has been solved, anyway, all our laptops, and a desk top I have, had windows on them when I bought them , cheap, because they did not run well, well since I don't know anything much about windows, and never had much interest in trying to learn about it, the first thing I did/do, is take a look at the bios, to make sure that is ok, and know what it can handle, then I install linux, it used to be mint, back when it was mint 10, or xubuntu but now Debian, any way the point is, in all cases, once windows is removed from the computer, and a linux based system installed, the computer runs 90% better or 100% better, ...but any way that is another topic,

[stevepusser]

It's not documented in the Debian wiki, or even mentioned on the forums, but the open-source kernel drivers can be upgraded and new ones added rather easily if you are lucky enough to have a module build environment installed (compilers and kernel-headers).

Go here, download a tarball, extract it, enter the new source folder, open a terminal there, and run

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make defconfig-help

to see a list of possible driver targets to make. Set the target with

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make defconfig-<target>

, such as

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make defconfig-ath9k

then run

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make -jX

where "X"=number of processor cores to devote to the build.

You can compile all drivers by skipping setting the target, but that will take much longer.

after the build finishes, run

su -c 'make install'

to install the drivers. They'll tell you to reboot after the install, but this may not be required.

Also, most drivers, except the ath5k and ath9k, will still need non-free firmware. It's safe to get the latest upstream version debs at packages.debian.org and install them on Debian stable, since the newer drivers often require newer firmware files.

[GarryRicketson]

module build environment installed (compilers and kernel-headers).

Could you explain a little more on this ? Like how one would get a "module build enviroment" installed, IE: what "compilers" are needed, or best ? Hoping it is ok to go into this here, if not we could start a new topic in the programming category, ?
Edited: Never mind, found something pretty good, with a search http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/build-lin ... -tree.html

[stevepusser]

module build environment installed (compilers and kernel-headers).

Could you explain a little more on this ? Like how one would get a "module build enviroment" installed, IE: what "compilers" are needed, or best ? Hoping it is ok to go into this here, if not we could start a new topic in the programming category, ?
Edited: Never mind, found something pretty good, with a search http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/build-lin ... -tree.html

No, you want a Debian-specific method that will use the kernel headers package. The kernel headers packages in Debian and derivatives are actually called "linux-headers", since at one time, Debian had non-Linux kernels such as FreeBSD and other kernels. The easiest method with a Net connection is just to use module-assistant, see the module-assistant link above for "m-a prepare". Many distros (including MX) ship the ISO with a module build environment already installed, just for some situation where a newer driver might be needed to get a connection.

[Scarecrow2000]

I changed the title of this thread from solved to partially solved because my WIFI has been working ..kinda but not properly and I have tried installing different packages but have been unable to fix it to work correctly.
I am currently using the broadcom-sta-dkms package it kinda works, but has a tendancy to get an ipv6 address and not an ipv4 I found by setting the ipv6 settings to ignore in network manager it sometimes gets an ipv4 address. other times it just keeps asking me for the WIFI password even though it already has it stored in network manager and the connection keeps failing.
I tried the other package broadcom-sta-source with broadcom-sta-common but that didnt work at all.
I also find if it doesnt connect properly on boot it wont connect at all and I have to reboot, also if I disconnect the wifi and try to reconnect it usually wont until I reboot. Sometimes if I bring up network options and hit save without changing anything it will connect.
Obviously this is only half working and a real nuisance. I installed a copy of windows on another hardrive to make sure the wireless card and the network is working and it connects properly in windows.

[Scarecrow2000]

hmmm well maybe I'll change it back to solved. I used Synaptic to see which packages were installed and I removed everything related to broadcom and everything relatd to wireless then I installed the broadcom_sta_dkms package and the wireless tools package again and rebooted. Now I seem to have a good connection to the router and to internet, it established an ipv6 address and an ipv4 address at the same time for the first time.