Broadcom BCM4312 will not work [solved]

[chrispop99]

Just by the way: You need to get rid of the habit of using the root account: root@Vostro ...

The OP was installing something that required root privileges, and that is one way of doing that.

Chris

[Huckleberry Finn]

that required root privileges, and that is one way of doing that.

Yes, of course, but what about

user@Vostro1500:~sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi

rather than

root@Vostro1500:~# apt install firmware-iwlwifi ?

[chrispop99]

that required root privileges, and that is one way of doing that.

Yes, of course, but what about

user@Vostro1500:~sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi

rather than

root@Vostro1500:~# apt install firmware-iwlwifi ?

Each to their own. I don't use sudo; for some reason I associate it with Ubuntu. ;-)

Chris

[Huckleberry Finn]

Joerg, you already installed the firmware, so you can try these:

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi ; sudo modprobe iwlwifi

If not again, you can try a more recent kernel in MX Package Installer (say 5.6)

If not again:

Code: Select all

echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1 swcrypto=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

Reboot.

(Also uncheck Bluetooth from Session and Startup => Application Autostart tab to make it sure it doesn't conflict)

[az2020]

I'd like to mention this in case the OP isn't aware of this option: You can replace that Broadcom wifi card (inside the laptop) with a better, perhaps more Linux-friendly card. I have some old laptops with cards that are problematic to Linux. I've replaced them all. It's a cheap upgrade. Maybe $20 USD to go up from single-band wireless N to dual-band. Or, up to wireless-AC. This post suggests you can go up to wireless-AX. You'd have to research it yourself. Some laptop makers "whitelist" their allowed wifi cards. But, even then you can usually upgrade to at least something slightly better. Sometimes it depends upon the serial number (which version of the laptop it is, which cpu it uses). So, it can take some effort to figure out what will work.

PS: The part of that post talking about the antenna wires being too short. I cut mine near the card, soldered a 1" length of 22ga wire, heatshrinked it. Seems to work fine. Much easier than taking the screen apart to replace antennas, or or whatever that post talks about.

Apologies if you already knew about this. It was a huge boon to me when I learned about it. I had no idea laptop wifi could be upgraded. It thought it was soldered on. Getting rid of some of those problematic cards (requiring me to use an RJ45 connection to get to a point I can install 3rd party drivers) was great.

[EDIT: Oops. That post I linked to is Vostro-1700. This thread talks about the 1500. I haven't read it. Just an example of how you will find info out there if you search. It appears to be upgradeable.]

[kc1di]

The Broadcom BCM4312 uses the Broadcom-sta-driver and should work well with it installed. I had one I used for many years and it work quite well. It true it's only single band but was solid.
If you don't want to change make sure that broadcome-sta-dkms is installed. Other wise a usb wifi dongle would be easy also. Good Luck.

[Huckleberry Finn]

In fact, this needed to be a separate/new thread. It began with Broadcom and turned into an Intel thread from post #28-30 ...

[Joerg]

Dolphin, I do not know what an AHS iso is but also don't want to re-install everything. It can open a can of worms and it's my wife's laptop.

modprobe won't work, even when I turn the WiFi card off via a hardware switch that this laptop has:

joerg@Vostro1500:~
$ sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi ; sudo modprobe iwlwifi
modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use.

kc1di, the BCM4312 would not work at all whatever I tried, including the STA-driver.

Huckleberry, yes, maybe I open a new thread if this card remains recalcitrant in Linux. I had obtained it after the obviously not Linux friendly Broadcom card didn't work and Intel was recommended as morr Linux friedly. Now that one doesn't work either.

As for being in root mode that has a reason. Often when I do stuff non-root I receive warnings that this should be done as root, such as here:

joerg@Vostro1500:~
$ lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 00
serial: 66:f3:e8:1e:35:b7
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=4.19.0-6-amd64 firmware=8.83.5.1 build 33692 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:26 memory:fe8fe000-fe8fffff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
vendor: Broadcom Limited
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:1d:09:d1:5b:79
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=10.0.0.181 latency=64 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:17 memory:fe5fe000-fe5fffff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.

Here is the next kicker. Today the command line shows my and other WiFi networks with excellent signal strength but MX Linux will not access any:

joerg@Vostro1500:~
$ nmcli dev wifi
IN-USE SSID MODE CHAN RATE SIGNAL BARS SECURITY
-- Infra 11 195 Mbit/s 99 ▂▄▆█ --
Office Infra 11 195 Mbit/s 97 ▂▄▆█ WPA2
xfinitywifi Infra 11 195 Mbit/s 85 ▂▄▆█ --
Office Infra 3 405 Mbit/s 84 ▂▄▆█ WPA1 WPA2
xfinitywifi Infra 161 405 Mbit/s 59 ▂▄▆_ --
XFINITY Infra 161 405 Mbit/s 59 ▂▄▆_ WPA2 802.1X
Office Infra 161 405 Mbit/s 57 ▂▄▆_ WPA2
Dean's Wi-Fi Network Infra 6 195 Mbit/s 22 ▂___ WPA2
NETGEAR21 Infra 6 104 Mbit/s 17 ▂___ WPA2

When I unplug the Ethernet and use Firefox it will not offer any WiFi. What gives?

[Huckleberry Finn]

I was going to write it in fact but I thought you'd guess.. That's normal: .. Module iwlwifi is "in use"

So that needs to be done when booted with the device is off / unmounted / not in use ...

And:

lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.

Remedy:

sudo lshw -C network

(Just like you have to sudo modprobe but not directly modprobe )
_________________________________________

Conclusion: See post #37 again :)

[san-claudio]

C'est pas nouveau depuis plus de 10 ans avec pc Dell Broadcom BCM43xx sur Linux à l'époque au terminal :

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get remove bcmwl-kernel-source
 sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer b43-fwcutter

reboot