Ubuntu 8.04 + Broadcom Wireless
After a pretty smooth install of Ubuntu Studio 8.04 (Hardy Heron) Beta on my wife’s HP Pavillion dv6000 everything seemed to work well. Everything that is, except for the Broadcom Wireless. I just could not get it to switch on.
When trying to activate the proprietary drivers, the system would tell me I needed to reboot the machine for the changes to take effect. Once booted it would still not be enabled. Both physically and in the proprietary driver screen.
To solve my problem I used the following steps:
1. First off you need to ensure that you have the build essentials package installed so that you can build the b43-fwcutter.
sudo apt-get install build-essential
2. Once that is installed you can download and build b43-fwcutter.
wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
cd b43-fwcutter-011
make
cd ..
3. Now we need to download the Broadcom firmware and install it. Note that the “FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” must point to the directory where your firmware directory is. The one I have used below is what it is in Ubuntu.
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta.o
4. Now simply reboot the laptop and presto… the little wireless light should be blue 
You don’t say what Broadcom Network Controller
you were using.
Thanks very much, that was really helpful.
Cheers
Barry Carr
Hi,
I have followed all the steps you have mentioned above, but in the last step I am getting an error, posted below :
root@maverick:/home/gino/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod# ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
This file is recognised as:
ID : FW11
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 351.126
MD5 : 9207bc565c2fc9fa1591f6c7911d3fc0
Extracting b43/ucode4.fw
failed to create output directory: No such file or directory
Thank you for your help.
I get a similar error as above…however mine at the end says the following:
Extracting b43/ucode4.fw
failed to create output directory: Permission denied
Anyone know how to solve this…sorry a beginner to this.
Solved it…I ran the last command with sudo. Sorted.
After I read your comment I was able to get my wireless working. Great job by Christopher….and all others who commented I was able to use bits and pieces of the comments to get me where I needed to make this thing work.
Worked a treat for me! I didn’t bother with export line (first one in the second group of commands) and used replaced “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” with “/lib/firmware”. I could do this because I know that’s where my firmware is installed but I didn’t really see the point of exporting the variable if I’m only using it once.
Anyway, thanks for the hint, this is the first time I’ve had wireless working on Hardy.
[...] little investigation threw up instructions (also enumerated on other sites) on how to use fw-cutter to install new [...]
THANK YOU! It works beautifully, fixed the Hardware Drivers dialog, and lets me run at full speed via WICD.
The only problems were I had to run the final command with “sudo” prepended and substitute the “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” with the explicit ”/lib/firmware” (sans quotes). I don’t know why it didn’t work with the $FIRMW~, but then again, it doesn’t really make sense to make the variable just for that one command (unless I’m missing something – I’m pretty new to command-line building and such)
THANKS, [chloe]
Wahoo! This worked PERFECTLY! Thanks a ton! (I had tried my normal ndiswrapper route, with no success…)
hem, i’m going to try http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, do you think i will success on my poor hp nx6125?
if you experience about that, i would be glad to hear from you (skype: sir_luke_73)
if this issue is already in this post i apologize, anyway… i need help..
nbfe… (learning is a neverending story in li(nux)fe…)
Shouldn’t that package be ‘build-essential’ without the s?
I had the same problem, so I did a apt-get dist-upgrade and then I was able to go to
System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers
to install the driver without any problems.
While it was installing, I clicked Details and saw that it downloaded and ran b43-fwcutter automatically.
Thanks man. I have been ubuntu with my Acer for 2 years now. Each time I update to a new version I have days of work getting my broadcom working. This tutorial was the first ever to work exactly as posted. Great job. Damn good joe.
i tried on my dv6000 and after the first command i get “E: Couldn’t find package build-essentials”
what now?
help!!!
i should have mentioned, this is my very first crack at a linux-based os. help the noobie!!!
thanks!
… guess i should get the package…
sorry for the bother
@petorious
Sorry about that. it is supposed to read like this:
sudo apt-get install build-essential
I see there was a comment about it but I”ve just been way too busy lately but it is fixed now.
Hope that helps.
Worked PERFECTLY on my Dell XPS M1330. Did all the ndiswrapper nonsense with 7.10, and during my install of 8.04 just now this worked great.
I also had to do “/dev/firmware” to get it to work too.
Worked perfectly on my ubuntu
i was struggling with ndiswrapper etc for a long time
the only thing i needed to run fwcutter-009 instead of fwcutter-011
for my broadcom wireless otherwise it would give me some weird error
Hi, did exactly what you said (with the sudo and /lib/firmware changes to the command lines) right after loading 8.04. The blue light was on, but not talking to my router yet. Then Ubuntu downloaded an hours worth of updates. Now, no blue light, and System -> Administration -> Network shows no wireless. iwconfig shows no wireless. lspci shows
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 02)
i’m on an HP dv6000 running 32 bit on AMD Turion 64.
Any ideas? Please dont let me go back to xp…..
Help me Obiwan…………..
i installed and it does not turn on my wireless……what next???
I have a problem… I followed these instructions for my dv6110us, and it worked great, except I dual boot and now it doe not work in Windows. I can not seem to find a firmware download anywhere to put it back? Can anyone help me?
Folks,
If the “sudo apt-get install ” commands don’t work, remember to start with a “sudo apt-get update” and wait a bit for the poor slammed ubuntu servers to respond. After the update, you should be okay.
BTW, I’m writing this on Ubuntu 8.04 running on a crusty old Dell Latitude D600 1.3GHz with 1GB RAM and it screams. And the BroadCom b43xx wireless card works fine now. Thanks, Penkin!
How am I supposed to use apt-get install without a network connection?
Thank you so much for posting your guide. I followed your guide to the letter but got an error message when I ran the last command:
../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
Although I did get an error message when I executed the preceeding command, I attempted the command again using sudo in front of your command and I got an error message again. I rebooted my computer. Went into Hardware Drivers and noticed that my wireless card was being recognized now. I simply enabled the Broadcom Wireless card and allowed the driver to be downloaded and I was able to successfully enable the wifi and connect to my wireless network without any problems.
I do believe that Ubuntu and Linux in general really needs to focus on the problems of including and support wireless cards and chipsets. I do not understand why Ubuntu removed Resticted Drivers from Ubuntu 8.04. Do you know of a way to download and re-install this particularly useful feature?
You should definitely post your guide in the Ubuntu Forums as soon as possible.
Thanks again for the guide.
Thank you very much for the tutorial!
It worked perfectly, except by the last command that I had to replace to:
> sudo su
> ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
Congratulations!
What speed do you get? I’ve always used ndiswrapper in the past to get 54Mb speed because fwcutter would only get 18 or 23 or something like that.
Thanks men, you safed my installation! You’re the only one talking about “sudo apt-get install build-essential”. That’s what a newbie like me needs…
If you copy/past from the website like me
: watch the quotes “. Terminal does not like the strange ” characters from the website! Just type them again or it will not work.
More info and other drivers versions can be found at:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
All you have to do is
1. sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
2. Change “blacklist bcm43xx” to “#blacklist bcm43xx”
3. Restart. You should get a restricted driver message.
4. Enable restricted driver
5. Restart and you are good to go
Cheers,
All I needed was:
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
and you’re prompted to download and extract the firmware.
[...] brief search on Google turned up a great tutorial on getting Ubuntu 8.04 to work with a Broadcom wireless adapter on an HP dv6000 ser…. Seeing as my machine is a zv6000 I figured following the instructions was at least worth a [...]
Bravo, my friend, bravo. If only folks could write instructions as clear and reliable as this.
Dude, you rock, now the wireless on my acer extenza 4620z works!
This is just sad, and another perfect example of why Linux won’t replace Windows on the desktop over the next decade. It just doesn’t work! I LOVE Ubuntu Linux, and use it on two computers at home. The wired desktop upgraded fine. But I worked for HOURS with the Broadcom problems with the wireless and finally gave up completely and reinstalled 7.10. Many thanks for the posting, I know it’s a great help to many; but to other discouraged Linux users it’s just another example of a hackers OS still unsuitable for prime time. Unfortgunately, it just doesn’t work.
Sweet dude, works like a charm. Thank you very much for posting this. Keep rockin’!
i get this error,
This file is recognised as:
ID : FW11
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 351.126
MD5 : 9207bc565c2fc9fa1591f6c7911d3fc0
Extracting b43/ucode4.fw
failed to create output directory: No such file or directory
even with sudo and didn’t work.
what am i doing wrong?
Well, this worked to the extent that when the computer rebooted, my wireless light DID come on. However, I cannot detect any wireless networks! I also cannot use the FunctionKey+WirelessKey to turn the light off manually as I did in Gutsy.
Any ideas, anyone?
Did you ever work this one out? I’ve got the same problem, any tips appreciated.
Hey Juanfer2k,
Make sure you spelled everything exactly right. I had that same problem when I used ’sudo’, but I realized I had copied one word wrong.
still no blue light
I too had a problem executing the last line:-
../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
As I found that the b43-fwcutter script was not actually in the b43-fwcutter-011 directory. I found the alternative approach of:-
sudo b43-fwcutter -w “/lib/firmware” broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta.o
run from root worked a treat, i.e. don’t use:-
cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
from the line before.
Thanks a lot. I got it to work by following these steps-
1. I rebooted after executing the build and make commands.
2. I checked the restricted hardware; ubuntu had already detected the required firmware. All I had to do was enable it and the wireless started working.
Worked on my HP ZE4300 – I’ve been playing around with Linux for the longest time and have never gotten the wireless to work. This did work – thanks!
Also – the little blue light did not come on but I am connected.
This worked great! The hardest part I found was how to get the build-essential package installed. I tried the command without success, but used the Synaptic Package Manager and everything else worked great. Well, the “FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” reference didn’t work either, but I just adjusted where I unzipped it to and moved the folder to the \lib\firmware directory.
Thank you so much!
# Paul Says:
April 27, 2008 at 2:15 am
Cheers,
All I needed was:
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
and you’re prompted to download and extract the firmware.
This worked for me with a gateway M350. Thanks.
on nx6125 i used only:
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
it installed but didn’t work so went back to dual boot windows(vistax64) to see does wireless still work there. it was off (usually is always on?!) so I enabled and it worked good as usuall. after restart of windows back to 8.04 (which was in hibernate) wireless worked!
@ofca: I had funny stuff like that too in earlier releases of Ubuntu with the bcm43xx driver. Apparently the driver doesn’t manage to fully initialise the card, or something like that, and switching to Windows can do that for you. But I don’t want to dual-boot now, and using ndiswrapper with the drivers provided by HP (I also have the nx6125) just gives me a more robust result…
(installation notes)
THANKS A LOT. Awesome attitude sharing those essentials that us, mortals, can´t manage. Truly generous of you to take the time to empower Linux Desktop users
thanks. This is a lifesaver. Definitely adding this to my del.icio.us so i can find it next time i reload ubuntu.
–ted
Worked like a champ for my HP zd8000. The firmware I was using with Ubuntu 7.10 would load, but wouldn’t bring up the interface. This did the trick, didn’t even need to reboot.
Worked like a charm. I had just installed ubuntu on two laptops with this card and didn’t have direct access to the internet (due to not having wireless). Followed these steps and presto.
I don’t know thou if just letting ubuntu handle it once I had internet would have worked.
My card (Belkin PCMCIA F5d7010 ver 1315) worked with this guideline but i had to do following:
in /etc/modprobe.d/blcklist file
blacklist bcm43xx
if i dont do above and put
#blacklist bcm43xx
then network was not working and both leds stay up on the card.
FYI: i am using Ubuntu 8.04 on DELL Inspiron 2650.
routine didn’t work for me, but I used the Synaptic Package Manager to fix it. Searched for “Broadcom” and the Ubuntu version of the driver package was there. Installed it, rebooted, and wallah. I didn’t have to disable/enable the wireless to get it to connect, but it’s working now and I’m typing this using the wireless to connect.
I try to do everything is was writing here, but nothing work.
I have a question. “How I can enable a device in ubuntu ?”
tx
Ed
let’s say I run all comands in the first post (in red) and all work corect (last I run it with sudo and /lib/firmware)
I reboot Ubuntu 8.04 and nothing …
I comment in /etc/modprobe.d/blcklist file that #blacklist bcm43xx
I reboot Ubuntu 8.04 and nothing …
I install from packages all searched with “broadcom”, these 3 packages corectly
I have install the wireless driver via “wireless hardware”, it see broadcom, but in network manager don’t.
I reboot Ubuntu 8.04 and nothing …
I press wireless button several times.. nothing…
in Network Manager don’t appear the wireless section.
if run lshw I see the network wireless card – BC4312
so ? Ubuntu 8.04 is working with Broadcom wireless or not?
I don’t understand why even show at Network Manager!
somebody know what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks very much for you tutorial. My wireless light indicator are now on. However, after rebooting I can’t get my laptop communicate with the router. After looking here and there I did the following and voila, have wireless connection. In:
SYSTEM/PREFERENCES/Encryption and Keyrings delete any entry you have that contains a previous password phrase for your router.
When trying to connect you will be prompted to enter you router WPA-Personal password. Press CONNECT and you are ready. That works for me after following P3NK!N tutorial.
I also followed the instructions above to no avail.
After almost a week with no wireless, I noticed Bug #226134
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.24/+bug/226134
It seems iwl3945 does not work properly unless you create a file named /etc/modprobe.d/iwl3945 in which the following two lines are written:
alias wlan0 iwl3945
options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1
After creating this file and rebooting, wireless networks suddenly appeared in wicd.
Superb. Followed the instructions and viola wireless working now.
Thanks again.
Thank you!
Hmmmmm…. I tried the last command with “sudo” and it still said “failed to create output directory: no such file or directory”. But it did recognize the file. Here’s what I got (after downloading it, it ran this script on prompt):
joshua@Joshua-Ubuntu-MacBook:~/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod$ ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
This file is recognised as:
ID : FW11
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 351.126
MD5 : 9207bc565c2fc9fa1591f6c7911d3fc0
Extracting b43/ucode4.fw
failed to create output directory: No such file or directory
Any suggestions???
I’m sorry but it didn’t work out for me even though I have followed the directions scrupulously. My router is Edimax and my laptop is hp compaq 6710b. Do I need to change something the command line?
My surprise was when I looked for hardware drivers in my laptop and found none.
Do I need to reverse the commands I wrote in the command line?
in response to Gino near the top
when the error occurs type sudo -i to become the root, then cd till u get to ur user folder in ur home folder (eg /home/mike/) then run the last line again but like this ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
it doesnt allow u to extract there first time cuz ur not sudo when running the command, and sudo’ing the command for some reason doesnt work.
but on the other hand, it extracted all the files correctly… but the wireless still doesnt turn on. im on a acer extensa 5620g laptop… not even sure if the wireless card is a broadcom so could be that its not a broadcom.. could be something else
um in response to myself
i ran lspci in the termal and got this out of the mess
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
so im guessing it is a broadcom.. and it still doesnt work
any suggestions?
hmm when u go to the /lib/firmware folder there is a b43 folder with a fat X on it and u cant view wats inside it. maybe that could be a problem, like it cant access the folder to get the files it needs or something. cant change the permissions either.
ok got the permissions of the b43 right. the b43 folder was owned by root so had to become root (sudo -i), go to the folder and use chown -R mike:mike b43 to gain ownership (where mike is ur username). but this didnt help. still no wireless. therefor can deduce that it is not a permission problem
i am stumped now
Just an observation. If you, like me, have installed Ubuntu via wubi, make sure that you install firmware in the /lib/firmware/2.6.24-16-generic/ to get things running. And many thanks for this wonderfully easy solution to get the wireless working.
Worked great for me. Only issue was I had to sudo and change the recipe to have /lib/firmware in the command line for last instruction – thanks for a great shortcut to getting wireless working again after the Hardy upgrade.
Wow!
After putting “sudo” in front of the last line it just worked on my HP nx6125!!
Rebooted and presto, my WLAN showed up beside the clock. Clicked it, entered my password and then pulled the CAT5-cord. It just works!!
Thanks alot!
Best fix so far. A+!!!
Thanks so much.
well….wat I can say to u…
just perfect!!!!!!!!! I’ve been being f**ked up for days because of the same problem….
now that I made it! really thx for ur help!!!!!
The above did not work, but got me pointed in the right direction, and I am now wireless on my Dell Latitude D600 with Ubuntu 8.04. I don’t know when it started, but I kept seeing an error message on booting up. It was too fast to read, so I finally took a picture of it and downloaded the pic and determined it was directing me to the following website to follow the instructions for the legacy driver for Broadcom: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware. (version 3). A note to other Linux newbies, the command for change directory has to be either cd or cd .. (notice the space)- I was putting in cd.. as you would in DOS and this will not work! Also, after installing, I immediately unplugged my network cable and rebooted. Did a victory dance & started running from room to room checking the signal strength!!!!!!
can someone pls help me. when i run sudo apt-get install build-essential it would say no such file/directory. i have no idea what to do. pls pls thanks
by the way im using hp dv2310
for hardy (8.04) please download http://id.archive.ubuntu.com/pool/main/b/b43-fwcutter/b43-fwcutter_011-4_i386.deb
and then type this command
#sudo dpkg -i b43-fwcutter_011-4_i386.deb
answer yes
next step is just waiting until download and firmware installation is done.
last….just reboot your laptop.like a magic..wireless connection is right there..
good luck!.
I fall at the first hurdle.
sudo apt-get install build-essential doesn’t work for me.
Does this command use the internet?
Because my ethernet isn’t working either, nevermind wireless. I’m typing this from the other Mac partition, I’ve been trying to get some sort of internet working for hours… What do I dooooo?
[...] is a pain to set up and get wireless working. If you are having trouble with wireless, check out this tutorial on how to get it [...]
Hi, I had the exact same error as petorious and I also am completely new to a linux based system. Anyone willing to help a newbie out and tell me what to do?
I have an HP Pavilion dv6000 32 bit AMD 64 processor, with both Vista and Ubuntu.
This did not work. Same issues with command line errors as others.
The following tutorial was much easier to follow and worked without any glitches or hiccups as far as command line prompts go. I would suggest this as a better alternative for all noobs and newbies having problems with the instructions above.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=769990
Hello,
i have the same laptop HP pavilion dv6000
Try next (for me works) :
sudo modprobe -r iwl3945
sudo modprobe iwl3945
create a file named iwl3945 in /etc/modprobe.d/
in the file type the following and save:
alias wlan0 iwl3945
options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
reboot
works perfect
sorry i didnt read all responses but if you are trying to get it runing on ubuntu make sure you give /lib/firmware/b43 path…or else you will see something like unable to load b43/ucode5*
cheers
I have Dell Inspiron 1525 with Ubuntu 8.04.
I did all this and get my WiFi working.
But after that was done my bluetooth is dead.
Earlier it worked just fine.
How can I fix it?
I finally got it working. I had a mixture of the issues. At first I was unable to write the files (the last command in the instructions). Adding sudo and changing the variable to “/lib/firmware” worked to get the files written but Wifi still didn’t work. I then disabled the blacklist (“Donald Says:” – April 26). Driver still enabled but I still didn’t get it working.
Resolution: I then manually configured a wireless access point. All of the sudden the blue bars appeared and all wireless access points were visible. I am not sure at which point those solutions resolved the issue but in my clients laptop (Acer Aspire 3680) it needed that kick to get it working.
Thank you for the instruction set and all the feedback everyone.
Complete Nubes fix (if your not ready to sudo…)
Go to snaptic package manager and search for the driver and uninstall it. Shut down – restart and then go to hardware drivers and enable it. (It will automatically download) -works a treat.
Hope it helps
[...] Read this, and this [...]
for the people who has this problem:
failed to create output directory: No such file or directory
in the last step:
./../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
change “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” and write /lib/firmware WITHOUT the double cuotes, it work perfect
HELLO THANKS SO MUCH YOUR INSTRUCTIONS WERE SO EASY AND HELP ME A LOT MY PROBLEM WASNT NO MORE
Thanks heaps to P3NK!N for the article, and to Yonas for the quicker way to do it
I qualify as a noob when it comes to linux, and as such this was a huge help. Cheers!
I am an absolute newbie with linux but used the command line extensively with DOS pre-Windows. Just to get a feel for Ubuntu I installed it on my spare computer which is running XP. There is a Linksys Wireless G PCI Adapter in PCI slot 4. XP detected it and configured it automatically. Ubuntu can’t find it.
I have run a temporary ethernet connection to the computer so I should be able to follow the guide.
Question: I want to continue dual booting XP and Ubuntu. Will the firmware change stop the wireless card from working under XP?
PS Is there a good online guide to linux commands like wget, tar, cd, sudo, etc.?
Hi guys,
My laptop is Compaq 6515b with a Broadcom 802.11 a/b/g WLAN card. I have tried all the steps but still doesn’t work at all . Appreciate someone out there can help me please !
thanks !
Mark
below are the command :
mark@mark-laptop:~$ lspci | grep Broadcom\ Corporation
10:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
30:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11a/b/g (rev 02)
Can anyone out there help me on this please. Thanks !
i do not understand not even a fucking word!!!!
Great work! Thanks a lot:)
My wireless card is now working:)
Thankssss
another option is to open synaptic package manager, and install the package ‘b43-fwcutter’. Of course, the catch 22 is you still have to have internet, but after installing this package, the it will automatically grab the necessary files to get inet working.
peace
on another website I found this, and after trying what was here, I tried what was on this other website, and it worked! Wireless connection!
“I just solved this problem with the same wifi card.
First install those two packages from this website:
http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/po…n/ndiswrapper/
1 – ndiswrapper-common_1.50-1ubuntu1_all.deb
2 – ndiswrapper-utils-1.9_1.50-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb (select your own platform)
Download this file from rapidshare (4321AG Wifi drivers):
http://rapidshare.com/files/72536890/SP36684A.zip.html
Then type in those commands in a terminal window:
cd [path where you unpacked the drivers]
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -m
sudo ndiswrapper -mi
sudo ndiswrapper -ma
sudo reboot now
Personnaly I disabled the Wifi switch on the laptop for the reboot but I don’t think it is necessary. Activate it afterwards, you will now be able to detect wifi networks and connect to one of them. Left-click on the Network Manager and select Wireless Networks to do so.
Voilà.”
Here’s the site I found it on.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=593048
Thanks, Great info and an even bigger help. I got everything working but every time i restart or let my laptop go into hibernation I have to disable the driver, then re-enable it and it works perfectly again. Any help would be appreciated.
e-mail at : pstratton@juno.com
Thanks again, awesome work.
Ok, this works great if you have access to the internet. But what do i do if i can’t access the internet? I have a brand new HP pavilion zd2700t special edition and cant get the wireless card to work.
My light is blue!!!
Thankyou Cristopher and all you.
On HP nx6110
[...] Check this out : Ubuntu 8.04 + Broadcom Wireless P3NK!N [...]
You totally rock! Worked for my Dell Inspiron 6400!
Hi, I am baffled – I have a dell latitude 600 and installed Ubuntu 8.04 under windows – I followed the simple setup :
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
and it worked! So, I thought Ubuntu is it! I installed it over Windows XP and happily ran the same commands again, but….no connection! What? I don’t understand. I have tried re-installing again, but it doesn’t help. Any ideas anyone?
what to do if getting error as “unable to find file -essential”. when performing sudo apt-get install build-essential.
plz help me.
i am facing a great problem due to my wi-fi connection niot working so plz help me as fast as u can…….
thanky ou…….!
I ran across a few instructions that sort of told me to do this, but as a fair bit of a noob with linux… This is the first set of instructions I found that was actually straightforward and easy to use.
For learners, I think a bit more background on why each step is being done would be great. But for those that just need the damn thing to work it’s wonderful.
I don’t know how it worked but it did – THANK YOU!
Back to jay100’s question: for those who dual boot XP – will the Broadcom firmware update in Ubuntu 8.04 cause the wireless to stop working under xp? Firmware changes affect the memory on the physical device itself…
thank you
Thanks,
This worked for my laptop with a Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02).
I rebooted, enabled roaming, and then connected to my network.
Spoke too soon, my connection broke after updating & restarting…
back to the drawing board.
Hello!,
This worked great. Thanks!
Thank you sooooo much! The last line worked for me like this:
../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
Thank You, Thank You…
Just a little modification for others….(check the last line)
To solve my problem I used the following steps:
1. First off you need to ensure that you have the build essentials package installed so that you can build the b43-fwcutter.
sudo apt-get install build-essential
2. Once that is installed you can download and build b43-fwcutter.
wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
cd b43-fwcutter-011
make
cd ..
3. Now we need to download the Broadcom firmware and install it. Note that the “FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” must point to the directory where your firmware directory is. The one I have used below is what it is in Ubuntu.
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR=”/lib/firmware”
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
4. Now simply reboot the laptop and presto… the little wireless light should be blue
Hi
All of these instructions assume you can connect to the internet to download (using a cable I guess). If you don’t have any internet working because your Broadcom WLAN isn’t working, then you get stuck.
Isn’t there a guide on going through this process by downloading the required files externally to a usb drive and then executing them after a reboot of ubuntu where the internet is still not working yet?
Cool! Works perfectly
Works like a charm on Ubuntu 8.10.
bc43-fwcutter was already installed by default. Just downloading the firmware fixed. I am not sure what firmware was installed before. But before following this direction, bc43-fwcutter -l listed the firmware but did not work
Hi there.
Yours is by far the most helpfull site that I have tried to get my wireless to work on Ubuntu 8.04.
I use an asus A24H with a Broadcom BCM4303 (Ver 02) chipset and it does not work
When I follow your steps I do not get any error messages, but sadly it does not work either.
Could it have something to do with being ver 02?
I used to work perfectly on 7.10!!
It does not show anything under System > Administration > Hardware Drivers.
PLease help!!
Hi, I also have a HP Dv6000 series laptop and cannot get wireless on ubuntu 8.04.
The links that all these tutorials direct me to is down. and i get 404 errors and such.
If anyone can find another site like downloads.openwrt/sources/broadcom-w1-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2 please fill me in, I can’t get this working for the life of me.
ok, i tried this, i hate programming, and im new to linux, i cant get to understand what is going on, and i really need help, like, step by step, i have a presario 2580US
some details, broadcom 4306, on a presario 2580US, ubuntu 8.04, i tried the above instructions without erros and still no luck.
I got my BCM94311 wireless card working on an HP DV6000 laptop using the guide here:
http://trentscott.org/?p=1
When finished with instructions above, my wireless network showed up in the gui network manager but I couldn’t connect to it. I use 128 bit hex wep key in the router, my house is within range of the wireless network at my public library. Silly me tried REPEATEDLY to enter the hex wep key into the 128 bit pass slot. I erroneously entered into the 128/40 area, pressed ok and the thing connected for the first time. Broadcom 4311, Dell Inspiron B120, Ubuntu 8.10 kernal 2.6.27-9. I rebooted, the connection successfully made automatically. When editing info with the gui network manager, a second occurance of my wireless network shows up in the manager with the same name. The changes were made to the first instance. I removed the second occurance.
It works!! thanks
Worked like a champ. God bless you and the internets.
Perfect! It`s just Ctrl+C -> Ctrl+V
Just in case anyone else had the same problem, the quotation marks in the instructions above gave me problems on the last command. Removing them fixed the problem, so instead of
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR=”/lib/firmware”
i did
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR=/lib/firmware
and instead of
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta.o
i did
sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w $FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR wl_apsta.o
Hi,
I am Newbie…
I have installed b43-fwcutter succesfully using snaptic package manager. But i don’t see the LED for wireless enabled on my DELL INSPIRON 1720.
Additionally, i also see “Wireless Connection” entry in “Network”. Please help me how to enable wireless?
Thanks,
– jpv
After much time wasted, the key for me was to follow slightly different advice and install the older “legacy” b43drivers
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#fw-b43-old
for my DELL d600, truemobile 1400
Just wanted to mention that this also worked for my Dell Inspiron 6000! Thanks for the great instructions!
How the f*** are you supposed to be able to download and build a driver to make a wireless card work if the f***ing wireless card isn’t working in the first f***ing place. LONG LIVE MICROSOFT, THE REAL WORD OS PROVIDER.
The two lines, below, worked for me:
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
I’m on a Fujitsu P5010D. Thanks for the great tips! I can now (finally!) use linux, wireless, at home.
I’m using a HP Pavillion dv1000 with a Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection will this post work for me?
I need to get my laptop up n running with wireless
thanks
To Rufus McDufus,
If your wireless is not working you download the wireless driver buy plugging your LAN cable directly to your computer. DUH!!!
to captain obvious,
my apartment complex has free wireless, am I supposed to go to the office with my desktop and ask to plug in a LAN cable?
The fact that I am now viewing your page with my ethernet cable unplugged, shows that I was successful.
Thank you for sharing this.
Worked perfectly after hours of struggling with NDISwrapper.
Cheers,
M.T. BASc. (computer science)
Thank you Christopher, works perfectly. Thank you for the sudo tip also Gavin! Cheers. Heinrich
this was great! thanks a lot!
Thanks.
I have used a similiar procedure on RedHat before. But, yours was very clear and step by step written. As a former technical writer anytime you can document a re-creatable process you have a success. Thankyou very much.
[...] what you need, you need to use b43-fwcutter to utilize it. I have modified some instructions from here, including only what you need (enter the following at the command line): 1. export [...]
Thank you very much, worked perfect!!!
have an hp pavilion dv6000. took a combination of the original post, trying to blacklist the bcm43xx (not entirely sure if that worked), and using the sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter and going through the prompts.
i tried restarting after that with no success. i’m dual booting with vista, so i restarted with vista and immediately restarted with ubuntu 9 and the light was blue!!!
this has been my third or fourth time that i have installed ubuntu, the first attempt with ubuntu 9, and it’s the first time that i have been able to get my wireless to work.
great post! it helped a lot!
I have to give my vote for this also. Well Done! Works fine on an old Acer TravelMate 2410 and ubuntu 9.04. Now the other members of my family can use wireless too!
Great not having to mess with ndiswrapper too (although that did work)
C’mon Broadcom, isn’t it about time you released a driver for Linux? It’s been years now. Come on in, the water’s fine!
OK, I don’t remember what I did. Just try all updates and got the wireless working on DV8000. Really a tough nut.
Absolute genius!! was using a wireless usb stick supported by linux until I found this and got my internal card to work, Cheers!
This worked for the 9.04 build also. I had to connect via LAN connection and update all patches for the O/S. Once this was done, then the driver appeared in Hardware Drivers. I tried activating the Broadcom B43 wireless driver, but I found that you have to be online. There is a bug where a call is made to ubuntu’s servers to activate any hardware.
Huge help, it took me several hours to figure this out. First time on Ubuntu and loving it with the exception of the wireless driver issue.
Cheers!
Excellent! thanks a bunch! /F