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Possible Duplicate:
How to Install Broadcom Wireless card (BCM43XX)

I recently re-installed Ubuntu 12.10 and updated/upgraded everything same as I've always done. However, I now no longer have a wireless option in the network manager, despite the proprietary driver being installed via the 'Software Sources' interface. I'm not new to Linux, and I've had trouble with my wireless card/drivers from square one, so I knew how to fix the problem:

  1. Go to the Software Sources and disable the Broadcom proprietary driver (bcmwl-kernel-source) - SUCCESS
  2. Open a terminal and load the brcmsmac module "# modprobe brcmsmac" - SUCCESS
  3. In terminal, use "iwconfig" to ensure that the wireless interfaces are properly detected - SUCCESS (wlan0 detected, interface set to down)
  4. Set the interface up via "# ip link set wlan0 up" - FAILURE

At this point, the system freezes completely, and the only input that has effect is holding down the hardware power button to reboot. The same result is met by using the network manager applet in the unity notification area to "Enable Wireless."

This week alone I've had CentOS, openSUSE and Fedora running fully updated on my system without any wireless issues.

Any help is appreciated.

Additional info:

$ lspci | grep Broadcom
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43225 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57760 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)

$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
rfcomm                 46619  0 
bnep                   18140  2 
parport_pc             32688  0 
ppdev                  17073  0 
ext2                   72880  1 
snd_hda_codec_conexant    57842  1 
btusb                  18334  0 
bluetooth             209199  11 rfcomm,bnep,btusb
arc4                   12529  2 
brcmsmac              531848  0 
mac80211              539908  1 brcmsmac
brcmutil               14755  1 brcmsmac
cfg80211              206566  2 brcmsmac,mac80211
cordic                 12535  1 brcmsmac
coretemp               13400  0 
kvm_intel             132759  0 
kvm                   414070  1 kvm_intel
acer_wmi               32453  0 
sparse_keymap          13890  1 acer_wmi
microcode              22803  0 
snd_hda_intel          33491  2 
snd_hda_codec         134212  2 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13602  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                96580  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
bcma                   35656  1 brcmsmac
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
snd_rawmidi            30512  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                61521  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
psmouse                95552  0 
serio_raw              13215  0 
lpc_ich                17061  0 
uvcvideo               76749  0 
videobuf2_core         32851  1 uvcvideo
joydev                 17457  0 
videodev              120309  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
videobuf2_vmalloc      12860  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13368  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
intel_ips              18049  0 
snd_timer              29425  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14497  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
i915                  520629  8 
snd                    78734  13 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
drm_kms_helper         46784  1 i915
drm                   275528  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13413  1 i915
soundcore              15047  1 snd
wmi                    19070  1 acer_wmi
snd_page_alloc         18484  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
mei                    40690  0 
video                  19335  2 acer_wmi,i915
mac_hid                13205  0 
lp                     17759  0 
parport                46345  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ums_realtek            17949  0 
usb_storage            48838  1 ums_realtek
uas                    17844  0 
hid_generic            12493  0 
usbhid                 46947  0 
hid                   100366  2 hid_generic,usbhid
tg3                   148780  0
Community
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clappboard
  • 220
  • Please check this.. though device is different it should work http://askubuntu.com/q/125529/35775 – Web-E Nov 14 '12 at 09:55
  • The freezing problem is why I started to study why it was happening. At the end the fix was using the alternative way of installing the driver found in my answer here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/55868/how-to-get-broadcom-bcm-43xx-wireless-card-working?rq=1 I will update my answer to show the symptoms I was having which look like yours. – Luis Alvarado Nov 14 '12 at 18:24

1 Answers1

1

Thanks, Web-E, for the link.

Solution found:

  1. Unload brcmsmac, bcma modules
  2. Completely uninstall bcmwl-kernel-source
  3. Install b43-fwcutter
  4. Install bcmwl-kernel-source

To be clear, this works with the Broadcom BCM43225 wireless adaptors.

There appears to be something broken around the brcmsmac module, causing a system-wide freeze.

clappboard
  • 220
  • Very helpful! The key is to make sure bcmwl-kernel-source is re-installed (not just reconfigured!) after installing b43-fwcutter. You will also have to add b43 to /etc/modules so that it's loaded at boot. – detly Nov 28 '12 at 07:12