Broadcom network adapter linux

Broadcom wireless

This article details how to install and setup a Broadcom wireless network device.

Contents

History

Broadcom has a noted history with its support for Wi-Fi devices regarding GNU/Linux. For a good portion of its initial history, Broadcom devices were either entirely unsupported or required the user to tinker with the firmware. The limited set of wireless devices that were supported were done so by a reverse-engineered driver. The reverse-engineered b43 driver was introduced in the 2.6.24 kernel.

In August 2008, Broadcom released the 802.11 Linux STA driver officially supporting Broadcom wireless devices on GNU/Linux. This is a restrictively licensed driver and it does not work with hidden ESSIDs, but Broadcom promised to work towards a more open approach in the future.

In September 2010, Broadcom released a fully open source driver. The brcm80211 driver was introduced in the 2.6.37 kernel and in the 2.6.39 kernel it was sub-divided into the brcmsmac and brcmfmac drivers.

The types of available drivers are:

Driver	Description
brcm80211	Kernel driver mainline version (recommended)
b43	Kernel driver reverse-engineered version
broadcom-wl	Broadcom driver with restricted license

Driver selection

To know what driver(s) are operable on the computer’s Broadcom wireless network device, the device ID and chipset name will need to be detected. Cross-reference them with the driver list of supported brcm80211 and b43 devices.

Installation

brcm80211

The kernel contains two built-in open-source drivers: brcmfmac for native FullMAC and brcmsmac for mac80211-based SoftMAC. They should be automatically loaded when booting.

Two reverse-engineered open-source drivers are built-in to the kernel: b43 and b43legacy. b43 supports most newer Broadcom chipsets, while the b43legacy driver only supports the early BCM4301 and BCM4306 rev.2 chipsets. To avoid erroneous detection of your WiFi cards chipset, blacklist the unused driver.

Both of these drivers require non-free firmware to function. Install b43-firmware AUR , b43-firmware-classic AUR , or b43legacy-firmware AUR depending on the chipset.

If the b43 module does not load on boot, you need to force it by creating the following file:

broadcom-wl

The factual accuracy of this article or section is disputed.

There are two variants of the restrictively licensed driver:

Offline installation

An Internet connection is the ideal way to install the broadcom-wl driver; many newer laptops with Broadcom cards forgo Ethernet ports, so a USB Ethernet adapter or Android tethering may be helpful. If you have neither, you will need to first install the base-devel group during installation. Then, use another Internet-connected computer to download linux-headers and the driver tarball from the AUR, and install them in that order.

Manually

Install the appropriate driver for your system architecture from the Broadcom website. After this, to avoid driver/module collisions with similar modules and make the driver available, do:

The wl module should automatically load lib80211 or lib80211_crypt_tkip otherwise they will have to be manually loaded.

If the driver does not work at this point, you may need to update dependencies:

To make the module load at boot, refer to Kernel modules. It is recommending that you blacklist conflicting modules.

Known issues

Ethernet card is not detected

Broadcom wireless module has a history of conflicting with Broadcom Ethernet module (see #Interfaces swapped with broadcom-wl).

Due to conflicts between wl (wireless module) and tg3 (Ethernet module), tg3 is now blacklisted as of broadcom-wl-dkms 6.30.223.271-27[1]. See also FS#70476.

This also affects broadcom-wl as it is built based on broadcom-wl-dkms .

Troubleshooting

Setting broadcom-wl in monitor mode

Monitor mode is used to capture 802.11 frames over the air. This can be useful for diagnosing issues on a network or testing the security of your wireless network. Often, monitor mode is required to capture certain frames for wireless penetration testing, but it may be unethical or even illegal to capture frames on any network you do not own, manage or have permission to perform penetration testing against.

To set broadcom-wl in monitor mode you have to set 1 to /proc/brcm_monitor0 :

It will create a new network interface called prism0 .

To work in monitor mode, use this newly created network interface.

Device inaccessible after kernel upgrade

Since the 3.3.1 kernel the bcma module was introduced. If using a brcm80211 driver be sure it has not been blacklisted. It should be blackisted if using a b43 driver.

If you are using broadcom-wl , uninstall and reinstall it after upgrading your kernel or switch to broadcom-wl-dkms package.

Device with broadcom-wl driver not working/showing

Be sure the correct modules are blacklisted and occasionally it may be necessary to blacklist the brcm80211 drivers if accidentally detected before the wl driver is loaded. Furthermore, update the modules dependencies depmod -a , verify the wireless interface with ip addr , kernel upgrades will require an upgrade of the non-DKMS package.

Interfaces swapped with broadcom-wl

Users of the broadcom-wl driver may find their Ethernet and Wi-Fi interfaces have been swapped. See Network configuration#Network interfaces for an answer.

Interface is showing but not allowing connections

Suppressing console messages

You may continuously get some verbose and annoying messages during the boot, similar to

To disable those messages, increase the loglevel of printk messages that get through to the console — see Silent boot#sysctl.

Device BCM43241 not detected

This device will not display with either lspci nor lsusb ; there is no known solution yet.

Device BCM43241 EFI Vars

As per the driver page it may be necessary to copy the efi vars before the driver will operate correctly. However the expected path depends on your system.

Write the efi vars into the referenced location, e.g. on a thinkpad tablet:

Connection is unstable with some routers

If no other approaches help, install linux-lts , or use a previous driver version.

No 5GHz for BCM4360 (14e4:43a0) / BCM43602 (14e4:43ba) devices

Issue appears to be linked to a channel issue. Changing the wireless channel to a lower channel number (like 40 or, if your router show MHz instead of channel numbers, like 5200 MHz or 5280 MHz) seems to allow connection to 5GHz bands. If your router has the same SSID for the 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ, this can fix problems with your wireless connection being unstable or very slow.

Device works intermittently

In some cases (e.g. using BCM4331 and b43-firmware AUR ), wifi connection works intermittently. One way to fix this is to check if the card is hard-blocked or soft-blocked by kernel, and if it is, unblock it with rfkill.

SSH freeze for BCM4331 with b43

The b43-firmware AUR driver has been observed hanging in ssh sessions with BCM4331. Installing broadcom-wl and removing b43 solves it.

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Ubuntu Documentation

Introduction

This page provides support information on Broadcom BCM43xx wireless network cards. The aim of Ubuntu is to ensure all card models work automatically with no, or minimal configuration. For example, via System > Administration > Hardware/Additional Drivers. If you are having a WiFi issue, please see below on getting this addressed.

Identifying Your Broadcom BCM43xx Chipset

With this information, you may assess what drivers are supported for your card, and how to switch to a different driver from the instructions below.

Internal cards

To identify a card that was installed inside your computer prior to purchase, please open a Terminal and execute:

This will display:

You now know:

• The Chip ID: BCM4331
• The PCI-ID: 14e4:4331
• Kernel driver in use: wl

USB cards

One will want to execute at a terminal:

Drivers available in Ubuntu

The following is an overview of the different drivers that are available for Broadcom wireless devices.

Broadcom STA Wireless driver (Proprietary)

The propietary Broadcom STA Wireless driver is maintained upstream by Broadcom. As this driver is closed source, fixes in the driver itself may only be provided by Broadcom. As a convenience, Ubuntu offers two versions of this driver:

The bcmwl-kernel-source package aims to offer a later version for a given release. Instructions for installation may be found later in this article.

The broadcom-sta package aims to offer an earlier version for a given release.

As per the Broadcom readme file for driver version 6.30.223.271, the following devices are compatible:

b43 driver (Open-source)

For Chip ID BCM 4306 (rev 03), 4311, 4312, 4318, 4322, 4331, 43224 and 43225.

The b43 infrastructure is composed of two parts. The first is the firmware-b43-installer package. This is simply a script to extract and install the b43 driver firmware, maintained by the Ubuntu community. The second is the b43 driver, maintained upstream by the Linux kernel community. Instructions to install the package may be found below.

b43legacy driver (Open-source)

For Chip ID BCM 4301, 4306 (rev 02), and 4309.

The b43legacy infrastructure is composed of two parts. The first is the firmware-b43legacy-installer package. This is simply a script to extract and install the b43legacy driver firmware, maintained by the Ubuntu community. The second is the b43 driver, maintained upstream by the Linux kernel community. Instructions to install the package may be found below.

brcmsmac driver (Open-source)

For Chip ID BCM 4313, 43224 and 43225.

The open-source brcmsmac driver for PCIe devices is available from the brcm80211 module of the linux kernel package, maintained upstream by the linux kernel community. For more granular support information, please see their wiki page here.

brcmfmac driver (Open-source)

SDIO: For Chip ID BCM 4329, 4330, 4334, 4335, 4354, 43143, 43241, and 43362.
USB: For Chip ID BCM 43143, 43242, 43566, and 43569.

The open-source brcmfmac driver is available from the brcm80211 module of the linux kernel package, maintained upstream by the linux kernel community. For more granular support information, please see their wiki page here.

rndis_wlan driver (Open-source)

For Chip ID BCM 4320.

The open-source rndis_wlan driver is available from the linux kernel package, maintained upstream by the linux kernel community. For more granular support information, please see their wiki page here.

ndiswrapper (Open-source)

For all chip IDs.

The ndiswrapper package utilizes the Windows closed source drivers to activate your WiFi card. It is maintained upstream here. For installation instructions, please see here.

Installing STA drivers

STA — Internet access

If you have some other kind of Internet access on your computer (e.g. via an ethernet cable) then use the instructions below.

12.04 (Precise Pangolin)

Open a Terminal and install the bcmwl-kernel-source package:

Note: If you see the message «Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed» then you are missing the appropriate generic linux-header package(s).

To test the driver (and remove the need for a computer restart) use:

Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

The bcmwl-kernel-source package should automatically blacklist the open source drivers so that the STA driver is the only one in use.
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STA — No Internet access

If you do not have any other means of Internet access on your computer, you can install the bcmwl-kernel-source package from the restricted folder under ../pool/restricted/b/bcmwl on the Ubuntu install media.

Note: The bcmwl-kernel-source package depends on the linux-headers packages so you may need to first retrieve the appropriate package(s) from the online repositories. A running LiveCD/LiveUSB environment has these packages (allowing the wireless to work), but an installed system may not. Make sure you have the linux-headers package that matches your current kernel version, plus the appropriate generic header packages so that they are automatically updated on a kernel upgrade. To find out your current kernel use the command:

To find what linux-headers packages you have installed use the command:

Systems installed from CDROM can add the install CD as a package source and install bcmwl-kernel-source using apt-get as above. However, if you want to do it manually then the instructions are as follows:

Navigate the install media and install the packages listed below by double clicking OR install the packages consecutively from a Terminal (in the commands below the install media is mounted at /cdrom, but yours maybe different):

Upstream 802.11 Linux STA driver

Installing b43/b43legacy firmware

The Ubuntu kernel now provides the b43 driver, however due to copyright restrictions not the proprietary firmware which is required to run your card. The following instructions explain how to extract the required firmware.

b43 — Internet access

12.04 (Precise Pangolin) — 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)

Open a Terminal and if you haven’t already done so, update your package list:

If you have a b43 card use the command

or, if you need the b43legacy driver, use:

or, (12.04) if you need a LP-PHY version (e.g BCM4312), use:

Restart the computer or reload the b43/b43legacy module as outlined in the Switching between drivers section below (replace b43 with b43legacy where appropriate).

b43 — No Internet access

If you do not have any other means of Internet access from Ubuntu, then you will have to download the firmware from another computer with Internet access, from an existing OS on another partition, or before you install Ubuntu. You will also need the b43-fwcutter package which is usually included on the install media or can be downloaded from the official online repositories.

Install the b43-fwcutter package. This is usually located on the Ubuntu install media under /cdrom/pool/main/b/b43-fwcutter/ or you can download the binary ‘.deb’ package by following the links on launchpad.

Double click on the package to install or in a Terminal issue the following commands:

On a computer with Internet access, download the required firmware file:

Copy the downloaded file to your home folder. Open a new Terminal and use b43-fwcutter to extract and install the firmware:

b43legacy

b43 (12.04 Precise Pangolin)

b43 (14.04 Trusty Tahr)

Restart the computer or reload the b43/b43legacy module as outlined in the Switching between drivers section below (replace b43 with b43legacy where appropriate).

Switching between drivers

If you card is supported by more than one driver then use the modprobe command to test the drivers. First unload all conflicting drivers (this includes removing the driver you’re trying to install):

To load a specific driver use one of the following commands:

Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

After a reboot the system may auto-load a different driver to the one you wanted to use. Consequently, for permanent use, you may find it necessary to blacklist the driver/module you are not using. In the command below replace drivername with the driver you want to blacklist:

Update the initramfs after any changes to the blacklist files:

Note: The bcmwl-kernel-source package will automatically blacklist the open source drivers/modules in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf.

If you wish to permanently use the open source drivers then remove the bcmwl-kernel-source package:

Ensure that the driver/modules you wish to use are not blacklisted in any of the other files in /etc/modprobe.d .

Unsupported devices

If your wifi card/chipset and/or various modes are not supported by the STA driver or the open source kernel drivers, then you will need to go for ndiswrapper — this will allow you to use the Windows closed source drivers to activate your wifi card.

Known Issues

* LP#1010931 14e4:4727 [Dell Vostro 3555] Broadcom BCM4313 5GHz doesn’t work but 2.4GHz does

• The root cause is the card only transmits/receives on the single-band 2.4GHz only, so it would never broadcast at 5GHz.

Filing bug reports

Broadcom STA Wireless driver

While using either the bcmwl-kernel-source or broadcom-sta-source package from the Ubuntu repositories (not a recompiled/custom version) execute one of the following via a terminal:

This will file a new report. In it, please ensure all of the below is provided if missing:

Please include only one (not both) of the following corresponding to which driver series you are filing a report against:

Please execute the following via a terminal and post the results in your report:

The full manufacturer and model of your computer as noted on the sticker of the computer itself.

Did this problem not occur in a previous release? If so, which one(s) specifically?

Does this problem occur with the latest version of Ubuntu?

If available, please comment to how testing the relevant open source driver for your card type provides a WORKAROUND. If your chipset is supported as per above, but doesn’t work, please file a bug following the b43 driver procedure below.

Please provide the router manufacturer, model, and firmware version.

Please comment to how testing ndiswrapper for your card type provides a WORKAROUND. If it doesn’t work, please file a bug report as per the support article.

If the version of the driver you are using in the repository is the latest version available as per Broadcom, Broadcom wants you to send them an email about this to linux-wlan-client-support-list@broadcom.com. Please post their response to your report.

If the version of the driver you are using in the repository is an older version than that available from Broadcom, then contacting them would not apply. Instead, an investigation would need to occur to see if the version available for your release should be updated.

b43/b43legacy firmware utility

Before filing a bug report about b43 or b43legacy, it’s important to distinguish this as a issue with the firmware extraction script, or the driver itself. If it’s an issue with the script, one will need to install the version from the Ubuntu repositories (not a recompiled/custom version) and then execute via a terminal either:

b43/b43legacy driver

For bugs regarding the b43 or b43legacy driver, please execute the following via a terminal:

Also, please provide the following:

1. The full manufacturer and model of your computer as noted on the sticker of the computer itself.
2. Did this problem not occur in a previous release? If so, which one(s) specifically?
3. Does this problem occur with the latest version of Ubuntu?
4. If available, please comment to how testing test the relevant Broadcom STA Wireless driver for your card type provides a WORKAROUND. If it doesn’t, please file a report as per the procedure above.
5. Please provide the router manufacturer, model, and firmware version.

Please comment to how testing ndiswrapper for your card type provides a WORKAROUND. If it doesn’t work, please file a bug report as per the support article.

Once all of the required information is present, if the version of the driver you are using is the latest version available from the Ubuntu repositories, then one would want to e-mail the b43-dev mailing list following this procedure.

See Also

Installing Windows drivers with NdisWrapper.

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