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Solving typical problems of BCM4312 802.11b/g

March 22nd, 2010 by

The problem 1: I have a new Broadcom Wireless that doesn’t work with the driver B43, even when I download the firmware.

The problem 2: I don’t wanna use the Broadcom WL driver because its buggy, closed source, and doesn’t support aircrack.

The solution:

After a while working with this solution, i must say that the wireless range its improve and everything else working perfectly.

So, this works for some of those BCM4311-, 12- and those weird cards that don’t work with only the B43 and the Firmware.

  1. Install build essentials with: sudo zypper in -t pattern devel_basis devel_kernel
  2. Download the package compat-wireless from http://wireless.kernel.org/
  3. Unpack the package somewhere: tar xvzf compat-wireles.tar.gz
  4. Enter in the new directory, and execute: make && make install
  5. Wait for a while, and when it ends should say something like “do make unload” DON’T DO THAT.
  6. As root exec: install_bcm43xx_firmware, this script should be in your system path, but only as root. This will download the firmware to /lib/firmware/b43.
  7. Reboot. I found that its more safe to do a clean reboot than write make unload, because i got a kernel panic if i do that. So reboot and your wireless card should be working now with b43. Remember to remove the WL driver so you don’t have conflict between them.

I did this for my Aspire One D150 and some HP Laptops and works without problems.

I hope this information is useful.

Cheers.

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3 Responses to “Solving typical problems of BCM4312 802.11b/g”

  1. Heck, why don’t you just ship the “hybrid” Broadcom STA driver, it’s the best of all!
    http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=openSUSE%3A11.2&q=broadcom-sta

  2. Alex Barrios

    Hi there. The STA driver doesn’t support monitor mode. For me thats a big fail because I’m attached to what the driver let me or not do with my card.

    Moreover, that driver, at least for me, its buggy, and with this procedure i got a bigger wireless range and more stable connection, and of course, again monitor mode and package injection without problems.

    The STA (WL) driver works, but you are not free to do whatever you want. 😉

  3. Clark

    Tried this on an HP 110 and it did not work. Had to go back to the wl driver.