Ubuntu

wifi device driver improperly identified

Asked by Doug Wilson

I have the following pcmcia wireless card:
DYNEX Wireless G NB Card
Model: DX-WGPNBC
FCC ID: MXF-P950602G

The Ubuntu auto-detect code always wants to install the incorrect driver. In the Software Updater "Additional Drivers" tab I currently get this:
Broadcom Corporation: BCM4318 [AirForce One 54G] 802.11G Wireless LAN Controller
This device is not working
O Using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl-kernel-source(proprietary)
O Do not use the device {this is currently checked}

This is the output of lspci on this computer:
dbreeze@ubuntulatitude:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV200/M7 [Mobility Radeon 7500]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller
02:01.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller
07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

I know that if I try to use the recommended "STA" proprietary driver it won't work. I went through the same issue on install until I found a forum post somewhere that identified my Dynex devices chipset and then tracked down the supporting driver.
Despite the Software Updater's note that "the device is not working", I'm having no issues as configured. I'm hoping to get this info documented for anyone else using a similar Dynex wifi card who can't get the driver figured out until the corrections are made to the install code proper...

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Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#1

The only useful output in your description is the following output from the lspci command:

Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

The rest of your description is irrelevant. The GNU/Linux kernel is very trustworthy in assessing what hardware you have, but not always trustworthy in assigning the right driver/kernel module to use that hardware.

In this case, the GNU/Linux kernel has assessed that your wireless adapter contains the BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) chipset. The hardware model and make on the outside of the box or on the physical device is not relevant.

Based on the fact that your wireless adapter is using the BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) chipset and based on the following guide (search for 4318 in the guide)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

you will notice that you need to install the b43 driver and firmware to use that wireless adapter.

I have explained this many times before in the past in these posts (since the year 2009 to be precise) :

https://answers.launchpad.net/~markrijckenberg/+questions?field.search_text=BCM4318+rev+02&field.sort=RELEVANCY&field.sort-empty-marker=1&field.actions.search=Search&field.language=en&field.language=nl&field.language-empty-marker=1&field.status=OPEN&field.status=NEEDSINFO&field.status=ANSWERED&field.status=SOLVED&field.status-empty-marker=1

So this is nothing new.

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Doug Wilson (dbreeze) said : 		#2

i suppose this issue needs to be taken to kernel developers to correct their code....? On both Kubuntu and Xubuntu the device is being improperly assigned a driver. Surely this is a relatively easy fix to a database/table somewhere to get the right driver chosen for this device signature?

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