Home / ubuntu / Questions / 411103
Accepted
Mirto Busico
Asked: 2014-01-27 10:48:33 +0800 CST

Broadcom wireless driver doesn't see all the AP

  • 772

I have 2 notebook that see all the wireless access point except one.

The computers are:

  • HP Pavilion DV6 - wifi Broadcom BCM4312 - Kubuntu 13.10 64bit
  • Asus EEEPC 1018P - wifi broadcom BMC4313 - Kubuntu 14.04 64 Bit Aplha 2

The missing access point is a D-Link DIR-615 set up with:

  • mixed mode "Mixed 802.11n, 802.11g and 802.11b"
  • auto channel scan enabled
  • wireless channel CH13 (not changeable)

I have another AP and this one (a TP-Link) is correctly identified and used for connections.

All other devices I have in home (some Android smartphones and tablets, an iPad and a Playstation) correctly see and use the missing AP

Also the computers connets to this AP if booted with Windows.

I don't know in which Kubuntu version or update the problem arose, but I tried on the Asus a fresh install of 12.04.3, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04Alpha2 and obtained the same result:

The driver in use is WL.
nm-tool on HP says

Device: eth1  [efm2] ---------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            wl
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        F0:7B:CB:95:14:08

  Capabilities:
    Speed:           54 Mb/s

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)

    Telecom-64869841:Infra, A4:B1:E9:D3:B6:D1, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 10 WPA WPA2
    BOX:             Infra, A0:F3:C1:98:58:80, Freq 2447 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 17 WPA2

    FASTWEB-1-c85NyZctS6gd: Infra, E0:91:53:4E:4C:58, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 12 WPA

    *efm2:           Infra, F8:1A:67:30:A0:08, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 66 WPA >WPA2

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.253.100
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.253.1

    DNS:             192.168.253.1

My AP are efm2 (listed) and efm (missing); all other AP are from neighbors

Followed the instructions in the first response.

I still see only the far AP and don't see the nearest DIR-615 AP.

nm-tool says:

- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            b43
  State:             disconnected
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        F0:7B:CB:95:14:08
  Capabilities:
  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes
  Wireless Access Points 
    efm2:            Infra, F8:1A:67:30:A0:08, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 46 WPA >WPA2

What else can I try?

As in the comments, the iwlist command is

mirto@msb03:/etc/network$ sudo iwlist eth1 freq

eth1      26 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
          Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
          Channel 14 : 2.484 GHz
          Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
          Channel 38 : 5.19 GHz
          Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
          Channel 42 : 5.21 GHz
          Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
          Channel 46 : 5.23 GHz
          Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
          Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz
          Channel 153 : 5.765 GHz
          Channel 157 : 5.785 GHz
          Channel 161 : 5.805 GHz
          Channel 165 : 5.825 GHz

At this point, I returned to the wl driver because I see no difference in behaviour

Following bug [wireless-tools] Cannot use channel 12 or 13 of wifi in a region where it is legal

I tried

mirto@msb03:/etc/network$ sudo cat /sys/module/cfg80211/parameters/ieee80211_regdom

00

That says 00 instead of US or EU

After googling bugs I found that there exist an /etc/defeult/crda file with an empty domain

ASAP I'll try to set the domain

sudo cat /etc/default/crda
  Set REGDOMAIN to a ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha2 country code so that iw(8) may set
  the initial regulatory domain setting for IEEE 802.11 devices which operate
  on this system.

 Governments assert the right to regulate usage of radio spectrum within
 their respective territories so make sure you select a ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha2
 country code suitable for your location or you may infringe on local
 legislature. See `/usr/share/zoneinfo/zone.tab' for a table of timezone
 descriptions containing ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha2 country codes.

REGDOMAIN=

so I tried 

REGDOMAIN=IT

but nothing changed

After setting IT in domain. I have:

$ sudo iw reg get
country IT:
        (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
        (5170 - 5250 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
        (5250 - 5330 @ 40), (N/A, 20), DFS
        (5490 - 5710 @ 40), (N/A, 27), DFS
        (57240 - 65880 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), NO-OUTDOOR

I tried on another computer to scan the missing AP:

  • Abandoned again the wl driver for the b43 driver
  • rebooted
  • added the IT domain in /etc/default/crda

Now seems to work.

I'll try the same operation on the Asus that have a fresh install

_________ Solved on Asus ___________________________

Operations to solve the problem on Asus Kubuntu 14.04Alpha2

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

reboot

reboot

add IT as domain in /etc/default/crda

REGDOMAIN=IT

reboot

reboot

______ last update _________________________

The drivers selected are:

on HP driver b43

on Asus driver brcmsmac

wireless

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    On the HP, I suggest you obtain a temporary wired ethernet connection and open a terminal and do:

    sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
sudo modprobe -r wl && sudo modprobe b43

    Is it working as expected? It may take a reboot. I recommend we get the HP sorted first and then tackle the Asus.

    Is the router on a channel the Broadcom wireless can't use?

    sudo iwlist wlan0 chan

    It may help to explicitly set your region domain. Find yours here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 Then do:

    gksudo gedit /etc/rc.local

    Right above exit 0 add a new line:

    iw reg set US

    Of course, substitute your country code here, if not US. Proofread carefully, save and close gedit. Reboot. Any improvement?

    Can you scan the missing network from another computer? 

    sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

    May we see the result?

    • 3