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Trufa
Asked: 2015-03-06 14:39:17 +0800 CST

If I don't want to use Broadcom drivers, what are my options?

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I am having trouble with some wifi connections. Some questions I’ve read seem to blame the Broadcom drivers.

I ran the following:

sudo apt-get remove  broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source bcmwl-kernel-source

After reboot, it seemed that no driver was installed.

My wireless card is the BCM4313, and according to Ubuntu’s guide for the Broadcom BCM43xx, I would need the brcmsmac driver. This seems correct according to kernal.org Broadcom documentation.

The thing is, I don't know whether I have to install it, or how. Apparently it should be there by default, but when I run:

sudo insmod brcm80211

I get

insmod: ERROR: could not load module brcm80211: No such file or directory
  • How can I go about trying other drivers to see if any work?
  • How do I install brcmsmac?
wireless

2 Answers

  1. When you removed bcmwl-kernel-source, a blacklist file was left behind. It is preferable to purge, not remove. Let's remove the blacklist file:

    sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf

    In some cases, upon boot, the driver b43 also loads and the wireless doesn't work. If this is your case, post back and we'll proceed. We may need to blacklist b43 or ssb or both; we'll learn with some trial and error.

    Based on information derived in our chat, I suggest you compile the version of brcmsmac found in kernel version 3.18. Download this to your desktop: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable/v3.18.1/backports-3.18.1-1.tar.gz Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now, with a working temporary internet connection, open a terminal and do:

    sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
cd ~/Desktop/backports-3.18.1-1
make defconfig-brcmsmac
make
sudo make install
sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

    Remove the lines:

    blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist bcma

    Proofread carefully, save and quit from vim.

    sudo modprobe brcmsmac

    Is it working now? I will probably have one additional step.

    • 3

  2. I had a problem with both Realtek and Broadcom. I solved the problem by using an Asus Easy N usb adapter. It was found automatically during install and works great at high speeds without dropping or slowing up on my Ubuntu 14.10 system. I know it also works the same way with Open Suse 13.2 and Debian 7.8 Hope this helps someone.

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