Package dkms-broadcom-wl update causing problems?

[quartz]

Hello
On 5 December I received an update to dkms-broadcom-wl taking it to 5.100.82.112-2.mga1

Since then, the wireless, which worked fine before, has been unreliable, disconnecting and then immediately reconnecting often up to a few times per minute. This is despite the fact that I am close to the router and have excellent signal.

Nothing else has changed, so (1) has anyone else experienced problems since receiving this update? and (2) what logs should I be looking in to try and resolve what is happening?

In case anyone asks, lspci returns the following (among other things):

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0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Many thanks,
Q.

[doktor5000]

Please show the output from

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lspcidrake -v | grep NET

[quartz]

Hi doktor5000,

this is the output of the lspcidrake command:

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tg3             : Broadcom Corporation|NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [NETWORK_ETHERNET] (vendor:14e4 device:1600 subv:1028 subd:01c2) (rev: 02)
wl              : Broadcom Corporation|BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:14e4 device:4315 subv:1028 subd:000b) (rev: 01)


[leuhmanu]

I guess it's the bug of nm_controller.

tail -f /var/log/messages (as root)
then try to connect to a network.

and paste the output here.

[Zezinho]

Hello
On 5 December I received an update to dkms-broadcom-wl taking it to 5.100.82.112-2.mga1

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0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Q.

It is a slightly indirect answer, but why do you use wl driver with a 4312 ? It should work better with them open-source b43 driver.
On Mageia 1 at release time, this needed an extraction of the firmware from the windows drivers. But since, an update brought an open-source firmware for this hardware. Just remove dkms-broadcom-wl, reconfigure with MCC your wifi controler, and it will install the needed RPMS : just see the following bug reports.

b43-openfwwf package added :
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=923

wl driver behaving badly with some hardware :
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2266

[quartz]

leuhmanu - thanks. I will do this as soon as I am on the laptop (wired desktop at the moment)/

zezinho - thanks, I wasn't aware of that work going on in the background.
Reading the first bug report, it seems I have the correct version of all the drakx-net rpms already, however the notes for b43-openfwwf state:

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Currently supported models are 4306, 4311(rev1), 4318 and 4320.

No mention of my 4312.

[wobo]

I have exactly the same Broadcom-Chip, working fine with dkms-broadcom-wl, not working with b43.

[truls]

I have also this BCM4312, and it worked like a charm after following these instructions, the funny thing my Broadcom bluetooth chip also worked after using this solution:

http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt

[quartz]

OK, I removed dkms-broadcom-wl and installed b43-openfwwf. No dice. The Network Manager said it needed a windows drivers, and asked me to locate a file.

So I uninstalled b43-openfwwf and put dkms-broadcom-wl back on. Now my wireless is on wlan0 rather than eth1 but seems to be working OK.

truls - thanks, I've bookmarked that page in case I need to experiment further.

edit: for what its worth, from the Dec 5 update until now, whilst the wireless was on, /var/log/messages was filling up with:

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Dec 13 06:35:44 d620 kernel: ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_station : Could not get rate (-1)
Dec 13 06:35:44 d620 kernel: ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_station : Could not get rssi (-1)

...every few seconds. Since the modification above, this does not seem to be happening any more.

[quartz]

...oh. And this morning, it's broken again.

The wlan0 network connection has disappeared, I am back on eth1, and the fault described in my OP has reappeared. When I went into Network Center, the option to create a wlan0 connection is no longer there. There is definitely something odd here as I haven't changed any settings.

The lspcidrake -v output is the same as posted earlier, and /var/log/messages is filling up with the error messages I posted above, while the wireless connects and disconnects frequently.

...what next?

Cheers,
Q.

[doktor5000]

By any chance, do you have networkmanager installed?

[quartz]

Hey doktor5000

No, I've checked and Network Manager is not installed.
Other interesting stuff going on in /var/log/messages, is this normal or odd? (Note the bit about regulatory domain TW - I am in UK, not Taiwan! Sometimes the messages say GB. I've checked the wireless advanced settings in Control Panel and it's definitely set to GB.

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Dec 15 19:54:06 d620 ifplugd(eth1)[3707]: Link beat lost.
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: TW
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: TW
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2700 mBm)
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211:     (5270000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 1700 mBm)
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: cfg80211:     (5735000 KHz - 5815000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 3000 mBm)
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_station : Could not get rate (-1)
Dec 15 19:54:07 d620 kernel: ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_station : Could not get rssi (-1)
Dec 15 19:54:08 d620 ifplugd(eth1)[3707]: Link beat detected.