Broadcom BCM4311 on Ubuntu 12.10

nedd

OK, So I updated my Dell Latitide to Ubuntu 12.10 and wifi stopped working.

After lots of searching online and running about a hundred commands I don't understand I eventually got it working using the open source b43 driver.

But the WIFI speed is desperately slow. Before the update i was getting 700kBps but now I'm getting 15kBps.

All the recommendations online suggested using the STA driver provided by Broadcom but this didnt work for me.

Any help or ideas here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

PrzemoF

"running about a hundred commands I don't understand" ... try to fix that. ;-)

what connection speed do you get? (not real transfer rate, but connection speed, like 11Mb )or 54Mb

timbyr

There is an issue with 12.10 and this wireless card.

I can't remember specifically what the issue was but the Ubuntu provided kernel module didn't work.

I was using the kernel packages from PPA https://launchpad.net/~upubuntu-com/+archive/kernel-amd64 which including a working STA module.

nedd

Sorry for not replying in ages. I have been using the laptop for a while now and it it looks like the speed is not too bad, the issue seems to be whenever I start downloading torrents browsing the web stops totally. I have done a little googling and all recommendations seem to point to limiting the number of connections in the torrent app. I have limited the number to 50 now but as soon as I start downloading I cant use the internet at all.

Even if I kill the torrent app it looks like the router is still holding the connections open for ages. Most of the time i have to restart the router.

This isnt an issue I was having on Ubuntu 11.04 so it's either something in 12.10 or the open source driver is causing an issue.

Timbyr, thanks for your post, when I add that PPA to my software sources what exactly do i need to download to get the STA?

Morrisseeee

Had this exact problem yesterday installing 12.10 on a Latitude D620 for a friend. Should I use an older version of Ubuntu or is there a fix for this yet.
When I do 'lspci', it recognizes it as a Broadcom 4311 WLAN but the green light isn't on and I can't find where I can do a scan or turn it off/on (if that makes sense), note: it's been a while since I messed around with Ubuntu
Also: I installed the firmware-b43.deb but to no avail. I actually had to do it manually with 'dpkg', the INSTALL button was greyed out on the SoftwareCenter !!

AnCatDubh

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Had this exact problem yesterday installing 12.10 on a Latitude D620 for a friend. Should I use an older version of Ubuntu or is there a fix for this yet.
When I do 'lspci', it recognizes it as a Broadcom 4311 WLAN but the green light isn't on and I can't find where I can do a scan or turn it off/on (if that makes sense), note: it's been a while since I messed around with Ubuntu
Also: I installed the firmware-b43.deb but to no avail. I actually had to do it manually with 'dpkg', the INSTALL button was greyed out on the SoftwareCenter !!

Sounds very similar to a problem on my son's Dell laptop post upgrade which we did only yesterday - working fine beforehand but no wifi after.

There's an update which was needed and problem solved. A simple sudo apt-get install did it. What's the magic bit after install - meh..., can't exactly remember BC***** something or other, but I'll dig it out this evening and post if someone doesn't come to the rescue in the meantime or if you do a sudo lshw -C network it will give the detected wireless adapter identity and google about for it, you might find it. The solution I found was for an older distro but appears to have worked fine. As far as I recall, the BC***** was a broadcom driver package of some description or other but i'll post the exact one later if you don't find it before this evening.

PrzemoF

I can't help right now, but it's LINUX not windows: random installing/uninstalling different things might help, but that's not the best way.
There are system logs and linux is really good at telling you what's wrong. You just have to listen!

Please find and follow ubuntu manual for Broadcom cards. Identify your wifi and follow the manual. Don't execute magic commands. If you don't understand what you're doing ask for help/explanation.

AnCatDubh

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Sounds very similar to a problem on my son's Dell laptop post upgrade which we did only yesterday - working fine beforehand but no wifi after.

The Laptop is a 1545. It has a Broadcom BCM4312 wireless adapter / card / module.

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

The bcmwl-kernel-source I understand to be drivers for Broadcom's BCM4311, 4312, 4321, and 4322 based cards. It's in the standard repositories so I expect it is safe enough and easy to remove if its of no use to you.

It appears to be a common enough problem with Broadcom's hardware on multiple manufacturers kit and there are a number of suggested solutions out there. The one above worked for me.

nedd

I got mine working following this guide. Very helpful:

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