The broadcom BCM4328 Wirelss devices may not work with the current opensource drivers as it is not reverse engineered yet. The resolution would be to opt for the NDiswrapper option. One can use the Windows drivers with the NDiswrapper to workaround the situation.
NOTE: Please note this is a workaround only as using a Windows component may let your Kernel unsupported and there can be impact on the system performance as seen with older versions.
Download the Broadcom Windows driver from the oem websites like Compaq/HP, Dell etc as per your laptop/pc model. If you have access to Windows, then download and extract the files from the installer, the two files we are looking for are bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys
Alternatively, you can download drivers (R151517-pruned.zip) here posted by farimi for ubuntu users.
Download the drivers
opensuse11:~ # wget http://myspamb8.googlepages.com/R151517-pruned.zip
Unzip and extract the files
opensuse11:~ # unzip R151517-pruned.zip
This extracts the driver files we are looking for.
Unload the current broadcom driver kernel modules
Unload the current bcm43xx drivers and blacklist it before installing the ndiswrapper driver modules
opensuse11:~ # rmmod bcm43xx
opensuse11:~ # echo “blacklist bcm43xx” >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
Install NDisWrapper
opensuse11:~ # yast2 –install ndiswrapper
This installs the NDiswrapper.
Configure NDiswrapper to use the extracted driver
opensuse11:~ # ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
Update ndiswrapper config
opensuse11:~ # ndiswrapper -m
Initiate the ndiswrapper
opensuse11:~ # modprobe ndiswrapper
This loads the new ndiswrapper driver.
Now, make the Wireless card use this driver module from
YaST – “Network Devices” – “Network Settings”
Select the Wireless card, click Edit and then click Hardware Tab
Under Kernel module – select ndiswrapper as module and save the settings.
You are done, reboot the system and you should be online on your wireless with ndiswrapper driver.
Hello,
I can’t get my gigaset 108 working. So I followed your instructions using the ar5523.inf xpdriver and ndiswrapper. Everything corroborates except the last instruction: select ndiswrapper as module. There is nothing in the pull down menu. If I fill out ndiswrapper myself and finish the installation there is no network connection. If I restart Network Settings the module name ndiswrapper has disappeared.
What is wrong?
Here is a link to get BCM4328 working under Linux 2.6 without the ndiswrapper. It could be helpful.
http://www2.zdo.com/archives/33-Broadcom-BCM4328-and-wpa_supplicant-under-Linux-2.6..html
Thanks, man. It really helped me.
In my case, the question was the windows driver to use with ndiswrapper.
It only worked with the “pruned” version, in the previous link.
|o|
Went around in circles for two days trying to get this to work, after I lost wireless on a Dell Inspiron 6400, with the bcm4328. Finally got it working by logging in as root and removing broadcom driver; “ndiswrapper -r bcmwl5.inf” , then “modprobe ndiswrapper” , uninstalling ndiswrapper; “cd /home/gb/ndiswrapper-1.54” , then “make uninstall” or uninstall with yast if you installed it that way,then I used Find Files/Folders on the Kde menu to find any ndiswrapper files/folders and deleted them all. I then opened /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist with Kwrite and deleted “blacklist bcm43xx” from the file.
I then rebooted and went to this link; http://www.susegeek.com/networking/fix-bcm4311431243214322-wireless-in-opensuse-111-and-earlier/ , followed the instructions and rebooted again, and this is the result; I am able to post this reply using my wifi………..WOOHOO!
Global Sun Technology, Inc. AR5523 (no firmware) is NOT working, too.
openSUSE 11.1
Thanks for the detailed description.
But I am having a problem executing “modprobe ndiswrapper”. It gives a warning. The Wireless card is not displayed in the Network Devices.
Please help me!