[nmglug] No wireless Ubuntu 11.10

[Nick Frost]

On 12/22/12 20:39, BrianO'Keefe wrote:

> That made things interesting! I was never able toa actually enable
> wireless, only tic it and then the option turned gray.
> But after running your commands I found the broadcom driver inactive and
> cannot activate it in propritary drivers. Now I get this, as the
> broadcom driver isn't installed:
> 
> ubuntu at ubuntu-laptop:~$ sudo rfkill unblock all
> ubuntu at ubuntu-laptop:~$ sudo rfkill list
> 0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
>     Soft blocked: no
>     Hard blocked: no

Hi Brian;

Well, it's not listed as software/hardware blocked anymore.

> So it seems that :
> 
> sudo rmmod -f wl
> 
> removed the module
> 
> $ sudo modprobe wl
> WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
> WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
> FATAL: Module wl not found.
> FATAL: Error running install command for wl

rmmod unlinks a module from the running kernel (temporarily) but it does
not remove module objects (.ko) or files;

"rmmod unloads loadable modules from the running kernel. "

http://oreilly.com/linux/command-directory/cmd.csp?path=r/rmmod

so unless files are removed or were removed by other means, re-linking
the module with modprobe or rebooting should ensure it's loaded as
before.  rmmod is misleading in this way, perhaps it should have been
called "unlmodule" or unload-module.  What is more likely is that wl is
linked to other modules that were unloaded when wl was dropped, you
ought to be able to reboot, do an lsmod and see what wl is linked to and
thereafter unload/load the whole set if necessary.

In my case iwlwifi is not linked to anything but cfg80211 is;

          206566  2 iwlwifi,mac80211

and so that's a case where I would have to ensure iwlwifi and mac80211
were loaded (modpbrobe) before loading cfg80211 (if the modules were not
linked to the running kernel).

According to what you pasted, the Broadcom module is blacklisted;

2012-12-22 20:25:25,240 DEBUG: BroadcomWLHandler enabled(): kmod
disabled, bcm43xx: blacklisted, b43: blacklisted, b43legacy: blacklisted

You may have to either install the drivers again and/or remove the
kernel source for the Broadcom chip as described;

http://askubuntu.com/questions/125529/wireless-doesnt-work-on-a-broadcom-bcm4312

I hope that helps.  I suppose another option (without tinkering with
your running system until you have found a protocol that works) would be
to boot from an Ubuntu 12.04 CD or 12.10 CD and try the above to see if
it functions or not at which point you could apply the remedy/changes to
your existing system.  You may find the the driver support better (or
not) across versions (12.04 vs. 12.10).  If you need apt-get and updates
for the CD test environment an Ethernet cable or the 2nd wireless card
hopefully will function.

-Nick


-- 
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Nicholas S. Frost
7 Avenida Vista Grande #325
Santa Fe, NM  87508
nickf at frostitute.com
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