Dell mini 9 wireless help

[straykat]

lsmod shows
wl
ssb
and b43

I have no idea how to load or unload them.

[straykat]

Got it.  Installed web browser and e-mailed the txt to myself.  grabbed it from another pc that can cut and paste.   

(2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
    (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
    (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'pid'
Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PL, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]
r8169: eth0: link down
r8169: eth0: link up
r8169: eth0: link down
r8169: eth0: link up
r8169: eth0: link down
lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
wl: module license 'unspecified' taints kernel.
Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
r8169: eth0: link up

[Juanito]

This all looks normal apart from there being no mention of "eth1" - as mentioned the wl module will not work if the b43 and ssb modules are loaded. The proof of this is that dmesg does not mention "eth1"

The best way to deal with this is to add "blacklist=ssb blacklist=b43" to your boot codes.

After re-boot and before loading any wireless modules or issuing any wireless commands, you can try removing the unwanted modules like this:

Code: [Select]

$ sudo rmmod b43
$ sudo rmmod ssb
..and then load the wireless modules/issue the wireless commands, but I cannot remember if removing the modules after boot (rather than preventing them loading at boot with blacklist) works or not.

[straykat]

ok i rebooted rmmod the ssb and b43
gave the following cmds
sudo modprobe wl
sudo iwconfig eth1 essid straykat
sudo udhcpc -b -i eth1

now ifconfig shows eth1

but no ip via dhcp

[Juanito]

..looks like we're getting somewhere though  

What does dmesg say?

What do you get after the udhcpc command? There should be something about requesting an ip address repeated three times or until it gets an ip address, whichever is sooner.

Note that with my setup, about 20% of the time I have to kill the udhcpc daemon and issue the command again before it catches an ip address

[straykat]

after udhcpc -b -i eth1
sending discover
no lease forking to background

[Juanito]

It would still be good if you could paste the output of "dmesg | tail -20"

You can try again with udhcpc by doing this to get the process ID:

Code: [Select]

$ ps aux | grep udhcpc
..which will give a four digit number, xxxx, next to "udhcpc -b -i eth1"

Then take this four digit number and do this:

Code: [Select]

$ sudo kill -9 xxxx
(take care not to kill the udhcpc interface to eth0) and then you can try again with " sudo udhcpc -b -i eth1"

[straykat]

    (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
    (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
    (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2000 mBm)
cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'pid'
Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PL, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]
r8169: eth0: link down
b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
wl: module license 'unspecified' taints kernel.
Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
wl 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
wl 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
eth1: Broadcom BCM4315 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.60.48.36

[straykat]

same result
no lease forking to background

i even verified that the pid was gone and tried again.

[straykat]

howto blacklist?

[Juanito]

You don't mention which boot loader you use, but you need to use something analogous to this:

Code: [Select]

label microcore
kernel /boot/bzImage
append initrd=/boot/microcore.gz quiet noswap tce=UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3 waitusb=5 blacklist=ssb blacklist=b43


[straykat]

ok i added that to grub menu.lst
still cant acquire address
just three tries and out everytime i run sudo udhcpc -b -i eth1

[Juanito]

Sorry, but I can think of anything more to suggest on the "wl" front.

Of course you have the choice of trying the b43 module and firmware (this is what I use by default) or ndiswrapper and windows driver, but this also risks to be a little painful.

[Juanito]

I see a new version of the "wl" module is available - I'll try to compile it in the next day or two, maybe that'll work better.

[roberts]

I know you stated that you do not wish to use ndiswrapper but, FWIW,  a friend does use ndiswrapper on a Mini 9 and it is working fine. Since you have XP should be easy to use even if temporarily.

The odd thing I recall about Mini 9 is often a complete shutdown (poweroff) is often needed when testing the wifi interface. Often a reboot, kill, or ifconfig did not "clear" the interface. I have also heard that such is the case with some Acer netbooks, so test with that in mind.