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Here we go again ! Now on MINT 15 still no Wireless ! ! !

shutter
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Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Here we go again ! Now on MINT 15 still no Wireless ! ! !

Linux.... why can`t they include a wireless driver in the install?  
Mint 14.1 Maya
after install..... click on internet connection (bottom right )
shows    WIRED      -    Cable Unplugged  (yes indeed it is)
            WIRELESS -   FIRMWARE MISSING ....    ( LINUX FAILS AGAIN)  Cry
So now I start trying to figure how to get the necessary FIRMWARE installed.... followed this route....
Click on Network Settings
      Shows   WIRELESS   Hardware address  00:24:2C:XX:XX:90    (my XX in there)
Click on MENU > Preferences > Additional Drivers
Shows   Broadcom STA Proprietrary wireless driver
Click on   ACTIVATE
Authentication panel
(plug in wired connection ready for downloads - connection established on wired connection )
Authenticated.
Additional Drivers
                   Downloading
X Sorry. The installation of this driver failed
Please have a look at /var/log/jockey.log
CLOSE....
So again... Linux has failed me miserably.... Crazy
HOW do you get a wireless firmware download, and why should it not be included in the install?  
I have had this issue since Mint 8..... now we are trying with Mint 14 and it still isn`t part of the install?
Help me out, here, please, with a simple one line by one line noddy`s guide to get the wireless connection sorted....
29 REPLIES 29
w23
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Re: Here we go again !

A new Windows install would also likely be missing some drivers, hardware manufacturers are better at providing Windows drivers than Linux ones, unfortunately proprietary drivers do sometimes have to be added after install.
I would love to see distros bundled with all common wireless drivers though but not sure if there'd be an 'intellectual property' or copyright issue where manufacturer's code were included.
Call me 'w23'
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shutter
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Re: Here we go again !

Erm... Excuse me.... your statement does not make sense.... the broadcom driver is freeware... and there is no reason why it should not be included in the install...
having said that... when I did try to install it as a secondary item to add to the "wonderful" linux experience... ha ha ha ha.... it just say "sorry , the installation of the driver failed......
Having said all that in my original post, the best you can do , after me specifically asking for help, is to place your useless post above.  Angry
w23
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Re: Here we go again !

Sorry, no intention to be nonsensical or unhelpful.  Embarrassed
Mostly the driver installs work but clearly not all the time.
Is there anything useful looking in the referenced jockey.log?
Do you know which Broadcom chipset you have?
Does anything here help you?  http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=119692
Quote
Activating it with the LAN connected worked.

Call me 'w23'
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shutter
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Re: Here we go again !

apology accepted.
as usual, with any new ( apart from the fact I have been trying since MINT 8 to get to grips with linux phraseology), OS, there are things that are not understood by newbies...
so posting "Sorry the installation of this driver failed.... please have a look at /var/log/jockey.log"... means absolutely nothing.... they might just as well have said...
"TUFF, the wireless driver is crap, go and have a look at your duvet cover"
I have tried several times to download the driver and it comes back with the same SORRY message...
When I used mint 8,. i had the same sort of problem, but did manage to get the driver ... and again with mint 11...  although I do remember having to download and install FWCutter B43 or something, but cant remember how or where I got that from...
No, I don`t know which Broadcom chipset I have...
The HDD i have this copy of mint on, also had Mint 11 on previously and the wireless was set up on that. and worked on this laptop, and another much older one..
this laptop is DELL INSPIRON 1545 about 4 years old.  the older one was a INSPIRON 2200, about 10 years old...
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Here we go again !

Apparently Mint 15 has a new driver installer that includes Broadcom drivers.
The driver maybe free but there is a limit to the number of drivers they can include oob. And broadcom have a habit of changing the driver without changing the model number.
An install doesn't copy over drivers from previous versions for good reasons.
Maybe you should have tried Mint 15 rather than 14?
w23
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Re: Here we go again !

Excuse my ignorance here but does Mint 14 have the Ubuntu Synaptic package manager available by default?  If so, there may be some value in following the Ubuntu related comments in this document: http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt (though some of it reads like a foreign language, the bit about installing 'bcmwl-kernel-source' might just help).
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VileReynard
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Re: Here we go again !

To look at your hardware, open a terminal and enter
Quote
lspci

I get
Quote
jeremy@HECTOR:~$ lspci 
00:00.0 Memory controller: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 Memory Controller (rev a3)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge (rev a3)
00:01.1 SMBus: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 SMBus (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:02.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev a3)
00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev a2)
00:06.0 IDE interface: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 IDE (rev f2)
00:07.0 IDE interface: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:08.0 IDE interface: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller (rev f3)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0d.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge (rev a3)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G71 [GeForce 7300 GS] (rev a1)
05:08.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212/AR5213 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

The last entry tells you about your wireless - for more details, enter
Quote
jeremy@HECTOR:~$ lspci -v -s 05:08.0

I get
Quote
05:08.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212/AR5213 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: Netgear WG311T 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter (rev.A3)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 18
Memory at d3000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ath5k
Kernel modules: ath5k
which tells me that I am using ath5k as a driver for a Netgear WG311T card.

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shutter
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Re: Here we go again !

Quote from: Hairy

An install doesn't copy over drivers from previous versions for good reasons.

Yes I know that.... what I was trying to say was in answer to the query about which broadcom chipset I had installed.... that regardless of which is installed, previous installs had worked with the, so-called, proprietary driver  and therefore I could see no reason why the present proprietary driver should be so difficult to get and install...v
The reason I did not dowload MINT 15, was because there was some discussions on this forum about it, and it seemed to be "trouble" unless you know what you are doing with LInux...
Obviously, I don`t, so I thought 14 would be a safe bet.... how wrong can one be... updated and newer versions are just as difficult to get working on wireless as the old stuff.... Cry

In answer to "foxy".....
Quote

9:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)



HairyMcbiker
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Re: Here we go again !

I don't think there has been any negative comments about M15. My comment about the keyboard was related to me installing Compiz which requires a lot of hacking to work properly (In Mint 14 as well as 15).
Personally I use a particular app that isn't ported yet, so haven't switched full time, but do have a working install for testing.
Are you using Mate or Cinnamon version (just out of interest) ?
It might be worth your looking over the issues you had last time, and how it was fixed, the solution is probably the same or very similar.
shutter
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Re: Here we go again !

Mint Cinamon
However, I am now going to download and burn Mint 15... and see if that works without all this hassle....
I do remember downloading a Linux Version called "Phoenix"... and that worked on the wireless without any drivers having to be installed after the original install, but can`t remember much else about it... (except it was very early on in my Linux experiment stage).
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Here we go again !

As I said M15 has a new MintDriver app that will install 3rd party drivers. You will still need to be connected by Ethernet until the driver is installed.
You could also check out that other Linux distro that was aimed at M$ ex-pats. (Can't remember the name at the mo!) mentioned on here in the last week.
Since your favourite app (MS works or WHY) will not work, why do you keep on? Support for these is non existent. (Even from M$!)
w23
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Re: Here we go again !

I was going to say 'the BCM4312 should be supported by the Broadcom STA wireless driver installed via Synaptic Package Manager (bcmwl-kernel-source), you may also need to ensure that conflicting drivers are not already loaded (such as B43).' but I see you're going to try M15 - hope that one works better.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
shutter
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Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Here we go again !

@ HB  I have already downloaded ZORIN... but not yet tried it....
Why do I keep on.... because I like the idea of Linux MINT.... and thought that, by now.... 6 versions from my initial intro, it would have become more, "user friendly" in the install, and setup department.  and I am not going to find that out, unless...... I actually download and try it AGAIN....
I am back on my Windows Vista HDD now, and downloading MINT 15 as I type this.........
Yes, I know that, initially, I need to be wired to the router to download any updates etc... and also, probably, to set up the wireless side.... my yellow cable is already ....
@w23...
Yes, indeedy, the BCM4312 is supported by the Broadcom STA wireless driver....( as indicated by my post regarding previous versions being able to work on this chipset...... however, if you read my initial post properly, you will see that I am unable to get hold of the damn driver from wherever it comes from...... remember the message  "Sorry the installation of this driver failed.... please have a look at /var/log/jockey.log".
shutter
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Re: Here we go again ! Now on MINT 15 Wireless ! ! !

OK... Now working off the CD/DVD Linux Mint 15 Cinamon on my wireless connection.....
the wirelesss driver was not available on completion of the "trial version"  but I did have no trouble loading it from the "Preferences > Driver Manager. "
After installing it, all that was needed was the router password/key and hey presto instant connection....
Will now install it on the hdd in the caddy, and see how it performs ... 
Download to operational .... less than 20 minutes ... yes.. beats Windows by a mile!.. Just got to figure out all my other progs now ! ! ! ....