bcm43xx completely broken in feisty

Bug #85404 reported by Michael Buesch
94
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-source-2.6.20 (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Feisty by Frode M. Døving

Bug Description

Binary package hint: linux-source

bcm43xx is completely broken in the feisty kernel.
The reason is that it's using heavily obsolete code for bcm43xx stuff. People keep bugging me and wasting my time with this.
There is _only_ one possible way to fix the issue:
Drop bcm43xx-d80211 and misc/ssb.c and replace it by the in linux-2.6.20 included bcm43xx-softmac.

d80211 and bcm43xx-d80211 is _not_ ready for distribution kernels, yet.

Additionally you are using heavily obsolete code (The old SSB library) in the feisty kernel that I dropped development for since several months.
Immediately kill linux-source-2.6.20-2.6.20/ubuntu/misc/ssb.c please.
Also kill linux-source-2.6.20-2.6.20/ubuntu/wireless/d80211/bcm43xx and replace it by current softmac based stable kernel.

Tags: bcm43xx
Revision history for this message
Chuck Short (zulcss) wrote :

Re-assign to right component.

Revision history for this message
Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote : Re: [Bug 85404] bcm43xx completely broken in feisty

We're using the SSB code as is current in your repository, which is (as
far as I know) the current code. Right now, the inclusion of the d80211
code is to gain more widespread testing of the current codebase and
allow us to gain a better understanding of the current degree of
functionality. We certainly haven't committed to providing it as the
default wireless stack, and if it isn't providing the necessary degree
of functionality before release we'll continue providing the softmac
code as we did in the previous release.

--
Matthew Garrett | <email address hidden>

Revision history for this message
Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote :

Ok, it turns out that I've got confused about which code is in our tree
right now, and we have indescribably ancient stuff by accident. Yes,
that should be pulled. Sorry for the confusion!

--
Matthew Garrett | <email address hidden>

Revision history for this message
Aaron Ahlemeyer (fatespeaks) wrote :

bcm43xx does not work for my system with kernel 2.6.20-8-generic. I get messages in the system log about needing firmware 4.x or later. The 4.x firmware was challenging to obtain, I used fwcutter-006. With the 4.x firmware that I found, network scanning works, but my system completely freezes after I give KeyRing my password to establish a WPA connection. I have not tested without WPA.

I booted with my previous kernel 2.6.20-6-generic and bcm43xx is working well with NetworkManager and WPA.

Hope this info is useful to someone.

Cheers,
Aaron Ahlemeyer

Revision history for this message
Bardur Simonsen (bard-simonsen) wrote :

Feisty freezes here with kernel 2.6.20-6-368 using WEP 128 encryption. anything else is the same as Aaron Ahlemeyer.

kernel 2.6.20-6-368 works fine.

Revision history for this message
Cristian Aravena Romero (caravena) wrote :

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug. Unfortunately we can't fix it, because your description didn't include enough information.

Please include the following additional information, if you have not already done so (please pay attention to lspci's additional options), as required by the Ubuntu Kernel Team:
1. Please include the output of the command "uname -a" in your next response. It should be one, long line of text which includes the exact kernel version you're running, as well as the CPU architecture.
2. Please run the command "dmesg > dmesg.log" and attach the resulting file "dmesg.log" to this bug report.
3. Please run the command "lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log" and attach the resulting file "lspci-vvnn.log" to this bug report.

For your reference, the full description of procedures for kernel-related bug reports is available here: <http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingKernelProblems> Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Benny Bräuer (b-braeuer) wrote :

Hi Christian,

I've got the same problem with my HP Compag nx6125, so here are the additional information you need:

1. uname -a:
Linux terra 2.6.20-8-generic #2 SMP Tue Feb 13 05:18:42 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

2. dmesg & lspci -vvnn
attached

Revision history for this message
Grant Paton-Simpson (launchpad-p-s) wrote :

Hi Cristian,

Same problem here on a desktop machine:

1. uname -a
Linux grant-desktop 2.6.20-8-generic #2 SMP Tue Feb 13 05:18:42 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

2. dmesg & lspci -vvnn
attached

Revision history for this message
Mike Pedersen (michael-pedersen) wrote :

I am also noticing the problems reported above. I am using a Dell latitude d400 with a broadcom bcm4306 wireless chip set. I am not able to view any wireless networks. Do the developers have enough information here from other users or should I include more details?

Revision history for this message
Michael Buesch (mb-bu3sch) wrote :

You do _NOT_ need to answer to this bug entry. We know exactly what's broken and how to fix it.
It was a mismerge. There is absolutely no further testing or bugreporting needed.

The whole purpose for which I opened this bug, is to make the ubuntu developers aware of the breakage, as I constantly (still) receive tons of bugreports for the bcm43xx driver, caused by this. So please don't spam my mailbox even more. :)

Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Frode M. Døving (frode) wrote :

I can confirm this is broken and needs fixing before release.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Kevin Kubasik (kkubasik) wrote :

ditto.

Revision history for this message
Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote :

Please stop replying to this bug. It's being dealt with.

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
status: Confirmed → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Brian Murray (brian-murray) wrote :

Bug 85099 seems to be related to this one if not the same bug.

Revision history for this message
Licio Fonseca (licio) wrote :

I can confirm this bug, after upgrade to feisty fawn herd 4, my wireless card (broadcom 4318)
doen't work.

I've got the message:

/var/log/syslog.0:Feb 23 00:34:35 medula kernel: [ 418.600000] bcm43xx:
YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.

This bug just happen with kernel-2.6.20-8, I've tested with
kernel-2.6.20-6 and run perfect.

Revision history for this message
Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu) wrote :

Michael Buesch is the bcm43xx upstream maintainer. Matthew is the Ubuntu kernel maintainer.

The issue with the kernel tree has been ACK'ed.

No further comments are necessary.

Revision history for this message
Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu) wrote :

I am, of course, lying in the previous comment wrt. maintainership for Ubuntu kernel.

Statement stands.

Revision history for this message
Jeff Greene (jeffgreene) wrote :

This problem seems to be fixed in linux-image-2.6.20-9. After updating, I added the firmware to /lib/firmware/2.6.20-9/. Once I restarted, I was able to get wireless again. (Note: Remember to select the linux kernel 2.6.20-9 in grub.)

I have a Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4320] (rev 03) and was using the firmware extracted from wl_apsta.o, version 3.130.20.0.

It can be found here: http://boredklink.googlepages.com/wl_apsta.o

I hope that solves it for everyone else!

Changed in linux-source-2.6.20:
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Chris Wagner (chris-wagner) wrote : Re: [Bug 85404] Re: bcm43xx completely broken in feisty

Sorry to add noise if it's unnecessary, but I can confirm; my
bcm43xx-based card is now working again, under feisty.

Revision history for this message
Michael R. Head (burner) wrote :

Confirmed fixed on powerpc, too. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Jorge Suárez de Lis (ys) wrote :

OK for me too.
bcm4306 rev03 working again. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Kosava (kosava) wrote :

I have problem with feisty herd 4

i can not conecet to my wireless provider with my static ip adress they are alway drop me i use D-Link -520 Atheros chipset

Revision history for this message
Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu) wrote :

Might I recommend opening a bug for that issue, then?

Revision history for this message
magilus (magilus) wrote :

No, this has been fixed post Herd 4. Wait for Herd 5 then.

Revision history for this message
Thom Pischke (thom-pischke) wrote :

After installing the firmware cut from wl_apsta.o in 2.6.20-9 (as described by Jeff), I now have wireless connectivity again without resorting to booting the 2.6.20-6 kernel.

One glitch though: The wireless light on my laptop no longer lights up as it does when using the 2.6.20-6 kernel. Pressing the activate button causes the light to flash briefly, but it will not stay lit.

I have a BCM4306 rev02 wireless card.

Revision history for this message
Tyler Close (tyler-close) wrote :

I just upgraded to feisty and am having trouble with the wireless. I had wireless working before the upgrade. The driver seems to load fine and I can get a DHCP lease, but then can't get any packets through to anything. A ping to my gateway gets 100% packet loss. There don't seem to be any error messages in /var/log/dmesg

I have an iBook g4 with:

0001:10:12.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)
Linux minnow 2.6.15-26-powerpc #1 Fri Sep 8 19:51:33 UTC 2006 ppc GNU/Linux

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