# broadcom 4727 hard blocked

## scosu

Hi,

a few months ago I installed gentoo on my notebook (Lenovo G555), after using arch linux. On arch I used the standard kernel and wlan worked without a problem using the broadcom-sta drivers.

Since yesterday I am trying to get it working on gentoo, but the device is hard blocked, that's what rfkill says:

```
# rfkill list

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes
```

With the hardwareswitch off:

```
 # rfkill list

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes
```

softwareswitch off:

```
 # rfkill list

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: yes

        Hard blocked: yes

1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: yes

        Hard blocked: yes
```

```
 # lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge Alternate

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)

00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)

00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)

00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)

00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]

00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] HyperTransport Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Miscellaneous Control

00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]

08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 4727 (rev 01)

09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)
```

dmesg after loading the driver:

```
[   53.054810] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.

[   53.054820] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

[   53.066675] wl 0000:08:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

[   53.066682] wl 0000:08:00.0: setting latency timer to 64

[   53.094270] wl 0000:08:00.0: eth0: Features changed: 0x00004800 -> 0x00004000

[   53.102550] eth0: Broadcom BCM4727 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38

[   53.107741] udevd[1481]: renamed network interface eth0 to eth2
```

```
 # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

wl                   2510025  0 

phc_k8                 17485  0 

mperf                   1067  1 phc_k8

ideapad_laptop          4294  0
```

Does anyone has an idea?

Thanks in advance.

----------

## DONAHUE

you have used 

```
rfkill unblock all
```

 ?

----------

## scosu

yes I tried that, but it only changed the soft blocked state.

----------

## DONAHUE

you've tried with wired ethernet unplugged?

----------

## scosu

I just tried it with wired ethernet unplugged and the interface down. The result was the same.

----------

## DONAHUE

my last guess: 

does your kernel config include (module vs builtin should not matter, assuming ideapad=thinkpad for kernel purposes, power saving is often implemented here) :

 *Quote:*   

> Device Drivers  ---> 
> 
> [*] X86 Platform Specific Device Drivers  --->
> 
> --- X86 Platform Specific Device Drivers 
> ...

 

----------

## scosu

Thanks for your help so far.

It was builtin. Now I compiled it as module but a 'modprobe thinkpad_acpi' fails with 'No such device'.

rfkill still reports hard blocked.

----------

## DONAHUE

I have no more guesses, sorry.

----------

## DONAHUE

```
ifconfig -a

ifconfig

emerge network-tools 

ifconfig eth2 up

ifconfig

iwlist scan
```

do ifconfig -a and ifconfig and ifconfig repeat show the same interfaces? Does any scanning occur?

----------

## scosu

there is only another IPv6-in-IPv4 interface (sit0) with the -a parameter. The wlan device (eth2) shows up after ifconfig eth2 up:

```
eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:82:5f:ab:60  

          inet6 addr: fe80::226:82ff:fe5f:ab60/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

          Interrupt:17
```

iwconfig:

```
eth2      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:""  

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   

          Bit Rate:72 Mb/s   Tx-Power:off   

          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Power Managementmode:All packets received

          Link Quality=5/5  Signal level=0 dBm  Noise level=0 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
```

iwlist scan after activating eth2:

```
eth2      Failed to read scan data : Invalid argument
```

----------

## DONAHUE

did you cycle the mechanical switch/key(s) and rfkill in conjunction with ifconfig eth2 up ?

is there an indicator that shows when the radio is up?

```
ifconfig eth2 up

dhcpcd eth2
```

may produce something helpful 

is there an eth1?

----------

## scosu

yes, i tried everything. dhcpcd is waiting for a carrier and times out.

There is an eth1, that's the LAN interface.

Last night the notebook went out of power. After booting it today I noticed that the wlan LED was glowing (not really full on). After modprobe wl it was completely off again. I reproduced it by removing the akku but nothing changed.

----------

## DONAHUE

sorry, bad questioning, are you able to tell what eth0 is?

does lsmod show wmi modules

try a boot with acpi=off added to the kernel line in grub.conf

what version is your kernel?

----------

## scosu

I prepared the OS in a virtual machine, so eth0 was actually the virtual network device.

No wmi modules are listed. I already read in some ubuntuforums the problems with the acer_wmi module, but the module is not even compiled. One time I tried to enable it with that module, but the loading failed.

the kernel is 2.6.39-gentoo.

The boot with acpi=off didn't help.

----------

## DONAHUE

check the manuals for the vm and see if they mention a virtual wireless.

is the real OS working with the real nic before starting the virtual machine?

----------

## scosu

sorry I meant that the OS was prepared in a virtual machine. Then I copied all the files to my notebook to have all programs immediately ready to run. But gentoo or udev saves the IDs of the network devices, so the real devices got eth1 and eth2 as names. There is no virtual machine involved in this anymore.

----------

## DONAHUE

```
rm /etc/udev/70-persistent-net.rules

reboot
```

should clean up the device naming but should not affect the problem.

google finds threads:

 where running another os in which wireless works and then rebooting to the original linux corrects the problem 

 where setting bios to default values corrects the problem

 where updating bios corrects the problem

 where disassembling the laptop and removing the cmos battery to clear cmos (and sometimes gluing a switch for permanency) corrects the problem

----------

## scosu

I tried the my old operating system again, no wlan.

Then I disassembled the notebook, unplugged the wlan card,booted, plugged in again without success.

I searched for a cmos battery or reset but couldn't find anything. Restoring defaults in the bios didn't help either.

Now I will try a new wlan card, aren't too expensive.

Thank you for your help.

----------

## DONAHUE

a usb dongle might be the best bet if the problem is bios or ideapad hardware based instead of broadcom nic. been fun in a frustrating way,

----------

## Mgiese

don`t give up that easily. i am sure the card is not damaged  :Smile:  since i got the same results ... :

iwlist scan after activating eth1:

```

eth1      Failed to read scan data : Invalid argument
```

```
# ./net.eth1 restart

 * Bringing down interface eth1

 *   Removing addresses

 *     Stopping wpa_cli on eth1 ...                                       [ ok ]

 *     Stopping wpa_supplicant on eth1 ...                                [ ok ]

 * Bringing up interface eth1

 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on eth1 ...                                  [ ok ]

 *   Starting wpa_cli on eth1 ...                                         [ ok ]

 *   Backgrounding ... ...

 * WARNING: net.eth1 has started, but is inactive
```

```
# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -ieth1 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Invalid argument

```

```
# lspci

06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 4727 (rev 01)
```

any suggestions here ??

----------

## Mgiese

the problem was the KEY, i could not turn the network ON or OFF, the light always stayed YELLOW. after reseting my bios, the light went blue again and i was able to scan  :Smile:  the i did some set up and i can even connect to my WPA2 network!

the only thing that does not work is that i don`t receive an ip adress  :Sad:  but i guess i`ll figure it out somehow ...

edit : /etc/conf.d/net

```

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )
```

to start dhcp manually does not help either

```
# dhcpcd eth1

dhcpcd[3779]: version 5.2.12 starting

dhcpcd[3779]: eth1: broadcasting for a lease

dhcpcd[3779]: timed out

dhcpcd[3779]: allowing 8 seconds for IPv4LL timeout

dhcpcd[3779]: eth1: probing for an IPv4LL address

dhcpcd[3779]: eth1: checking for 169.254.71.17

dhcpcd[3779]: eth1: using IPv4LL address 169.254.71.17

dhcpcd[3779]: forked to background, child pid 3881

```

still my router does not provide an ip, dhcp is enabled, and i permit new devices, any suggestions here ??

----------

## Mgiese

tried to set up a static ip via /etc/conf.d/net :

```
config_eth1=( "192.168.178.34/24" )

routes_eth1=( "default via 192.168.178.1" )
```

and now the strange thing is, that wpa_gui still shows no ip ?!?! the connection does not seem to work, although my router recognizes the device and /IP/ as connected ???

```
# ping 192.168.178.1

connect: Network is unreachable

```

any help is appriciated ! thanks in advance

edit : ifconfig shows only a ipv6 adress, but no ipv4 ....(although i did setup the static ip via config_eth1 in ../conf.d/net and the router lists this ipv4 adress)

----------

## DONAHUE

Defective versions of wpa_supplicant have been in portage for the last month or so. Try one of these solutions:

Solution 1:

```
nano /etc/portage/package.keywords
```

Edit to:

If using 32 bit: *Quote:*   

> =net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5 ~x86

 or if using 64 bit *Quote:*   

> =net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5 ~amd64

 Then 

```
emerge --sync

emerge =net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5

reboot
```

Solution 2:

```
nano /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant
```

Edit to: *Quote:*   

> #!/sbin/runscript
> 
> # Copyright (c) 2009 Roy Marples <roy@marples.name>
> 
> # All rights reserved. Released under the 2-clause BSD license.
> ...

 Then make executable:

```
chmod 0755 /etc/ init.d/wpa_supplicant

reboot
```

Solution3: If just wifi with dhcp and no wired and no fixed ip (no gentoo style networking) will do: 

```
rc-update add dhcpcd

rc-update add wpa_supplicant

rm /etc/init.d/net.*

reboot
```

----------

## Mgiese

 *DONAHUE wrote:*   

> Defective versions of wpa_supplicant have been in portage for the last month or so. Try one of these solutions:
> 
> Solution 1:
> 
> ```
> ...

 

i have put "net-wireless/wpa_supplicant ~amd64" in package.keywords and emerged R5 but it stays the same, still no ip  :Sad: 

any more suggestions ?

----------

## DONAHUE

did you run etc-update after emerging wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5 and update /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant? if not you need to as the problem was in /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant

if  the /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant is new:

try solution 3

if that fails remove ipv6 support from the kernel config and recompile, recopy the kernel.

----------

## Mgiese

yes i did etc-update but there was no new file !

edit : disabling IPV6 leads to kernel panic O_o  :Sad: 

edit : i exchanged my init.d/wpa_supplicant file against yours, guess what?? still no IP  :Sad:  getting annoyed ....

----------

## Mgiese

hi, 

maybe you could have a look here too : 

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-887956-highlight-.html

there are probaly some more information ... as it turns out, something is seriously wrong, disabling IPV6 leads to kernel panic is some really peculiar behaviour as well as not "showing" the IP. the router still lists the device with the one ip i provided statically, but now my setup in conf.d is "dhcp". ok the router uses the mac adress to identify the card but if the router shows the device + ip then there has been some IPV4 traffic, the question now is why the hell IFCONFIG and WPA_SUPPLICANT don`t show it

edit :

just to be on the safe side :

```
# emerge -av wpa_supplicant 

 * IMPORTANT: 4 news items need reading for repository 'gentoo'.

 * Use eselect news to read news items.

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild   R   ~] net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5  USE="dbus qt4 readline ssl -debug -eap-sim -fasteap -gnutls -madwifi (-ps3) -wimax -wps" 0 kB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 kB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No] 

```

 what about those useflags ?? am i missing something ?

----------

## DONAHUE

here:

[ebuild   R   ~] net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-r5  USE="dbus gnutls qt4 readline ssl wps -debug -eap-sim -fasteap -madwifi (-ps3) -wimax" 0 kB

wps adds support for wifi

----------

## Mgiese

i have no more clues right now... out of ideas  :Sad: 

could the dhcpcd daemon be faulty for wlan ??

thanks

----------

## Mgiese

i disabled WPA_supplicant and went for NETWORKMANAGER  :Smile:  and after 5 minutes i got it running... it did not receive an ip either , but the static way works and as far as i am concerned today i`ve had enough  :Very Happy: 

----------

## DONAHUE

good for you.

----------

## Mgiese

 *DONAHUE wrote:*   

> good for you.

 

i don`t know what it is right now  :Smile:  after the 2nd restart i could`nt connect anymore, then i went back to wpa_supp and even that is net connecting anymore  :Smile:  i`ll try linux-3.0 and see if anything changes ...

edit : i have given up configuring my wireless network via WPA_GUI, now i use WICD. it uses WPA_SUPPLICANT in the background for drivers and encryption support and works very very well with WLAN and WAN.

----------

