# [noob] How can I tell if my wifi card is recognized?

## contraversy

I was able to get online via my Ethernet by Realtek. But I want the option of wifi also. I had trouble finding my wifi chipset for my laptop. All I know is its Intel pcie. I enabled what I think are the right kernel modules, but I don't know how to check, my current interface is eth0 so will the wifi be wlan0 or eth1? Wicd does not detect it as far as I can tell,

I know my way around but my info-gathering techniques are lacking. How do I tell if its recognized? And if its not how do I find the right module if my manufacturer doesn't list the chipset on its website? Hp pavilion dv6-6b26nr laptop

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## audiodef

Well, usually your card shows up in either lspci or lsusb, depending on your machine's hardware configuration. Do you see your card in either of those?

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## contraversy

07:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

I found that line in lspci so If thats the wifi card it found I must not have known what card I had. So do I just need to make menuconfig and make sure that module is loaded?

also once it is loaded, will it be wlan0?

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## contraversy

My menuconfig has this:

```

<M>   Broadcom 43xx wireless support (mac80211 stack)                                                                   

 [*]     Broadcom 43xx PCMCIA device support                                   

 [*]     Broadcom 43xx SDIO device support (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                                     

 [ ]   Support for 802.11n (N-PHY) devices (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                              

 [*]   Support for low-power (LP-PHY) devices                                                                                 

 [ ]   Support for HT-PHY (high throughput) devices (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                           

 [ ]   Broadcom 43xx debugging                                                                                               

 <M>   Broadcom 43xx-legacy wireless support (mac80211 stack)                                                           

 [*]   Broadcom 43xx-legacy debugging                                                                                        

 Broadcom 43xx-legacy data transfer mode (DMA + PIO)  --->

```

So looks like the module is installed, I just need to figure out how to configure it,

```

Gentoo-2012 init.d # ./net.wlan0 sta

 * Caching service dependencies ...                                                                  [ ok ]

 * Bringing up interface wlan0

 *   ERROR: interface wlan0 does not ex

 *   Ensure that you have loaded the correct kernel module for your hardware

 * ERROR: net.wlan0 failed to start

Gentoo-2012 init.d # iwconfig

lo        no wireless extension

eth0      no wireless extension

```

All of these tutorials i find label the wan card as eth0, but i already have an eth0, should i be using wlan0? or eth1? I want to be able to use both of my network interfaces

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## NeddySeagoon

contraversy,

I think your Broadcom WiFi needs firmware to be loaded. dmesg will tell you if it tried to load firmware and failed and what the file name of the firmware was.

Your interface will be wlan0, once it exists. 

Pastebin your entire dmesg if you don't know what you are looking for.

wgetpaste is your friend.

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## Gusar

brcmsmac is the driver you need, not what you currently have. Compile it as a module, not built-in. And install linux-firmware

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## contraversy

Neddy, I just did some research and found I needed to install net-wireless/broadcom-sta and then goto /lib/modules/3.3.0-gentoo(spelling)/net/ and then type "modprobe wl"

That has iwconfig show the device as eth1, PROGRESS  :Smile: 

```

Gentoo-2012 wireless # iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  

          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=200 dBm   

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

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

          

eth0      no wireless extensions.

```

Then after a trip to /etc/init.d/ and running ./net.eth1 start it seems to be working

```

Gentoo-2012 init.d # ./net.eth1 start

 * Caching service dependencies ...                                                                                                                                                       [ ok ]

 * Bringing up interface eth1

 *   Configuring wireless network for eth1

 *   Scanning for access points

 *     Found "CiscoA9650" at 20:AA:4B:4C:6D:62, managed, encrypted

 *     Found "fuller.wifi" at 20:AA:4B:29:F1:98, managed, encrypted

 *     Found "Neely Family" at B0:48:7A:CB:57:C8, managed

 *     Found "OnyxCheetah" at C8:D7:19:6A:9B:D5, managed, encrypted

 *     Found "Roger-guest" at 58:6D:8F:1B:42:71, managed

 *     Found "Roger" at 58:6D:8F:1B:42:70, managed, encrypted

 *     Found "Roger" at 00:02:6F:6D:5B:BE, managed, encrypted

 *     Found "Belkin_N+_F084CF" at 00:22:75:F0:84:CF, managed

 *   WEP key is not set for "CiscoA9650"

 *   WEP key is not set for "fuller.wifi"

 *   Connecting to "Neely Family" in managed mode (WEP Disabled) ...                                                                                                                      [ !! ]

 *   WEP key is not set for "OnyxCheetah"

 *   Connecting to "Roger-guest" in managed mode (WEP Disabled) ...                                                                                                                       [ ok ]

 *     eth1 connected to SSID "Roger-guest" at 58:6D:8F:1B:42:71

 *     in managed mode (WEP disabled)

 *   No configuration specified; defaulting to DHCP

 *   dhcp ...

 *     Running dhcpcd ...

dhcpcd[9322]: version 5.5.6 starting

dhcpcd[9322]: all: not configured to accept IPv6 RAs

dhcpcd[9322]: eth1: broadcasting for a lease

dhcpcd[9322]: eth1: offered 192.168.33.110 from 192.168.33.1

dhcpcd[9322]: eth1: acknowledged 192.168.33.110 from 192.168.33.1

dhcpcd[9322]: eth1: checking for 192.168.33.110

dhcpcd[9322]: eth1: leased 192.168.33.110 for 86400 seconds

dhcpcd[9322]: forked to background, child pid 9376                                                                                                                                        [ ok ]

 *     received address 192.168.33.110/24                                                                                                                                                 [ ok ]

```

But when I run wicd I still cannot see it to choose the network I want to connect to, is there a tool that works good for manage that using KDE?

Last edited by contraversy on Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## NeddySeagoon

contraversy,

You missed my hint to use wgetpaste.

dmesg is too big to fit in a forums post and it looks like Gusar is ahead of me on this occasion.

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## contraversy

I am not good with abbreviations, which one of those is "brcmsmac" ?

and even though I got it working it wouldnt connect it kept saying bad password, and so i did a ./net.eth1 restart and now it wont come back up lol

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## NeddySeagoon

contraversy,

Your WiFi connected when you used broadcom-sta.

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## contraversy

Ok ok, i went back through menuconfig, and I found it, under Device Drivers there is a separate Broadcom feature I had to enable. After it was enabled, the wireless section listed more cards to support, And I was able to enable the module suggested earlier by Gusar.

So now it works, but any time i try to connect to a network it says the password is bad, even if its unsecured, can you point me in the right direction for that?

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## The Doctor

install linux-firmware as well. Its what actually lets the card connect. The driver alone is not enough.

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## contraversy

Sorry to bump my own post. but turns out using wicd that I had to make some changes. My plan was to have wired eth0 as the default unless i wanted to connect to wifi, but apparently wicd wont let you connect if you have wired checked "use as default" i expected it to be just as easy as unplugging the cable for wifi to take over, but it doesnt look to be that way

thanks for all of the help guys, i am more than satisfied with what i have now

EDIT* Doctor, I did also install it thanks

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