# Wirless on a Dell Inspiron 1545 [solved]

## Drasica

I'm trying to get wireless working on a Dell Inspiron 1545.

From the output of lspci 

```
 0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01) 
```

 I gleaned that I should follow the instructions on the related gentoo wiki: http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Broadcom_43xx

I compiled the b43 module and b43-firmware. 

Now I am at a loss...what do I do next? Install wpa_supplicant?Last edited by Drasica on Thu Aug 12, 2010 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## lxg

Can you load the module, and do you see the device with ifconfig -a?

Then the next steps would be to set up your network.

For a notebook (which usually will be often in different networking environments), you might want to set up NetworkManager in combination with nm-applet (which I very much like). Wicd also has a good reputation. wpa_supplicant is ok, but not very handy.

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## Drasica

 *lxg wrote:*   

> Can you load the module, and do you see the device with ifconfig -a?
> 
> Then the next steps would be to set up your network.
> 
> For a notebook (which usually will be often in different networking environments), you might want to set up NetworkManager in combination with nm-applet (which I very much like). Wicd also has a good reputation. wpa_supplicant is ok, but not very handy.

 

I can load the module, it shows up in modprobe.

Wlan0 also shows up in the output of iwconfig -a.

I will try the networkmanager nmapplet combo and report back. Thanks for the response!

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## lxg

Ok, good luck.  :Smile:  Btw, don't be scared by the 0.7.2 vs. 0.8 warning at the top of that Wiki page. I installed NM 0.7.2 from that tutorial and recently updated to 0.8 without problems, so I reckon that you can just as well use that page for 0.8.

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## Drasica

OK, so I have it all installed and a bunch of networks show up in the manager... but I can't connect to any of them.

Here's the output of dmesg after I try connecting to an unsecured network of good signal strength:

```
[ 2072.686557] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:24:14:32:33:11 by local choice (reason=3)

[ 2072.903320] wlan0: authenticate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 1)

[ 2072.905028] wlan0: authenticated

[ 2072.923552] wlan0: associate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 1)

[ 2073.123244] wlan0: associate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 2)

[ 2073.323216] wlan0: associate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 3)

[ 2073.523238] wlan0: association with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 timed out

[ 2084.003497] wlan0: authenticate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 1)

[ 2084.005287] wlan0: authenticated

[ 2084.005302] wlan0: associate with 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (try 1)

[ 2084.008566] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=1)

[ 2084.008569] wlan0: associated

[ 2114.227309] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:24:14:32:2f:a1 by local choice (reason=3)
```

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## lxg

I don't think that this is caused by NM. I rather think that this is a driver issue.

Looking at your lspci output, I see your card is identified with Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01). Searching for this string in the Gentoo Wiki page you posted, I see four entries, all of which indicate that b43 is not the right thing for you, and you should try to go for broadcom-sta.

By the way, I recently set up a Latitude, which also has a Broadcom 43xx chip (don't have the machine available right now, so can't be more specific, sorry), and it works very well with broadcom-sta.

Could you post the PCI ID of your device?

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## Drasica

 *lxg wrote:*   

> Could you post the PCI ID of your device?

 

Gladly...how would I go about doing that?

Update: installed broadcom-sta, and now no wifi networks show up in the nm-applet.

Is there something else I need to do?

Update2: it has started working for no discernible reason. Solved? Maybe?

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## Amity88

```

lspci -nn | grep Broadcom

```

look at the stuff in the brackets. I have a Broadcom 4311 WiFi controller. The guides are a bit confusing. Just install driver, firmware and wpa_supplicant. Works fine.

@lxg, I've noticed people recommending broadcom-sta, does it have any advantage over the old method? I never had problems.

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## Drasica

PCI ID:

```
14e4:4315
```

Wifi has been working flawlessly so far. The combo that ended up doing it was broadcom-sta, NetworkManager and nm-applet. 

Thank-you all for your help!

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## lxg

 *Amity88 wrote:*   

> @lxg, I've noticed people recommending broadcom-sta, does it have any advantage over the old method? I never had problems.

 

It's just that the b43 driver doesn't support certain devices. That's really a pity, because it forces me to use a proprietary driver to run my Wifi.

Drasica: Glad it woks, have a lot of fun.  :Smile: 

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