# Wireless Woes - Help Please

## crayztechnique

Alright so wlan is not loading at this point. I cat /proc/net/wireless and I'm getting no wlan at this time. 

So what are the best ways to go about identifying the appropriate drivers for my device at this point from the console (I have no GUI yet) so I can build the right support into the kernel? Or is there a chance I just haven't turned the device on, in which case . . . How does one do that?

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## NeddySeagoon

crayztechnique,

Your wireless card should show up in either lspci or lsusb.  It does not need to be switched on for this.

When you find it, tell us what it is. 

You will not have kernel support until you explicitly set it. 

```
emerge pciutils usbutils
```

to get the above commands.

wegetpaste is your friend too.

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## Ant P.

Absence of /proc/net/wireless doesn't say much, it isn't there on my router or laptop either but I just sshed to them over wifi to verify that.

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## crayztechnique

NeddySeagoon, 

Network Controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY

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## NeddySeagoon

crayztechnique,

You need the b43 kernel module built as a module.

The kernel WiFi support, modules will work.  I don't know if b43 works with both sets but its safe to build both sets.

You will need the b43 firmware for your device.  It may be in linux-firmware.

That will get your wireless interface visible in ifconfig -a

After that, you will need to install and configure wpa-supplicant to do the WiFi specific parts of getting connected.

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## crayztechnique

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> You need the b43 kernel module built as a module.

 

This is what I was missing. b43 had to be built as a module instead of built into the kernel. Thanks again for all the help.

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