# Can't get broadcom network card to work.

## Sedrik

Horrible horrible broadcom.. never works..

I have a small problem with my broadcom chip. When I do lspci I get this output.

```
lspci -vnn

06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g [14e4:4315] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)

   !!! Unknown header type 7f

   Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

   Kernel modules: wl

```

Here are the interesting part of dmesg

```

[  395.696899] b43-phy1: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)

[  395.697614] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.698412] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.699132] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.699786] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.700175] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.701108] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.701472] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.702462] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.703143] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.703788] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.704178] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.705166] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.709042] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.710049] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.710671] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.713698] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.714043] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.717686] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.718043] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.718984] ssb: Failed to switch to core 1

[  395.718988] b43-phy1 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 15, Type 15, Revision 255)

[  395.719214] b43: probe of ssb0:0 failed with error -95

[  395.719253] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: P, Firmware-ID: FW13 ]
```

Now I have tried b43, b43-legacy, broadcom-sta and nothing seems to work. Has anyone managed to get this card working properly?

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## BradN

Is this a pcmcia (cardbus actually) card?  I've seen a wireless card with apparently a corrupted EEPROM that wouldn't even identify properly with lspci - perhaps something like this has happened to your card since it's reporting some strange stuff with regards to the PCI identification.  Does it work in windows?

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## Sedrik

No it's an integrated card, I think I got it working today when going home on the train after som kernel thinkering. Will have to validate it tomorow at work. I'll post back with the status  :Smile: 

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## Sedrik

So here's the update, I got the card working and it can now connect to some networks, not all though. Is there something missing in the implementation of the driver?

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## BradN

You probably need wpa_supplicant to connect to WPA protected networks, other than that there may be compatibility issues with some routers (I had problems getting a broadcom chip to work with an old linksys wireless B router, but this is complicated because the broadcom chip was connected through a bandwidth limited SD bus on nintnedo wii, and I'm not sure if this affected it).

Some broadcom chips reportedly have features that the driver doesn't support yet that may impact signal reception.

Good that you got it working though.

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## Sedrik

I'm using wpa supplicant, it's just some types of connection it can't perform the 4 way hadnshake with.. I'm suspecting it has something to do with the encryption but have not been able to test it that much.

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## nddeluca

I have the same card.  Got it working with the broadcom sta driver (wl).

All I had to do was make sure the kernel config was right.  The installation lets ya know what they are.

Have tried modules and built-in for the wireless stuff, both work.

Oh I also have wpa_supplicant and wireless-tools installed and use wicd.

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## Sedrik

nice do hear that it works for some people, it did for a while for me and then it just stopped working.. :S

Got the kernel drivers to work for now with acpi disabled.

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## BradN

There may be other acpi settings that fix it without totally disabling acpi - check out /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

Some ones to try are acpi=noirq and acpi_enforce_resources=lax and maybe pci=noacpi

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