BCM43xx Ndiswrapper in Hardy

24 04 2008

First before you start installing ndiswrapper you need to blacklist b43 modules by editing /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
password:

then add:

blacklist b43 (you can put it under blacklist bcm43xx

save and quit gedit.

The second step is to install ndiswrapper
From Applications – Add/Remove
search for ndiswrapper

It will automatically install ndiswrapper with its dependency

Third: copy the bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys to your home folder and fire up terminal/konsole

change to the directory where you put the two files:
$ cd bcm43
$ sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

check if the driver is installed by giving command:
$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4311) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx)

Fourth: Edit rc.local

$ sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
add the following lines:
rmmod ssb
rmmod ndiswrapper
modprobe ndiswrapper
modprobe ssb

Fifth : Reboot your computer and setup your wireless network


Actions

Information

8 responses

27 04 2008
Sukhjinder Singh

Sexy Post.

1 05 2008
anom

Thanks.
Correction:
Should the last line ‘modprobe ssb’ deleted because ssb actually block the card.

9 05 2008
boneR

Tried this. works for me … sometimes :D
Sometimes I boot up with working WiFi, sometimes not. It does not even recognize the card. Ndiswrapper says hardware present, but it does not show the card in networkconfig. What may I doing wrong? Any pointers?
thank you. bone

13 05 2008
anom

Have you removed ‘modprobe ssb’ as I stated before your comments?
I have just done a fresh install of Hardy and do the procedure and it works great.
Once I had the same problem as yours but after a reboot, it is stable.
or try manually:
$ sudo rmmod ssb
$ sudo rmmod ndiswrapper
$ sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

then set up your network. Does your wlan exist in the network config?

6 06 2008
Mattchewie

? I’m not understanding why you would need the rc.local stuff.

if you blacklist both b43 and ssb and add ndiswrapper to modules it should load right up!

25 06 2008
Psytroll

Just wanted to say thanks, as a newby to Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular, it can be a bit daunting setting up wireless in particular.

Just a quick note for anyone as clueless as me who may run into issues. The .inf file calls on BCMWL5.SYS, and as Linux is case-sensitive, will fail to load the driver correctly unless you rename the .sys file in caps.

22 07 2008
29 01 2009
Rodney

You have to do the rc.local stuff because blacklist and even install b43 /bin/true don’t actually prevent it from completely loading and interfering. You still have to rmmod the modules before ndiswrapper will work.

Leave a comment