Broadcom wireless reception is weak

I'm a newbie, so please go easy on me. I've got a Dell Vostro 1000 laptop and would love to get Zorin up and running on it. I'm trying Zorin Live, which starts up fine, but without wireless. After hours of searching and trying many different solutions (to no avail), I was finally able to find the "additional drivers" (thanks to this post viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2054) and get the STA driver from bcmwl-kernal-source working. My problem is that the reception is weak. In Windows XP, I get a full 4 bars up to 20 feet away from the router, and have wireless reception all the way on the other side of our house, through several walls. With Zorin, I have to be within 5 feet of the router to connect and only get two bars. I lose the connection when I move 20 feet away or try to go through 1 wall.

I'm afraid if I can't get good wireless reception, Zorin won't work out for me. FWIW, I tried PCLOS Live briefly and wireless didn't work right away with it, either.

Could you please post back the results of the following terminal commands: (to open terminal press ctrl+alt+T)

lspci -nn | grep 0280
lsusb
sudo lshw -c network
sudo ifconfig
sudo iwconfig
lsmod

live@live:~$ lspci -nn | grep 0280
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
live@live:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
live@live:~$ sudo lshw -c network
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 01
serial: 00:16:44:be:6c:fa
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.141 (r415941) ip=192.168.1.66 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
resources: irq:18 memory:c0200000-c0203fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:1d:09:cd:bf:c3
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=half latency=64 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:21 memory:c0300000-c0301fff
live@live:~$ sudo ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1d:09:cd:bf:c3
inet6 addr: fe80::21d:9ff:fecd:bfc3/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:27141 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:18137 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:22083933 (22.0 MB) TX bytes:2508821 (2.5 MB)
Interrupt:21

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:44:be:6c:fa
inet addr:192.168.1.66 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:44ff:febe:6cfa/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:138436 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:291313
TX packets:85599 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:160674727 (160.6 MB) TX bytes:10635597 (10.6 MB)
Interrupt:18

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:3848 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3848 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:392674 (392.6 KB) TX bytes:392674 (392.6 KB)

live@live:~$ sudo iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11abg ESSID:"Coco"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 08:10:74:79:1B:9E
Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=200 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:on
Link Quality=23/70 Signal level=-87 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

live@live:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
michael_mic 12540 4
arc4 12536 2
b44 31234 0
ssb 51596 1 b44
mii 13654 1 b44
lib80211_crypt_tkip 17456 0
wl 3999620 0
lib80211 14040 2 wl,lib80211_crypt_tkip
snd_hda_codec_idt 44605 1
snd_hda_intel 42658 3
snd_hda_codec 164003 2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
dell_wmi 12665 0
snd_hwdep 13272 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 89488 2 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
joydev 17097 0
snd_page_alloc 14230 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
sparse_keymap 13708 1 dell_wmi
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
dell_laptop 17161 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
dcdbas 14383 1 dell_laptop
snd_rawmidi 25094 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 55383 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
dm_multipath 22402 0
kvm_amd 50537 0
snd_seq_device 14137 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
scsi_dh 14458 1 dm_multipath
snd_timer 24447 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
k8temp 12842 0
kvm 368949 1 kvm_amd
mac80211 517444 0
snd 60790 16 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
psmouse 90642 0
serio_raw 13189 0
cfg80211 401762 2 wl,mac80211
sp5100_tco 13643 0
soundcore 12600 1 snd
mac_hid 13037 0
i2c_piix4 17682 0
parport_pc 31981 0
shpchp 32129 0
ppdev 17391 0
lp 13299 0
rfcomm 53664 0
bnep 18959 2
bluetooth 323656 10 bnep,rfcomm
parport 40795 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
binfmt_misc 13140 1
squashfs 46391 1
overlayfs 27158 1
nls_utf8 12493 1
isofs 39211 1
dm_raid45 75297 0
xor 26221 1 dm_raid45
dm_mirror 21715 0
dm_region_hash 15984 1 dm_mirror
dm_log 18072 3 dm_region_hash,dm_mirror,dm_raid45
pata_acpi 12886 0
radeon 1308203 4
sdhci_pci 18481 0
sdhci 37644 1 sdhci_pci
i2c_algo_bit 13197 1 radeon
ahci 25579 0
pata_atiixp 13058 1
ttm 75982 1 radeon
drm_kms_helper 46867 1 radeon
drm 242400 6 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
video 18777 0
libahci 26619 1 ahci
wmi 18590 1 dell_wmi
ati_agp 13177 0
live@live:~$

Your card, i think, works also with the open driver, b43.
Would you like to try?

If yes, run the following commands in terminal, but first plug an ethernet cable to get internet.

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe b43

Wait 10 seconds and check if all is ok. You may need to restart.


If you don't have any internet after the last command or after the reboot, we will install the wl driver again, but this time from terminal, just to be sure that it will be installed properly.
Open terminal, plug an ethernet cable to get internet and run the following commands:

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe wl

Wait 10 seconds and check your internet. You may need to restart. See if your reception is better.

I will try that. I've tried it before (a couple times) and the laptop freezes after the last modprobe command. Is it possible to restart if I'm using the Live disk?

OK- tried it, and it didn't freeze. I realized after I did it that I did not plug the ethernet in. Not sure if that would have changed the outcome.

The wireless connection appears to be the same- not sure if anything changed. Here is what I did:

live@live:~$ sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernal-sourcesudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package bcmwl-kernal-sourcesudo
E: Unable to locate package apt-get
E: Unable to locate package remove
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
linux-firmware-nonfree
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
Need to get 3,943 kB of archives.
After this operation, 8,982 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/multiverse linux-firmware-nonfree all 1.14ubuntu1 [3,943 kB]
Fetched 3,943 kB in 18s (214 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package linux-firmware-nonfree.
(Reading database ... 196089 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-firmware-nonfree (from .../linux-firmware-nonfree_1.14ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Setting up linux-firmware-nonfree (1.14ubuntu1) ...
live@live:~$ sudo modprobe -r b43
live@live:~$ sudo modprobe b43
live@live:~$

Oops! Noticed my error. Did it again and here's what I got so far:

live@live:~$ sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
bcmwl-kernel-source*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
After this operation, 4,943 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 196252 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing bcmwl-kernel-source ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
update-initramfs is disabled since running on read-only media
Purging configuration files for bcmwl-kernel-source ...
update-initramfs is disabled since running on read-only media
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
linux-firmware-nonfree is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
live@live:~$ sudo modprobe -r b43
live@live:~$

Now we'll try sudo modprobe b43

OK- after sudo modprobe b43, no freezing and wireless is connected, but reception is still weak.
How can I tell which driver is installed?

Should I attempt a restart? (Is that possible if I'm using Live verison?)
Should I install the WL driver again?

Thanks for your help BTW.

To see what driver is installed run the command

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net


Your laptop has a very common card. I have the exact same one in my office laptop!
I never have any problems. I have installed the wl driver.

If you want, try to install the wl driver again and check if it is better. I am not sure if somwthing else is wrong with any other settings you have made. One way to check that is to run a live USB or CD of Zorin and install the wl driver (using the ethernet cable and the commands I gave you) and see if the reception is better.

Have you unplugged the ethernet cable after you connected to the wireless network?

When I run that command, it looks like the wl driver is still installed. So I tried running the commands to install the b43 driver again, but it still shows the wl driver.

So what next? Could I be having this issue because I have an LP-PHY controller? Someone on another post somewhere suggested trying sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-lpphy-installer, but he is using linux mint. Is there a specific driver for the LP-PHY controller?

live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: wl
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022a]
Kernel driver in use: b44
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package 'bcmwl-kernel-source' is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: wl
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022a]
Kernel driver in use: b44
live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: wl
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022a]
Kernel driver in use: b44
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package 'bcmwl-kernel-source' is not installed, so not removed
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
linux-firmware-nonfree is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: wl
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022a]
Kernel driver in use: b44
live@live:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
linux-firmware-nonfree is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
dkms linux-headers-generic linux-image-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 125 not upgraded.
live@live:~$ sudo modprobe -r b43
live@live:~$ sudo modprobe b43
live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: wl
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022a]
Kernel driver in use: b44

Ok...
Lets force it to use the b43 driver...

In terminal run

echo 'blacklist wl' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

and then

echo 'b43' | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Reboot and then run again

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

to see what driver is used.

I took a leap of faith and installed it along side Windows XP Pro. When installing the b43 driver, it again froze after "sudo modprobe b43". But I could then force shutdown and when I started Zorin again, the b43 driver was installed:

05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge

Once I connected to our network, the icon in the panel (I think that's what it's called in Linux) shows four bars! But when I left click on the icon, it only shows two bars in the popup menu, and it disconnects when I go into the next room. So it looks better, but acts the same.

After playing around with it a bit more, I must say it is somewhat better than the wl driver, but still not as good as what I get under Windows XP. Is there a b43-lpphy driver?

I think it must be installed.
Open synaptic and search for firmware-b43-lpphy-installer

Search for firmware-b43-lpphy-installer comes up with nothing.

Is this what I need?

http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/firm ... -installer

Probably yes... But to be honest, as I said, I have the same card with you in the office, I have the wl driver installed and never had any problem!

Could you please try this thing for me? Run a live USB/CD, plug an ethernet cable and run the following commands.

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe wl

How is the signal when running a live CD? I want to eliminate the fact that there are not any problematic settings in your account.

Up until my last two posts I was running the Live DVD. I installed it on the laptop yesterday so I could get the b43 driver working, which needed a restart.

tigerucla wrote:Up until my last two posts I was running the Live DVD. I installed it on the laptop yesterday so I could get the b43 driver working, which needed a restart.

Hi,

is it working now?.

It works, but the reception is still significantly weaker than when I'm running XP on it. It is better with the B43 driver than the wl driver however.