# Dell Wireless 1395 (BCM94312MCG) doesn't work right under FreeBSD 12



## angrybliss (Sep 13, 2019)

I've stayed up all night just trying to make it work.  I've finally figured out how to compile the b43-fwcutter driver and modify rc.conf, loader.conf, and wpa_supplicant.conf.  It works after the first reboot, but the second time, the driver keeps "restarting" as far I can tell.  The Wi-Fi indicator keeps blinking where it should stay solid.  Of course, the Internet is down again.


Here are my history:

   40  sudo pkg install bwn-firmware-kmod

   41  sudo pkg install portmaster

   42  sudo pkg install b43-fwcutter

   43  sudo portmaster sysutils/b43-fwcutter net/bwn-firmware-kmod

   44  sudo nano

   45  sudo nano /boot/loader.conf

   46  clear

   47  nano /etc/rc.conf

   48  sudo nano /etc/rc.conf

   49  clear

   50  nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

   51  sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

   52  sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

   53  sudo reboot


and here's ifconfig after:

wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500

    ether ---------------------

    groups: wlan 

    ssid "" channel 40 (5200 MHz 11a)

    regdomain FCC country US authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpower 17 bmiss 7

    mcastrate 6 mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 wme

    media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)

    status: no carrier

    nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>


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## George (Sep 14, 2019)

Can you show the contents of your /etc/rc.conf file, especially the ifconfig_ and wlans_ settings?
Did you make an entry in your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file?

This is the handbook section on setting up your network card:








						Chapter 33. Advanced Networking
					

Advanced networking in FreeBSD:  basics of gateways and routes, CARP, how to configure multiple VLANs on FreeBSD, etc




					www.freebsd.org


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## angrybliss (Sep 14, 2019)

Elazar said:


> Can you show the contents of your /etc/rc.conf file, especially the ifconfig_ and wlans_ settings?
> Did you make an entry in your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file?
> 
> This is the handbook section on setting up your network card:
> ...



I end up not to install on that machine and went another one (HP Mini 2133) instead.  This time I had two wireless cards, an Apple AirPort (BCM4312) and its original HP module (BCM4311).  The first one result in a kernel panic and the OS stuck in a loop, while the other one boots, I still can't establish the connection.

What I've done is follow through this guide: https://basicbsd.wordpress.com/2018/01/28/broadcom-bcm4312-wireless-network-card-on-freebsd-11-1/

here's my `/boot/loader.conf`:


```
security.bsd.allow_destructive_dtrace=0
siba_bwn_load="YES"
if_bwn_load="YES"
bwn_v4_lp_ucode_load="YES"
```

`/etc/rc.conf`:


```
clear_tmp_enable="YES"
hostname="Megahertz"
ifconfig_bge0="DHCP"
local_unbound_enable="YES"
sshd_enable="YES"
moused_enable="YES"
ntpdate_enable="YES"
ntpd_enable="YES"
powerd_enable="YES"
# Set dumpdev to "AUTO" to enable crash dumps, "NO" to disable
dumpdev="AUTO"
dbus_enable="YES"
hald_enable="YES"
slim_enable="YES"
wlans_bwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
```

I wouldn't leak my Wi-Fi SSID and SPK, but pretty much the same with the guide.

`/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf`:


```
network={
        ssid="**"
        psk="**"
}
```


Speaking of `ifconfig`, I noticed that my wlan0 SSID is empty:

```
bge0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
    options=8009b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,LINKSTATE>
    ether ***
    inet 192.168.20.13 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.20.255
    media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
    status: active
    nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
    options=680003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
    groups: lo
    nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
    ether ***
    groups: wlan
    ssid "" channel 2 (2417 MHz 11g)
    regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy MIXED
    deftxkey UNDEF txpower 30 bmiss 7 scanvalid 60 protmode CTS wme
    roaming MANUAL bintval 0
    media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
    status: no carrier
    nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
```


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