# Should I go from 8.2 to 9.0 to get wireless working



## mrhobbeys (Jan 31, 2012)

I've been looking around and trying things to get my BCM4311 wireless card working on 8.2. So far loading bwn, and following a few other posts I have found has not worked. If someone knows something I am missing I am all ears, but what I am thinking right now is just installing 9.0. Has anyone got this card and can say it works?


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## wblock@ (Jan 31, 2012)

bwi(4) might drive it.  But replacing it with an Atheros card is a better solution.


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## NomNomNom (Feb 4, 2012)

*Wireless works on Dell D830 with Broadcom BCM4311*

My wireless works now. I'm running 9.0-RELEASE_AMD64 on a Dell D830 notebook with a Broadcom BCM4311.

I installed this firmware for the BWN driver:

`# cd /usr/ports/net/bwn-firmware-kmod/ && make install clean`

I added this to my /boot/loader.conf:


```
if_bwn_load="YES"
bwn_v4_ucode_load="YES"
wlan_wep_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"
```

I added this to my /etc/rc.conf. I like to run one or the other so I just use a comment and reboot:


```
# Wired
#ifconfig_bge0="DHCP"

# Wireless
wlans_bwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
```

I created this file /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and added:


```
network={
  ssid="House_of_FBSD"
  psk="MySecretPassword"
}
```

One of these BIOS settings was causing a problem with the RF Switch going off and on. I have not tested every combination. These settings work for me:


```
Main Screen-->Wireless -->
Internal Bluetooth = Off
Internal Wi-Fi = Enabled
Internal Cellular = Off
Wireless Switch = None
Wi-Fi Catcher = Off
```

Here is some output:


```
fbsd-nb ~ $ dmesg | grep bwn | grep -v decrypt
siba_bwn0: <Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g Wireless> mem 0xf9ffc000-0xf9ffffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci12
siba_bwn0: unsupported coreid (USB 1.1 Host)
bwn0 on siba_bwn0
bwn0: WLAN (chipid 0x4311 rev 10) PHY (analog 4 type 2 rev 8) RADIO (manuf 0x17f ver 0x2050 rev 2)
bwn0: DMA (32 bits)
bwn0: Using 1 MSI messages
bwn0: firmware version (rev 410 patch 2160 date 0x751a time 0x7c0a)
bwn0: status of RF switch is changed to OFF
```


```
fbsd-nb ~ $ sysctl -a | grep bwn
net.wlan.0.%parent: bwn0
hw.bwn.wme: 1
hw.bwn.usedma: 1
hw.bwn.hwpctl: 0
hw.bwn.bluetooth: 1
hw.bwn.bfp: 0
dev.siba_bwn.0.%desc: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g Wireless
dev.siba_bwn.0.%driver: siba_bwn
dev.siba_bwn.0.%location: slot=0 function=0 handle=\_SB_.PCI0.RP02.PXS2
dev.siba_bwn.0.%pnpinfo: vendor=0x14e4 device=0x4311 subvendor=0x1028 subdevice=0x0007 class=0x028000
dev.siba_bwn.0.%parent: pci12
dev.bwn.0.%driver: bwn
dev.bwn.0.%parent: siba_bwn0
dev.bwn.0.linknoise: 0
dev.bwn.0.rts: 0
dev.bwn.0.rtsfail: 0[/CMD]

[CMD=""]fbsd-nb ~ $ kldstat | grep bwn
 2    1 0xffffffff813ce000 415e0    if_bwn.ko
 3    2 0xffffffff81410000 ccd0     siba_bwn.ko
 4    1 0xffffffff8141d000 2ba18    bwn_v4_ucode.ko
```


```
fbsd-nb ~ $ uname -rm
9.0-RELEASE amd64
```

Useful links:

BWN Man Page
FBSD Handbook Chapter 32.3 Wireless Networking


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