# wireless issue broadcom bwi driver on dell inspiron 2200



## djsameman (Mar 1, 2011)

Hi all!

I'm new to FreeBSD, having a success install on my DELL inspiron 2200. I've migrated from UBUNTU and was interested to test how it works in FreeBSD.

Some issues I haven't figured out is the wireless thing.

Here is output from pciconf


```
# pciconf

...

bwi0@pci0:2:3:0:	class=0x028000 card=0x00051028 chip=0x431814e4 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom Corporation'
    device     = 'Broadcom 802.11b/g (BCM4318)'
    class      = network
...
```

I've followed instructions from several places (with help from google ;-)) to install the correct drivers. 

The issue is now:

`# ifconfig wlan0 up scan`

... going forever and gives nothing ...

`# ifconfig wlan0`


```
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether 00:14:a5:3c:1e:a3
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier
	ssid "" channel 9 (2452 MHz 11g)
	country US authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy OFF txpower 0 bmiss 7
	scanvalid 60 bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250 roam:rssi 7
	roam:rate 5 protmode CTS
```

dmesg output is: (only messages about the interface)


```
bwi0: <Broadcom BCM4318 802.11b/g Wireless Lan> mem 0xdfdfe000-0xdfdfffff irq 19 at device 3.0 on pci2
bwi0: [ITHREAD]
bwi0: BBP: id 0x4318, rev 0x2, pkg 2
bwi0: MAC: rev 9
bwi0: PHY: type 2, rev 7, ver 3
bwi0: RF: manu 0x17f, type 0x2050, rev 8
bwi0: invalid antenna gain in sprom
bwi0: WARNING: using obsoleted if_watchdog interface
...
wlan0: Ethernet address: 00:14:a5:3c:1e:a3
...
bwi0: firmware rev 0x0127, patch level 0x000e
```
Below is my settings in /etc/rc.conf:


```
# -- sysinstall generated deltas -- # Sun Feb 27 22:10:50 2011
# Created: Sun Feb 27 22:10:50 2011
# Enable network daemons for user convenience.
# Please make all changes to this file, not to /etc/defaults/rc.conf.
# This file now contains just the overrides from /etc/defaults/rc.conf.
font8x14="iso15-8x14"
font8x16="iso15-8x16"
font8x8="iso15-8x8"
hostname="djsameman"
ifconfig_fxp0="DHCP"
keymap="swedish.iso"
nfs_client_enable="YES"
hald_enable="yes"
dbus_enable="yes"
gdm_enable="yes"
gnome_enable="yes" 
gdm_lang="sv_SE.UTF-8"
wlans_bwi0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
# -----------------------
```

And the settings in /boot/loader.conf


```
# -----------------------
if_bwi_load="YES"
# -----------------------
```

And the settings in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:


```
# -----------------------
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=wheel
# -----------------------
```

I have also done a ports install from /usr/ports/net/bwi-firmware-kmod/

Still no luck with the wireless. I know there are several working accesspoints.

So help to a FreeBSD newbie would be appreciated.


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## wblock@ (Mar 1, 2011)

djsameman said:
			
		

> `# ifconfig wlan0 up scan`
> 
> ... going forever and gives nothing ...



That makes it scan, but not show the results.
`# ifconfig wlan0 up list scan`



> And the settings in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



Those aren't required.  A network settings section with an ssid and psk is needed to associate, but scanning should work without it.


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## djsameman (Mar 2, 2011)

HI and THANKS! I've done a computer restart and suddenly it worked. Possible explanation can be that the wpa_supplicant.conf file didn't exist first.


```
# ifconfig wlan0 up scan
```
gives the desired result.

Cheers from Sweden.

Janneman


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## wblock@ (Mar 2, 2011)

djsameman said:
			
		

> HI and THANKS! I've done a computer restart and suddenly it worked. Possible explanation can be that the wpa_supplicant.conf file didn't exist first.



wpa_supplicant.conf is only used by wpa_supplicant(8), it's not needed for scanning.  More likely the reset started from scratch and you had the configuration correct.  Might also be something to do with a Fn combination or physical switch to enable the radio.  The radio LEDs don't work with all drivers or cards.


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