Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[John H.]

bcm43xx mac80211:
YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.

I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.

However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
the solution?

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[John W. Linville]

On Fri, Jun 01, 2007 at 01:11:51PM -0500, John H. wrote:
> bcm43xx mac80211:
> YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> 
> I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> 
> However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> the solution?

You might start by posting on a Fedora list, lest ye draw the ire of
any other distro users on this list... :-)

In the meantime, I suggest you extract firmware[1] from the wl_apsta.o
file in this archive:

	http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2

Hth!

John

[1] Using bcm43xx-fwcutter, of course.
-- 
John W. Linville
linville@tuxdriver.com

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[Larry Finger]

John H. wrote:
> bcm43xx mac80211:
> YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> 
> I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> 
> However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> the solution?

The error is _EXACTLY_ what it sounds like. With fc6, you were using bcm43xx-softmac, which uses V3 
firmware. With fc7, you switched to bcm43xx-mac80211, which needs V4 firmware - just what the error 
message said. The solution is to download a V4 driver and create the appropriate firmware.

Larry

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[John H.]

Thanks for the prompt response.

I have a dell e1505.  Do I need an updated fwcutter as well?  What is
the actual driver I need?  The device is broadcom 1390?


On 6/1/07, Larry Finger <larry.finger@lwfinger.net> wrote:
> John H. wrote:
> > bcm43xx mac80211:
> > YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> > version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> >
> > I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> >
> > However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> > the solution?
>
> The error is _EXACTLY_ what it sounds like. With fc6, you were using bcm43xx-softmac, which uses V3
> firmware. With fc7, you switched to bcm43xx-mac80211, which needs V4 firmware - just what the error
> message said. The solution is to download a V4 driver and create the appropriate firmware.
>
> Larry
>

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[John H.]

I mean, the correct files to populate /lib/firmware(as I assume that's
what you mean).

I don't see it, or the instructions, on
http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/

On 6/1/07, John H. <mistamaila@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the prompt response.
>
> I have a dell e1505.  Do I need an updated fwcutter as well?  What is
> the actual driver I need?  The device is broadcom 1390?
>
>
> On 6/1/07, Larry Finger <larry.finger@lwfinger.net> wrote:
> > John H. wrote:
> > > bcm43xx mac80211:
> > > YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> > > version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> > >
> > > I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> > >
> > > However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> > > the solution?
> >
> > The error is _EXACTLY_ what it sounds like. With fc6, you were using bcm43xx-softmac, which uses V3
> > firmware. With fc7, you switched to bcm43xx-mac80211, which needs V4 firmware - just what the error
> > message said. The solution is to download a V4 driver and create the appropriate firmware.
> >
> > Larry
> >
>

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[John H.]

Sorry, I got it all fixed.  The XP installation on my system had the
file.  There is a warning that says

Warning! Idle-TSSI.... Disabling TX power adjustment.

But I assume it's nothing?  Hopefully this doesn't have the speed
problems that required a patch before.

Thanks again!



On 6/1/07, John H. <mistamaila@gmail.com> wrote:
> I mean, the correct files to populate /lib/firmware(as I assume that's
> what you mean).
>
> I don't see it, or the instructions, on
> http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/
>
> On 6/1/07, John H. <mistamaila@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks for the prompt response.
> >
> > I have a dell e1505.  Do I need an updated fwcutter as well?  What is
> > the actual driver I need?  The device is broadcom 1390?
> >
> >
> > On 6/1/07, Larry Finger <larry.finger@lwfinger.net> wrote:
> > > John H. wrote:
> > > > bcm43xx mac80211:
> > > > YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> > > > version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> > > >
> > > > I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> > > >
> > > > However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> > > > the solution?
> > >
> > > The error is _EXACTLY_ what it sounds like. With fc6, you were using bcm43xx-softmac, which uses V3
> > > firmware. With fc7, you switched to bcm43xx-mac80211, which needs V4 firmware - just what the error
> > > message said. The solution is to download a V4 driver and create the appropriate firmware.
> > >
> > > Larry
> > >
> >
>

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[Larry Finger]

John H. wrote:
> Sorry, I got it all fixed.  The XP installation on my system had the
> file.  There is a warning that says
> 
> Warning! Idle-TSSI.... Disabling TX power adjustment.
> 
> But I assume it's nothing?  Hopefully this doesn't have the speed
> problems that required a patch before.

It is not 'nothing', but there is no known fix. With the bcm43xx-mac80211 driver, I can use only a 
rate of 1 Mbs. Others do better, but there are no patches.

If you want a bcm43xx kernel that doesn't require patching, you need 2.6.22-rc3.

Larry

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[Larry Finger]

John H. wrote:
> Thanks for the prompt response.
> 
> I have a dell e1505.  Do I need an updated fwcutter as well?  What is
> the actual driver I need?  The device is broadcom 1390?

I missed one keyword in my message - you need a V4 Windows or OS X driver. I use wl_apsta.o, but 
that driver occurs in both V3 and V4 versions. The Windows driver would be named bcmwl5.sys, but 
they usually come with a lot of other Windows software bundled in. Check the archives for a URL for 
the V4 variety of wl_apsta.o

The fc7 version of fwcutter should handle the driver.

Larry

Re: Upgrade to f7 breaks bcm43xx module

[Michael Buesch]

On Friday 01 June 2007 20:11:51 John H. wrote:
> bcm43xx mac80211:
> YOUR FIRMWARE IS TOO OLD. Firmware from binary drivers older than
> version 4.x is unsupported. You must upgrade your firmware files.
> 
> I get that now with f7 and 2.6.21 and didn't with fc6 2.6.20.
> 
> However, I read that the error is not what it sounds like.  What is
> the solution?

Well, I tried to make the error message pretty clear.
And I'm really out of additional suggestions.
But you could try to read the message again. It tells you
exactly what to do. ;)

-- 
Greetings Michael.