Re: Trouble with Macbook Pro 8,2 (broadcom 4331) and latest b43

[AndrewL733 <AndrewL733@aol.com>]

On 11/30/2011 01:08 AM, Rafał Miłecki wrote:
>> >  The table is found athttp://bcm-v4.sipsolutions.net/802.11/Init/Firmware.
>> >  For my distro and most others, it is done automagically. The kernel reads
>> >  the version of the 802.11 core and looks up the firmware using logic derived
>> >  from this table. In the dmesg output, you will find a place where the
>> >  versions of the various cores is printed. Using ucode13.fw is certainly not
>> >  right for a 4331. I'm surprised that it works at all.
> I'm quite sure it's some Mandriva... well - dumb... configuration that
> doesn't affect driver at all.
>
> b43 uses ucode29_mimo for BCM4331
Hello,

I am pleased to report that I got the 4331 chipset to work, thanks to 
your help, Rafal.  Indeed, the correct firmware was ucode29_mimo.  
Larry, I'm not sure how I could find that out from the table you 
referred me to.  The table doesn't directly say which firmware goes with 
4331.  It implies which goes with the HT phy, but then again, there are 
two listings for HT.

Anyway, is Mandriva supposed to have that table stored somewhere?  Do 
they have an outdated version of the table (or should the table have 
been built with the kernel or driver).  In my case, I installed an 
updated kernel that is more recent than the distro, so that could be the 
source of some of the problem.  Then again, I needed the updated kernel 
to get DVD support on this machine.

Now I have one more problem.  I'm not sure where it the best place to 
report this issue.

With Mandriva 2011, the distro switched from Mandriva's own 
"drakx-net-applet" to "networkmanager".  With Network Manager, I can 
connect to my wireless router.  However, the connection drops after a 
few minutes and it continually tries to renew, succeeds, drops, renews, 
succeeds, in an endless loop. I see many postings on various distro 
forums about similar problems with Network Manager.  It seems to be that 
when there is a scan for new Access Points, the current connection drops.

After unininstalling Network Manager, I can now get a reliable 
connection to my office network by running

"iwconfig wlan0 essid mynetworkname", then
"wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf" (to not run 
in the background)
"dhclient wlan0"

Now the connection is stable.  The question is, why is it unstable with 
Network Manager?  Any ideas?  Is it related to the way Network Manager 
is working with the 4331 chipset?  I have an identical Mandriva 2011 OS 
installed on a slightly older Macbook Pro 5,1 with the Broadcom 4322 
chipset, also using the b43 driver, and Network Manager does not cause 
these disconnections. Is there another forum where it would be better to 
post this question?

Here are various outputs that may be relevant.  Am I stable because 
scanning has somehow been disabled (output of wpa_supplicant says 
"Failed to initiate AP scan").
-------------------------

After "modprobe b43"

[  253.681728] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[  261.220288] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, 
low) -> IRQ 17
[  261.220304] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[  261.220385] Core 0 found: ChipCommon (manuf 0x4BF, id 0x800, rev 
0x25, class 0x0)
[  261.220413] Core 1 found: IEEE 802.11 (manuf 0x4BF, id 0x812, rev 
0x1D, class 0x0)
[  261.220475] Core 2 found: PCIe (manuf 0x4BF, id 0x820, rev 0x13, 
class 0x0)
[  261.220619] PMU resource config unknown for device 0x4331
[  261.268986] Bus registered
[  261.275824] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[  261.282877] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[  261.282880] cfg80211:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), 
(max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[  261.282883] cfg80211:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), 
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  261.282885] cfg80211:     (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), 
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  261.282887] cfg80211:     (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), 
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  261.282889] cfg80211:     (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), 
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  261.282891] cfg80211:     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), 
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  261.292595] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4331 WLAN found (core revision 29)
[  261.293318] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  261.293635] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PMNLS ]
[  291.326731] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 
01:15:07)
[  291.366628] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  291.395832] NET: Registered protocol family 17

After running "iwconfig wlan0 essid mynetworkname" wpa_supplicant 
(output below) plus "dhclient wlan0"

[  292.520204] wlan0: authenticate with 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 (try 1)
[  292.521879] wlan0: authenticated
[  292.522267] wlan0: associate with 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 (try 1)
[  292.524671] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 (capab=0x411 
status=0 aid=7)
[  292.524674] wlan0: associated
[  292.525629] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[  302.842854] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present


[root@andynewmac andy]# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -i wlan0 -c 
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ioctl[SIOCSIWSCAN]: Device or resource busy
Failed to initiate AP scan.
Trying to associate with 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 (SSID='es-network2' freq=2412 
MHz)
Associated with 48:5b:39:5b:67:27
WPA: Key negotiation completed with 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 48:5b:39:5b:67:27 completed (auth) 
[id=1 id_str=]

Andy