Friday, October 15, 2010

Broadcom Wireless Driver Fix In Maverick

For yet another release, Ubuntu 's Driver Manager is unable to properly install the Broadcom Wireless driver. When is Ubuntu going to get this right?

Some users are getting a SystemError:installArchives () failed message. When trying to install the Broadcom STA wireless driver via Additional Drivers.
Meekrat Broadcom Error

The Broadcom wireless card that came with the Dell Mini 9/10 or Vostro A90 does work in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meekrat. You just have to manually install it via the command line.

First you have to physically connect the Mini/Vostro to a wired internet connection. This step is a must.

Then pull up a command line terminal prompt.
You can find the terminal under Applications>Accessories>Terminal
Find the Termianl

The Terminal

In the Terminal type:
sudo apt-get update
- to update your repositories and tell you system where to get the driver from.

sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source
- to install the driver.

Reboot the machine. Check to see if the driver installed correctly. You can find Additional Drivers in System>Administration>Additional Drivers.

Additional Drivers Check

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover? Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

22 comments:

Jerry said...

This is the reason why I swapped out for an Intel wifi card soon after buying my Mini-9. Each subsequent release of Ubuntu has installed without incident.

redDEAD said...

The Intel 5100 is a smart buy Jerry. But for the commoners it's sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source.

Tate said...

I tried to reinstall the broadcom driver manaully and it didn't work.

My intel wifi card will be delivered by the 20th of this month.

Gadget Family Man said...

Thanks for this Article. I conld not get the Broadcom driver to install on my Dell Studio 1735 and was about to re-install Ubuntu 10.10.

You command, got my wireless working fine.

Thanks

Unknown said...

Thanks for the post. I also had a grub problem when trying to do a fresh install of 10.10 netbook edition. After the install completed the system wouldn't boot. I have not found much about this problem online.

Anyway thanks, Always enjoy reading your blog!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'd assumed the Broadcom wifi problem would have been fixed after Lucid. Since I swapped my card for the Intel 3945 I haven't had problems either. Hopefully after we get some opened-sourced Broadcom drivers out this will go away.

Nice to see you posting again, Red!

Anonymous said...

Also, there is a bug report on launchpad here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/jockey/+bug/534824

Maybe this needs more publicity so they'll actually fix it...

Unknown said...

This also works for Dell laptop (inspiron 1545 in my case). Had same problem with both Ubuntu 10.10 stable and Linux Mint 10 RC. First tried the B43 driver > the error message as described. Then synaptic: complete removal of b43-fwcutter (!!!). Did Reboot, just to be sure. Followed rest of commandline instructions: success!

Thanks

Unknown said...

Thanks for the heads up as usual.

I encountered another problem with 10.10. I had to remove "ui" from syslinux.cfg in order to get it to boot.

Unfortunately that's the least of the problems. Unity, their net netbook interface, is a disaster. The great launcher is gone, the panel is now useless and they added a Mac style dock to the side, wasting space.

I'll be sticking with 10.04, thanks.

ugm6hr said...

On the Mini 9, the Desktop version has 1 nice benefit over 10.04: suspends (and resumes) properly, even with SD card mounted at time. The desktop version can be customized for netbooks - I use a single panel, and choose "Show hide buttons" on the panel, allowing fullscreen use.

Jason Ditz said...

Oddly enough the broadcom driver on my Mini9 installed automatically. 10.10 sure is a major improvement over that cobbled together Dell version of 8.04.

Troy Campano said...

After making the change you recommend, I couldn't get my Dell Mini 9 to authenticate to my wireless network using 128-bit WEP. I made sure to upgrade all packages afterwards, reboot, and still no luck. I updated my security settings to WPA2 Personal and that solved the issue (which I've been planning to do anyway).

Anyone else have trouble with WEP encryption?

Anonymous said...

The reason why this driver continuous to be excluded from a default install is because it's a restricted driver. It says so in the UCK Package Manager anyway.

Oddly enough, the package comes pre-installed on a Live CD. In Software Center search for bcmwl and it'll come up automatically. ! Don't install it via there though, as it won't work. Install it via the System > Administration > Additional Drivers link.

HTH

redDEAD said...

Coen thank you for the comment, but it's not that the driver is not installed. The problem is that, Ubuntu 's Driver Manager is unable to properly install the Broadcom Wireless driver.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot, friend! The command fixed everything! Wi-Fi works great now! (Ubuntu 10.10 amd64, Dell Vostro 3500)

Unknown said...

Thank you. Your diagnosis and instructions were very clear and worked beautifully. Your generosity is much appreciated.

Unknown said...

thanks so much! now i finally have wireless running!

bmarone said...

Dell D630, 10.10 amd64, had this same problem with Broadcom wireless. the sudo instructions worked to update the packages, but the reinstall command failed. Instead, used Ubuntu Software Center to search for bcmwl-kernel-source and remove v5.100.82.38 before the newer v5.60.48.36 update could install. Reboot made it active.

Anonymous said...

Works like a charm. The first time I didn't enter the code for the second line correctly, so I copied and pasted it into terminal.

This is the best computer advice I have EVER received, because it solved a frustrating problem that rendered my PC almost useless to me (not being able to connect to my wireless network).

Thank you very much.

Pipps said...

The advice in this post worked perfectly for me with a Dell Mini 10 running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 LTS. Wireless is now a-go! Thank you!

Friedrich said...

Many thanks, phantastic! I used the two commandlines under Mint 11 on a emachines (acer) G627. It works, now the Wlancard works best. with best reguards from hungary, Friedrich

Anonymous said...

These instructions worked on 12.04 beta 2 on a Dell Latitude D630 with Dell Wireless 1490 (BCM4311). A shame it hasn't been fixed yet...