Ubuntu 8.0.4 (Hardy) - Broadcom Wifi Problem.

I run 64 bit Ubuntu on an Acer Aspire 4310 with Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01) wifi onboard.

I had hellish trouble getting it to work under Ubuntu 7.10 but finally did.

Last Friday I upgraded the machine to Ubuntu 8.0.4 (Hardy). All went well except once again the Broadcom wifi refused to connect to my wifi network with WPA. The network manager applet accessible on the top menu bar shows that my local wifi network is there. However, it does not connect automatically. When I click on the wifi network, the applet pops up asking me for the network key. I enter this and set it to TKIP.

I have managed to connect a couple of times on Saturday but since then nothing. The applet justs shows two grey balls trying to connect. (See image below. Click to enlarge.)



The mouse tip shows the following comment:

"Waiting for Network Key for the wireless network"

I have tried to follow the instructions from various posts including trying to install the new Broadcom driver ... to no avail.

My configuration is:

uname: Linux cgkhmobile 2.6.24-21-server #1 SMP Mon Aug 25 17:28:54 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lshw -C network:

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:16:d3:e4:15:75
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.86 duplex=full firmware=5787m-v3.23 ip=192.168.1.4 latency=0 link=yes module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 01
serial: 00:1c:26:78:b3:0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+bcmwl5 driverversion=1.52+Broadcom,10/12/2006, 4.100. latency=0 link=no module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
0a:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) (rev 02)
0a:06.2 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MMC/SD Controller (rev 02)
0a:06.3 Mass storage controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MS/xD Controller (rev 01)

ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4311) present (alternate driver: ssb)
netathrxusb : driver installed
smcusbt : driver installed


I would appreciate all and any comments on how to resolve this.

Latest:

I have now found that Hardy has a gui called wpa_gui which allows editing and monitoring of wpa_supplicant.conf. Currently, the gui is not recognising any wifi network adapter or card.

I am exploring this and will post any success here.

I found out that there was no wpa_supplicant.conf file on the system.

Following various posts on the web I created one as follows:

ap_scan=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

network={
ssid="enter your ssid"
scan_ssid=0
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="enter you password"
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
}

Rebooted. The machine did not automatically find the network but when I clicked on wireless networks in the Network Manager, (via the icon on the panel), it automatically found the network, and asked for the wpa key. Once I had entered it, the bottom green ball turned green and then the second one and I was online.

Not ideal but does for now.

Will keep updating this post when relevant.