I have installed Ubuntu Linux on the above laptop and trying to configure
the wireless Broadcom card. For the most part, I think I have the
software installed correctly.

The part that I can't figure out is how to turn on the wireless radio. On
Windows, I just use the Fn-F2 key combination. On Linux, this key
combination does not work or does not seem to turn power on to the
wireless card.

Any hints appreciated.

--
Frank

What driver are you using for your Broadcomm chip? Broadcomm will not
release the drivers to the Linux community. I think the only options
you have are ndiswrapper - http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/ or
Linuxant Driverloader - http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/.
Ndiswrapper is free open source software and Driverloader is free for
30 days then $20 for the license. I had a Compaq with a Broadcomm
chip. I could not manage to get ndiswrapper to work but Driverloader
worked beautifully.

"ross" <rossharold@gmail.com> wrote in news:1123672315.090471.197480
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

After installing the ndiswrapper module. I get entries in both syslog and
message log files that the card is recognized. The problem comes when I
tell it to scan for access points, etc, it comes back with nothing.

I believe the radio on the card is not coming on so that it can connect,
etc. I did find this web site:

http://rfswitch.sourceforge.net/

Which are a couple of kernel modules for turning on the radio on some
specific laptop modules. That site kind of hints that Gateway laptops use
a hardware switch and not a software switch to turn this radio on.

Of course, this Fn-F2 combination work under MS Windows but it could just
be a BIOS thing also. I have to boot Ubuntu using "noapic" or the laptop
locks up right after the boot process starts.

I had forgotten about the Driverloader program. I may try it just to see
if it will work. Thanks for the suggestion.

--
Frank

Frank Hahn wrote:
Open the config file for ndiswrapper and look for a line "radio 0" and
change it to "radio 1". This should turn on the radio.

Q

"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in news:HLednQoXZM8jk2ffRVn-
oA@comcast.com:

above.

The closest I have come to are the *.conf files created under
/etc/ndiswrapper when the Windows drivers are installed. There are
several files there and they each have an entry like this:

RadioState|0

I read a previous posting earlier about changing all of these to 1 but it
did not help. Is there another config file I am missing?

Thanks.

--
Frank

Frank Hahn wrote:
That is the only solution I've found for a Broadcom xxx4306 that will
not start the radio. I think that there are several Broadcom chipsets
that are commonly referred to as xxx4306 that are in fact not exactly
the same. Consequently some work with ndiswrapper, and some won't even
power up, and the radio state change only works with a select subset of
the 4306 chipset. Your chipset might be a different version, but given
Broadcom's notoriety in Linux, your chipset might well also be deviant.

Wireless has been the only annoying feature of Linux in my limited
experience, and it's not getting much better. Given the extreme
annoyance of Broadcom in general, I would look for another, easily
configured, wireless card, or rather, chipset, which is the actual
controlling feature for success.

Q

"Quaoar" <quaoar@tenthplanet.net> wrote in news:T6qdnblcPbhAUmffRVn-
gA@comcast.com:

to get the regular NIC card up and running. I even tried the driver from
Linuxant.com but that did not work.

Thanks for the help.

--
Frank