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Monti

Member

Registered: 2017-09-25

Posts: 52  

Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

Hi!

After installation of ASCII I get the message:

[    9.948982] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNLS ]
[    9.987172] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: failed to load b43/ucode15.fw (-2)
[    9.987265] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load for b43/ucode15.fw failed with error -2
[    9.987292] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: failed to load b43/ucode15.fw (-2)
[    9.987331] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load for b43/ucode15.fw failed with error -2
[    9.987351] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: failed to load b43-open/ucode15.fw (-2)
[    9.987388] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load for b43-open/ucode15.fw failed with error -2
[    9.987399] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: failed to load b43-open/ucode15.fw (-2)
[    9.987435] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load for b43-open/ucode15.fw failed with error -2
[    9.987438] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Dri … cefirmware and download the correct firmware for this driver version. Please carefully read all instructions on this website.

I have been to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Dri … cefirmware but didn't find any downloads and otherwise it does not make much sense to me.

I have downloaded broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2 from https://sources.openwrt.org/broadcom-wl … .5.tar.bz2 though. The chip is a Broadcom BCM4312 and it is supported.

I have tried to find a installation guide which makes sense, but I have not been lucky in doing so.

Could someone please help me out with the installation?

Thanks,
Monti

dxrobertson

Member

Registered: 2017-05-04

Posts: 232  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

What has always worked for me on my Broadcom BCM4311 is to use fwcutter and manually extract the firmware from a wl_apsta_mimo.o file into the firmware directory /lib/firmware.  The .bz2 file you reference has wl_apsta_mimo.o in the driver directory.  You can install b43-fwcutter from the repository.

Do all as root.

you may have to create directory  /lib/firmware:

mkdir /lib/firmware

apt-get or whatever b43-fwcutter.

extract  wl_apsta_mimo.o out of your .bz2 file.

Extract the firmware out of wl_apsta_mimo.o:

b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o

Load driver:

modprobe b43

Sometimes I have to reboot before it works.
Sometimes I have to install rfkill.
The actual b43 driver is what works for me, sometimes I have to blacklist sta driver..

Monti

Member

Registered: 2017-09-25

Posts: 52  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

Thank you very much for your reply dxrobertson.

I get your guide, but I am not able to find any package for b43-fwcutter.....

dxrobertson

Member

Registered: 2017-05-04

Posts: 232  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

apt-get install b43-fwcutter

Get:1 http://deb.devuan.org//merged ascii/contrib amd64 b43-fwcutter amd64 1:019-3 [30.1 kB]

Make sure you have contrib in your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii main non-free contrib
# deb-src http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii main non-free contrib

deb http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-security main non-free contrib
# deb-src http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-security main non-free contrib

deb http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-updates main non-free contrib
# deb-src http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged ascii-updates main non-free contrib

Last edited by dxrobertson (2018-09-02 22:17:54)

Monti

Member

Registered: 2017-09-25

Posts: 52  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

Super! Thanks a lot dxrobertson.

Worked like a charm

dxrobertson

Member

Registered: 2017-05-04

Posts: 232  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

Glad to hear it!

I keep the b43-fwcutter executable and the wl_apsta_mimo.o file saved to a place where I can always get to them.  Good to have in the event you need to get wireless working because you dont have access to ethernet.

Monti

Member

Registered: 2017-09-25

Posts: 52  

Re: Wireless / wifi driver installation - firmware: failed to load b43

Thanks for the tip! Done it