CentOS - Jun 2009 - How to remove the wrong wireless firmware module

How do I back out of these directions?<br/><br/>"yum install
iwl4965-firmware<br/><br/>rmmod iwl4965; modprobe
iwl4965<br/><br/>Your wireless device should be working now. Enable
NetworkManager to use it. <br/>Starting from CentOS 5.3 (kernel
2.6.18-128) the kernel includes the iwlagn kernel module. If you are running an
older kernel, please look at the ipw4965 method above. <br/>First download
and install the firmware (see above), then just reload the iwlagn kernel module:
<br/><br/>rmmod iwlagn; modprobe iwlagn"<br/><br/>I
managed to grab the wrong set of firmware for my Dell Latitude D830.  There was
conflicting guidance on the Internet as to which device was installed...I've
now found out that it is a Broadcom device.  I need to remove the Intel firmware
and install the Broadcom firmware.<br/><br/>BTW, it appears that
support for the Broadcom wireless device is not in the CentOS repositories. I
think I 'm going to have to download the Broadcom files and "make"
the firmware module.  I'd like to avoid that...any
guidance?<br/><br/><br/>

On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 7:12 AM, David McGuffey
<davidmcguffey at verizon.net> wrote:
> BTW, it appears that support for the Broadcom wireless device is not in the
> CentOS repositories. I think I 'm going to have to download the
Broadcom
> files and "make" the firmware module. I'd like to avoid
that...any guidance?
You might want to check out this FAQ at the elrepo site:

http://elrepo.org/tiki/FAQ

Go to #4 and find your device ID.  If you are lucky, you may find the
driver for your Broadcom device there.

Akemi

David McGuffey wrote:
> How do I back out of these directions?
> 
> "yum install iwl4965-firmware
> 
> rmmod iwl4965; modprobe iwl4965
> 
rmmod iwl4965
yum erase iwl4965-firmware

> Your wireless device should be working now. Enable NetworkManager to use
it.
> Starting from CentOS 5.3 (kernel 2.6.18-128) the kernel includes the iwlagn
> kernel module. If you are running an older kernel, please look at the
ipw4965
> method above.
> First download and install the firmware (see above), then just reload the
iwlagn
> kernel module:
> 
> rmmod iwlagn; modprobe iwlagn"
> 
> I managed to grab the wrong set of firmware for my Dell Latitude D830.
There was
> conflicting guidance on the Internet as to which device was
installed...I've now
> found out that it is a Broadcom device. I need to remove the Intel firmware
and
> install the Broadcom firmware.
> 
No, not really. Firmwares are generaly installed to /etc/firmware and 
the correct firmware will automatically be loaded and used by the 
wireless driver, so it really doesn't matter if a bunch of other 
firmwares are present on your system or not.

But if you want to uninstall them, just use:

yum erase iwl4965-firmware
> BTW, it appears that support for the Broadcom wireless device is not in the
> CentOS repositories. I think I 'm going to have to download the
Broadcom files
> and "make" the firmware module. I'd like to avoid that...any
guidance?
> 
Please show us:

lspci

then:

lspci -n | grep '0X:0Y.Z'

where 0X:0Y.Z is the first column output for the Broadcom wireless 
device. Then we may be able to tell you if it's supported or not, and 
what driver to use.

> 
> David McGuffey wrote:
> > How do I back out of these directions?
> > 
> > "yum install iwl4965-firmware
> > 
> > rmmod iwl4965; modprobe iwl4965
> > 
> 
> rmmod iwl4965
> yum erase iwl4965-firmware
> 
> 
> > Your wireless device should be working now. Enable NetworkManager to
> use it.
> > Starting from CentOS 5.3 (kernel 2.6.18-128) the kernel includes the
> iwlagn 
> > kernel module. If you are running an older kernel, please look at
> the ipw4965 
> > method above.
> > First download and install the firmware (see above), then just
> reload the iwlagn 
> > kernel module:
> > 
> > rmmod iwlagn; modprobe iwlagn"
> > 
> > I managed to grab the wrong set of firmware for my Dell Latitude
> D830. There was 
> > conflicting guidance on the Internet as to which device was
> installed...I've now 
> > found out that it is a Broadcom device. I need to remove the Intel
> firmware and 
> > install the Broadcom firmware.
> > 
> 
> No, not really. Firmwares are generaly installed to /etc/firmware and 
> the correct firmware will automatically be loaded and used by the 
> wireless driver, so it really doesn't matter if a bunch of other 
> firmwares are present on your system or not.
> 
> But if you want to uninstall them, just use:
> 
> yum erase iwl4965-firmware
> 
> > BTW, it appears that support for the Broadcom wireless device is not
> in the 
> > CentOS repositories. I think I 'm going to have to download the
> Broadcom files 
> > and "make" the firmware module. I'd like to avoid
that...any
> guidance?
> > 
> 
> Please show us:
> 
> lspci
> 
> then:
> 
> lspci -n | grep '0X:0Y.Z'
> 
> where 0X:0Y.Z is the first column output for the Broadcom wireless 
> device. Then we may be able to tell you if it's supported or not, and 
> what driver to use.
> 
lspci shows:

[root at ErichLaptop ~]# /sbin/lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory
Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI
Express Root Port (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio
Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 6 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface
Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E)
IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E)
SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
(rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Quadro NVS 140M
(rev a1)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M
Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11a/b/g
(rev 01)

uname -a shows:

[root at ErichLaptop ~]# uname -a
Linux ErichLaptop.mcguffeyfamily.net 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5 #1 SMP Thu May
7 10:39:21 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Based on this, I know I have a Broadcom NetXtreme ethernet adapter (eth0
in my case) and a Broadcom BCM4312 wireless adapter (eth1 in my case).

modprobe -l shows a b43 module.  But obviously it isn't sufficient for
the BCM4312.

eth0 works well (although DNS dies on a regular basis, for which there
are a lot of heated discussions about NetworkManager and dns on the
various linux sites). eth1 is not found and when I right-click on the
NetworkManager icon on the top right corner of the screen, it shows a
wireless in a grayed out text.  When I go to
System>Administration>Network, I cannot enable the wireless (eth1)
device.  It tries and then after trying to find an IP, it fails.