CentOS - Mar 2010 - Kernel Panic with wl.ko (Broadcom wireless driver) [CentOS 5.4]

Been experimenting with CentOS 5.4 some more. In order to get my wireless 
card to work (Broadcom BCM4311) I need Broadcom's wl.ko driver (http://
www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php). It compiles fine after 
the necessary modification in typedef.h, loads and wireless works. 
However, as soon as I put some load on that interface (scp something from 
another machine, download something with Firefox, etc.) the machine 
kernel panics. I've tried the stock 2.6.18 kernel, the latest 
2.6.18-164-11, and the latest patched 2.6.18-164-11-bug4139.4192.4196 
(necessary to get my ALPS touchpad to work). I've tried two different 
versions of Broadcom's driver: 5.10.79.10 and 5.60.48.36. It doesn't 
kernel panic when I unload the wl kernel module, plug in a network cable 
and copy those files over ethernet.

I downloaded the 2.6.27 kernel source and compiled my own kernel and it 
seems to work with that. However, for some weird reason, with any given 
self-compiled kernel (tried 2.6.18-8, 2.6.25 and 2.6.27) klaptop won't 
allow me to configure any standby/hibernation options because it doesn't 
recognize any of them. They do work perfectly fine though, I can pm-
suspend the laptop from command-line.

Any idea what else I could do? Either getting wl.ko to work with 2.6.18 
(does somebody have a version older than 5.10.79.10 that they could email 
me?) or getting klaptop to realize that the laptop does indeed know how 
th suspend and hibernate with a non-CentOS-kernel would be fine.

Thanks,
Martin

-- 
Rieke Computersysteme GmbH
Hellerholz 5
D-82061 Neuried
Email: martin at rhm.de

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Martin Jungowski <martin at rhm.de>
wrote:
> Been experimenting with CentOS 5.4 some more. In order to get my wireless
> card to work (Broadcom BCM4311) I need Broadcom's wl.ko driver (http://
> www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php).
<snip>
> I downloaded the 2.6.27 kernel source and compiled my own kernel and it
> seems to work with that. However, for some weird reason, with any given
> self-compiled kernel (tried 2.6.18-8, 2.6.25 and 2.6.27) klaptop won't
> allow me to configure any standby/hibernation options because it
doesn't
> recognize any of them. They do work perfectly fine though, I can pm-
> suspend the laptop from command-line.
>
> Any idea what else I could do? Either getting wl.ko to work with 2.6.18
> (does somebody have a version older than 5.10.79.10 that they could email
> me?) or getting klaptop to realize that the laptop does indeed know how
> th suspend and hibernate with a non-CentOS-kernel would be fine.
There is a "CentOS" kernel 2.6.24. If you wish to give it a try, you
can download from my site at:

http://centos.toracat.org/kernel/centos5/realtime/

It is a direct rebuild of the Red Hat MRG realtime kernel[1]. Please
note that I offer them for testing purposes, not for production use.

Akemi

[1]
http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_MRG/1.2/html/Realtime_Installation_Guide/chap-Realtime_Installation_Guide-Download.html#sect-Realtime_Installation_Guide-Download-RT_Kernel_Variants

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 9:45 PM, Martin Jungowski <martin at rhm.de>
wrote:
> Been experimenting with CentOS 5.4 some more. In order to get my wireless
> card to work (Broadcom BCM4311) I need Broadcom's wl.ko driver (http://
> www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php). It compiles fine after
> the necessary modification in typedef.h, loads and wireless works.
> However, as soon as I put some load on that interface (scp something from
> another machine, download something with Firefox, etc.) the machine
> kernel panics. I've tried the stock 2.6.18 kernel, the latest
> 2.6.18-164-11, and the latest patched 2.6.18-164-11-bug4139.4192.4196
> (necessary to get my ALPS touchpad to work). I've tried two different
> versions of Broadcom's driver: 5.10.79.10 and 5.60.48.36. It
doesn't
> kernel panic when I unload the wl kernel module, plug in a network cable
> and copy those files over ethernet.
>
> I downloaded the 2.6.27 kernel source and compiled my own kernel and it
> seems to work with that. However, for some weird reason, with any given
> self-compiled kernel (tried 2.6.18-8, 2.6.25 and 2.6.27) klaptop won't
> allow me to configure any standby/hibernation options because it
doesn't
> recognize any of them. They do work perfectly fine though, I can pm-
> suspend the laptop from command-line.
>
> Any idea what else I could do? Either getting wl.ko to work with 2.6.18
> (does somebody have a version older than 5.10.79.10 that they could email
> me?) or getting klaptop to realize that the laptop does indeed know how
> th suspend and hibernate with a non-CentOS-kernel would be fine.
>
> Thanks,
> Martin
you can try rpmfusion.org given rpms or source rpms
i had problems with my wifi (bcm4328) on fedora12, and best sollution
I got is to use rpmfusion rpm's
if I remember I installed broadcom-wl,
kmod-wl-5.10.91.9.3-3.fc12.6.i586 and
kmod-wl-5.10.91.9.3-3.fc12.6.i586 rpms
and wifi worked just fine