[CentOS] CentOS 6, Broadcom, missing wlan0

Mon Sep 12 19:22:24 UTC 2011
Michael D. Berger <m_d_berger_1900 at yahoo.com>

On Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:11:49 +0200, Nicolas Thierry-Mieg wrote:

> Michael D. Berger wrote:
>> This is a continuation of my previous thread:
>>     "Broadcom Wifi Problem"
> 
> I didn't follow the whole thread, but have you tried building the nosrc
> rpm provided by elrepo?
> Instructions are very clear, and it worked fine for me a few months back
> for a new laptop (can't remember the brand or model) where I was
> installing C6 x86_64.
> http://elrepo.org/tiki/wl-kmod

I followd the instructions at:
   http://elrepo.org/tiki/wl-kmod
and I certainly saw some new stuff installed, and I am impressed with
the approach to the copyright problem.

I got as far as:
   # modprobe wl
   FATAL: Error inserting wl
   (/lib/modules/2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.i686/extra/wl/wl.ko): Unknown symbol 
in
   module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

   # dmesg
   wl: Unknown parameter `nohwcrypt'

But I forgot the crypt library so I did:

   # modprobe -r b43 b43legacy ssb wl lib80211
   # modprobe lib80211_crypt_tkip
   # modprobe wl
   FATAL: Error inserting wl
   (/lib/modules/2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.i686/extra/wl/wl.ko): Unknown symbol 
in
   module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
   #dmesg
   ...
   lib80211_crypt: unregistered algorithm 'NULL'
   lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
   lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
   lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
   ...
   wl: Unknown parameter `nohwcrypt'

I then googed around and did:
   insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.i686/extra/wl/wl.ko nohwcrypt=1
and it did -1: Unknown Symbol.

Since this error is known to be related to the crypt libraries,
I redid them.  It didn't help, but just for grins I tried:
   insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.i686/extra/wl/wl.ko

It retrurned no error.  It seems that it got the nohwcrypt=1 once
and doesn't want to see it again.  I note that the hard drive
partition is encrypted, in case this is relevant.

BUT the problem posted in this OP of this thread still persists.
Perhaps this installation is good, but wlan0 is still not seen.

Here is my ifcfg-wlan0:
   DEVICE="wlan0"
   HWADDR="xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx"
   NM_CONTROLLED="no"
   ONBOOT="no"
   TYPE=wireless
   BOOTPROTO=dhcp
   IPV4_FAILURE_FATAL=yes
   NAME="System wlan0"
   WPA=yes
   USERCTL=yes
   IPV6INIT=no
   PEERDNS=yes
   ESSID="xxxxxxxxxxxx"
   CHANNEL=1
   MODE=Auto
   RATE=Auto
   SECURITYMODE=restricted

Thanks again for your suggestions,
Mike.