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Bad Broadcom 440X bad bad bad...

post #1 of 5
11/7/04 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
My attempt to install Gentoo Linux(stage 2) on a Dell 700M has ben met with imeadiate frustration due to the Broadcom 440X NIC. Gentoo could not autodetect the card.

Running ifconfig - Link encap:Local loopback

Running lspci does show my Ethernet controller as Broadcom Corp BCM4401-BO-100 base-TX(rev2)

modprobe on b44 failed - inint module no such device

A search of Gentoos forum sugested doing a stage 3 cd only (no network) install so I'm giving that a try.

Any other solutions to the Broadcom problem?
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post #2 of 5
11/7/04 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bob5820
Any other solutions to the Broadcom problem?
Well unfortunatly it is a solution that requires money, but Linux Ant I believe is what I am running my Motorola Wireless card off of and I believe it is also a broadcom card. 20 bucks though may not be worth it, depends on who you are. If you find an open source driver though let me know because I need it

Seablade
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post #3 of 5
11/7/04 at 5:03am
I had that problem when installing slackware- for some reason, the 2.4 kernel's broadcom driver doesn't work with our laptop. Basically, once I upgraded to a 2.6 kernel, the b44 module loaded propery, and everything was dandy after that; however, I had to transfer the 2.6 kernel onto my hard drive via a USB memory stick =p. No internet, so I couldn't download it =p
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post #4 of 5
11/7/04 at 9:12am
Same here, except mine was RHEL 3 on a Dell 9100.

Linux identified the NIC, and I was able to assign an IP address to it. I could ping loopback and the IP bound to the NIC, but no networking (name resolution, routing, etc) would work.

2.4 kernel.

Tried the directions in the README that comes with the drivers from Broadcom's site, that didn't work. Found some directions on this after ALOT of Google searches. Had to compile the Broadcom driver, then rmmod the b44.o driver, then insmod the bcm4400.o driver that I compiled.

.....Still didn't work.

Moved the b44.o module, renamed the bcm4400.o module to b44.o and brought eth0 back up....ta da! worked.

(Sorry guys, I've been using Unix/Linux for over a year now, but I have very little experience with loading/unloading modules. My little story probably doesn't make much sense. If anyone wants to know what I did, just post a request, and I'll post exact details later. Sorry, I would do it now, but I work an 11-hour night shift, and my shift is ending, I want to go home and sleep).
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post #5 of 5
11/9/04 at 7:31am
Thread Starter 
Some improvement, I found that by using the 'smp' parameter on boot, which loads a 2.6 kernel rather then a 2.4 kernel, my net work card is properly detected and I can ping web sites. So atleast now its working with the live cd. How do I check which module LiveCd is using?
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