Acer TravelMate 7520G wlan driver configuration with openSUSE 11 - wireless connection configuration for bcm43xx

Short and simple:

If you are connected to the Internet when setting up your wireless configuration, then the configuration is simple and takes but a few minutes to download the firmware using the instructions given in your openSUSE. Read the details at the URL given in openSUSE 11 - see:

http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware

Howto get your bcm43xx firmware into your TravelMate 7520G

Get www connected either via bluetooth or cable LAN then run in your shell the command

/usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware

This shell script install_bcm43xx_firmware will result in a longer download with lots of output like:

Downloading b43 firmware
######### 100.0%
Extracting b43 firmware
This file is recognized as:
ID : FW13
filename : wl_apsta_mimo.o
version : 410.2160
MD5 : cb8d70972b885b1f8883b943c0261a3c
Extracting b43/pcm5.fw
Extracting b43/pcm4.fw
Extracting b43/ucode15.fw
...
...
...

Downloading b43legacy firmware
######### 100.0%
Extracting b43legacy firmware
This file is recognised as:
ID : FW10
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 295.14
MD5 : e08665c5c5b66beb9c3b2dd54aa80cb3
Extracting b43legacy/ucode2.fw
Extracting b43legacy/ucode4.fw
Extracting b43legacy/ucode5.fw
...
...
...

b43 firmware successfully installed.
b43legacy firmware successfully installed.

Now do a:

rcnetwork restart

Check your YAST > Network Devices > Network Settings > BCM4311MCG wlan mini-PCI > edit check all settings, particularly password / security settings and correct as needed

VERY important:

Depending on router age and model - most likely you may first get NO connection, looking at:

tail -f /var/log/messages

You may find an error message:

wlan0: disassociate(reason=3)
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present

By default in openSUSE 11, YAST has ipv6 activated in your network settings:

YAST > Network Devices > Network Settings > Global Options > IPv6 Protocol Settings:

UNcheck IPv6 - in normal networking / wlan environment you have NO need for IP version 6. If you need IPv6 - then you KNOW how to solve that error or most likely you will have already an IPv6 compatible wlan router!

In my case I also changed from User Controlled with NetworkManager to Traditional method with ifup!!

With the Networkmanager method wlan did NOT work and I had NO intention in elaborating on that cause since I use the ifup method by default since years.

Then you may need to reboot your machine or at least to restart your network

rcnetwork restart

WiFi hardware switch in your Acer TravelMate 7520G

The slider next to the bluetooth switch is ON when the control light is OFF and thus the wlan card is disconnected when the control light is ON. This most likely might be a current BUG in the driver. Whatever - just keep that in mind. When unsure, look at the output of tail -f /var/log/messages to see the switch state in your machine. This situation may change in a future driver release.

latest after your reboot you should be be wlan connected - except if your default route is missing !!

If you ping a site - in my case:

ping kriyayoga.com
I got
ping: unknown host kriyayoga.com

Then you may either set your default gateway in your network settings - or as I do when needed - by command line:

route add default gw 192.168.0.1

For my router-gateway IP - for you as needed from your router.

An earlier attempt to do the download and using the b43-fwcutter according the the linuxwireless.org instructions given to extract the firmware on my other linux machine failed repeatedly. The problem had to do the the MD5sum verification and other errors. The really easiest way was to get my TravelMate 7520G online via bluetooth and then run the shell script By bluetooth via 3G the /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware - procedure took about 3-5 minutes. On a faster DSL even less.

Recapitulation of major points for broadcom bcm43xx wireless configuration of your Acer TravelMate 7520G:

• Go online
• run /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
• in YAST disable IPv6
• In YAST select Traditional method with ifup
• reboot
• if needed, set your route IP route add default gw xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

God bless

hans