[ubuntu-uk] HP Mini (BCM4312 wifi) 11.04 lockup

[Paul Tansom]

The short version of this email is:

Has anyone got the wifi working on an HP Mini 2133 with Ubuntu 11.04?

The longer version with more detail is:

I've just upgraded to 11.04 on my HP Mini 2133 netbook. It has been running
earlier Ubuntu versions fine bar a few initial issues and a quirkiness with
suspending. I spent a short while on 10.10 (only a few weeks) prior to
upgrading to 11.04 and noticed the occasionally lockup - mouse and keyboard
input ignored, screen frozen, disk activity stopped, etc., but decided to
upgrade anyway and see if things improved.

The initial upgrade was a mess, largely due to a lockup during the upgrade
process, but I managed to boot into a CLI with networking and continue, only to
lock up again. Next continuation was via a boot CD which got a working
installation (all be it with an ugly Windows 95 theme to it), but there was so
much missing and it regularly locked soon after booting. It also somehow
managed to kill of my SUSE boot that came preinstalled (not that I missed that,
the last boot was in 2009 prior to using it to attempt a recovery by
downloading and burning the 11.04 ISO!). So with everything already backed up I
decided to start from scratch with a clean install.

With a clean 11.04 installed everything initially seemed fine, but after a few
minutes it locked, and repeated locks anywhere between the login screen and a
few minutes into usage has continued since. The only way to fix it is to
disable the wifi with the switch at the front and use the wired NIC.

So, has anyone else had one of these machines working with 11.04? There are a
couple of bugs raised which sound like the issue [1], but I'm not one to just
sit and wait when I can get stuck in and investigate!

The chipset lists as BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY or Broadcom Corporation BCM4312
802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01) which according to [2] this particular
revision is listed as "partially in 2.6.33+" unfortunately, so that may be part
of the issue, but 'partially' would seem to indicate that it should work
without locking the system up completely at least some of the time!! I've tried
both the STA driver and the B43 driver as per [3], the STA was the
automatically installed one, but both have the same issue.

My next test is to try another wifi NIC (a USB one) and see if wifi works with
that which would confirm the general wifi install is working (or not). At the
moment the primary common denominator is the firmware I guess.

[1]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/772923
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/772859
[2]
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Known_PCI_devices
[3]
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx#b43%20-%20Internet%20access


-- 
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001
======================================================================
Registered in England  |  Company No: 4905028  |  Registered Office:
Crawford House, Hambledon Road, Denmead, Waterlooville, Hants, PO7 6NU