How to install Broadcom BCM4310 USB controller driver in Ubuntu
My lenovo C466 (so as on Dell Vostro 1500)laptop has an embedded wireless network card "BCM4310 USB controller".
To install the driver of this card, we need to use "ndiswrapper" which makes the drivers for windows work in Ubuntu & it's GUI "ndisgtk" to facilitate the installation.
Here are the steps to install the driver for BCM4310 USB Controller Wireless Network Card in Ubuntu (have been tested in both 7.10 & 8.04)
1. Install "ndiswrapper" & "ndisgtk"
You can install the packages from command line with below command:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils ndisgtk
or you can install them from "Synaptic Package Manager"
2. Download the driver
Download the driver from Dell's site: http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R174291.exe
3. Unzip the file
Unzip the file to your desktop, there should be a "DRIVER_US" folder which contains the "bcmwl5.inf" file, we need this file later
4. Run "ndisgtk"
command:
sudo ndisgtk
or you can launch it from "System -> Administration -> Windows Wireless Drivers"
5. Install the driver
Click "Install New Driver", and select the "bcmw5.inf" mentioned above, and then click "Install"
After the above 5 steps, the wireless card indicating lamp should be on now, if you still cannot connect to the network, you should make some configuration.
1. Open the Networking Admin tool (System | Administration | Networking), select the Wireless connection and click Properties, ensure the Enable roaming mode checkbox is ticked.
2. Click the Network Manager icon (computers icon in the top right corner of system tray), your network ESSID should be shown in the drop-down list. Select your network by clicking on it.
3. If the Network requires any further configuration (e.g. WEP key), a dialog should appear, select the correct settings and paste in your key.
2008-10-06 update:
For BCM4310 USB controller in Fedora Core 8, alexander has shared his experience here
And if you still have problems after applying the above steps, here, nadavkav has shared his experience on driving his BCM4310 (14e4:4315) on his HP Pavilion tx2520ej by compiling Broadcom's source.
Reference:
1. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-650729.html
2. http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Tech/Wireless/Truemobile_ndiswrapper
3. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=650729
Support Wikipedia
June 13th, 2008 - 02:40
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! I have been looking for this driver all over the internet.it was the only thing that i needed to complete my xp transition. i have an hp dv2710 laptop so i didn’t think that this would work since the drivers are for a dell.
June 13th, 2008 - 13:20
Juan, hope this can help you, the driver is for BCM4310, not for dell only.
July 4th, 2008 - 15:40
hey tnx so much, i have just installed the driver for my dell 1525. it has been working with the dell driver and then stop working. im using right now the bcmwl5.inf driver
tnx again
July 9th, 2008 - 10:33
Hey Colin,
Thank u so much for this info. Worked for me
July 13th, 2008 - 01:02
I LOVE YOU! It worked for my vostro 1310. One thing I had to go research, when you say unzip that means go to the terminal and say unzip whatever.exe, and that will put all those files on the desktop.
THANKYOU
July 14th, 2008 - 20:06
I have been looking for this articule long time ago and now I found it, It works perfect.
Thank youuuuuu Veryyyy Much!!!
July 26th, 2008 - 00:14
Well I have a inspiron 1525 with the same card and i just conected to the internet via net cable (10/100) and i looked for the driver automatly (device manager or something like that), first it said error, then told me restart, i did.
then it try again and it installed succesfuly.
In the process ask me to get my firmware (wireless card).
no problems so far.
August 27th, 2008 - 16:57
Thank’s a loot man
you’re the god in this topic!!
September 2nd, 2008 - 17:27
Acer Extensa 4420, used dell drivers you linked to, worked like a charm. Thanks.
September 7th, 2008 - 23:38
http://www.blackermedia.com/headspace.php
This is my site with a Tutorial adapted from colin’s blog for Fedora Core 8 – not Ubuntu
It also has the same driver for download.
Thanks, got my Inspiron 1525 working now.
September 10th, 2008 - 04:34
You rule, man – I read several posts saying we -Dell 1535 users- couldn’t use Linux – those voices must be silent now.
Thanks again.
September 15th, 2008 - 05:38
Thank you men, it really worked!
September 29th, 2008 - 23:47
Worked like a charm with my Acer Aspire 4720z (Brazilian) with BCM4310 (BCM94312MCG). Thanks a lot.
October 1st, 2008 - 17:33
Hi,
Thanks for this tutorial.
.
Even if I’m not an Ubuntu user, this tutorial works fine for other distros
Regards,
Andrei
October 3rd, 2008 - 22:51
You said you have a Dell. Does that Driver you listed work for HP Pavilions that use the same Broadcom BCM4310?
October 4th, 2008 - 08:24
it did not work for my hp pavilion tx2520ej tablet with BCM4310 id = 14e4:4315 (rev 01)
October 4th, 2008 - 12:56
nadavkav, sorry I don’t know if it works on your HP laptop, but seems lots of people have successfully made it works on their “BCM4310 USB controller”, is your card a “BCM4310 USB controller”?
October 4th, 2008 - 15:36
yes it is a BCM4310 which is device id 14e4:4315
subsys_product_id : 0x137d
HP = 0x103c
BC = 0x14e4
i asked on the main linux wireless and they do not have an open source driver for it , yet
thank you for your advises !
October 4th, 2008 - 20:02
Marvellous! Have tried Fedora, Opensuse and the rest to get my wireless working and…nada. Ubuntu 8.04 installed followed the instructions described above and bingo. Ubuntu is to stay.
October 6th, 2008 - 02:12
Thanks. Tried a bunch of sites and nothing worked. Your steps worked great with Ubuntu using KDE.
October 6th, 2008 - 07:53
i made it work with "wl" – broadcom's original driver. (14e4:4315)
see howto post:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5913039&postcount=200
October 6th, 2008 - 13:12
nadavkav, thanks for your sharing, I’m sure it can help others.
November 4th, 2008 - 20:03
thank you
thank you
thank you
thank you
November 21st, 2008 - 11:53
after a long war with ndiswrapper and win drivers, I found this post and now I have wireless network on notebook hp pavillion 1110 el (also blue/red light works) powered by openSUSE 11 x86 64bit. THANKS FOR SUGGESTION!!!
December 1st, 2008 - 02:05
Gracias mi pana!!!!
December 29th, 2008 - 08:15
Thanks for this post. its really useful info.and keep posting such things.
January 21st, 2009 - 03:47
Thanks a lot, it works!!!!
May 23rd, 2009 - 16:33
Thanks… Works for my emachines E525 laptop (pro lap)xD
July 6th, 2009 - 13:31
Thanku so much…….. U did a great job… i was wandering here and there for last couple of weeks but could not be able to configure my Wireless Card on Ubuntu 8.04.. Really amaizing job.. Thanks again
July 15th, 2009 - 09:34
You are God, least till I've slept. So the key is to use Dell drivers for a Dell laptop. Yes, I knew that, of course… I've spent the last week looking for a way to get my Dell 1395 working in Ubuntu and this one worked off the bat. Again, man, God.
September 27th, 2009 - 17:57
Hi
I have tried to use the method described on this page
Ndiswrapper – openSUSE
since my wifi was not working or say being detected in Open Suse 10.3
lscpi -vnn gave following output
PCIID 14E4:4315 Broadcom USB 4310 Wifi
this blog gave some information
Colin's Blog: How to install Broadcom BCM4310 USB controller driver in Ubuntu
regarding the windows driver .The windows driver is here
http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R174291.exe
after I unzipped the R174291.exe and went to DRIVER_US
there was bcmwl5.inf file which is the required file as per the information given on the blog.
So I did
root@localhost root]#ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
root@localhost root]#ndiswrapper -l
showed me that device is present and it loaded the said file
but
root@localhost root]#modprobe ndiswrapper
give error
FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
I am stuck up after this point some one please help
I had compiled the latest stable kernel 2.6.31 but it was futile you can see clearly on this link
b43 – Linux Wireless
that the driver for linux for mentioned PCIID is under development in kernel 2.6.32
but still my some friends have ubuntu installed and fedora installed on which the same device is working properly so can some one help me out to find a solution?
I have read this blog many times
and got the link from here only
http://forums.opensuse.org/hardware/laptop/422542-pciid-14e4-4315-solution-kernel-2-6-32-some-hack-exist.html#post2044906
and posted the same question on many forums
things are not working
September 28th, 2009 - 08:12
the ndiswrapper link mentioned in above comment has not come it is here
http://en.opensuse.org/Ndiswrapper
January 11th, 2010 - 03:00
There’s good info here. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog. Keep up the good work mate!
I’m Out!
February 6th, 2010 - 15:40
I don’t understand the first part about ndiswrapper and stuff.. I suck with computers this really is hard lol my inspiron 1525 hard drive broke after a month so had to reinstall everything and the wireless isnt working. How do I do the first steps?
Thanks
March 23rd, 2010 - 17:06
THX a lot, man
October 21st, 2010 - 12:31
thanks u very much
May 13th, 2011 - 07:43
It’s really an interesting fact which I just got to know via this blog. Making this blog and keeping it updated is the best possible thing which customer always ask for. So I would like to thank for this interesting knowledge given by the moderator!
June 9th, 2011 - 10:19
which customer always ask for. So I would like to thank for this interesting knowledge given by the moderator!
September 16th, 2011 - 00:56
let me try it for my hpmini…. its been a week since im looking for this Broadcom BCM4310 USB Controller. hope it works on me.