Install B43 drivers without internet connection

Question

I've spent all day trying to solve this with no results. I am using elementaryOS Luna, but since it runs on Ubuntu...

The problem I have is that my Dell Vostro 1500 has defective Ethernet. It can't connect to Ethernet for some reason, most probably a hardware problem, so I need to install the drivers without having internet in the computer in which it's getting installed.

Any solutions that require a second computer with Linux won't work. This is being typed from OS X and the other computer I have is the computer with the problem.

Running lspci I get:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

I am aware I need the b43 firmware set or something but I can't seem to find any instructions that work for me.

Any other info you need to help me out, please do tell me and I'll do my best to provide it.

P.S.: To get the output of the commands I'm piping the output of the command to a text file in a USB then copy pasting here from a working computer.

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EDIT 1:

Output of dmesg | grep -e b43 -e wlan:

[    2.740106] b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[    2.740171] b43-pci-bridge 0000:0c:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   13.026193] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4312 WLAN found (core revision 15)
[   13.122019] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[   13.122046] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[   13.122069] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
[   14.340121] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[   19.988670] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   19.988964] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[   23.680660] wlan0: authenticate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[   23.684805] wlan0: authenticated
[   23.685338] wlan0: associate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[   23.692129] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=5)
[   23.692135] wlan0: associated
[   23.693238] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[   34.660029] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
[   69.204860] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 by local choice (reason=3)
[   73.033034] wlan0: authenticate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[   73.034978] wlan0: authenticated
[   73.035362] wlan0: associate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[   73.041193] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=5)
[   73.041198] wlan0: associated
[   84.024051] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
[  118.208901] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 by local choice (reason=3)
[  122.305180] wlan0: authenticate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[  122.308896] wlan0: authenticated
[  122.309598] wlan0: associate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[  122.331440] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=5)
[  122.331450] wlan0: associated
[  132.584138] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
[  168.205906] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 by local choice (reason=3)
[  172.312791] wlan0: authenticate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[  172.314841] wlan0: authenticated
[  172.315380] wlan0: associate with 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (try 1)
[  172.320773] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from 00:26:44:bc:0f:78 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=5)
[  172.320783] wlan0: associated

Solution 1

Please download this file to the same USB key and transfer it to your desktop. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58267392/b43_new.zip Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now, in a terminal:

sudo mkdir /lib/firmware/b43
sudo cp Desktop/b43_new/*  /lib/firmware/b43
sudo modprobe -r b43 && sudo modprobe b43

It might take a reboot.

Solution 2

Check out this question, as it might work for your system - the first answer recommends:

---

Check out Keryx, it's an offline repository manager.

How does it work? It lets you download updates and new programs (with dependencies) to your flash drive.

Its interface is similar to synaptic but it works from a pendrive (it doesn't need installation). Unfortunately, the GUI needs wxwidgets, which don't come preinstalled on Ubuntu (they're cross-platform and installable from here and ubuntu repository here). It can only install software in a Ubuntu system, but you can download the updates or new packages in any Linux, Windows or OS/X.

Here you can find a tutorial.

Another detailed step-by-step tutorial in this answer.

Launchpad also hosts downloadable files.

A screenshot:

Comments

[Thomas Ward]

ElementaryOS is offtopic here on Ask Ubuntu, as it is not Ubuntu or a supported derivative.

[greduan]

I did try following that answer IIRC. Keryx gave me errors whenever I tried to run it so it didn't work though.

[Wilf]

What errors? - there is almost an infinite possible amount of them, so if you want to help with it, post 'em. There are other answers in the question I linked to, look at those as well.

[greduan]

Sadly that didn't do it. It now tries to connect to the wifi it seems (after I give it a wifi connection to connect to) but after trying for about a minute it tells me it failed... Does that mean it's working but the problem is something like a wrong password?

[greduan]

Well it was basically an invitation for another answer, by saying I already tried that and couldn't continue because of errors. The errors I got were about the graphical library it requires, which requires internet to be installed (as far as I could tell) so that stopped me completely. Thank you for your answer though. :)

[Wilf]

Did you try installing wxwidgets first? This bit: Unfortunately, the GUI needs wxwidgets, which don't come preinstalled on Ubuntu (they're cross-platform and installable from here and ubuntu repository here ). It can only install software in a Ubuntu system, but you can download the updates or new packages in any Linux, Windows or OS/X.

[greduan]

Well it's not a wrong WEP key... Checked and double checked and it's right. I don't think I made this clear enough but I can now access the wifi interface (doesn't give me firmware errors now) but I still can't connect to the internet. I did restart BTW.

[chili555]

Any useful clues in the log? dmesg | grep -e b43 -e wlan

[greduan]

Thanks for your follow-up. :) I added the output to the question.

[greduan]

TBH, I did and didn't. I did because I did look into it a bit but at this point I was mentally exhausted so I gave up very quickly. Thanks to @chili555 I have installed the firmware/driver but I have run into a different problem now... Thank you for your help. :)

[Wilf]

Your welcome :-)

[greduan]

Reading it several times it seems it's expecting a IPv6 router to be present?

[chili555]

It is looking for IPv6 capability; it will attempt to get an IPv6 address if available. It found none. I suggest you edit connections in Network Manager and set IPv6 to 'Ignore.' Any improvement?

[greduan]

That seems to have fixed it! Really appreciate your help. :)