Backtrack 2 Wireless Problems

[codeMacavity]

i just received an inspiron 1721 laptop, and I want to use it as a desktop replacement, and make my old computer a linux machine. However, I would like to use a linux live cd (in case I get somewhat nostalgic) and I decided to use backtrack 2.

However, when I tried to hook up my wireless connection, it doesn't detect my network adapter. I receive eth0 and lo, but both are described as being without wireless connection.

I have been really annoyed by this problem, if anyone knows what the problem is or how to fix it, please reply.

[Dapper Dan]

Hi.

We cannot help you unless we know what wireless device you have. Open konsole and do:

/sbin/lspci

Then:

/sbin/lspci -n

Copy the output, write it in kedit, save and name it, transfer the file to an external usb device or even floppy, boot to Windows and paste the output here.

[codeMacavity]

Here is the Code, hope it helps:

<code>

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7910
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7912
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7915
00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7917
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 SMBus (rev 14)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Azalia
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 791f
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0832 (rev 05)
03:01.1 Class 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0843 (rev 12)
03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
03:01.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)
0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Unknown device 4328 (rev 03)
bt ~ # /sbin/lspci -n
00:00.0 0600: 1002:7910
00:01.0 0604: 1002:7912
00:05.0 0604: 1002:7915
00:07.0 0604: 1002:7917
00:12.0 0106: 1002:4380
00:13.0 0c03: 1002:4387
00:13.1 0c03: 1002:4388
00:13.2 0c03: 1002:4389
00:13.3 0c03: 1002:438a
00:13.4 0c03: 1002:438b
00:13.5 0c03: 1002:4386
00:14.0 0c05: 1002:4385 (rev 14)
00:14.1 0101: 1002:438c
00:14.2 0403: 1002:4383
00:14.3 0601: 1002:438d
00:14.4 0604: 1002:4384
00:18.0 0600: 1022:1100
00:18.1 0600: 1022:1101
00:18.2 0600: 1022:1102
00:18.3 0600: 1022:1103
01:05.0 0300: 1002:791f
03:00.0 0200: 14e4:170c (rev 02)
03:01.0 0c00: 1180:0832 (rev 05)
03:01.1 0805: 1180:0822 (rev 22)
03:01.2 0880: 1180:0843 (rev 12)
03:01.3 0880: 1180:0592 (rev 12)
03:01.4 0880: 1180:0852 (rev 12)
0b:00.0 0280: 14e4:4328 (rev 03)

</code>

[Dapper Dan]

The chipset is broadcom 802.11n. I found a thread where someone got this card working for them with ndiswrapper. In short, you must install ndiswrapper, install the XP windows driver, blacklist the bcm43xx driver so it doesn't get loaded for your device, load ndiswrapper and it should work, according to this thread...

Link

[bidi]

I've actually got my Broadcom-based wireless card working with the native Linux driver. The only think you need is the bcm43xx-fwcutter tool. Ndiswrapper works a lot better, but also requires more tweaking (the range when using the native driver sucks).