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[Bug 1313221] Re: modprobe wl crashes with broadcom 4306

 

>From looking at wl_linux.c, it seems to be loading the driver for any
Broadcom device containing the PCI device ID 0x43##. This is incorrect.

In my opinion, this driver should not be installed, or at least not be
loaded, by default in Ubuntu.

If someone would like, they can look at the existing source code and the
README file included with the wl driver and can create a patch to do
further validation of the PCI ID. Broadcom is unresponsive to me on
this.

At this point, the workaround is as follows:
1. During installation, run "sudo killall -9 modprobe" when installation seems to freeze up to resume it. A hard reboot may be required after installation completes.
2. After booting into Ubuntu, add "blacklist wl" to the end of "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf". Again, a hard reboot may be required.
3. After this everything should be working as normal. If you need to load the b43 module by default, you may need to add "b43" to  "/etc/modules".

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1313221

Title:
  modprobe wl crashes with broadcom 4306

Status in “bcmwl” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I was installing Xubuntu 14.04. It said 'Configuring bcmwl-kernel-
  source (amd64)' and in the details "DKMS: install completed." and it
  just froze there. To continue installation I had to open up a terminal
  and execute  'sudo killall -9 modprobe'

  After getting it installed, I found out that the 'wl' module causes
  problems with my broadcom 4306 wireless card. I had to add it to the
  module blacklist.

  When I load the 'b43' module first (which is the correct module for my
  card), it loads fine [dmesg-b43-first.txt, 134-136]. Then when I try
  to load the 'wl' module after that, it seems to fail gracefully
  [dmesg-b43-first.txt, 203-end]. This seems normal to me.

  However, when I load the 'wl' module first, I get a stack trace
  [dmesg-wl-first.txt, 62-end]. I cannot unload it after that as it says
  it's in use. If I try to load 'b43' after that, modprobe just freezes
  (which I assume is what happened during installation). The system also
  freezes during reboot and I need to hard reboot my system.

  Two issues here it seems:
  1. The wrong module is being automatically loaded for my card. It should be 'b43' not 'wl'.
  2. More importantly, 'wl' is causing a stack trace and causing the modprobe process to lock up when loading 'b43'.

  Please let me know if you need any more information and thank you for
  the assistance.

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