-------- Original message --------From: KatolaZ <katolaz@???> Date: 5/22/18 5:05 PM (GMT-06:00) To: dng@??? Subject: Re: [DNG] Unable to "Load missing firmware from removable media"
On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 06:18:12PM +0000, dan pridgeon wrote:


[cut]

> ______________________________________________________
> Thanks.  At this point in my investigation, I would like to know which version ofB43 is loaded by netinst.iso.  tty4 show that B43 is loaded and is requesting
> b43/ucode13.fw or b43-open/ucode13.fw.  From my searches so far, the error -2
> is not an error, but a message that means it can't find those files.  It also appearsthat netinst.iso is looking for them on the ramfs/initramfs and is not looking on the
> removable media.  I would like to know how to get to the source code for the modulethat's putting up the messages on tty4 so I can study it and find out what's really
> going on.  While this may be a somewhat rare problem, it is quite  old problem and
> only the ucodeXX.fw value changes in the error -2 messages.  While I now know howto fix the C700 at this point, I think the netinst.iso code needs to be looked at. 
> How do I determine which source code I should be studying?  I assume its on gethubsomewhere.  Thanks for any help.
>
>   

Dan, you don't need to study any code, IMHO. b43-fwcutter works by
*extracting* the needed firmware from the Windows driver. So you need
the Windows driver for your wifi card, use b43fwcutter on it, get the
files, and put them under /firmware.

Please look online for confirmations. I had to do that at least a
couple of times in the past. I guess the procedure has not changed
much, if at all.

HTH

KatolaZ

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-------- Original message --------From: KatolaZ <katolaz@???> Date: 5/22/18  5:05 PM  (GMT-06:00) To: dng@??? Subject: Re: [DNG] Unable to "Load missing firmware from removable media"
On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 06:18:12PM +0000, dan pridgeon wrote:


[cut]

> ______________________________________________________
> Thanks.  At this point in my investigation, I would like to know which version of B43 is loaded by netinst.iso.  tty4 shows that B43 is loaded and is requesting
> b43/ucode13.fw or b43-open/ucode13.fw.  From my searches so far, the error -2
> is not an error after all, but a message that means it can't find those files.  It also, it appears that netinst.iso is looking for them on the ramfs/initramfs and is not looking for them on the
> removable media.  I would like to know how to get to the source code for the module that's putting up the messages on tty4 so I can study it and find out what's really
> going on.  While this may be a somewhat rare problem, it is quite  old problem because
> only the ucodeXX.fw value changes in the error -2 messages.  While I now know howto fix the C700 at this point, I think the netinst.iso code needs to be looked at. 
> How do I determine which source code I should be studying?  I assume its on gethubsomewhere.  Thanks for any help.
>
>   

Dan, you don't need to study any code, IMHO. b43-fwcutter works by
*extracting* the needed firmware from the Windows driver. So you need
the Windows driver for your wifi card, use b43fwcutter on it, get the
files, and put them under /firmware.

Please look online for confirmations. I had to do that at least a
couple of times in the past. I guess the procedure has not changed
much, if at all.

HTH

KatolaZ

_______________________________________________
Thanks KatolaZ,
I'm trying to identify why the netinst.iso does not work the way it's written. Live Knoppix goes straight to the network. No problems.  If there was a way to capture the tty4 screen at the point of install failure, I could show what it's asking for. I've learned how to unpack the .fw files from the wl driver, and other .o files,  and where to put them (after the machine has a real file system). I would like to do what netinst tells me to do, extract the requested file on a separate machine, put the file on some removable media, place that media in the machine, and continue the install process. There is no /lib/firmware/b43[-open] path available at that early point in the install. There is a /firmware directory on the netinst.iso usb drive itself, but all the files there are .deb packages; netinst is asking for: .fw files. (Is netinst expecting a .deb file?)  The process should be seamless once the requested file has been extracted, etc. And, as has been noted, there's tons of instructions on how to do the extraction, most having to do with Ubuntu, and that's not a problem. One (knowledgeable?) poster stated explicitly that netinst was (incorrectly) looking for the file on the ramdisk, not the removable media. That would account for the observed symptoms. There appears to be no way to modify the install process in mid-stream.  I found no way to mount another usb drive with the needed file(s). (Even tho, when plugged, the /dev/sdc shows up on the tty4 screen, mount fails.)  Of course, there is no way to mount/re-mount  -rw the install usb drive so as to redirect terminal content into a file there for sharing.  tty4 does not support scrollback at that point so I can't see everything prior to the point of failure. 
  On a hunch, I remember reading at one point that a user discovered that the 'live boot cd' (a different distro) could get access to the internet.  Knowing how tightly coupled the Devuan install process is to the Debian's (and its derivatives), I decided to try and see what would happen with Devuan's live boot .iso.  Bingo. I got right to the net. Now I'm confused. It would appear that Devuan is distributing a non-distributable firmware file in its live cd .iso, and, the netinst.iso does not have it, or, its distributing a distributable firmware file that works on the C700 but is not included on the netinst.iso (for reasons not yet understood), or, the netinst has the wrong instructions for obtaining the correct .fw file for the C700. 
Thanks for any comments on this.
(While composing this email on the C700 live cd boot, it hung at this point, so I'm finishing this email on the G555 Lenovo.)
While I was live-booted on the C700, I collected the following information. Perhaps it will help determine where to go from here. (Sorry for the long post.)


root@devuan:~# lspci | grep BCM
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 02)
root@devuan:~# lspci -nn -d 14e4:
01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 02)
root@devuan:~# lsmod | grep b43
b43                   413696  0
bcma                   53248  1 b43
mac80211              671744  1 b43
cfg80211              589824  2 b43,mac80211
rng_core               16384  1 b43
ssb                    69632  1 b43
mmc_core              147456  2 b43,ssb
root@devuan:~# dpkg -l  | grep 80211
ii  firmware-brcm80211   20161130-3  all  Binary firmware for Broadcom 802.11 wireless cards
root@devuan:~#