Bug 235003

Summary: kernel-2.6.20-1.3038.fc7 loads both "bcm43xx" and "bcm43xx_mac80211" drivers
Product: [Fedora] Fedora Reporter: Robert Allerstorfer <linux-ra>
Component: kernelAssignee: John W. Linville <linville>
Status: CLOSED RAWHIDE QA Contact: Brian Brock <bbrock>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: rawhideCC: torsten
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Hardware: powerpc   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
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Last Closed: 2007-06-01 20:41:02 UTC Type: ---
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Description Robert Allerstorfer 2007-04-03 07:19:53 UTC
Description of problem:

The new development kernel for fc7 changed its wireless support driver for
bcm43xx based cards from the (SoftMAC based) "bcm43xx" to the (mac80211 based)
"bcm43xx_mac80211". However, the old SoftMAC based bcm43xx driver still gets
loaded by the kernel, in addition to the new one.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

[root@fedora-ibook ~]# uname -a
Linux fedora-ibook 2.6.20-1.3038.fc7 #1 Sat Mar 31 19:26:27 EDT 2007 ppc ppc ppc
GNU/Linux

How reproducible:

easy

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Run "lsmod | egrep 'bcm43xx|80211'"
  
Actual results:

bcm43xx               443496  0 
ieee80211softmac       37472  1 bcm43xx
ieee80211              51217  2 bcm43xx,ieee80211softmac
ieee80211_crypt         7104  1 ieee80211
rc80211_simple          6304  1 
bcm43xx_mac80211      424044  0 
ssb                    42148  1 bcm43xx_mac80211
mac80211              198404  2 rc80211_simple,bcm43xx_mac80211
cfg80211               14800  1 mac80211

Expected results:

bcm43xx_mac80211      424044  0 
rc80211_simple          6304  1 
ssb                    42148  1 bcm43xx_mac80211
cfg80211               14800  1 mac80211
mac80211              198404  2 rc80211_simple,bcm43xx_mac80211

Additional info:

The BCM4306 based Apple Airport Extreme Mini-PCI card fails to establish a WPA2
connection to a IEEE 802.11g access point, although wpa_supplicant 0.5.7
successfully authenticated.

[root@fedora-ibook ~]# ifup eth1
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Device or resource busy.
Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.

Determining IP information for eth1... failed.

Comment 1 John W. Linville 2007-04-10 21:05:38 UTC
The two drivers each use different firmware.  So depending on where you got 
your firmware, only one version of the driver should work at all.  Also, there 
is some hardware that works better (or only works) with one version of the 
driver or the other.  Including both versions for now seems like the better 
choice.

Are you observing an actual problem from both drivers being loaded?  Or is the 
WPA2 connection failure the real problem?  Please try the test kernels here:

   http://people.redhat.com/linville/kernels/fc7/

Do they work any better for WPA2?

Comment 2 John W. Linville 2007-06-01 20:41:02 UTC
Closing on the basis of the "subject" problem having been addressed.