Problem: WiFi in Fedora 15 is not working very well or with limited functionality with a Broadcom BCM4311 wireless device, or a Dell E1505 laptop (which uses a BCM4311 wireless card).The wireless may work for a period of time, but eventually cuts out and refuses to connect until you either restart the computer, or disable and re-enable the wireless card.

Cause: Fedora selects the wrong driver for this particular card automatically.

Solution: Install the alternative driver.

Tip: To make this process faster, make sure Fedora is up-to-date BEFORE following these instructions.

To begin: Make sure you have access to a wired connection (ethernet connection). Partly through the process of changing the driver, you will not be able to use WiFi and it will become completely inaccessible.

First, double-check that your card is in-fact BCM4311. Open a new terminal window, and run the command

lspci

(You may need to be root to run this command).

The results should include something that looks like this:
0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01)
^^This first series of numbers may be different on your computer.

If you have a BCM4311, proceed. If this is not your card, do not follow these directions.

Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
Open a new terminal window, and run:

su
yum install akmod-wl

This will install the akmod-w1 driver. After the installation finishes, reboot your computer.
Once you have logged in again, you will have lost access to your wireless. This is because akmod-w1 installs a kernel that breaks wireless on Dell systems. We need to update the kernel in order to access wireless again.

Open the Software Update utility in Fedora. (Press the Windows/Super key and type “Software Update” to access this program).

The update for the kernel should appear. Install the update, and restart again.

The WiFi should now work.

For more information, check out this forum post:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1487122
This post contains other drivers you can also try.

Related articles

• Ubuntu 11.04 BETA I Functionality on Dell E1505 (winfix.zylblog.com)
• Ubuntu 11.04 BETA I fails to use Broadcom wireless card (winfix.zylblog.com)

Description: Ubuntu 11.04 BETA I seems to not detect or acknowledge the presence of any wifi card, wifi is not listed on the wireless menu, and ifconfig/iwconfig do not list a wlan device. Commands such as   rfkill list  show the device, but as blocked.
WiFi light will not turn on with key command, either.

Problem: Once again, the Ubuntu team has provided incorrect default drivers for Broadcom devices. These directions will only help you to  gain some functionality from your wifi device. The wifi may not work to its full potential.

Solution: Navigate to Additional Drivers. To get here from Ubuntu 11.04, click on the power button on the desktop in the upper right hand corner, and click “System Settings”. Locate “Additional Drivers” under the Hardware category.

Remove/deactivate the Broadcom STA Wireless driver. Restart the computer.

Log in, and open a terminal. Then run:

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

Restart the computer again.

You should notice that your WiFi light has turned on.Wireless can not be enabled and disabled from the Network menu (next to the system clock).

A note: Usability of the card may be poor due to having “sketchy” drivers installed. The particular driver installed will work for most Broadcom cards, but may not offer the full features your card may typically have.

Please comment and share how well this worked for you (if at all) and any other solutions you may come across.