help using windows NDIS drivers

[ian-nai]

I just bought a linksys wmp300N wireless pci card (aka BroadCom BCM43XNG , see references ). It doesn't look like there's a native driver (based on the man pages and google). But, I was attempting to use the windows (64 bit) drivers via ndisgen.

So, I get through the interactive prompt and wind up with:

[CMD=]kldload ./bcmwl664_sys.ko[/cmd]

[...abbreviated output...]*
no match for NdisAllocateNetBufferAndNetBufferList
no match for NdisGetSystemUpTimeEx
no match for NdisMGetBusData
no match for NdisFreeNetBufferList
no match for ZwQueryInformationFile
no match for ZwCreateFile
no match for ZwReadFile
no match for IoUnregisterPlugPlayNotification
no match for IoRegisterPlugPlayNotification
NDIS dummy called...

[CMD=]ifconfig[/cmd]

...
nothing mentioning ndis
...

I've taken that to mean I need to load some additional firmware drivers (last step before ndisgen works its magic). Here's the exact list of 'firmware' files I gave ndisgen:

[CMD=]ndisgen[/cmd]

bcm43xx64.cat bcmihvsrv64.dll bcmihvui64.dll bcmwlcoi64.dll

But...I'm still getting those "no match...NDIS dummy called" errors. So, I'm hoping someone here either:

a.) knows of a proper driver for this card
b.) knows of the proper way to work ndisgen.

Thanks!

PS I think this is a 'network' forum thread, but it's a driver problem so idk.
*The output here is from dmesg. kldload does NOT give that kind of feedback!

links:
FreeBSD handbook page: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/config-network-setup.html
driver: http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/wireless/lbc/WMP300N
the driver I didn't use: http://dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8726&sid=24d19925cf43f2715e092f3a5a59d5e1
chipset reference: http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Adapters/WMP300N-what-chipset-does-it-have/td-p/13913

-edit-
I'm not sure if this helps, but it's 3 and I think it might:

[CMD=]pciconf -lv[/cmd]

[...]
none1@pci0:3:1:0:       class=0x028000 card=0x00601737 chip=0x432914e4 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom Corporation'
    device     = 'BCM43XNG 802.11n Network Adapter'
    class      = network

 

[da1]

Try loading bwi(4) kernel module.

 

[ian-nai]

I did, and installed the relevant extraneous port. No go, unless there's some other finagling I need to do.

 

[ian-nai]

Update:

I tried loading bwi and bwn at boot. (if_bwi and if_bwn are the respective module names) bwn seemed to identify the card, but produced errors and quit without creating an interface. When done on boot, the system actually kernel paniced.

So, I pulled the card. My guess is that bwn is the right driver for this card - but my particular card is dead.

Thanks again for the help. I hope this thread will help someone in their research of wireless cards supported (I think) by freebsd!

 

[wblock@]

Both bwi(4) and bwn(4) require firmware modules from ports. That said, not all Broadcom cards are supported well or at all. If Broadcom annoys you enough, the wireless cards can usually be replaced with something less annoying, like Atheros.