61 replies to this topic

[Philip J. Fry]

You have a HP laptop and there is no driver for your miniPCI express card ?
You bought a 15$ dell 1390 card but you can't use it because of the "104 unsupported network device" ?
You don't want to hack your BIOS (but the card SPROM) ?

Here is the howto you need !
(I hope so...)

!!! WARNING, this howto comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, blah, blah, blah !!!

What do I need ?

- An HP notebook with a non friendly miniPCIe wireless card (mine was an Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG).
- A Dell 1390 miniPCe wireless card (with the bcm4311 chip).
- A GNU/Linux based OS.
- Some hands.

Great. Now how do I get the 1390 card working ?

1. Remove the miniPCI-e card.

2. Start your notebook. After the BIOS check but before the boot of your favorite linux OS (by pausing GRUB for example), put the 1390 card in the miniPCIe slot (be really careful !).

3. Boot up the linux based OS.

4. Check that the bcm43xx linux module is present:
> sudo modprobe bcm43xx
Now, we need the chip firmware:
> wget http://downloads.ope...ta-3.130.20.0.o
We have to extract it to /lib/firmware with the tool bcm43xx-fwcutter
> wget http://prdownload.be...ter-006.tar.bz2
> tar xvf bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2
> cd bcm43xx-fwcutter-006
> make
> sudo ./bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
Then, reload the module
> sudo rmmod bcm43xx
> sudo modeprobe bcm43xx
Now, turn on the card and try it:
> sudo ifconfig eth1 up
> sudo iwlist eth1 scan
(! the card may not be eth1)
If you get a list of available networks, the card works fine !

(These instructions may not work with special kernel/config/... If so, see http://linuxwireless...ers/Drivers/b43 to get the card working on linux.)

5. Time to hack the card SPROM.
The BIOS checks the subsystem vendor id and product id of the card. So they have to be in the HP whitelist. Here we are lucky: some HP notebooks have a broadcom 4311 based card. The subsystem vendor id is 0x103c (HP) and the subsystem product id is 0x1363. We just need to change these values in the dell card's SPROM.
the tool we need:
> wget http://linuxwireless...x-sprom.tar.bz2
> tar xvf bcm43xx-sprom.tar.bz2
> cd bcm43xx-sprom
> make
Now, hack
> sudo iwpriv eth1 read_sprom > card_sprom
(If eth1 is the dell card)
> ./ssb-sprom -i card_sprom --subv 0x103c --subp 0x1363 > new_sprom
> sudo iwpriv eth1 write_sprom $(cat new_sprom)
We check that's all good
> sudo iwpriv eth1 read_sprom > sprom_check
> ./ssb-sprom -i sprom_check -P
and look at the subsystem vendor/product ID.

6. Reboot and enjoy !



Thanks for your attention.

[olinboy1]

Great write up P.J.F. (awesome name by the way)

Do you have any suggestions for a guy with an HP dv5220us that is trying to get a 1390 mini pci e card recognized too? I don't seem to have any whitelist issues with my dv5000 series BIOS, so I'd think that is an advantage... however, I still can't get the thing to be recognized in Tiger or Leopard.

Thanks!

[inr0t]

I will try it, thak you

[Gopan]

Philip,

Your direction to this issue is really useful , but I do not know whether i can make this in my machine. I do not have any idea about Linux.
My Notebook is Hp 530 , except wireless card everything working in kalyway leopard. Wifi is Intel3945ABG . Luckly as you said I got one DELL DW1390 Wifi card which is broadcom 4311KFBG.
When I put this card in to my Hp 530 ... that 104 error message came. I know this 4311 will detect as Airport if I can solve this BIOS error issue.
Any other easy way in windows based meathod to change vendor id or device id of dell broadcom card? I have the Dell machine also with me in which this broadcom card working. In that DELL machine if i put that card again and through windows some utility can I change the vendor id and product id suitable for Hp 530?

help is apreciated.

Gopan

[Sincore]

is this hack possible using the terminal in 10.5.2?

[BlackCH]

I did it. It was not so easy as in the first post's guide but it worked at the end.
My HP notebook has a wLan switch so I had to tape the pin 20 for the card to stay on all the time. It took me a few tries to get the mini pcie recognized; sometimes the computer will freeze when you insert the card, other times I insert the card too late...
you can use the command
>lspci
to see if the card is recognized.
I used Ubuntu 7.10. I runned into troubles with the 'make' commands; I had to use knoppix live cd on my desktop PC to compile the eprom editor tool. Finally I had to load the firmeware from the 'Restricted Drivers' menu, I download a precompiled version of bcm43xx-fwcutter... This is pretty straightfoward.
then:

> sudo modprobe -r bcm43xx
> sudo modprobe bcm43xx

and

>dmesg

to see if the driver is loaded. The first time I got some errors about the bcm43xx driver, I runned the two lines above again, and then no errors.

after writting the modified eprom I lost my keyboard (i dont know why). That was a {censored} 'cos I couldnt check wheter the flashing went ok or not. So I crossed fingers and rebooted ....and yes, success!, No more 'device not supported' mesage, and Airport on my 10.5 installation is working now. I have still to fix some details (the icon on the bar says AirPort isnt configured, eventhough Im connected to my network and have access to internet)....

I've come across some usefull links for this hack; I'll try to post them here later.

Thanx philip, you save me some $$$!, not to mention that HP parts are not easy to find in local salers...


Here are the links that hepled me:

How to install the BCM43xx firmeware:
https://help.ubuntu....r/bcm43xx/Gutsy

BCM43xx-fwcutter:
http://packages.ubun...a...6&type=main

Some guy at the HP forums made it with an Intel card (middle of the thread):
http://209.85.135.10...lient=firefox-a

and in case you need to tape your card:
http://forum.insanel...&...st&p=510044

[applehacker]

does this really work for mac os x leo osx86 bcm4311 minipcie? how does linux come into play with mac os?
If this works, I will proclaim u my new god. But first, i gotta get me some linux.

[BlackCH]

This only helps you to get rid of the HP BIOS lock for not-whitelisted devices (OEM/no-HP devices). If your broadcom 4311 works already under windows you dont need this. After you change the subsys ID numbers, you might need still to use chun-nan's IOPCIFamily.kext (search in the forum) to make the card work under osx.
I personally got a dell 1390 card, did the eprom hack, and it worked out of the box. I had this IOPCI kext already installed and I havent tryed without it.

[applehacker]

k, ill search 4 taht. tanks!

[applehacker]

still didn't work. I am assuming u dont have a kill switch?

[BlackCH]

still didn't work. I am assuming u dont have a kill switch?

I do actually.
If you give complete details about what/how you did, I might suggest something

[applehacker]

OK, here is what I did.
Downloaded rev. 8, running iATKOS v.1.0ir2
(all in safe boot)
backed up my kexts.
replaced the kexts.
repaired permissions.
rebooted
opened terminal
typed sudo su
then I typed mesg | grep PC
it listed kernal dependencies, and said to use one style only.
thats that, I quit, rebooted and nothing.

Should I try ToH release?
And is Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2080 @1.73 ghz compatible w/ EFI emulation?
Supports SSE3 and SSE2.

I am open to ANY suggestions. Thanks a bunch!

[BlackCH]

This only helps you to get rid of the HP BIOS lock for not-whitelisted devices (OEM/no-HP devices). If your broadcom 4311 works already under windows you dont need this. After you change the subsys ID numbers, you might need still to use chun-nan's IOPCIFamily.kext (search in the forum) to make the card work under osx.
I personally got a dell 1390 card, did the eprom hack, and it worked out of the box. I had this IOPCI kext already installed and I havent tryed without it.

Have you tryed chun-nan kext?... rev 8?...
theres a beta2 version for 10.5.2

If that doesnt work, dont know. Get a USB dongle. I have a WG111 v.2, works very well on my desktop under leopard

you could try to tape the pin 20 on the card to have it power-on all times:
http://forum.insanel...&...st&p=510044

[applehacker]

powering the card is not the issue. why is it so hard to get this card recognized!?!?!?!?! do you know of any mini-pci-e cards that work (you said that u have a killswitch, and you got it working) and is my processor EFI capable (listed in previous post)? Thanks!

[BlackCH]

Is NOT a problem of the card itself. The problem is related to misconfigured PCI ports (or let say, not well configured for OSX). The broadcom 4311 has native support in osx, once the PCIe port is fixed(with chun-nan kext). This isnt working for everybody though.
So, even if you put another miniPCIe in, is still your PCI port which isnt seen.... Again, if chun-nan kext doesnt fix it, I guess your only way to go is to get an USB dongle...

[rlith]

Sorry to ressurect this thread, but I'm trying to do the eprom hack and when I do the make for the bcm4xx-sprom under ubuntu, all I get is errors and I can't to the ./bcmxx etc command. Any guidance would be appreciated.. (I get the card recognized under ubuntu fune as eth3)

[BlackCH]

Try typing:

>sudo apt-get install build-essentials

before compile (make) the tools.

by request, I've post the details of how I made it here:

http://forum.insanel...&...st&p=636668

[rlith]

Thanx. Your other page is also book marked. I'll give this a whirl over the weekend. If I can get this done on my dv9287cl (HP) My notebook will be 99% complete (Can't get my SD Reader to work under OS X yet) I have the dreaded intel 32xx card. PIcked up the dw1390 card on the cheap. (Don't really card about N). So this whole thing should work out well. Thanx again people.

[BlackCH]

Be aware theres chances it wont work even after you 'withelist' your card....

[rlith]

Be aware theres chances it wont work even after you 'withelist' your card....

Well, I changed the fimware on the card but the Bios still came up with the 104 error. I then found this thread http://forum.insanel...showtopic=31474 and Doctorj's solution worked perfectly on my dv9287cl. The hex offset is the same. (Note that the bios editor needs to be run in XP). The card was instantly recognized on boot (despite the power switch for the card still showing off on the laptop) Hooked up to my wifi and off I go.

My next goal is to eliminate the HP logo at boot in the bios and have it display the Vista, XP, Mac and Ubuntu logo (all 4 that I boot into).