Install CentOS6 wireless NIC Driver on DELL D630

Install CentOS6 wireless NIC Driver on DELL D630

My DELL D630 machine has been in use for more than six years. I have been running Windows XP because it is too slow and rarely used. Today, I am eager to install a Linux OS to play, considering that the machine is old, for fear that Ubuntu is too tired to run, a CentOS6.5 is installed. After the installation, the wireless Nic always prompts that firmware is missing, after a long time, I learned that it was the problem of the wireless NIC Driver of the DELL D630 machine. Fortunately, CentOS6.5 came with the b43 module to drive the wireless Nic of bcm43xx.

1. First install b43-fwcutter

$ Sudo yum install b43-fwcutter

2. Download the bcm driver

Visit http://developer2.openwrt.org/sources/and download broadcom-wl-<version> .tar.bz2. Here I use broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2.

3. Install the bcm driver

$ Tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2
$ Cd broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4/linux/
$ Sudo b43-fwcutter-w/lib/firmware/wl_apsta.o
$ Sudo modprobe b434. restart the system and then you can see the wireless signal in the network configuration.