Broadcom – Can’t Change brcm_monitor0 in /proc

broadcommonitorpermissionsprocwireless

I am trying to change the value in the file /proc/brcm_monitor0 from 0 to 1.
This file is used to set Broadcom wifi modules into monitor mode.

The default method to do this is:

sudo -s
echo 1 > /proc/brcm_monitor0

But, this gives the error:

-bash: echo: write error: Input/output error

So I try the second method:

echo 1 | sudo tee /proc/brcm_monitor0

The console outputs 1, but when I check the file with:

cat brcm_monitor0

It's still 0.

I have no clue why the file won't change. I've tried chmod 777, but that did not seem to change anything in the output. I know that the proc folder contains virtual files, but from what I've read, the above two methods should work in changing parameters stored in the files.

Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks

Best Answer

Possibly a bug in patched Ubuntu driver.

In Ubuntu 13.04, using the vanilla 6.30.223.141 driver of Broadcom.com, solves the problem.

In Ubuntu 13.10, the vanilla 6.30.223.141 driver does not work due to incompatibility with the kernel version 3.11. Patching the vanilla driver with patch "0009-add-support-for-linux-3.10.0.patch" from Launchpad, generates the SAME error:

$ LANG=C sudo bash -c "echo 1 > /proc/brcm_monitor0"

bash: line 0: echo: write error: Input/output error

FIXING BUG in Ubuntu 13.10:

Apply the patch from Arch Linux AUR instead of 0009-add-support-for-linux-3.10.0.patch

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Download driver source (6.30.223.141) from Broadcom

    wget http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/hybrid-v35_64-nodebug-pcoem-6_30_223_141.tar.gz
tar xvzf hybrid-v35_64-nodebug-pcoem-6_30_223_141.tar.gz

  2. DO NOT APPLY LINUX 3.10 UBUNTU PATCH. Apply http://ix.io/9DV patch only.

    wget http://ix.io/9DV
cd hybrid
patch -i ../9DV -p1

  3. Compile the driver. 

    make

  4. Testing the driver. 

    sudo rmmod wl
sudo insmod ./wl.ko

  5. Enable monitor mode. 

    sudo bash -c "echo 1 > /proc/brcm_monitor0"

source: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl/?setlang=de&comments=all

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