Dennis HilkLinux diagnosticsDE

Wi-Fi adapters

Broadcom BCM4313 / BCMA Wi-Fi family

A Broadcom PCIe host exposed through BCMA to the brcmsmac wireless core. The host bridge binding and radio-driver binding are different layers.

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On this page
  1. Overview & identity
  2. Driver & binding
  3. Firmware
  4. Read-only diagnostics
  5. Limitations & related issues
  6. References

Overview & identity

14e4:4727 is checked in the BCMA PCI host table; brcm_hw_ids.h calls it the BCM4313 2.4G D11 identity. brcmsmac itself matches BCMA core revisions, not this PCI pair directly.

Curated identifiers
pci 14e4:4727

A numeric match establishes a candidate family within the reviewed evidence. Marketing names, board variants, subsystem conditions and successful operation remain separate questions.

Driver & binding

bcma is the PCI-host candidate and brcmsmac the BCMA wireless-core candidate. brcmsmac requests a firmware image plus its matching header file.

  • bcma — kernel driver/module candidate
  • brcmsmac — kernel driver/module candidate

Detected, bound, operational: learn the difference

Firmware

Host-loaded firmware required

The firmware mapping is chip-specific. Board NVRAM and optional regulatory data, where listed, depend on the detected platform and loader result.

Checked examples or filename branches, not a complete installation list:

  • brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
  • brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw

Inspect firmware packaging on your distribution

Read-only diagnostics

Run one displayed command at a time. Replace uppercase placeholders with the affected device, interface or module from your own output. Commands are never executed here. Read-only output can still contain private identifiers.

Read the selected PCI function

lspci -nnk -s BDF

Replace BDF with the address from your report. Compare Kernel driver in use with Kernel modules; only the former records binding. This ordinary query normally needs no root privileges.

Read firmware metadata

modinfo -F firmware MODULE

Replace MODULE with brcmsmac or the actual candidate module in your report. Metadata lists declared filenames; it does not prove a file was loaded. This query needs no root privileges.

Read existing Wi-Fi association

iw dev INTERFACE link

Replace INTERFACE with the wireless interface from iw dev. Association and rate are observations, not a throughput or firmware test. This query normally needs no root privileges.

Limitations & related issues

Seeing bcma in lspci does not prove a wireless interface initialized. Neither brcmfmac firmware nor a proprietary driver should be selected solely from the vendor name.

These guides are linked for relevant observations, not as known defects of every device in this family.

Choose a hardware diagnostic workflow · Inspect a log excerpt in Fix Lab

References

Source review records a checked implementation or document, not a reproduced hardware test. Version-specific tables do not establish a minimum kernel or guaranteed operation.