8

I was trying to follow instructions provided in this question AFAIU bcmwl-kernel-source is a proper driver for me. But after installation nothing changed. By "nothing changed" I mean iwconfig shows only eth0 and l0 with no wireless extensions, rfkill list all contains hci0: Bluetooth.

I found that bcm43xx was blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, after commenting this line and removing previously installed driver I repeated the same actions. The result was the same.

The line above the bcm43xx in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file says "replaced by b43 and ssb". So I have removed previously installed driver again and edited back blacklist.conf.

I installed firmware-b43-installer, b43 was listed in the lsmod, but I am still was not be able to see any wlan in iwconfig.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

edit1

lspci -vnn | grep Network
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)

edit2

sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,126 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 225024 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Unpacking bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2) over (6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2) ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2) ...
Loading new bcmwl-6.30.223.141+bdcom DKMS files...
Building only for 3.16.0-31-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 3.16.0-31-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.16.0-31-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.141+bdcom/build/make.log for more information.
modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.2) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-31-generic

sudo modprobe wl
modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found.
4
  • I've asked out resident Broadcom expert to look into this. He will wake up in about 6 hours... Please help him as much as possible by providing all the information he requests so that he can help you! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Mar 4, 2015 at 8:49
  • Do you have anything listed regarding the issue under Additional Drivers?
    – Mitch
    Mar 4, 2015 at 8:51
  • @Mitch I am not sure that I understood what are you talking about. How can I check that? I do not use GUI, the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text nomodeset" in the /etc/default/grub
    – midas
    Mar 4, 2015 at 9:11
  • Could you already please go to a terminal and type lspci&&lsusb. Then edit your question and copy-paste the output of the command into your question as preliminary data that Dr. Chili will need to operate the patient... ;-)
    – Fabby
    Mar 4, 2015 at 12:29

2 Answers 2

10

AFAIU, bcmwl-kernel-source is correct, so I suggest you reinstall it:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe wl

Now check the logs for informative messages:

dmesg | grep wl

It appears that, although you have a 3.16.0-xx kernel (thanks, @Jeremy31!), apt has tried to install the version for Ubuntu 14.04. I suggest you remove the version that failed to install:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source

Download these packages to your desktop: http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/bcmwl-kernel-source and also: http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/dkms Be sure to get the 32- or 64-bit version as needed. Find out with:

arch

For example, if it returns x86_64, then you need the 64-bit version; known at packages.ubuntu as amd64.

Install the packages with:

cd ~/Desktop
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo modprobe wl

Again, note and post any errors.

1
  • Chili, midas has 3.16 kernel
    – Jeremy31
    Mar 4, 2015 at 17:26
6

While chili555 answer worked for me, I reinstalled Ubuntu and then discovered an alternative method to the same solution. This requires an active connection to the Internet.

  • Open System Settings > Software & Updates > Additional Drivers
  • Select "Using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl-kernel-source (proprietary)"
  • Apply changes

Restart is required, although it worked without restarting.

1
  • Fantastic! This solved my problem perfectly. I'm using Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon (5.4.12). Thank you.
    – CalebHC
    Oct 9, 2022 at 19:58

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