BCM43228 Wifi becomes hardblocked randomly[Solved]

[noms]

Hello,

I am encountering an issue with my wifi where it will randomly become hardblocked. I do not have a wifi switch on the computer.
The wifi will resume functioning after a reboot. Logging out and back in, using sudo rfkill unblock [IDENTIFIER],
and switching the driver to Do not use and back to the broadcom driver does not unblock it. Only restarting the computer unblocks it.
Reseting the BIOS has not solved the problem. The problem has only started recently, and it could have to do with the driver,
since the most recent driver update according to broadcom's website for the 64 bit driver was 07/08/2014.
rfkill only lists the device as hardblocked after disabling the wireless, but the wireless connection ceases functioning before that.
I had issues with the wifi before where I would just have to disable the wireless and re-enable it and that would solve the problem,
but that no longer works.


Any fixes, ways to unblock, or tools for diagnosing what is causing the device to be hardblocked would be appreciated.

Specs are as follows:

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System:    Host: ----- Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   System: Acer product: Aspire V3-571G version: V1.06
           Mobo: Acer model: VA50_HC_CR version: Type2 - Board Version Bios: Acer version: V1.06 date: 04/20/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-3610QM CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 18358.1 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1200.00 MHz 2: 1200.00 MHz 3: 1200.00 MHz 4: 1200.00 MHz 5: 1200.00 MHz 6: 2301.00 MHz 7: 1200.00 MHz 8: 1500.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           Card-2: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 640M] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau,intel Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n driver: wl bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom NetLink BCM57785 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3 ver: 3.134 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (1.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST9500325AS size: 500.1GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 453G used: 4.5G (2%) fs: ext4 ID: /boot size: 236M used: 46M (21%) fs: ext2 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 49.0 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 208 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 1034.2/5809.5MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Thanks in advance for your time.

[kc1di]

Hello noms and welcome to mint,

Do you know which driver your using presently?

It should be the Sta /wl driver for that card.
Please list the output of

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lsmod

[noms]

I am using the 6.30.223.141 version, Though, checking the broadcom website again, this is not the latest version
of the 802.11 sta driver. The latest is 6.30.223.248.

lsmod outputs:

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immanuel@noms ~ $ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
rfcomm                 69160  8 
bnep                   19624  2 
binfmt_misc            17468  1 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     46207  1 
uvcvideo               80885  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc      13216  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13362  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
btusb                  32412  0 
videobuf2_core         40664  1 uvcvideo
bluetooth             395423  22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
videodev              134688  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
acer_wmi               32522  0 
sparse_keymap          13948  1 acer_wmi
snd_hda_codec_realtek    61438  1 
snd_hda_intel          52355  3 
snd_hda_codec         192906  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
lib80211_crypt_tkip    17619  0 
snd_hwdep              13602  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               102099  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc         18710  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
dm_multipath           22873  0 
scsi_dh                14882  1 dm_multipath
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            30144  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                61560  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
intel_rapl             18773  0 
x86_pkg_temp_thermal    14205  0 
intel_powerclamp       14705  0 
coretemp               13435  0 
kvm_intel             143060  0 
snd_seq_device         14497  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
wl                   4207846  0 
kvm                   451511  1 kvm_intel
snd_timer              29482  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
lib80211               14381  2 wl,lib80211_crypt_tkip
cfg80211              484040  1 wl
snd                    69238  17 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
joydev                 17381  0 
serio_raw              13462  0 
mei_me                 18627  0 
mei                    82274  1 mei_me
lpc_ich                21080  0 
soundcore              12680  1 snd
parport_pc             32701  0 
ppdev                  17671  0 
lp                     17759  0 
parport                42348  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
mac_hid                13205  0 
dm_crypt               23177  1 
dm_mirror              22135  0 
dm_region_hash         20862  1 dm_mirror
dm_log                 18411  2 dm_region_hash,dm_mirror
crct10dif_pclmul       14289  0 
nouveau              1097199  1 
crc32_pclmul           13113  0 
ghash_clmulni_intel    13259  0 
aesni_intel            55624  251 
aes_x86_64             17131  1 aesni_intel
lrw                    13286  1 aesni_intel
gf128mul               14951  1 lrw
i915                  783485  3 
glue_helper            13990  1 aesni_intel
ablk_helper            13597  1 aesni_intel
cryptd                 20359  128 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel,ablk_helper
mxm_wmi                13021  1 nouveau
ttm                    85115  1 nouveau
psmouse               102222  0 
i2c_algo_bit           13413  2 i915,nouveau
ahci                   25819  2 
drm_kms_helper         52758  2 i915,nouveau
tg3                   166442  0 
sdhci_pci              23172  0 
libahci                32168  1 ahci
drm                   302817  7 ttm,i915,drm_kms_helper,nouveau
ptp                    18933  1 tg3
sdhci                  43015  1 sdhci_pci
pps_core               19382  1 ptp
video                  19476  3 i915,acer_wmi,nouveau
wmi                    19177  3 acer_wmi,mxm_wmi,nouveau

[kc1di]

That is the correct driver for that card.

So there must be something else going on to cause it to drop out like that.

next time it happens run the script in this Ubuntu forum post and post the output here.
It may give us a clue as to what happening when it drops out.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... st13024222

[zaregis]

I had the same issue, with a different version of broadcom card. I just installed broadcom's latest driver (http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php), and the connection has not dropped yet. Too early to tell if this actually fixed the issue, since I used to get lucky with the old driver sometimes, and have it run for hours before crashing. Definitely worth a try.

Peace.

[PatH57]

Hi,

also check this

If turning off power management for your wireless interface corrects this:

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sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off

Check it.

Then to make it permanent run command as follows:

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cd /etc/pm/power.d

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sudo gedit wifi_pwr_off

This will open an empty file, copy the code below into it:

#!/bin/sh
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power off

Save the file, remember to

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sudo chmod +x wifi_pwr_off

and restart.

[zaregis]

Nope, it just happened with the new driver

[zaregis]

Hi,

also check this
...

Thanks, but the power management is off (by default, I haven't touched a thing).

[PatH57]

Hi,


driver and kernel in linux are linked.

@zaregis,
could you provide the version of your kernel?

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uname -a

[acw89]

I too am experiencing strange behavior where all of a sudden my Wireless Connection no longer works. It will just stop and at first I thought my internet went down.
I later discovered these errors which will roll right before the WiFI goes down.

[14204.447790] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14205.448098] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14206.448986] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14207.449872] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14233.400227] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14273.385466] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
[14323.369467] ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)

Now I have a Broadcom BCM43227, but think it might be related. No commands make any difference and rebooting is the ONLY
way to wake the WiFi again.

Here is my PC info:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACW-OMP4> uname -a
Linux ACW-OMP4 3.2.0-23-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 10 20:39:51 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ACW-OMP4>

ACW-OMP4> lsb_release -a
LSB Version: core-2.0-amd64:core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-amd64:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-amd64:core-3.1-noarch:core-3.2-amd64:core-3.2-noarch:core-4.0-amd64:core-4.0-noarch
Distributor ID: LinuxMint
Description: Linux Mint 13 Maya
Release: 13
Codename: maya

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43227 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4358]
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e040]
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: wl
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If some other info is needed, please let me know. This has become a real PITA.
I have not loaded new software (other then regular updates to Mint) and have not changed out any.
I am wondering if the card could be just going bad. Please suggest if there are other commands that might shed more light on this.

Thanks for your help

[zaregis]

Hi,


driver and kernel in linux are linked.

@zaregis,
could you provide the version of your kernel?

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uname -a

sure:

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3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 23:30:00 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I just want to add that, like the last poster said, there seems to be no way to fix this other than restarting the computer. Trying to rmmod/modprobe the driver results in segmentation fault, btw.

Edit: Another thing, I tried switching drivers via Driver Manager and the behavior was the same with both drivers.

[PatH57]

Hi,


segmentation fault usually comes from the kernel or the build in drivers(in your case the broadcom driver)

3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 23:30:00 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

You should try a kernel update either through the update manager or use the latest for 3.13
http://www.yourownlinux.com/2014/04/ins ... linux.html

[zaregis]

Hi,


segmentation fault usually comes from the kernel or the build in drivers(in your case the broadcom driver)

3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 23:30:00 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

You should try a kernel update either through the update manager or use the latest for 3.13
http://www.yourownlinux.com/2014/04/ins ... linux.html

Thanks Path, I just did that and then chose the default driver via Driver Manager. We'll see if that fixed the issue.

[zaregis]

Hi,


segmentation fault usually comes from the kernel or the build in drivers(in your case the broadcom driver)

3.13.0-24-generic #47-Ubuntu SMP Fri May 2 23:30:00 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

You should try a kernel update either through the update manager or use the latest for 3.13
http://www.yourownlinux.com/2014/04/ins ... linux.html

Entire day without a wifi crash, thanks again

[PatH57]

was afraid to look at your post
Please mark it as solved, check my signature.

[zaregis]

I can't, I didn't start the thread

[PatH57]

no worries I did send a PM to the OP let's see if it works for him to.

[noms]

Ah yep, that fixed it! Thanks so much for your help. Kernal update for the win!

[zaregis]

This isn't really solved, it just doesn't happen as often as it used to My WiFi crashed about once a day in the past few days, and 4 times today.
Is there any way to find out what causes this?

[PatH57]

probably never as the broacom chip is too old and broadcom only sparely supports linux.
Maybe in another kernel but then again I doubt it.
check here from time to time but it doesn't seem to move a lot
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/