Broadcom Wifi Issues

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AstroGummy
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Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Greetings,

Linux noob here. Just live booted LMDE 4 and love it, except for the fact that I can't connect to my University's wireless wifi. Problem is the University's networks don't show up in the Network Manager app. Only networks like personal routers show up.

I did some searching online and eventually found this topic: viewtopic.php?t=314977. The only solution to this topic was Sandro Cesar's post near the bottom:
Sandro Cesar wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:51 pm I am a basic Linux user.
Every time I install Debian or LMDE, to make Wi-Fi work, I need to follow these instructions in this text that I copied from somewhere on the internet:
---------------------------
After some searching I have found that this issue is due to the new privacy feature (MAC address randomization) in the new version of NetworkManager causing some wi-fi adaptors to stop working.

Both Debian 9 and Ubuntu 17.04/17.10 are badly affected with this bug, You can read more about this bug in Debian 9 here and Ubuntu 17.04/17.10 here .
Follow below steps to fix this issue in Debian 9 and Ubuntu 17.04/17.10

Edit NetworkManager config file:

sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

Now add below lines to the file:

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

Restart NetworkManager service:

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Now you will be able connect to wi-fi network.
---------------------------
In the text editor, you must use the keyboard shortcuts to save the edit made.
Ubuntu is derived from Debian, but it already comes with this work done.
I opened the NetworkManager config file just fine, but am stuck at the [device] line.

To find the name of my wifi adapter device, I connected to my phone's hotspot and installed hwinfo. After running hwinfo, it says my wireless network adapter is Broadcom BCM43225 802.11b/g/n. When I replaced [device] with that, added wifi.scan-rank-mac-address=no, and restarted NetworkManager like it says to, I get:

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Job for NetworkManager.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status NetworkManager.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
I'm almost certain the error is with my device name, as I'm not sure if the computer knows what "Broadcom BCM43225 802.11b/g/n" refers to. I tried going through this process again with "BCM43225 802.11b/g/n" and "802.11b/g/n", but the above error showed up each time.

How can it be this difficult to correctly identify my adapter device? Would appreciate some help here. Or, if I'm going in the wrong direction with this, let me know. I found a couple other posts about issues connecting to University wifi, but none of their solutions worked for me.

See below for my output of inxi -Fxxxrz:

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System:
  Host: mint Kernel: 4.19.0-8-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin 4.4.2 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
  Distro: LMDE 4 Debbie base: Debian 10.2 buster 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: p7-1235 v: N/A 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: MSI model: 2AE0 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: AMI v: 7.07 
  date: 04/20/2012 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD A8-5500 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 
  bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Piledriver rev: 1 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 25552 
  Speed: 1397 MHz min/max: 1400/3200 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1397 2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1396 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Trinity [Radeon HD 7560D] vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 00:01.0 chip ID: 1002:9904 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1360x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD ARUBA (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.19.0-8-amd64 LLVM 7.0.1) 
  v: 4.3 Mesa 18.3.6 compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD FCH Azalia vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1022:780d 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-8-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: alx v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1969:1091 
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom Limited BCM43225 802.11b/g/n driver: bcma-pci-bridge 
  v: N/A port: e000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4357 
  IF-ID-1: wlp4s0b1 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 968.81 GiB used: 38.53 GiB (4.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: A-Data model: SU760 size: 953.87 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 4R23 temp: 39 C scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: USB DISK 2.0 size: 14.94 GiB 
  serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 3.61 GiB used: 496.5 MiB (13.4%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 0.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 185 Uptime: 3h 06m Memory: 7.23 GiB used: 929.1 MiB (12.6%) 
  Init: systemd v: 241 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.3 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.32
Thanks in advance for any help.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Aztaroth
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by Aztaroth »

AstroGummy wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:53 pm How can it be this difficult to correctly identify my adapter device? Would appreciate some help here. Or, if I'm going in the wrong direction with this, let me know. I found a couple other posts about issues connecting to University wifi, but none of their solutions worked for me.

Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: alx v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1969:1091
IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Broadcom Limited BCM43225 802.11b/g/n driver: bcma-pci-bridge
v: N/A port: e000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4357
IF-ID-1: wlp4s0b1 state: down mac: <filter>
Hi,
You're the only one who doesn't know about your network device names now. :D
We'll fix that.
In your inxi -Network part, I highlighted in bold your ethernet device name (always beginning with en) and in a white box / green characters your wlan device name (always begins with wl).
Also state: down means not connected, state: up means connected.
Not sure it will solve everything, but at least, you'll work with the correct device names...

For your eyes only (don't post it), if you run :

Code: Select all

inxi -Nni
you'll also get your mac address being not filtered and some other features (ipv4, ipv6...)
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Thanks for the reply.

I used wlp4s0b1, but unfortunately the code-error message appeared again.

You pointed out my wlan state being "down" which means not connected. Does not connected mean not connected to a network or not connected to the computer's hardware? And what must I do to change the state to "up"?
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

What does this show:

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 lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net && rfkill list && mokutil --sb-state 
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Code: Select all

01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1091] (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet [103c:2ae0]
	Kernel driver in use: alx
	Kernel modules: alx
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM43225 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4357] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Broadcom Limited BCM43225 802.11b/g/n [14e4:0570]
	Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
	Kernel modules: bcma, wl
0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
This system doesn't support Secure Boot
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

Try:

Code: Select all

 sudo modprobe -rv bcma wl 

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 sudo modprobe -v wl 
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -rv bcma wl
modprobe: FATAL: Module bcma is in use.
The second command produced no output. Just sent my cursor to the next line.
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

Reboot & see if wifi works.
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Still unable to identify my University's wifi in Network Manager. I'm currently live booting, if that makes a difference. What were those commands supposed to do?
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

Sorry, I forgot you were live booting. I think you need the wl driver, but I don't think you can get it in a live boot. Still, try this anyway:

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 sudo apt install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source 
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package bcmwl-kernel-source
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

Ok, I don't know anything else to try then.
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

Thanks for the quick follow-ups regardless. Why am I missing the package bcmwl-kernel-source?
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

I'm not that familiar with LMDE, so I don't know. One thing you could do is try a live session of regular Mint & see if wifi works there.
AstroGummy
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by AstroGummy »

So I live booted with the regular Mint Cinnamon and have the same problem... none of my University's networks show up, but other students' personal routers do.

From what I can find online, failing to connect to University wifi is a common problem, however due to different reasons. Most people with this problem at least have an option to connect to a University network, whereas there are no options for me at all. I currently have Windows 10 installed on the computer and it connects to University wifi perfectly fine. However, In Mint (and obviously Windows as well), I can establish a wireless connection to my phone's hotspot just fine.

Would love to install some version of Mint, but these difficulties are giving me second thoughts, and having the same problem with both main Mint and LMDE makes me think this problem will persist, regardless of the distro. Any ideas on identifying the problem?
Last edited by AstroGummy on Sun Nov 28, 2021 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sleeper12
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by sleeper12 »

Only other thing I can think to try is disable Fast Boot in Bios & Fast Startup in Win power options.
ne0h

Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by ne0h »

evidently the kernel 4.19 present in LMDE4 does not recognize your wifi card well. I see it hard. either you install a new kernel, for example 5.10, or you should try with Linux Mint,but the main one, based on ubuntu, 20.2.
Aztaroth
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by Aztaroth »

ne0h wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:51 am evidently the kernel 4.19 present in LMDE4 does not recognize your wifi card well.
I'm not quite sure of that. But a check never killed anyone. :D

Code: Select all

lshw -class network | grep "configuration"
will return the configuration of your network (think you're guessed it :) ).
Note : even if suggested by the command line, sudo mode is not necessary for that specific info, so let's keep hands off it.

If driver= and driverversion= are followed by something decent, it would mean it is well recognized. Especially driverversion= should return the kernel name because it's managing the network by default.

What puzzles me is the ethernet also having a down status. When my cable is plugged in, my status is up, when not plugged in, it's unknown.

@ AstroGummy
Is there any in-between on your computer (meaning firewall, VPN, TOR relay, proxychain...) ?
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
jwiz
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Re: Broadcom Wifi Issues

Post by jwiz »

AstroGummy wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:28 am So I live booted with Mint Cinnamon and have the same problem... none of my University's networks show up, but other students' personal routers do.

From what I can find online, failing to connect to University wifi is a common problem, however due to different reasons. Most people with this problem at least have an option to connect to a University network, whereas there are no options for me at all. I currently have Windows 10 installed on the computer and it connects to University wifi perfectly fine. However, In Mint (and obviously Windows as well), I can establish a wireless connection to my phone's hotspot just fine.

Would love to install some version of Mint, but these difficulties are giving me second thoughts, and having the same problem with both normal Mint and LMDE makes me think this problem will persist, regardless of the distro. Any ideas on identifying the problem?

To me this all sounds more like a network configuration problem rather than a driver problem.
University networks usually have secured access.
To connect with them you need to know your valid user ID name, the domain name and usually download the university CA certificate for secure access.
For Mac/Windows the universities usually provide an install app which does the setup for you, on Linux you mostly are on your own or ask your university network admin (most of them lack any Linux knowledge though)

Try the following:
Go to the network settings and choose to connect with a 'hidden network', choose new, enter the name of your universities network and in the security option choose 'WPA2 Enterprise' and enter all the above stated relevant options: identity (your account name), domain name, and the (path to) CA certificate.
Optionally you may have to get a user certificate as well, if your university uses that feature.
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