Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

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Ninpodeshi
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Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

I'm a Linux newbie setting up a PC for my students. The PC is a Dell Latitude D630, 32 bit. It came with Win XP, was upgraded to Win7, and crashed when I tried to clean it up. It wouldn't take Widows again, but I was able to install Linux Mint Tricia (32 bit.)

I can only access the internet with a cable, but the students use wifi through their phones at home, so it needs the wifi operational. I am following this guide: https://www.unixmen.com/how-to-get-wifi ... x-mint-19/. I get the same error message both when I try to update the kernel (Step 2) and when I try to install the wifi through the command line (Step 3):

Bus error (core dumped)
dpkg: error processing package libc-bin (--configure) :
installed libc-bin package post-installation script subprocess returned exit status 135
Errors were encountered while procssing:
libc-bin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Do I need to burn a new Linux disk? I'm running out of ideas. Thank you.

[I tried to load a screen shot of the error code, but kept getting a message that the file was too large? Even when I cropped it down to 436 kb? Could someone point me to the attachment limits, please? Thanks.]
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.
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

On a machine that old, you should try Mint 19.2 Xfce 32 bit. Test it before you install it to see if wifi works for you. 19.2 has the older 4.15 kernel (better on older hardware), whereas 19.3 has the unsupported 5.0 kernel.
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

Thank you, Sleeper12.

I have Xfce running in the machine from a live disk now and I seem to be hitting the same problem.

The wireless card is broadcom bcm94311mcg. I somehow got to this page while looking for help: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... er/bcm43xx

I used these commands to retrieve the driver with an ethernet connection:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source

This seemed to run fine.

Then I ran the test command
sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma

And received:
modprobe: FATAL: module ssb is in use

The command sudo modprobe wl gave no response.


Ugh. I'd really appreciate any help. The students I'm rehabilitating this machine for use a cell phone for their data. I work in Thailand and I don't think they even have a wired option where they live. If possible, I will stop into a shop tomorrow and see if they have any USB Wifi adapters, which was recommended as a last resort.
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,

I might have one of these wifi cards in the spares bin.. I'll have a look..

Is this yours?? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Broadcom-BCM ... Swg8tZ~2pw

If I can locate one, I'll have a look to see what is required to get it working.

Which distro would you prefer to use? It helps if we are on the "same page"..

Bodge99
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

If the bcmwl-kernel-source works for you, you shouldn't have to do anything else. Or, am I not understanding something?
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

It might help us to see your system details, post the results of:

Code: Select all

 inxi -Fxxxz && rfkill list && iwconfig && mokutil --sb-state 
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

Thank you for the fast replies!

This machine lists the card as a BRCM94311MCG (with an R between B&C) on the back (but see below). I haven't opened it to confirm, and I'm reluctant to do so. The parents are somewhere between thinking I'm a tech genius for reviving the machine and an idiot because it crashed shortly after I installed software on the old Widows drive to clean it.

As far as distro, Mint is the only one I've used. I like it a lot, but I'll put anything on this machine to get it working.

I'm typing in the network info from the inxi command. Please let me know if you need the whole file.

Network:
Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
Vendor: Dell driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: 10c0 bus ID: 09:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4311
Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
Vendor: Dell Wireless 1390 driver b43-pci-bridge v: N/A port: 10c0 bus ID: 0c:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4311
.
.
.
0: dell-wifi: Wireless Lan
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
soft blocked: yes
hard blocked: no
enp9s0: no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

EFI variables are not supported on this system
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

While connected, try:

Code: Select all

 sudo apt purge bcmwl-kernel-source && sudo apt install --reinstall firmware-b43-installer 
Reboot
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

I ran that reinstall command on 19.2 and rebooted. There was no change.

I then ran the command on the 19.3 and received the earlier error:

Bus error (core dumped)
dpkg: error processing package libc-bin (--configure):
installed libc-bin package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 135
Errors were encountered while processing:
libc-bin
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned and error code (1)

I feel like I'm running around in circles. Is it possible that the Wifi card went bad?
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,

Yes, it's certainly possible that the wifi card is bad.. any hardware can develop faults. Unfortunately it's a fact of life..

The problem is this... is the card faulty, some other hardware faulty or is the problem caused by software. i.e. incorrect drivers/ missing firmware etc.

Some of the earlier Broadcom wifi chipsets are/were slightly "problematic" to get working in Linux. Some even caused trouble in Windows.. I remember some cards wouldn't work at all as Windows 7 had mis-identified the chipset. The installation of the Broadcom drivers fixed this. I've got some older Realtek cards that work very poorly in Windows 7 but perfectly fine in Linux.

I'd guess that your hardware is O.K. and you have driver problems.
I've located a card which seems to be the same as yours.. If you wish, I'll ask for it to be sent here and I'll have a look for you.

As a "workaround" for now, you could either use a USB wifi dongle or you could use (if you have access to one) a wifi router.
Here, you can use the lan ports as a network switch (you ignore the WAN side, if it's not an ethernet port). The wifi is then used as a wifi access point.

If you want to change the wifi card for a different one, then there are two things that you need to check:
Does your system "Bios lock" any wifi cards? . Some HP laptops only allow certain "approved" cards to be used..
Any replacement card will need to be a "full height" card.. unless you can source an adapter plate. e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143729673206 ... b38ae7b12

Bodge99
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

Try:

Code: Select all

 sudo dpkg --configure -a 
If that doesn't help, try:

Code: Select all

 sudo apt-get --reinstall install libc-bin 
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

(Sorry for abbreviated message. I'm starting a class in 2 min. ..)

I bought a USB Wifi dongle last night. I'm getting the same errors as with the Wifi card:

dpkg: error processing package locales (--configure)

also, repeated errors that the i386 file (or is it a library?) is missing. I looked up how to reinstall it, but keep getting similar errors to before (the Bus error . . . . exit status 135 . . . )

Also,

E: Internal Error, nor file name for libc-bin:i386
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

There is another peculiarity that I've found which may be related:

When I go to the Software Manager, I cannot install any programs that require downloading additional programs. It will ask to download the additional packages, but it does not install the additional packages or the programs.


@Bodge99,
I appreciate your patience and willingness to walk through the logic of the problem with me.

My gut feels that it's probably a software issue.



I've thought about making another ISO, but both the 19.3 Cinnamon and 19.2 Xfce disks are giving the same errors. Maybe I should try a much earlier version?
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,
Is this your laptop?? https://www.8bitmammoth.com/linux-mint- ... nd-review/
I realise that the wifi card is different..
If so, then I'll use the images from this site to see if I can locate one for testing purposes. I've asked one of my contacts to send me one of his spare BCM94311MCG cards (these are pulls from scrapped laptops).

Just for confirmation purposes.. I've found a test report for a BRCM94311MCG wifi card.. It is recognised as a BCM94311MCG within the test system.
I mention this because some Broadcom wifi chips have very similar names, but require different drivers and/or setup.

More later.

Bodge99
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,

Re: Cannot install packages that require anything to be downloaded..
Does this still happen if you boot from a Live Mint flashdrive? Is your ethernet is working properly at this time?
Does the laptop have a wifi on/off switch?

Bodge99
sleeper12
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by sleeper12 »

Try this, one line at a time:

Code: Select all

sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/libc-bin.* /tmp/
sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq libc-bin
sudo dpkg --purge libc-bin
sudo apt install --reinstall libc-bin
sudo mv /tmp/libc-bin.* /var/lib/dpkg/info/ 
Reboot
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,

The BRCM94311MCG wifi card arrived this morning.. I fitted it to an old netbook and installed Mint 19.3 Xfce 32-bit edition.
I installed Mint (Initially not updated) to the netbook. I then made a partition copy so that I could return the machine to a known state quickly.

Round 1: Fully updated the installation and started investigations. I was "lead up the garden path" by following some info from a few quite old posts..
I obtained some Windows XP drivers that were supposed to support this card, installed them into an XP installation in a VM so that I could see how Windows XP handles things. Long story short.. Wrong drivers for this card... incompatible firmware.
I then dug out some old notes which covered the troubles that I had with Broadcom chipsets a few years ago.. A little help, but hopelessly outdated. Wiped & replaced Mint.

Round 2: Fully updated the installation. Further reading lead me to believe that certain legacy Broadcom firmware was required. All of the sites that I looked at for this firmware no longer existed.
I then found a site that had some pre extracted firmware.. supposedly for this card and several others (other manufacturers etc.). I installed the full package.. just to see if anything would work. "lshw" was still reporting the card as "Unclaimed" after a reboot. I then tried a series of "depmod" commands with various modules..
"depmod b43" worked!. The Wifi started working. On reboot, the "depmod b43" was needed again.. Progress! I guessed here that the b43 module was blacklisted and that no b43-legacy firmware was used.

Round 3: Replaced the installation again. I didn't update the installation this time. I got the card working by performing the following commands:
Open a terminal and enter the following:
Comments are within braces and are not to be entered.

Code: Select all

sudo su					{Become Root}
apt install firmware-b43-installer	{Install these packages}
apt install bcmwl-kernel-source

{Force dkms to rebuild all modules for any installed kernels. A "belt & braces" approach}
ls /var/lib/initramfs-tools | xargs -n1 /usr/lib/dkms/dkms_autoinstaller start	
Now edit (as Root), /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf
Comment out the "blacklist b43" line.
i.e. Change the line

Code: Select all

 blacklist b43 
to

Code: Select all

 # blacklist b43 
Reboot and test..
I'm sending this post from the netbook using the Broadcom wifi card..

I hope that this works for you.

Bodge99

EDIT: The wifi still works after performing a full system update and cold boot.
Ninpodeshi
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Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by Ninpodeshi »

Thank you, everyone, for your help so far.

I've been off a few days because I had to reinstall Widows on my machine. (Ugh. I hate MS Windows, but this machine's BIOS didn't support my last Linux install. :oops: Anyway . . .)

I sent the laptop home with the students for a few days. I will try the suggested solutions when they come for their English lesson today. {Fingers crossed}

I also appreciate the little tips you provide, like clarifying to enter commands one line at a time or giving extra info in {braces}.
Thank you very much.
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,

One further tip.. If you want to use a GUI text editor to edit config files then run it using sudo, not as Root.

For Xed:

sudo xed

Good luck!

Bodge99
bodge99

Re: Cannot Set Up Wifi or Update Kernel

Post by bodge99 »

Hi,
I've been off a few days because I had to reinstall Widows on my machine. (Ugh. I hate MS Windows, but this machine's BIOS didn't support my last Linux install. :oops: Anyway . . .)
If I can ask... what was the problem you had installing Linux... I **like** a challenge!!

Bodge99
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