Wifi not detected on old netbook

[jazzy89]

Hi -

I'm new to Linux and just installed Mint Xfce 17.1 "Rebecca", 32-bit, on an Acer Aspire One netbook circa about 2009. It connects to the internet fine via ethernet cable, but is not picking up the wifi at all. I have already installed the driver, which is currently "bcmwl-kernel-source", and when I first installed it, wifi WAS detected. It acknowledged that connection on startup without the ethernet cable, but for reasons unknown suddenly lost the connection as well as all awareness of wifi. The normal "Network Connection" icon on the toolbar, bottom right, has also disappeared without a trace.

Driver Manager also lists "firmware-b43-installer", which I also tried enabling; that made no difference.

Have tried checking the wireless card by typing "iwconfig" into Terminal and receive the following:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11abg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

As I said, I'm very new and am not sure how to interpret this.

Have also tried "rfkill list all" in Terminal and nothing has any blocks on it. There were 3 different modules/wireless cards[?] listed, and the 3rd one down was "acer_wmi", which I had read can sometimes cause problems. I followed directions on how to "disable" it by typing "sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-acer-wmi.conf <<< "blacklist acer_wmi" into Terminal. Then I restarted the computer, and it still doesn't detect wifi. The directions weren't clear on how to reverse that action, so now I am left with:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

If needed, would appreciate some instruction on how to re-enable "acer_wmi".

Bottom line, is there any help you can give me on getting this system to detect wifi? I am hoping this is doable as this little ol' netbook is supposed to be practice before I take the plunge on installing Mint MATE 18 on my Windows 10 laptop (and main computer).

Thanks!

[JeremyB]

Post results for

Code: Select all

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

[jazzy89]

Results are as follows:

01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e018]
Kernel driver in use: wl
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet [1969:1026] (rev b0)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:019c]
Kernel driver in use: ATL1E

[JeremyB]

Lets get rid of the Broadcom proprietary module

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove bcmwl-kernel-source

Reboot

[jazzy89]

Done - still not detecting wifi

[JeremyB]

Post results for

Code: Select all

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net; grep b43 /etc/modprobe.d/*; rfkill list all

It should have worked since you already had installed the firmware-b43-installer package

[jazzy89]

I re-enabled firmware-b43-installer but that didn't seem to have any effect.

Results for previous code:

01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e018]
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet [1969:1026] (rev b0)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:019c]
Kernel driver in use: ATL1E
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf:# replaced by b43 and ssb.
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

[JeremyB]

If you just re-enabled it you will need to reboot for it to load the firmware

[jazzy89]

Have rebooted a few times but still no change

[sarge816]

This is the tutorial that helped me get a couple of old broadcom equipped laptops start working on wifi:
https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/796

Hope it helps.

[jazzy89]

Thanks - tried installing the firmware driver using Terminal as the tutorial recommended, but it didn't seem to have any effect (have rebooted both with and without ethernet plugged in)

[JeremyB]

See the wireless script link in my signature and post results

[jazzy89]

Sorry for my long-standing lack of response - kinda gave up for awhile on getting the netbook connected to wifi, but I just today got it working on my main laptop, so I thought I'd give the netbook another shot (although replicating what I did for my other laptop did not work for the netbook )

I put the script into terminal - warning, long results below:

Code: Select all

########## wireless info START ##########

Report from: 14 Jul 2017 22:34 PDT -0700

Booted last: 14 Jul 2017 22:05 PDT -0700

Script from: 25 Mar 2017 07:04 UTC +0000

##### release ###########################

Distributor ID:	LinuxMint
Description:	Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Release:	17.1
Codename:	rebecca

##### kernel ############################

Linux 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:30:01 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

Parameters: ro, quiet, splash, vt.handoff=7

##### desktop ###########################

default

##### lspci #############################

01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e018]
	Kernel driver in use: wl

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet [1969:1026] (rev b0)
	Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:019c]
	Kernel driver in use: ATL1E

##### lsusb #############################

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 093a:2510 Pixart Imaging, Inc. Optical Mouse
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

##### PCMCIA card info ##################

##### rfkill ############################

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

##### lsmod #############################

wl                   6144826  0 
cfg80211              409394  1 wl
wmi                    18673  0 

##### interfaces ########################

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

##### ifconfig ##########################

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr <MAC 'eth0' [IF1]>  
          inet addr:192.168.1.6  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::<IP6 'eth0' [IF1]>/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:9702 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4168 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:5109315 (5.1 MB)  TX bytes:438618 (438.6 KB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:287 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:287 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:27590 (27.5 KB)  TX bytes:27590 (27.5 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr <MAC 'wlan0' [IF2]>  
          inet6 addr: fe80::<IP6 'wlan0' [IF2]>/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:16 

##### iwconfig ##########################

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          

##### route #############################

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     1      0        0 eth0

##### resolv.conf #######################

nameserver 127.0.1.1

##### network managers ##################

Installed:

	NetworkManager

Running:

root       887     1  0 22:05 ?        00:00:00 NetworkManager

##### NetworkManager info ###############

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0  [Wired connection 1] -------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            ATL1E
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        <MAC 'eth0' [IF1]>

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         on

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.6
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.1

    DNS:             192.168.1.1

- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            wl
  State:             disconnected
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        <MAC 'wlan0' [IF2]>

  Capabilities:

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points 
    MyCharterWiFi37-2G: Infra, <MAC 'MyCharterWiFi37-2G' [AC2]>, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 100 WPA2
    MySpectrumWiFid1-2G: Infra, <MAC 'MySpectrumWiFid1-2G' [AC1]>, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 60 WPA2
    FiOS-H5W51:      Infra, <MAC 'FiOS-H5W51' [AC3]>, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 35 WPA2
    NETGEAR76:       Infra, <MAC 'NETGEAR76' [AN4]>, Freq 2427 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 17 WPA2

##### NetworkManager.state ##############

[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true
WimaxEnabled=true

##### NetworkManager.conf ###############

[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile,ofono
dns=dnsmasq

[ifupdown]
managed=false

##### NetworkManager profiles ###########

[[/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wi-Fi connection 1]] (600 root)
[connection] id=Wi-Fi connection 1 | type=802-11-wireless
[802-11-wireless] ssid=MyCharterWifi37-2G
[ipv6] method=auto
[ipv4] method=auto

##### iw reg get ########################

Region: America/Los_Angeles (based on set time zone)

country 00:
	(2402 - 2472 @ 40), (3, 20)
	(2457 - 2482 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(2474 - 2494 @ 20), (3, 20), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(5170 - 5250 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS
	(5735 - 5835 @ 40), (3, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN, NO-IBSS

##### iwlist channels ###################

lo        no frequency information.

eth0      no frequency information.

wlan0     26 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
          Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
          Channel 14 : 2.484 GHz
          Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
          Channel 38 : 5.19 GHz
          Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
          Channel 42 : 5.21 GHz
          Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
          Channel 46 : 5.23 GHz
          Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
          Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz
          Channel 153 : 5.765 GHz
          Channel 157 : 5.785 GHz
          Channel 161 : 5.805 GHz
          Channel 165 : 5.825 GHz

##### iwlist scan #######################

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Channel occupancy:

      2   APs on   Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
      1   APs on   Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: <MAC 'MySpectrumWiFid1-2G' [AC1]>
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=48/70  Signal level=-62 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"MySpectrumWiFid1-2G"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 8ms ago
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 02 - Address: <MAC 'MyCharterWiFi37-2G' [AC2]>
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-25 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"MyCharterWiFi37-2G"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 8ms ago
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 03 - Address: <MAC 'FiOS-H5W51' [AC3]>
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=29/70  Signal level=-81 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"FiOS-H5W51"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000000000000
                    Extra: Last beacon: 8ms ago
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

##### module infos ######################

[wl]
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.0-37-generic/updates/wl.ko
license:        MIXED/Proprietary
srcversion:     3F8570547EE3A2BA3D5D734
depends:        cfg80211
vermagic:       3.13.0-37-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 686 
parm:           passivemode:int
parm:           wl_txq_thresh:int
parm:           oneonly:int
parm:           piomode:int
parm:           instance_base:int
parm:           nompc:int
parm:           intf_name:string

[cfg80211]
filename:       /lib/modules/3.13.0-37-generic/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko
description:    wireless configuration support
license:        GPL
author:         Johannes Berg
srcversion:     C2478077E22138832B71659
depends:        
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.13.0-37-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 686 
signer:         Magrathea: Glacier signing key
sig_key:        7A:CF:8E:D9:48:D7:7B:6A:80:F2:4F:59:D5:D8:ED:03:87:AA:B4:26
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
parm:           ieee80211_regdom:IEEE 802.11 regulatory domain code (charp)
parm:           cfg80211_disable_40mhz_24ghz:Disable 40MHz support in the 2.4GHz band (bool)

##### module parameters #################

[cfg80211]
cfg80211_disable_40mhz_24ghz: N
ieee80211_regdom: 00

##### /etc/modules ######################

lp

##### modprobe options ##################

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-acer-wmi.conf]
blacklist acer_wmi

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf]
blacklist ath_pci

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf]
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist ssb
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist brcm80211
blacklist brcmfmac
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist bcma

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf]
blacklist evbug
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd
blacklist eepro100
blacklist de4x5
blacklist eth1394
blacklist snd_intel8x0m
blacklist snd_aw2
blacklist i2c_i801
blacklist prism54
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist garmin_gps
blacklist asus_acpi
blacklist snd_pcsp
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist amd76x_edac

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rare-network.conf]
alias net-pf-3 off
alias net-pf-6 off
alias net-pf-9 off
alias net-pf-11 off
alias net-pf-12 off
alias net-pf-19 off
alias net-pf-21 off
alias net-pf-36 off

[/etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf]
remove iwlwifi \
(/sbin/lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs /sbin/rmmod) \
&& /sbin/modprobe -r mac80211

[/etc/modprobe.d/mlx4.conf]
softdep mlx4_core post: mlx4_en

##### rc.local ##########################

exit 0

##### pm-utils ##########################

##### udev rules ########################

[/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules]
# PCI device 0x1969:0x1026 (ATL1E)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="<MAC 'eth0' [IF1]>", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"
# PCI device 0x14e4:0x4315 (wl)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="<MAC 'wlan0' [IF2]>", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan0"

##### dmesg #############################

[    9.531902] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   14.687266] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.
[   14.702274] wl: module verification failed: signature and/or  required key missing - tainting kernel
[   14.942716] wlan0: Broadcom BCM4315 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 6.30.223.248 (r487574)
[   22.564508] ATL1E 0000:03:00.0 eth0: NIC Link is Up <100 Mbps Full Duplex>
[   22.564594] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   22.564646] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[  132.864137] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=01:00:5e:00:00:01:<MAC 'MyCharterWiFi37-2G' [AC2]>:08:00 SRC=0.0.0.0 DST=224.0.0.1 LEN=32 TOS=0x00 PREC=0xC0 TTL=1 ID=0 DF PROTO=2  (repeated 13 times)
[ 1743.370425] ERROR @wl_dev_intvar_get : error (-1)

########## wireless info END ############

[jameskga]

When I upgraded from 17.3 to 18, my wifi card, which once required a work-around to get running, now works natively on any clean install past that release.

Are you averse to trying LM 18.2?

[JeremyB]

You might want to disable UFW and do

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer && sudo apt-get remove bcmwl-kernel-source

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r wl

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe b43

See if wireless works