Wifi Not Working On Mint 17.3

[anarbitraryname]

I have Mint 17.3 on a Dell Vostro 1400. After a recent restart, the wifi wouldn't work.

The wifi card seems to be completely disabled; the taskbar menu thing says "wireless disabled" and won't turn it on. rfkill list shows nothing. ifconfig shows no wifi card. Inxi shows the wifi card and Driver Manager offers to install the customary driver for it (Broadcom Linux STA or something like that) but even though the driver appears to install successfully and Driver Manager reports that it's in use, the wifi remains disabled.

Since this problem happened shortly after updates, I tried restarting with an older kernel version but the problem remains nonetheless. Wifi works in Windows on the same machine, though, so I know it's not a hardware failure.

Is there some obvious problem I'm missing? Any advice to get my wifi working again? Should I try installing the b43 driver instead? (If that's the best/only way to get wifi working, I might be able to borrow a wired connection for the installation but it'd be awkward.)

[khf]

Sorry for a late reply and lets get on it:
First you have to be certain that the WiFi is detected - look in the boot log.
You have a "plain vanilla" laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo T5670 / 1.8 GHz - all should be fine.
Then, list the USB, PCMCIA - to see if it has been detected.
If its there, and the driver is not loaded (should be on the PCMCIA bus) - the Broadcom problem is related to the drivers sharing a single with a disk, and to make the disk driver, the wifi gets disabled - Blacklisted. You have to edit the file for blacklisted modules and take the "brm43" back. If you still see it, and it does not work, the problem is in the final stages of linking the device to the tcp/ip - iwconfig.

We need a listing of your devices to help you, and you just have to read the board and follow instructions for similar problems. I am confident others have been just where you are an the problem is covered and solved som other place here.

[jglen490]

Let's start with, in a terminal:

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inxi -Fzx

Copy the output and paste it here in a code box.

[anarbitraryname]

This is the output I received:

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System:    Host: dellexof-Vostro-1400 Kernel: 4.4.0-111-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.4)
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 4.14.2 (Qt 4.8.6) Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: Dell product: Vostro 1400
           Mobo: Dell model: 0TT347 Bios: Dell v: A06 date: 01/30/2008
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo T5270 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 5586
           clock speeds: max: 1401 MHz 1: 1200 MHz 2: 1200 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary)
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1280x800@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 965GM x86/MMX/SSE2
           GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-111-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express
           driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY bus-ID: 0c:00.0
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 250.1GB (46.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: FUJITSU_MHY2250B size: 250.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 152G used: 108G (75%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 21.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 210 Uptime: 22:40 Memory: 460.0/2004.7MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 

I'm guessing the most relevant part might be this:

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Network:   Card-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express
           driver: tg3 v: 3.137 bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY bus-ID: 0c:00.0
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A

PS— thanks for your help.

[khf]

NO
We need more.

#lsusb - lists the USB
#inxi - PCI - same us lspcimcia and pcmcia-util

Following Meltdown, there will be devices that report in in other clock cycles that the boot loader will miss. Unfortunately this is life. For WiFi, the boot sequence will just find the first, and when that is on the IUSB-bus, a device on board comes later. The kernel and the boot runs in one CPU, there are others and there are devices that use the same memory.However, in the boot logs there will usually be traces of what is missing: WiFi, audio, camera and sockets. When someone says Ï have a WiFi on Windows"the "plug"is there, and if it works on Windows, it is there - but it is not detected. inxi"will not make it any more apparent. Nor will "lsusb"list a device that has not been detected. But the boot log will say "Cannot enable device"and then all subsequent devices is not loaded.
Clover is a tool to manipulate the UEFI "BIOS", and this "see"the devices correct so there are ways. But we need a tool to take a full inventory. You cannot list what has not been found - you have to check another time.

[khf]

Download Broadcom Sta source.
Your device - TKA5900 is covered by the STA - but there are problems.The Broadcom drivers has a makefile that creates the driver that will be use as the driver. The Broadcom STA is part of the kernel at Github.
Look at the discussion at https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... -a-786283/ and on this chat about the Brm43xxx - there are problems at three levels: Get the driver in, enable the device and finally, make WiFi use it.

[anarbitraryname]

OK....

lsusb gives this:

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Bus 002 Device 006: ID 05a9:2640 OmniVision Technologies, Inc. OV2640 Webcam
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

lspci gives this:

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00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)

Is there any other information needed?

[kc1di]

Go to menu and Administration and Driver manager.
give it a few moments to find you hardware (you will need a ethernet connect for this.)
install the recommended driver should be bcmwl-kernel-source.
reboot,
Should work.
If it is already installed then go to a terminal and type these commands one at a time.

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sudo apt purge b43
sudo apt install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modeprobe wl

Wait a minute and see if wireless is working, if not issue the following command

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rfkill list

post results back here.
I have the same card and it works fine.
Again you'll have to have a temporary ethernet connect for this to work.
good luck.

[anarbitraryname]

I verified that the recommended driver was already installed, then tried those commands.

sudo apt purge b43

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package b43

sudo apt install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-4.4.0-109 linux-headers-4.4.0-109-generic
  linux-image-4.4.0-109-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-109-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 32 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,491 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 273547 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.248+bdcom-0ubuntu0.2~lp1415880~1_i386.deb ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Unpacking bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.248+bdcom-0ubuntu0.2~lp1415880~1) over (6.30.223.248+bdcom-0ubuntu0.2~lp1415880~1) ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.248+bdcom-0ubuntu0.2~lp1415880~1) ...
Loading new bcmwl-6.30.223.248+bdcom DKMS files...
Building only for 4.4.0-112-generic
Building for architecture i686
Building initial module for 4.4.0-112-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 4.4.0-112-generic (i686)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/make.log for more information.
modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.10) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-112-generic
^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[A^[[

sudo modeprobe wl

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modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found.

/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/make.log says:

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DKMS make.log for bcmwl-6.30.223.248+bdcom for kernel 4.4.0-112-generic (i686)
Thu Feb 15 12:16:56 EST 2018
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-112-generic'
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
  LD      /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/src/shared/linux_osl.o
/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/src/shared/linux_osl.c: In function 
‘osl_getcycles’:
/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/src/shared/linux_osl.c:935:2: 
error: implicit declaration of function ‘rdtscl’ 
[-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
  rdtscl(cycles);
  ^
/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/src/shared/linux_osl.c: At top 
level:
cc1: warning: unrecognized command line option "-Wno-date-time" [enabled by 
default]
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[1]: *** 
[/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build/src/shared/linux_osl.o] Error 1
make: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.248+bdcom/build] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-112-generic'

rfkill list returns nothing.

[kc1di]

There seems to be a problem for some reason building the module against that 4.4 kernel not sure why exactly as i've built on 4.4 machines before.
at this point I would install the 4.13 kernel or upgrade your system to 18.3.
Then try again.

[pdc_2]

I have to say that I am really curious that it has been recommended that the bcmwl-kernel-source be installed for the 4312;

I say that because the Ubuntu forums has a "sticky"; that sits at the top of their network forum; and the thread is by chili555; who must be regarded as rather good on wifi

he unequivocally (to me)

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2214110

says to use

firmware-b43-installer

for the 4312;

I just thought to mention all of this because I was just curious

_________

I am thinking when I read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiD ... er/bcm43xx that it is saying the same thing:

For Chip ID BCM 4306 (rev 03), 4311, 4312, 4318, 4322, 4331, 43224 and 43225.

... firmware-b43-installer

but very happy to be told I have got it all wrong

[kc1di]

Hi,
I certianly would not disagree with Chilli555 he's an expert in such things. However I have a 4312 card in this very machine. and Have found that since Mint 16.x the sta/wl driver works better and is more stable than the b43. b43 will work but is unstable at least on my machine. The mint driver manager recommends the bcmwl-kernel-source driver. if you have installed the b43 firmware and b43 driver then you will need to purge or uninstall or black list the the following modules in order for the WL driver to work. wl and b43 are not compatible and conflict with each other.
see:

STA - Internet access
If you have some other kind of Internet access on your computer (e.g. via an ethernet cable) then use the instructions below.

12.04 (Precise Pangolin)
Open a Terminal and install the bcmwl-kernel-source package:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source
Note: If you see the message "Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed" then you are missing the appropriate generic linux-header package(s).

To test the driver (and remove the need for a computer restart) use:

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma
sudo modprobe wl
Allow several seconds for the network manager to scan for available networks before attempting a connection.

The bcmwl-kernel-source package should automatically blacklist the open source drivers so that the STA driver is the only one in use.

from the web page you linked. that's quite an old page by the way.