WiFi not working after installing Mint21 SOLVED

[JEC]

I have installed Mint 21, but WiFi isn't available in network connections. I ran lspci -nnkv and the significant part of the result was:-

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4359]
Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1530 Half-size Mini PCIe Card [1028:0011]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
Memory at e6600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: bcma

This worked perfectly in Mint 20, but my only access now is via Ethernet.
Please can someone advise how to correct the problem?

[sleeper12]

I'm thinking you might need the wl driver. With secure boot disabled & while connected, try:

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sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

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sudo modprobe -rv bcma wl

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sudo modprobe -v wl

[MiZoG]

First step

Dell Wireless

Just in case run rfkill, since this is I assume a laptop.

Second step (if needed)
Generally speaking according to this thread on askubuntu.com
you need to install firmware-b43-installer and linux-firmware. linux-firmware is installed by default. So sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer. Reboot. Hopefully the kernel driver will be loaded. Yet if you upgraded from 20.x to 21.x (i.e you didn't fresh-install), you should hypothetically already have the firmware needed and then try the next step.

Third step (if the previous one fails - what sleeper12 suggests with the addition of dkms capability)
Lastly, you may need the proprietary broadcom driver wl
sudo apt install bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-dkms

You will also possibly need to "unload" the kernel drives for your wifi chip: sudo modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcmsmac bcma
and load the proprietary one sudo modprobe wl

[JeremyB]

First step

Dell Wireless

Just in case run rfkill, since this is I assume a laptop.

Second step (if needed)
Generally speaking according to this thread on askubuntu.com
you need to install firmware-b43-installer and linux-firmware. linux-firmware is installed by default. So sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer. Reboot. Hopefully the kernel driver will be loaded. Yet if you upgraded from 20.x to 21.x (i.e you didn't fresh-install), you should hypothetically already have the firmware needed and then try the next step.

Third step (if the previous one fails - what sleeper12 suggests with the addition of dkms capability)
Lastly, you may need the proprietary broadcom driver wl
sudo apt install bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-dkms

You will also possibly need to "unload" the kernel drives for your wifi chip: sudo modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcmsmac bcma
and load the proprietary one sudo modprobe wl

Installing broadcom-sta-dkms will not be a big benefit as bcmwl-kernel-source uses dkms

[MiZoG]

I thought it was just the ubuntu version of the debian package broadcom-sta-source. Didn't know it includes dkms-support.

[JEC]

Thanks for the replies. I've worked my way through, but without success. the 1st suggestion resulted in this:-

john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$ sudo modprobe -rv bcma wl
[sudo] password for john:
modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found.
john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$ sudo modprobe -v wl
modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found in directory /lib/modules/6.0.0-1010-oem
john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$

I carried on down the page, but still nothing.

john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$ rfkill
ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD
1 wlan dell-wifi unblocked unblocked
2 bluetooth dell-bluetooth blocked unblocked
john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$

I tried with & without Bluetooth enabled - no different - except that it wasn't blocked when enabled.

[JeremyB]

Try it using the 5.15 kernel

[JEC]

Thanks for the suggestion. I had 5.18 initially, and it wouldn't connect then either. I moved to 6 to stop the random freezing that was happening - which worked - so I don't think reverting would help?

[JEC]

Sorry - that should have read 5.15.0-58

[sleeper12]

Run again:

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sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

Then post:

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lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

I'm curious to see if the wl module is there.

[JEC]

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The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libllvm13:i386 libvulkan1:i386 libwayland-client0:i386 libxcb-randr0:i386
  mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed
  bcmwl-kernel-source
0 to upgrade, 1 to newly install, 0 to remove and 14 not to upgrade.
Need to get 0 B/1,548 kB of archives.
After this operation, 8,079 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously unselected package bcmwl-kernel-source.
(Reading database ... 662409 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu8_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu8) ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu8) ...
Loading new bcmwl-6.30.223.271+bdcom DKMS files...
Building for 6.0.0-1010-oem
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 6.0.0-1010-oem
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.0.0-1010-oem (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.271+bdcom/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package bcmwl-kernel-source (--configure):
 installed bcmwl-kernel-source package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 bcmwl-kernel-source
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[JEC]

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john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) [8086:1502] (rev 04)
	DeviceName:  Onboard LAN
	Subsystem: Dell 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) [1028:0493]
	Kernel driver in use: e1000e
	Kernel modules: e1000e
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1c2d] (rev 04)
--
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4359]
	Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1530 Half-size Mini PCIe Card [1028:0011]
	Kernel modules: bcma
0b:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ600FJ0/OZ900FJ0/OZ600FJS SD/MMC Card Reader Controller [1217:8221] (rev 05)

[sleeper12]

Does this help any:

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sudo modprobe bcma

[sleeper12]

If not, try:

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 sudo dpkg --configure -a 

[JEC]

The first suggestion did nothing, the 2nd produced the following:-

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john@john-Latitude-E6420:~$  sudo dpkg --configure -a 
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu8) ...
Removing old bcmwl-6.30.223.271+bdcom DKMS files...
Deleting module bcmwl-6.30.223.271+bdcom completely from the DKMS tree.
Loading new bcmwl-6.30.223.271+bdcom DKMS files...
Building for 6.0.0-1010-oem
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 6.0.0-1010-oem
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.0.0-1010-oem (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/bcmwl/6.30.223.271+bdcom/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package bcmwl-kernel-source (--configure):
 installed bcmwl-kernel-source package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 bcmwl-kernel-source

Perhaps kernel 6 the problem? Not sure how to regress to 5.1
Thanks for your help so far. I'll figure out how to go back tomorrow...
JEC

[sleeper12]

You can try:

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sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source

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sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-source broadcom-sta-dkms broadcom-sta-common

Reboot

If not, you can return to a previous kernel in Grub, Advanced Options, remove the problem kernel & reboot.

[JEC]

Nothing seemed to work, so I used Timeshift to go back. Then it froze.... But the WiFi worked. I removed kernel 6. Next I changed to Nvidia and installed the latest drivers. (390). Waiting to see if the problem has been resolved....

[JEC]

Pleased to say all is now working ok. Two things seem to be the cause of my problem.
1 - not using Nvidia with latest drivers
2 - not using the correct kernel
Thanks to those who made suggestions, which ultimately helped me to sort this out.

[pouki]

Hello there! I had the same wifi problem on my laptop and I followed commands from another topic here which is now solved, but two days before I did an update and something that I couldnt see changed everything again and I needed to put back the commands bellow to make the wifi work again.

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git
git clone https://github.com/HRex39/rtl8852be.git
cd rtl8852be
make -j8
sudo make install
sudo modprobe 8852be

Is there something that I shouldn't update to avoid losing wifi again? I dont know If the new kernel did it from the start.

[sleeper12]

You likely lose the driver when you update the kernel. To avoid that, you can lock the current kernel:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... 2.html#ID7