Macbook Pro (mid 2012) A1278 - 1TB SSD, 16gigs RAM (Wifi issue)

[Lion kill]

An interesting observation in regards to my 2012 MB pro. While doing some large updates (usually involving flatpaks) my wifi would crash, then soon after the screen would freeze requiring me to hold the power button down for a restart. Happened right at the LM initial install too. I had the latest 2 crashers saved up this morning, so I tethered to my phone instead of Wifi. No problems or crashes with the updates. Anyone know a fix for this, besides tethering around the Broadcom issue? (bcmwl-kernel-source Version 6.30.223.271+bdcom-Oubuntu 10 22.04.1 Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source)

[Reddog1]

Are you using ubuntu Mint or LMDE? How did you get that particular driver installed? You should have tethered and used the Mint Driver Manager. I've never done a HW install of LMDE (I don't like Cinnamon), so I'm not familiar with apple Debian Mint installs.

With ubuntu Mint, on a 2012 macbook, your Network section of System Reports, with a working driver, should look like this:

Network:
Device-1: Broadcom BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme driver: wl v: kernel
pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4353 class-ID: 0280

NOTE: the correct driver is 'wl'

Tether your machine and REMOVE the current wifi driver. Reboot, go to 'Driver Manager', and install the suggested driver (kernel source and etc). This instruction is for ubuntu-based Mint.

[freshminted]

on my a1278 Macbook Pro running (ubuntu) Mint Cinnamon 20.3, 5.4 series kernel, it says

Network: Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM57765 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: efa0 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:16b4
IF: enp2s0f0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme
driver: wl v: kernel port: efa0 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4331
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>

I recall it had to install the broadcom wifi driver when I first set it up, via the wired ethernet connection, but it was no big deal and has worked flawlessly ever since. I hardly ever used the wired ethernet connection, only wifi.

Very occasionally it will drop the wifi connection and then re-connect a few seconds later. That seems to depend on location: I think there are a few iffy or dead spots in my house. As it is my travel computer, it has connected to lots of other wifi access points in different towns without fail.

[Reddog1]

wl is the linux wifi driver for all macbooks before 2016, and maybe after. It isn't a driver issue if the kernel wl is installed.