[SOLVED] Ubuntu 16.04-mac mini 2009-broadcom driver selected and wlan enabled but home network does not show

swisswiss · 02-26-2017, 01:16 PM

hello again.....

so iv been at it all day trying to fix this on my own but I seem to be stuck..... installing ubuntu (16.04 lts) on this old mac was dead easy using a USB key, where im having issues is getting my wireless network running....

currently im connected to ethernet, have updated the system and activated my broadcom driver, allowing me to potentially connect to wifi networks....

the problem is that my home network doesn't show up....

here is some info that might help you better understand my predicament....

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP79 Ethernet
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
logical name: enp0s10
version: b1
serial: 00:26:b0:d8:8c:e0
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.103 latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:27 memory:93486000-93486fff ioport:21e0(size=8) memory:93489000-934890ff memory:93489300-9348930f
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wlp3s0
version: 05
serial: 00:26:08:ee:12:13
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.271 (r587334) latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:20 memory:93200000-93203fff

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ iwconfig wlp3s0
wlp3s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID

ff/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr

ff Fragment thr

ff
Power Management

ff

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ ifconfig wlp3s0
wlp3s0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:26:08:ee:12:13
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:2565
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:20

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ sudo iwlist wlp3s0 scanning
wlp3s0 No scan results

I don't understand what im doing wrong, the only explanation I can think of is that my driver is out of date and i need to install a specific file using the terminal, but i don't know where to find this file....

im sorry if this a question that has been answered time and time again but iv honestly been reading pages and pages of posts with no success...the network works fine on all my other devices, meaning its strictly related to this little macmini

thank you in advance!

notKlaatu · 02-26-2017, 01:30 PM

Sounds like you need the firmware for that wireless card. This is fairly common with Broadcom chips.

I believe on Ubuntu the incantation is:

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
sudo reboot

I haven't had to deal with Broadcom in a while, thankfully, so I haven't tested that lately, but I believe that's what you need.

swisswiss · 02-26-2017, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notKlaatu

Sounds like you need the firmware for that wireless card. This is fairly common with Broadcom chips.

I believe on Ubuntu the incantation is:

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
sudo reboot

I haven't had to deal with Broadcom in a while, thankfully, so I haven't tested that lately, but I believe that's what you need.

thank you, I think this is exactly what i was looking for.... ill let you know in a couple mins...

swisswiss · 02-26-2017, 01:38 PM

hmmm nope, still getting empty scan results...

this might sound crazy but...could it be because my mac mini is right next to the router that its actually to close to pick up the wifi signal?

swisswiss · 02-26-2017, 02:06 PM

could someone also remind me while we are at what the terminal code is to remove an update... i say this because while i was reading other posts i cam across one that suggested a similar action than to the one suggested by notKlaatu... i wouldnt want the two driver to be conflicting (even though i doubt thats the case)besides freeing up a little space

notKlaatu · 02-26-2017, 02:20 PM

First, let's see what driver you're actually using.

Paste in the output of this:

$ sudo lsmod | grep -E '(bc|wl)'

swisswiss · 02-26-2017, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notKlaatu

First, let's see what driver you're actually using.

Paste in the output of this:

$ sudo lsmod | grep -E '(bc|wl)'

jeff@jeff-Macmini:~$ sudo lsmod | grep -E '(bc|wl)'
wl 6447104 0
btbcm 16384 1 btusb
cfg80211 581632 1 wl
bluetooth 557056 40 btrtl,hidp,btintel,bnep,btbcm,rfcomm,btusb

notKlaatu · 02-26-2017, 04:18 PM

When you paste in code or lines from a terminal, use the [code] code tags. Easier to read

So from the first line:

Code:

wl 6447104 0

it appears that you are using the `wl` driver. The internet suggests you start with the b43 driver.

Try removing the wl driver and adding in the b43 driver:

Code:

$ sudo modprobe -r wl
$ sudo modprobe b43

Don't reboot (because your computer still thinks `wl` is the right driver, just see if swapping the drivers works.

Also, I think in Ubuntu's System Settings (or 'Control Panel') there's a thing called `Drivers`. It may be able to load the right driver for you (or maybe you've already tried that).

swisswiss · 02-27-2017, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notKlaatu

When you paste in code or lines from a terminal, use the [code] code tags. Easier to read

So from the first line:

Code:

wl 6447104 0

it appears that you are using the `wl` driver. The internet suggests you start with the b43 driver.

Try removing the wl driver and adding in the b43 driver:

Code:

$ sudo modprobe -r wl
$ sudo modprobe b43

Don't reboot (because your computer still thinks `wl` is the right driver, just see if swapping the drivers works.

Also, I think in Ubuntu's System Settings (or 'Control Panel') there's a thing called `Drivers`. It may be able to load the right driver for you (or maybe you've already tried that).

youre my hero notklaatu! this worked perfectly...I also appreciate you explaining what the code im typing does, no better way to learn, id buy you a beer if i was over there.... so the lines i wrote in the terminal are just to "test" the b43 driver, or is it now permanently activated?

regarding the driver option in the actual ubuntu system thats what i activaited in "additional drivers", I think we are talking about the same thing, but it didnt work....

I also bookmarked those two web pages for future reading....

notKlaatu · 02-27-2017, 05:21 PM

Great! glad it worked! you should mark this thread as solved so that other people can find it and hopefully learn from it - and also so that I ignore it when I scan through my post list to see if I need to respond to anything ;-)

I believe your computer will continue to attempt to load the wl driver whenever you reboot, so that may be an issue. If you reboot and everything works, that's great; don't change anything. But if you do reboot and you have no wifi, then you need to list the wl module in a blacklist, which tells the kernel to NOT load it when booting up. Last time I checked, this is how you do that on Ubuntu:

Code:

$ sudo touch /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
$ sudo echo "blacklist wl" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

I think b43 should then become the default driver. If not, it's pretty easy to get it to load automatically, so just ask.