Cannot install bcmwl-kernel-source

Question

I am having trouble installing Broadcom wireless drivers on my external hard-drive running Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (Kernel: 5.8.0-53-generic). I am booting the hard-drive with my 2013 MacBook Air. Here is my Broadcom card info...

mk@mextern:~/Desktop$ lspci -nn -d 14e4:
02:00.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries 720p FaceTime HD Camera [14e4:1570]
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)

After reading the guide here Installing Broadcom Wireless Drivers, I assumed I should install the bcmwl-kernel-source package (the suggested package for the 43a0 card). However when I try to install this, I get the following output...

mk@extern:~/Desktop$ sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
[sudo] password for mk: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 bcmwl-kernel-source : Depends: dkms but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I am not sure where to go from here. I am still new to the Linux environment so any help is appreciate.

Edit: dkms policy

mk@mextern:~$ apt policy dkms
dkms:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.8.1-5ubuntu2
  Version table:
     2.8.1-5ubuntu2 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages
     2.8.1-5ubuntu1 500
        500 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20210209.1) focal/main amd64 Packages
        500 cdrom://Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS _Focal Fossa_ - Release amd64 (20210209.1) focal/main i386 Packages

Trying to install dkms

mk@mextern:~$ sudo apt-get install dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 dkms : Depends: dctrl-tools but it is not installable
        Recommends: fakeroot but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Can you edit your question and include the output of apt policy dkms please? — Organic Marble, May 13 '21 at 22:23
Did you first try: sudo apt update ? Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. — chili555, May 14 '21 at 00:38
Thank you! I made sure to before I tried the install, but it did not change anything. — sharkk22, May 14 '21 at 00:40
Odd, could you try installing just dkms and give the full output if it does not work? — Organic Marble, May 14 '21 at 01:42
Please comment in your /etc/apt/sources.list the entry for the cdrom out with # out. Then sudo apt update and try again. but I'm not sure if the module is compilling proper with kernel line 5.8. — nobody, May 14 '21 at 08:21
I just tried to redo the install with the cdrom entry commented out. The output is the same except this is added: Depends: libc6-dev but it is not going to be installed — sharkk22, May 14 '21 at 18:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 24 '21 at 01:12

1

Update: I retried the installation and it I had no problem installing the drivers. I am still not sure what the fix was...

answered May 24 '21 at 01:12

sharkk22

111

maybe a general package upgrade happened (perhaps via the GUI update manager which prompts the user from time to time to install package updates) and ironed out some dependency issue. – Zanna Jun 01 '21 at 06:52

Cannot install bcmwl-kernel-source

1 Answers1