4

My WiFi connection is usually strong and solid and reliable. I recently upgraded from 21.04 to 21.10 and now my WiFi connection will simply drop sometimes. My remedy is to go to my menu at the top right of my screen and manually turn off my wifi and then turn it back on again. The computer reconnects, and I'm good...except when I'm not. I'm running a 2014 MacBook Air, and did a kernel modification via terminal commands, thanks to this forum quite some time ago, and my connection has always been stable and solid through assorted updates to Ubuntu...until now.

Multiple suggestions here have shown me how to check logs and I have tried that, not really knowing what I am looking at, except for words like or Disconnected and Connected. A recent contribution led me to update some part of my kernel with a new bit of firmware, and showed me how to do that. After the firmware update I was quickly connected and I thought I was good. Around 1500-ish I was disconnected again.

Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1835] settings: Loaded settings plugin: keyfile (internal)
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1835] ifupdown: management mode: unmanaged
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <warn>  [1636569288.1837] ifupdown: interfaces file /etc/network/interfaces doesn't exist
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1890] device (lo): carrier: link connected
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1893] manager: (lo): new Generic device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1)
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1907] manager: (wlp3s0): new 802.11 Wi-Fi device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/De>
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1914] device (wlp3s0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys>
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <warn>  [1636569288.2109] Error: failed to open /run/network/ifstate
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.2573] modem-manager: ModemManager available
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.3059] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> disconnected
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.3059] device (wlp3s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2703] policy: auto-activating connection 'CXNK001D2761' (18cded76-65c0-4f90-a9d1-9e9>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2726] device (wlp3s0): Activation: starting connection 'CXNK001D2761' (18cded76-65c0>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2730] device (wlp3s0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-ifa>

later...

Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1835] settings: Loaded settings plugin: keyfile (internal)
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1835] ifupdown: management mode: unmanaged
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <warn>  [1636569288.1837] ifupdown: interfaces file /etc/network/interfaces doesn't exist
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1890] device (lo): carrier: link connected
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1893] manager: (lo): new Generic device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1)
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1907] manager: (wlp3s0): new 802.11 Wi-Fi device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/De>
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.1914] device (wlp3s0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys>
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <warn>  [1636569288.2109] Error: failed to open /run/network/ifstate
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.2573] modem-manager: ModemManager available
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.3059] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> disconnected
Nov 10 12:34:48 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569288.3059] device (wlp3s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2703] policy: auto-activating connection 'CXNK001D2761' (18cded76-65c0-4f90-a9d1-9e9>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2726] device (wlp3s0): Activation: starting connection 'CXNK001D2761' (18cded76-65c0>
Nov 10 12:34:52 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636569292.2730] device (wlp3s0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-ifa>

Not knowing what I am looking at, for the internal life of this machine, I do have over 400 lines of log copied for this event.

Additional posting per instructions from respondent follows:

$ uname -a
Linux OldMacBookAir 5.13.0-21-generic #21-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 19 08:59:28 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ sudo lshw -class network
  *-network

       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wlp3s0
       version: 03
       serial: e0:ac:cb:9d:03:78
       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) ip=192.168.1.23 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:18 memory:c1200000-c1207fff memory:c1000000-c11fffff


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ ls -al /etc/pm/config.d/
ls: cannot access '/etc/pm/config.d/': No such file or directory


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ ls -al /etc/modprobe.d/
total 64
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Oct 16 13:24 .
drwxr-xr-x 141 root root 12288 Nov  4 07:26 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  2507 Jul 30  2015 alsa-base.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   154 Feb 16  2020 amd64-microcode-blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   325 Mar 12  2020 blacklist-ath_pci.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1518 Mar 12  2020 blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   210 Mar 12  2020 blacklist-firewire.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   677 Mar 12  2020 blacklist-framebuffer.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   156 Jul 30  2015 blacklist-modem.conf
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    41 Jul 14 08:40 blacklist-oss.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noOSS.modprobe.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   583 Mar 12  2020 blacklist-rare-network.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   180 Apr 13  2020 broadcom-sta-dkms.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   127 Jan 22  2020 dkms.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   154 Jun 10  2020 intel-microcode-blacklist.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   347 Mar 12  2020 iwlwifi.conf


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ lspci -knn | grep Net -A4
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:0117]
    Kernel driver in use: wl
    Kernel modules: bcma, wl
04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Toshiba Corporation XG4 NVMe SSD Controller [1179:0115] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Toshiba Corporation XG4 NVMe SSD Controller [1179:0001]


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ modinfo w1
modinfo: ERROR: Module w1 not found.


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ sudo iwlist freq
lo        no frequency information.


wlp3s0    32 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 32 : 5.16 GHz
          Channel 34 : 5.17 GHz
          Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
          Channel 38 : 5.19 GHz
          Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
          Channel 42 : 5.21 GHz
          Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
          Channel 46 : 5.23 GHz
          Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
          Channel 50 : 5.25 GHz
          Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
          Channel 54 : 5.27 GHz
          Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
          Channel 58 : 5.29 GHz
          Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
          Channel 62 : 5.31 GHz
          Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
          Channel 66 : 5.33 GHz
          Channel 68 : 5.34 GHz
          Channel 96 : 5.48 GHz
          Channel 98 : 5.49 GHz
          Current Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ sudo iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.


wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"CXNK001D2761"

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:06:31:EA:29:0E

          Bit Rate=52 Mb/s   Tx-Power=23 dBm

          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=55/70  Signal level=-55 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ inxi -Fxz
Command 'inxi' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install inxi


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ nmcli device wifi list
IN-USE  BSSID              SSID             MODE   CHAN  RATE        SIGNAL  B>


    

  •   00:06:31:EA:29:0E  CXNK001D2761     Infra  6     130 Mbit/s  70      ▂&gt;
  00:06:31:EA:43:4F  Horgan 5G        Infra  149   540 Mbit/s  55      ▂&gt;
  00:06:31:EA:43:48  Horgan 2G        Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  50      ▂&gt;
  14:59:C0:47:A8:2B  Horgan 2G_2GEXT  Infra  1     130 Mbit/s  47      ▂&gt;
  00:06:31:EA:29:15  CXNK001D2761     Infra  64    540 Mbit/s  44      ▂&gt;
  00:06:31:E6:E7:B6  Journey          Infra  6     130 Mbit/s  42      ▂&gt;
  14:59:C0:47:A8:2D  Horgan 2G_5GEXT  Infra  153   270 Mbit/s  20      ▂&gt;
  00:06:31:E6:E7:BD  Journey_5G       Infra  132   540 Mbit/s  17      ▂&gt;

    

    • 



ESCOC


$ sudo lsmod | grep w1


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.


                Quality=52/70  Signal level=-58 dBm  
                ESSID:&quot;CXNK001D2761&quot;




gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ac:0291 Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05ac:828f Apple, Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ usb-devices


T:  Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#=  1 Spd=480 MxCh=11
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0002 Rev=05.13
S:  Manufacturer=Linux 5.13.0-21-generic xhci-hcd
S:  Product=xHCI Host Controller
S:  SerialNumber=0000:00:14.0
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub


T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=12  MxCh= 3
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS= 8 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=0a5c ProdID=4500 Rev=01.00
S:  Manufacturer=Apple Inc.
S:  Product=BRCM20702 Hub
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=94mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub


T:  Bus=01 Lev=02 Prnt=02 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  6 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=01 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=05ac ProdID=828f Rev=01.50
S:  Manufacturer=Apple Inc.
S:  Product=Bluetooth USB Host Controller
C:  #Ifs= 4 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 3 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=btusb
I:  If#=0x1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=e0(wlcon) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=btusb
I:  If#=0x2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=ff Prot=ff Driver=btusb
I:  If#=0x3 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=fe(app. ) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=(none)


T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=04 Cnt=02 Dev#=  3 Spd=12  MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=05ac ProdID=0291 Rev=01.71
S:  Manufacturer=Apple Inc.
S:  Product=Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
S:  SerialNumber=FM7520759T7G6LMAN6F
C:  #Ifs= 3 Cfg#= 1 Atr=a0 MxPwr=500mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbhid
I:  If#=0x1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=usbhid
I:  If#=0x2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=01 Prot=02 Driver=bcm5974


T:  Bus=02 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#=  1 Spd=5000 MxCh= 4
D:  Ver= 3.00 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=03 MxPS= 9 #Cfgs=  1
P:  Vendor=1d6b ProdID=0003 Rev=05.13
S:  Manufacturer=Linux 5.13.0-21-generic xhci-hcd
S:  Product=xHCI Host Controller
S:  SerialNumber=0000:00:14.0
C:  #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I:  If#=0x0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=09(hub  ) Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=hub


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/wl.conf
cat: /etc/modprobe.d/wl.conf: No such file or directory


gandyman@OldMacBookAir:~$ grep [[:alnum:]] /sys/module/w1/parameters/*
grep: /sys/module/w1/parameters/*: No such file or directory

Leaving what I have posted to this point, as it has all been asked for by those who are helping me. I did my daily check for updates and installed same...at which point my wifi disconnected and refused to re-connect. Am obviously connected now, as you are reading this. I shut down, waited a few moments and re-started, and connected. The journal selection shows the moment when I could not re-connect.

Nov 12 09:08:03 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729683.7820] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set enabled

Nov 12 09:08:03 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729683.7827] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:on" pid=1615 uid=1000 re>


Nov 12 09:08:03 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729683.7833] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now enabled by radio killswitch


Nov 12 09:08:03 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729683.8360] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> discon>


Nov 12 09:08:03 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729683.8360] device (wlp3s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supp>


Nov 12 09:08:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729701.0282] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set disabled


Nov 12 09:08:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729701.0283] device (wlp3s0): state change: disconnected -> unavailable (reason 'none>


Nov 12 09:08:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729701.0318] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:off" pid=1615 uid=1000 r>


Nov 12 09:08:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729701.0330] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now disabled by radio killswitch


Nov 12 09:08:28 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729708.6032] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set enabled


Nov 12 09:08:28 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729708.6046] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:on" pid=1615 uid=1000 re>


Nov 12 09:08:28 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729708.6054] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now enabled by radio killswitch


Nov 12 09:08:28 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729708.6518] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> discon>


Nov 12 09:08:28 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729708.6518] device (wlp3s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supp>


Nov 12 09:09:15 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729755.7470] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set disabled


Nov 12 09:09:15 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729755.7470] device (wlp3s0): state change: disconnected -> unavailable (reason 'none>


Nov 12 09:09:15 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729755.7528] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:off" pid=1615 uid=1000 r>


Nov 12 09:09:15 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729755.7534] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now disabled by radio killswitch


Nov 12 09:09:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729761.3285] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set enabled


Nov 12 09:09:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729761.3294] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:on" pid=1615 uid=1000 re>


Nov 12 09:09:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729761.3299] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now enabled by radio killswitch


Nov 12 09:09:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729761.3878] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> discon>


Nov 12 09:09:21 OldMacBookAir NetworkManager[741]: <info>  [1636729761.3879] device (wlp3s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supp>

none of this means anything to me, except for "disconnected".

While I have gotten significant help with this issue, the problem is not solved. The driver for my wifi device allows the computer to "see" the device, but the reason for its disconnecting has not been sorted. I have done the best I know how, to comply with the help I have gotten. I do not know how to quantify who has helped me more. I am certainly willing for my "points" to go to whomever is appropriate, and I will yield to the decision of this organization. Whatever I'm holding can certainly go wherever it should, and I am fine with that. Thank you all.

tom koehler
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    Look at the logs! sudo journalctl -b 0 -u NetworkManager. Read man journalctl. – waltinator Oct 27 '21 at 20:34
  • to waltinator - I typed in the commands you gave me and got a long listing of apparently what went on, and a couple of lines highlighted in yellow, apparently what I should be interested in. I saved a screenshot of one screen of this log. Is it permitted to publish this image in this forum, to help me sort this? – tom koehler Oct 27 '21 at 22:03
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    By posting a picture of text, you make it impossible for potential helpers on phones, or text terminals. to see your text. You make it impossible for any of us to make a local copy for investigation. Rather, [Edit] your Question, copy and paste the text into your Question, select it and use the {} formatting tool. – waltinator Oct 28 '21 at 00:03
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    Do not post the whole log file! (or even the first 44 lines) 99+% of the log entries are not of interest. Redirect the journalctl output to a file. Use an editor (on a copy of the file), and keep ONLY the error entries, plus 2 lines before and 2 lines after. You should end up with a max of 50 lines, and probably fewer than 16. Edit your question to add information, and use the formatting tools. Comments are for US to ask YOU to improve your Question, to help us help you. – waltinator Oct 28 '21 at 20:55
  • @waltinator I believe that I did the edit for log posting, as you suggested. Another observer here had also submitted a suggested edit which was (I believe) the same or similar to my edit. I have it but do not know how to make sense of it, nor what to do about it. The heart of it may be the proprietary ethernet modem in the belly of the MacBook, and the need for appropriate software in the Ubuntu system. – tom koehler Oct 31 '21 at 17:08
  • Based on the fact that your wifi worked fine with 21.04, It's possible you may have stumbled onto a bug. This is a link for the wifi troubleshooter https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/net-wireless-troubleshooting-hardware-info.html.en See if you can successfully navigate through all the steps. If you were successful, search launchpad for any bug reports. If there aren't any I would open one. If you aren't successful, edit your question with the failing step. –  Nov 09 '21 at 02:03
  • Please add the series of commands you used for updating firmware. Plus, try reading and interpreting what you get. You will get closer to a solution (e.g., install inxi). Also, post the result of sudo lsmod (long output). – sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio Nov 11 '21 at 01:45
  • It is essential that you provide the information only accessible in your system. Otherwise it is impossible to help. – sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio Nov 15 '21 at 10:57
  • @sanch.s I have only one Ubuntu system computer and all that I have posted is only from it. Please know that I am grateful for your assistance in this matter. As for reading and interpreting what I get from terminal data, my skills are entirely limited to plain language words like "connected" or "disconnected". My computer does "see" the wifi unit and always connects when told to, but then other events in the computer cause the wifi device to disconnect. My interpretation of this is that there is some command structure present in version 21.10 that was not present in earlier version. – tom koehler Nov 15 '21 at 16:50

1 Answers1

4

You have a Broadcom BCM4360 card, and you are currently using driver wl. There are old reports related to the Broadcom family stating that: 1) there are several available drivers (1), 2) people managed to get the WiFi working by trying alternative drivers. Perhaps this is what you did in the past. So you could try the same now. I will post guidelines, you could probably fill the gaps, if any.

Driver

There seem to be several drivers available, at least: bcma-pci-bridge (2), wl. You could try something like

$ sudo modprobe -r wl bcma
$ sudo modprobe bcm43

Firmware

You could also try updating firmware (3).

Driver configuration

Note also that, as per 2, your WiFi has two antennas. You might try changing the antenna. It is essential that you get configuration options with

$ modinfo wl

(or change wl with whatever driver you try).

Bluetooth

There is another card model listed (2) which has also integrated bluetooth, and it is often a source of interference, but it is apparently only included in iMacs. You could confirm this to rule out interference.

Related:

  1. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx
  2. No Wireless When Install 14.04 on Macbook Pro
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/8dsdot/macbook_air_wireless_help/

Please post the following info

  1. Output of commands

    $ uname -a
$ sudo lshw -class network
$ ls -al /etc/pm/config.d/
$ ls -al /etc/modprobe.d/
$ lspci -knn | grep Net -A4
$ modinfo wl
$ sudo iwlist freq
$ sudo iwconfig
$ inxi -Fxz
$ nmcli device wifi list
$ sudo lsmod | grep wl
$ iwlist scan | egrep -i 'ssid|quality'
$ lsusb
$ usb-devices
$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/wl.conf
$ grep [[:alnum:]] /sys/module/wl/parameters/*

    You would get the wifi driver from command lspci -knn | grep Net -A4 above.

  1. Full brand/model of your computer.
sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio
  • 14,674
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  • This is my wifi unit inside my MacBookAir: Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)

    to the best of my knowledge, it uses a proprietary driver to work. I had found a workaround, but not quite well enough organized or skilled yet to find it again. It worked in 20.04 and others until now.

     – tom koehler Nov 10 '21 at 04:00
  • lspci -knn | grep Net -A4 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03) Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:0117] Kernel driver in use: wl Kernel modules: bcma, wl 04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Toshiba Corporation XG4 NVMe SSD Controller [1179:0115] (rev 01) Subsystem: Toshiba Corporation XG4 NVMe SSD Controller [1179:0001]

    I do not know what this means

     – tom koehler Nov 10 '21 at 04:08
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    @tomkoehler - Please add all this info, properly formatted, to the question body. Also add each of the commands listed. Copy-paste both the commands you enter and the output, avoid "narrating" what you get. – sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio Nov 10 '21 at 10:19
  • $ lspci -vvnn | grep -A 9 Network 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03) Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:0117]

    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18 Region 0: Memory at c1200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K] Region 2: Memory at c1000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M] Capabilities: Kernel driver in use: wl Kernel modules: bcma, wl

     – tom koehler Nov 10 '21 at 23:24
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    Tom, I realize I'm being redundant here in several respects but I think it's important. These people that are trying to help you here have a lot of knowledge and experience with ubuntu. These commands that they posted in the answer and in other comments are there to help them pin down what's going on with your system, and hopefully fix it. Please remove the extraneous info in your original question and just post the requested commands and the respective output in coded format. This will help them, help you get this fixed. –  Nov 11 '21 at 02:14