cannot enable wifi on Ubuntu server 22.04 installed on macbook air 2019 with Broadcom [14e4:4488] (rev 04)

Question

I am connected to the internet via ethernet cable and want to enable wifi on macbook air 2019 running ubuntu server 22.04. My pciid is as follows:

73:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4377b Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4488] (rev 04)

I went through some of the existing resources to solve this issue but did not find any instructions for broadcom 4488.

I tried installing

bcmwl-kernel-source
firmware-b43-installer

but had no luck. Any help is appreciated. Thanks much!

Edit 1: Adding relevant information:

uname -r gave me this "5.15.0-91-generic",
modinfo brcmfmac | grep 4488 returned nothing.

Refer to this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/55868/installing-broadcom-wireless-drivers I've done this exact setup. just a few weeks ago. b43-fwcutter is still active and maintained. If you get errors, post em. — j0h, Dec 22 '23 at 18:56
Your 14e4:4488 device is covered by the driver brcmfmac in recent Ubuntu versions. Please check the message log: sudo dmesg | grep brcm I suspect that you are missing the required firmware. Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. — chili555, Dec 22 '23 at 20:28
I tried it by installing b43-fwcutter, firmware-b43-installer and linux-installer. I checked the blacklist config and commented blacklist bcm43xx as well. I tried rfkill unblock all. I looked for errors and checked message log using sudo dmesg | grep brcm and found no logs. What I am I doing wrong? Thank you for your help @chili555 and @j0h. — Sainath Sanga, Dec 23 '23 at 04:54
Please edit your question to showthe result of: uname -r and also: modinfo brcmfmac | grep 4488 — chili555, Dec 23 '23 at 14:21
"5.15.0-91-generic" The version of the brcmfmac driver in 5.15-xx doesn't include your device. I suggest tat you install a 6.5-xx kernel or reinstall 23.10. Then we need to install firmware. — chili555, Dec 23 '23 at 15:11

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 23 '23 at 22:22

I wanted to say I have the exact same issue with the exact same network controller [14e4:4488] (rev 04) and I have managed to fix the issue.

The following command sudo dmesg | grep brcm gave me this output:

2.420634] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[    2.420663] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 - > 0002)
[    2.531373] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using 
brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie for chip BCM4377/4
[    2.534562] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa-SPPR-u-3.1-X3.bin 
            failed with error -2
[    2.534590] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa-SPPR-u-3.1.bin 
failed with error -2
[    2.534613] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa-SPPR-u.bin failed 
            with error -2
[    2.534637] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa-SPPR.bin failed 
            with error -2
[    2.534659] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa-X3.bin failed with 
            error -2
[    2.534682] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.apple,formosa.bin failed with 
            error -2
[    2.534703] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load 
            for brcm/brcmfmac4377b3-pcie.bin failed with error -2
[    2.534706] brcmfmac 0000:01:00.0: brcmf_pcie_setup: 
            Dongle setup failed
[    2.534720] ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_fw_crashed: Firmware has 
            halted or crashed
[    2.598792] hci_bcm4377 0000:01:00.1: Unable to load 
            firmware; tried 'brcm/brcmbt4377b3-apple,formosa-u.bin' and 
            'brcm/brcmbt4377b3-apple,formosa.bin'

The issue on my system was the firmware. Simply download the latest release deb file from here.

Now place this file in /lib/firmware/brcm. Navigate there and run:

sudo dpkg -i apple-firmware.deb

and then reboot. The issue should now be fixed.

cannot enable wifi on Ubuntu server 22.04 installed on macbook air 2019 with Broadcom [14e4:4488] (rev 04)

1 Answers1