broadcom wireless BCM43142 does not discover all wireless networks in range

Question

I reviewed this, and I'm familiar with wlan device disappear (BCM43142) although it seems that the wireless adapter is installed (claimed) correctly, I'm unable to discover all wireless network in range, it only discovers a few.

enclosed a snippet of my machine configuration

$ cat /etc/*release* | grep -i distrib
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=13.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=saucy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 13.10"

$ lspci | grep -i bcm
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)

$ lshw -c network
  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       logical name: eth3
       version: 01
       serial: c0:18:85:bc:70:ef
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.141 (r415941) latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
       resources: irq:16 memory:d0500000-d0507fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: eth2
       version: 10
       serial: 84:8f:69:d4:38:f8
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=alx duplex=full ip=192.168.1.105 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:45 memory:d0400000-d043ffff ioport:2000(size=128)

$ lsmod | grep -i "bcm\|wl"
bcma                   46699  0 
wl                   4207760  0 
lib80211               14381  2 wl,lib80211_crypt_tkip
cfg80211              480503  2 wl,mac80211


$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:8f:69:d4:38:f8  
          inet addr:192.168.1.105  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::868f:69ff:fed4:38f8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          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:16 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr c0:18:85:bc:70:ef  
          inet6 addr: fe80::c218:85ff:febc:70ef/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          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:16 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:78 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:78 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:11043 (11.0 KB)  TX bytes:11043 (11.0 KB)

$ dmesg | grep -i bcm
[    2.135729] usb 2-1.5: Product: BCM43142A0
[   17.274440] eth1: Broadcom BCM4365 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 6.30.223.141 (r415941)

any help will be appreciated!

update

i also tried the following, but the problem still holds:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure bcmwl-kernel-source

and even

$ sudo apt-get autoremove bcmwl-kernel-source
$ sudo apt-get --purge remove bcmwl-kernel-source
$ sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

update 2

i even tried to search for any documentation of bcm43142 over linux wireless wiki. surprisingly, there was only one record, which says "unsupported". can it be that the driver, which i am currently using, is detecting only 802.11n, and neither 802.11a/b/g?

update 3

i found a generic driver source from broadcom, and followed the installation manual. but it seems that there is a problem compiling the driver under kernel version 3.10 and above. to check the kernel version execute

$ uname -r
3.11.0-17-generic

searching around, i found a patch to fix the issue. applying it, let make complete successfully.

$ make
KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC=1 make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=`pwd`
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-17-generic'
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
  LD      /tmp/wlan/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/wlan/src/shared/linux_osl.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/wlan/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/wlan/src/wl/sys/wl_iw.o
  CC [M]  /tmp/wlan/src/wl/sys/wl_cfg80211_hybrid.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/wlan/wl.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
  MODPOST 1 modules
WARNING: modpost: missing MODULE_LICENSE() in /tmp/wlan/wl.o
see include/linux/module.h for more information
WARNING: modpost: Found 1 section mismatch(es).
To see full details build your kernel with:
'make CONFIG_DEBUG_SECTION_MISMATCH=y'
  CC      /tmp/wlan/wl.mod.o
  LD [M]  /tmp/wlan/wl.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-17-generic'

though i am not sure if i should execute make install, since i am not sure of the out come and i really do not want it to break my system.

any advise?

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

0

Problems concerning Broadcom wireless cards not being recognized, panicing the kernel and other compatibility issues, happends on a regular basis. The source may be the Broadcom's package/driver called 'bcmwl-kernel-source', which is automaticaly installed by Ubuntu. Check out what I've written at the link below, and also at the links pointed by it, to see if the case described is the same you're experiencing.

https://askubuntu.com/a/428712/254056

At the end, don't forget to give us a feedback and help the community!

Cheers!

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:23

Community

1

answered Mar 03 '14 at 20:33

Felipe G. M. Maia

1,340
1
11
23

firstly, thank you for answering. i am familiar with the packages that you're offering to install, though firmware-b43-installer does not hold the desired driver, and linux-firmware-nonfree is even worse as far as i know, it holds mostly tv cards drivers. and it is not that the wireless is not detected, it does not discover all wireless network in range. – Mr. Mar 03 '14 at 21:30
and a small recommendation, do not copy-and-paste your answers, just give a reference (link) to it. – Mr. Mar 03 '14 at 21:35
MrRoth. Sorry if it wasn't your case. The 'linux-firmware-nonfree' package is also for some wireless cards, like mine's. Firmware bugs can cause different and unexpected behavioral anomalies. I didn't copy-and-paste the answer properly, but a small introduction to contextualize the reader ahead the link. – Felipe G. M. Maia Mar 05 '14 at 01:55

chase993 · Answer 2 · 2014-03-08T15:56:41.760

-1

I re-install Ubuntu a lot, and so I know this process all to well.

First you need to get an Ethernet cord.
Then you need another computer and connect them together withe the Ethernet cord.
On the computer that has internet access make sure you turn internet sharing on.

This should give you a wired LAN connection, and then try to install the wireless driver.

edited Mar 08 '14 at 15:56

answered Mar 08 '14 at 15:36

chase993

1
2

i already installed my wireless card, it just does not discover all wifi networks in range – Mr. Mar 08 '14 at 16:37

broadcom wireless BCM43142 does not discover all wireless networks in range

2 Answers2