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I recently installed Ubuntu on my friend's laptop because Windows wasn't running well, but the wireless hardware may not be detected, or I may not have the appropriate drivers(?). I tried these instructions but it didn't seem to have any effect after rebooting. Let me know what additional information might help to figure out what's wrong.

EDIT: lspci -nn | grep 0280 05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)

enter image description here sudo modprobe b43 dmesg | grep -e wlan -e b43 has given no response. I recently restarted after what's been done; there's no noticeable change. Rfkill list also gives no output.

firmware-b43-installer is already the newest version.

I found this tutorial, and an answer in it revealed this output related to the blacklist:

b43-fwcutter is already the newest version.
b43-fwcutter set to manually installed.
firmware-b43-installer is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 16 not upgraded.
timmy@timmy-MX6446:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/* | egrep 'bcm'
blacklist bcm43xx
timmy@timmy-MX6446:~$ # blacklist bcm43xx
timmy@timmy-MX6446:~$ sudo gedit blacklist.conf

** (gedit:3368): WARNING **: Can't load fallback CSS resource: Failed to import: The resource at '/org/gnome/adwaita/gtk-fallback.css' does not exist

** (gedit:3368): WARNING **: Can't load fallback CSS resource: Failed to import: The resource at '/org/gnome/adwaita/gtk-fallback.css' does not exist

(gedit:3368): Gt-WARNING **: Calling Inhibit failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files

Not sure if that helps at all. Thanks for the help so far.

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Ellie Zaffle
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  • Those instructions are correct if you have a Broadcom wireless device only. Let's confirm what you have. Please open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+t and run: lspci -nn | grep 0280. Please edit your question to add the result and we'll propose a solution. Welcome to askubuntu. – chili555 Jul 02 '15 at 15:11
  • I'm afraid I'll be little help in answering this, but editing your question to include the output of lspci -nn and the model of the wireless card will help others to suggest answers for your issue. – Arronical Jul 02 '15 at 15:13
  • I prefer lspci -knn | grep Net -A2. This way current driver can be seen. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 15:24
  • OK. You have wl installed already. I will update my answer. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 15:40
  • Did you reboot after you purged bcmwl? The missing Radeon firmware is another issue but not significant to your Broadcom wireless. – chili555 Jul 02 '15 at 15:59
  • I believe so, but I'll do it again and restart after. I purged again and it wasn't there to begin with. I restarted between the last time I purged and now. – Ellie Zaffle Jul 02 '15 at 16:02
  • @EllieZaffle Please do not post pictures, just copy text from terminal. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 16:07
  • I did that hoping it would be better formatted than plain text, sorry. – Ellie Zaffle Jul 02 '15 at 16:08
  • Plain text is formatted well if you select it and press { } button. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 16:08
  • @EllieZaffle You have to be connected to internet when run sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer. You need to connect some alternative way. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 16:11
  • I'm connected via ethernet. I'll unplug, restart and try the command again. – Ellie Zaffle Jul 02 '15 at 16:13
  • You have to be plugged when install. And also give output of rfkill list. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 16:14
  • I understand, I would just do it to restart the connection. I'm going to try after apt-get upgrade finishes. – Ellie Zaffle Jul 02 '15 at 16:15
  • @EllieZaffle And try my sequence of commands. wl should be removed before install of b43. – Pilot6 Jul 02 '15 at 16:25

3 Answers3

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Your Broadcom device requires non-free firmware to work correctly. If you followed the instructions you linked and installed firmware-b43-installer and rebooted, your wireless should be working. If it is not, I suggest you check the wireless switch or key combination. You can see if the device is being turned off by the switch with:

rfkill list all

If there is no hard- or soft-block, check the logs for clues; first load the driver and look for any errors or warnings:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe b43
dmesg | grep -e wlan -e b43

Once I have more information, I will edit this answer to suggest a solution.

chili555
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  • Neither of those output anything, and there is no physical wireless switch as far as I can tell. Does it log somewhere else? The key binding Fn + F2 (wireless switch) has no noticeable effect. – Ellie Zaffle Jul 02 '15 at 15:28
  • Please see my edit above in a few moments. – chili555 Jul 02 '15 at 15:34
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If wl driver does not work well for you, you can install b43.

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe b43

You need to uninstall wl driver because it blacklists b43.

Pilot6
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0

Solved through this guide and following it with cat /etc/modprobe.d/* | egrep 'bcm' then cd /etc/modprobe.d/ , sudo gedit blacklist.conf and placing a # in front of blacklist bcm43xx, as according to KiLLeRfriend. Thanks for helping.

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Ellie Zaffle
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