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Ubuntu 14.04.3 not accessing internet traffic when Wi-Fi signal is at 2 bars of strength or less. It connects to the router/modem combo, but no web pages can be downloaded in any browser (or any network traffic it seems). Windows 7 can access internet fine on same hardware and low signal strength. Problem disappears when signal strength is 3 bars or higher.

Output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A2 command is:

05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4353] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1520 Half-size Mini PCIe Card [1028:000e]
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
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0b:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5784M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe [14e4:1698] (rev 10)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:02fe]
    Kernel driver in use: tg3

Could it be driver related?

Pilot6
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Gavitor
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2 Answers2

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According to b43 driver wiki this adapter is supported by b43 driver.

You can install firmware for this adapter by running

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

And you can activate b43 driver by

sudo modprobe -r brcmsmac bcma
sudo modprobe b43

After that lspci -k | grep 0280 -A2 should show b43 as Kernel driver in use.

If this driver works better, then I will add how to make it permanent.

Pilot6
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  • I tried your fix. The firmware installed OK, but modprobe couldn't remove the bcma driver as it was being used. When I run 'modprobe -r' it comes up with this error message: "modprobe: FATAL: module bcma is in use" It then cuts my network connection and I can't reconnect and the bcma-pci-bridge driver is still there. How do I remove the bcma driver safely? @Pilto6 – Gavitor Aug 10 '15 at 03:26
  • I have managed to use modprobe to restart the brcmsmac driver and regain connectivity. I am still unable to turn the bcma driver off and as such can't install b43

    More advice would be appreciated....:)

     – Gavitor Aug 10 '15 at 04:34
  • I m not quite sure that your device is supported by b43. It is just in their wiki. There may be errors. – Pilot6 Aug 10 '15 at 07:49
  • I am somewhat confused. I need to uninstall the bcma driver before I can install anything else. There must be some way of doing this surely? The wiki's have cryptic commands and I am not familiar with this level of Ubuntu. i.e. I am somewhat a novice with Linux. I haven't managed to get as far as trying the b43 as I can't turn off the bcma. – Gavitor Aug 11 '15 at 03:19
  • All the solutions I can find require removal of the bcma driver first before installing b43. @Pilot6 – Gavitor Aug 11 '15 at 03:46
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I had a similar issue with my BCM4313, and it was due to the drivers in use ( bcma-pci-bridge, same as you ). The solution was to install the official drivers, bcmwl-kernel-source. You can find them on the repositories.

For more information check out this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx It may help you.

rodri
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  • You have another adapter and this is another case. Not all Broadcom adapters are compatible with wl driver. http://askubuntu.com/a/60395/167850 Your answer is wrong. – Pilot6 Aug 09 '15 at 13:36
  • The adapter specified in question is different from which you are talking about ... this can create a confusion – Prashant Chikhalkar Aug 09 '15 at 13:48
  • Yes, I have another adapter, but the 43224 is also compatible with wl, see the official page of Ubuntu I posted. – rodri Aug 09 '15 at 13:57