Wifi Issue with Ubuntu 16.04

Question

First off, I am fairly new to Linux so any help will need to be fairly step-by-step.

I have an HP Stream 14 on which I just installed Ubuntu 16.04. No dual boot; it will be the only OS I have. It has no ethernet port so I cannot connect to the internet to run a sudo apt-get update or anything like that. It has the Broadcom BCM43142.

I have tried installing dkms and bcmwl-kernel-source as well as Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers but it says "No additional drivers available."

Output of sudo lshw -class network:

  *-network               
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0
       resources: irq:35 memory:fe900000-fe907fff

Output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1566
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R3E Graphics] (rev 02)
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 156b
00:02.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1
00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1537
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 40)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 02)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:14.7 SD Host controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SD Flash Controller (rev 01)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1580
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1581
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1582
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1583
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1584
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1585
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)

Output of rfkill list all:

0: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

See also http://askubuntu.com/questions/626642/how-to-install-broadcom-wireless-drivers-offline — Pilot6, Jan 27 '17 at 20:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

0

SEE CAUTION FIRST

Obtain access to a computer with a working internet connection (although you've already compeleted this step), download this driver from Ubuntu package archive onto a flash drive, copy to your laptop, and install manually (you may find your architecture by running uname -m):

http://packages.ubuntu.com/yakkety/bcmwl-kernel-source

with sudo dpkg -i <downloaded_package> after copying it to your HP stream. Reboot. Remember to run it from the directory you copied it to, use cd. To learn cd syntax run man cd (type q to exit).

According to the discussion on this page, I think you need the sta driver: Drivers for Broadcom BCM43142 on Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr).

CAUTION:

As per chili555's suggestion, the package dkms is a dependency and needs to be installed first. Download it from the following link and install with the same steps above (there is no need to reboot after installing dkms):

http://packages.ubuntu.com/yakkety/all/dkms/download

EDIT

There is a potential bug which prevents Linux kernel 4.4.0-21 and derivative systems (e.g. ubuntu 16.04 as of 2/1/17) from picking up the wifi card even after the correct drivers have been installed. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bcmwl/+bug/1572659

The current known method to resolve this issue is to disable secure boot on your computer. And if restarting after disabling secure boot doesn't work try the following.

After restarting, turn wifi off, then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure bcmwl-kernel-source. Turn wifi on.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Jan 27 '17 at 18:59

ThisIsNotAnId

150

1

The package dkms is a dependency and will need to be downloaded and installed, too. I suggest that you edit your answer to include it, @ThisIsNotAnid – chili555 Jan 27 '17 at 21:59
@chili555 Thank you for pointing that out! I've edited my answer to reflect this. – ThisIsNotAnId Jan 27 '17 at 22:18
1

Ok, so I did what you said about downloading the drivers, copying them to a thumb drive and installing them. While installing bcmwl-kernel-source I received an error: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Required key not available – H. Rose Jan 27 '17 at 23:34
This is a known bug, I'm not sure if there's a better solution in place now (maybe chili555 can help) but disabling secure boot on your computer should fix the problem. Once you disable secure boot, boot to ubuntu, turn your wifi off, and run sudo dpkg-reconfigure bcmwl-kernel-soruce. Turn your wifi on. Or even better yet, run that command from the shell prompt in advanced startup if you know how to get there. Although, it may just work without running that command. @chili555 – ThisIsNotAnId Jan 27 '17 at 23:47
Awesome! This fixed it! That is an odd thing to have to do to fix the wifi. Thank you guys so much! – H. Rose Jan 28 '17 at 00:10
You are most welcome :) – ThisIsNotAnId Jan 28 '17 at 00:20

Wifi Issue with Ubuntu 16.04

1 Answers1