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I am unable to get wifi working on my fresh install of Ubuntu on my Macbook Pro Retina. I tried installing dkms and bcmwl-kernel-source using sudo dpkg -i <file> following this answer. The installation failed because it ran into dependency problems ("dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration...")

Edit 2 For example, running sudo dpkg -i '/media/usrname/STUFF/dkms_2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu5.14.04.9_all.deb' yields this:

(Reading database ... 174321 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../dkms_2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu5.14.04.9_all.deb ...
Unpacking dkms (2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu5.14.04.9) over (2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu5.14.04.9) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of dkms:
 dkms depends on module-init-tools; however:
  Package module-init-tools is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package dkms (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 dkms

Various other answers suggest using apt-get -f install to get APT in a good state. But this is not possible because I don't have internet to do this.

What can I do?

Edit

Running lspci -knn | grep Net -A3 yields this:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:0134]
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: bcma, wl
03:00.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Broadcom Corporation 720p FaceTime HD Camera [14e4:1570]
QuantumDot
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  • If you have Ehternet available (or a USB tethered phone, etc.) I suggest you use that and install using APT. –  Jul 23 '17 at 18:43
  • Please [edit] your question and add output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A3 terminal command. This will show the adapter. If you really need wl, there is an offline guide. – Pilot6 Jul 23 '17 at 18:44
  • @Pilot6 Thanks for your extremely rapid response. I just now managed to get it to work (answer below), but I have no understanding what-so-ever of why. – QuantumDot Jul 23 '17 at 18:52
  • @Pilot6 I added the relevant info. I don't know if might diagnose my earlier problems. – QuantumDot Jul 23 '17 at 18:55
  • It doesn't. It would be more interesting to know what kind of dependency problems were there. Now it looks OK. – Pilot6 Jul 23 '17 at 18:56
  • @Pilot6 Scrolling up in my terminal history I have the errors that were reported while trying dpkg. See my edit again. – QuantumDot Jul 23 '17 at 18:59
  • It looks like dkms was already installed. You could skip its installation. It is wierd and I never saw module-init-tools as a dependency of it. Maybe it is a non-standard Ubuntu iso. Funny that it needs a dependency to install the same package. Anyway your answer gives a solution. – Pilot6 Jul 23 '17 at 19:04

1 Answers1

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Ok, if I wave the magic wand like this,

sudo dpkg --configure -a --force-depends

everything works, and the wifi finds the all the networks.

QuantumDot
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  • Great that it works, but it is unclear what was the problem. Normally nothing is needed but dkms. – Pilot6 Jul 23 '17 at 18:52
  • It would me more useful for readers if you add all steps you did to install the driver. – Pilot6 Jul 23 '17 at 18:57