Ubuntu 16.04: Broadcom BCM43142 can't detect 5Ghz wifi networks even if it should be able to

Question

I installed Ubuntu 16.04 on my Windows laptop a while ago and i noticed that the wifi connection worked worse than before: now 5ghz wifi networks don't show up on the network manager interface even if 2.4ghz networks are detected and work fine. The laptop is an ASUS model A555L

The output of iwlist wlp3s0 channel is:

wlp3s0    32 channels in total; available frequencies :
      Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
      Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
      Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
      Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
      Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
      Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
      Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
      Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
      Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
      Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
      Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
      Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
      Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
      Channel 14 : 2.484 GHz
      Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
      Channel 38 : 5.19 GHz
      Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
      Channel 42 : 5.21 GHz
      Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
      Channel 46 : 5.23 GHz
      Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
      Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
      Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
      Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
      Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
      Channel 100 : 5.5 GHz
      Channel 104 : 5.52 GHz
      Channel 108 : 5.54 GHz
      Channel 112 : 5.56 GHz
      Channel 116 : 5.58 GHz
      Channel 120 : 5.6 GHz
      Channel 124 : 5.62 GHz
      Current Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)

So in theory i should be able to detect and use 5ghz wifi networks.

Running dmesg turned out some errors which look to be relevant to this question:

ERROR @wl_cfg80211_scan : WLC_SCAN error (-22)
ERROR @wl_dev_intvar_get : error (-1)
ERROR @wl_cfg80211_get_tx_power : error (-1)

I tried to reinstall the bcmwl-kernel-source driver and other things i found googling but nothing i've found works.

iw list output is:

Wiphy phy0
max # scan SSIDs: 1
max scan IEs length: 0 bytes
Retry short limit: 7
Retry long limit: 4
Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
Supported Ciphers:
    * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
    * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
    * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
    * CCMP (00-0f-ac:4)
    * CMAC (00-0f-ac:6)
Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
Supported interface modes:
     * IBSS
     * managed
Band 1:
    Bitrates (non-HT):
        * 1.0 Mbps
        * 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
        * 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
        * 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
        * 6.0 Mbps
        * 9.0 Mbps
        * 12.0 Mbps
        * 18.0 Mbps
        * 24.0 Mbps
        * 36.0 Mbps
        * 48.0 Mbps
        * 54.0 Mbps
    Frequencies:
        * 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
        * 2467 MHz [12] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 2472 MHz [13] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 2484 MHz [14] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
Band 2:
    Bitrates (non-HT):
        * 6.0 Mbps
        * 9.0 Mbps
        * 12.0 Mbps
        * 18.0 Mbps
        * 24.0 Mbps
        * 36.0 Mbps
        * 48.0 Mbps
        * 54.0 Mbps
    Frequencies:
        * 5170 MHz [34] (disabled)
        * 5180 MHz [36] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5190 MHz [38] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5200 MHz [40] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5210 MHz [42] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5220 MHz [44] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5230 MHz [46] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5240 MHz [48] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5300 MHz [60] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5320 MHz [64] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5500 MHz [100] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5520 MHz [104] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5540 MHz [108] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5560 MHz [112] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5580 MHz [116] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5600 MHz [120] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5620 MHz [124] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5640 MHz [128] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5660 MHz [132] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5680 MHz [136] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5700 MHz [140] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
          DFS state: usable (for 275 sec)
          DFS CAC time: 60000 ms
        * 5745 MHz [149] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5765 MHz [153] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5785 MHz [157] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5805 MHz [161] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5825 MHz [165] (20.0 dBm) (no IR)
        * 5920 MHz [184] (disabled)
        * 5940 MHz [188] (disabled)
        * 5960 MHz [192] (disabled)
        * 5980 MHz [196] (disabled)
        * 6000 MHz [200] (disabled)
        * 6020 MHz [204] (disabled)
        * 6040 MHz [208] (disabled)
        * 6060 MHz [212] (disabled)
        * 6080 MHz [216] (disabled)
Supported commands:
     * set_interface
     * new_key
     * join_ibss
     * set_pmksa
     * del_pmksa
     * flush_pmksa
     * connect
     * disconnect
software interface modes (can always be added):
interface combinations are not supported
Device supports scan flush.

Check iw list to see that the 5 GHz channels are not block by regional restrictions. And what is the 5GHZ channel you want to see? Is it in this list. — Pilot6, Sep 13 '17 at 15:48
What brand/model computer are you running? A BCM43142 chipset offers 5 GHz radio support, but only if the wireless/BT card is designed to utilize that radio. Some BCM43142 cards only support b/g/n networks, while other BCM43142 cards support dual frequency a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz). — richbl, Sep 13 '17 at 16:12
@richbl it's an ASUS laptop model A555L; it had a copy of Windows installed on it at retail. — Lunatico9, Sep 14 '17 at 08:01
@Pilot6 I added the iw list output to the question as you asked, the channel I want to connect to is 36 — Lunatico9, Sep 14 '17 at 08:03
@Lunatico9, my read of the specs here suggests that your wireless/BT card is only capable of b/g/n networking. You may want to do some research to see how easy it would be to upgrade your wireless card if this is indeed the issue. — richbl, Sep 14 '17 at 12:35
Indeed. If you haven't already, you might want to uninstall/reinstall your WiFi driver. A good resource for installing drivers for the BCM43142 chipset is located here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/55868/installing-broadcom-wireless-drivers — richbl, Sep 15 '17 at 14:54
@richbl i've already tried reinstalling the bcmwl-kernel-source driver — Lunatico9, Sep 16 '17 at 16:12
@Lunatico9, what did the debugging information identify in the link I posted to you? — richbl, Sep 16 '17 at 23:26
@richbl nothing much, I actually have an Nvidia graphics card and the processor listed in the link is wrong (i have an i7-5500u cpu) — Lunatico9, Sep 19 '17 at 14:57

Ubuntu 16.04: Broadcom BCM43142 can't detect 5Ghz wifi networks even if it should be able to

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