Hello. I had 2 old Dell E6400 Latitude laptops, each with some hardware issues, so I decided to make one functional one that I could use as a collection device for wireless security camera’s.
I chose one laptop that I had been using for several years, running Ubuntu 20.04. I bought it a new battery and 250gb SSD. I also decided to upgrade to Ubuntu 24.04. And that is where my problems started. In the past I’ve always had Latitude WiFi driver issues when I’d upgrade, and I’d deal with it later. I liked to use Ethernet because it was faster. However this time I noticed when I started the upgrade there was no option to use WiFi. I didn’t pay much attention and continued. Once complete, over the past couple day’s I have been unable to get the system to even recognize my WiFi adapter, and I suppose without Ubuntu 24 seeing a WiFi adapter, that would eliminate any Available Network list. I figured it was a driver issue once again, and tried almost every solution I could find. Nothing doing. I do a lspci, and there it is: Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01).
I go into software, additional drivers and enable proprietary Broadcom driver: Using dkms source for the Broadcom STA wireless driver from Broadcom-sta-dkms.
Checked rfkill list and am told dell-WiFi: Wireless Lan softblocked-no, hardblocked-no. Heck, I even swapped out the Broadcom wireless mini adapter. At this point I’m at a loss. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Pastebin - https://dpaste.com/4CB4GYVKP
I Followed Discourse directions to closed Forum site & followed chili55’s Broadcom driver installation guide. Same result. I’ve removed and reinstalled the b43 firmware several times already. Also reinstalled 24.04 a few times.
Purge the wrong driver
broadcom-sta-dkms (the wl module) conflicts with b43, and your logs show it is currently installed and*blacklisting b43:
/etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-dkms.conf
blacklist b43 … ssb
Remove it completely:
sudo apt purge broadcom-sta-dkms bcmwl-kernel-source
After the package is gone, delete the blacklist file it left behind:
sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-dkms.conf
Install the open-source firmware
With Ethernet plugged in:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
That downloads the proprietary firmware blob from Broadcom’s site and drops it in /lib/firmware/b43/.
Load the driver (or just reboot)
Either reboot, or load the module by hand:
sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb
sudo modprobe b43
You should now see the device in sudo dmesg | grep b43 and nmcli dev.
Quick sanity check
Secure Boot If Secure Boot is enabled, third-party modules are sometimes blocked. The open-source b43 + firmware is not blocked, but if you later re-enable bcmwl, you’ll need to disable Secure Boot or sign the module.
Still no? Grab the fresh logs
Run:
sudo dmesg | grep -E 'b43|ssb|wl'
and
journalctl -b | grep -i network
…then paste the output (or a new wireless-info dump) and we can dig further.
But nine times out of ten the purge + firmware-installer step brings a BCM4312 straight up in Noble/24.04.
Good luck post back if anything goes sideways and we’ll sort it out!
Hello. Thank you for such a quick response. I followed the suggestions from your email. There were a couple snags I’ll mention.
sudo apt purge Broadcom-sta-dkms bcml-kernel-source returned “unable to locats Broadcom-sta-dkms” ( I removed it with Synaptic). I searched for bcml-kernel-source but it was not installed.
sudo rm/etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-dkms.conf returned NoSuch File or Directory. I checked the /etc/modprobe.d directory and there was only a dkms.conf file. When opened it said Modprobe information used for dkms modules. This stub file whould be edited when needed by Default by dkms.
dmesg|grep b43 - sees Broadcom,PHY analog, Radio. Grep nmcli dev. returns No such file. ( I don’t know if any of the above helps but I didn’t want to leave anything out).
new dump logs at https://dpaste.com/8T764PTVN
Your wifi is now finding access points but is shows as state down for some reason, you might need to disconnect the ethernet cable for it to work
Thank you Thingizkhan and Jeremy31. The wrong driver was my main culprit and removing the Ethernet cable brought up all available networks! My Wifi is now humming right along. Many Thanks to you both!! Tom
I wanted to thank you once again for sharing your expertise. I’ve been using Ubuntu for over 7 years now and can run basic terminal commands like update, list hardware, clear cache etc. I also know that if you are not very careful a sudo command will do exactly what you tell it, with sometimes very bad results. It is refreshing to work with someone knowledgeable and willing to freely share it. Be Well.
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