WiFi Networks Not Displayed

Support and Help
1

Ubuntu Unity 24.04 (PRO)

Hi.

When I click on the Desktop Menu Bar Network Icon, WiFi Networks no longer display. I only see my Ethernet connection. WiFi networks used to display, but somewhere in the past couple of weeks, they have disappeared.

If I go to Network Edit Connections on the Desktop Menu Bar, the WiFi Networks are shown and ‘modifiable’.

If I boot with an older Ubuntu Unity 24.04 ESATA, the WiFi Networks are displayed. So this is not a BIOS setting or hardware issue.

I have tried turning off my VPN to no avail if that is of any importance.
I have removed Evolution (about a week ago) if that is of any importance.
System Monitor shows gvfsd-network is running if that is of any importance.

I have tried the following commands as Root to no avail:
rfkill unblock wifi
nmcli networking on
nmcli radio wifi
nmcli connection show (the WiFi Networks are displayed)
sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

iwconfig yields:
lo no wireless extensions.
eno1 no wireless extensions.
virbr0 no wireless extensions.

sudo lshw -C network yields:

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 19
bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
logical name: eno1
version: 00
serial: 78:24:af:42:d6:d7
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 10
00bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=6.11.0-17-generi
c duplex=full firmware=0.1-4 ip=192.168.1.187 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair sp
eed=1Gbit/s
resources: irq:43 memory:dfe00000-dfe1ffff memory:dfe3c000-dfe3cfff ioport:f080(size=32)
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4352 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
version: 03
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:dfa00000-dfa07fff memory:df800000-df9fffff

Any thoughts ?

Thanks,
M…

3

What result for mokutil --sb; sudo modprobe wl

4

mokutil--sb
SecureBoot disabled

AND

nmcli dev wifi list shows None

Also booting with Ubuntu Unity 24.04 ESATA , WiFi networks are displayed.

I will start going through your email and keep you posted.

Thanks,
M…

5

Hi again and thanks for the detailed post.

I was mistaken - booting with an older rev of Ubuntu Unity 24.04 does NOT display WiFi networks. My bad.

uname - r on both the internal SATA and the ESATA: 6.11.0-17-generic.

FYI: My system is GPT format.

The bottom line is I can’t get WiFi working.
As per you post, here is what I tried (all with my VPN ON):

lsmod | grep wl shows nothing

sudo modprobe wl

modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found in directory /lib/modules/6.11.0-17-generic

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-23ubuntu1) …

BOOT

Re-install firmware

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

BOOT

Still NO!!!

Conflicting kernel modules (e.g., b43, bcma) can prevent the wl module from working. Blacklist these modules by editing the configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

blacklist b43

blacklist bcma

BOOT.

Still NO.

Fix possible issues with Network Manager

sudo systemctl stop NetworkManager

sudo rm /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state

sudo systemctl start NetworkManager

BOOT

Still NO.

Check the status of the Network Manager:

systemctl status NetworkManager ● NetworkManager.service - Network Manager
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/NetworkManager.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-04-29 16:08:21 EDT; 1min 30s ago
Docs: man:NetworkManager(8)
Main PID: 1280 (NetworkManager)
Tasks: 4 (limit: 37985) Memory: 11.9M (peak: 28.4M) CPU: 406ms CGroup: /system.slice/NetworkManager.service └─1280 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9591] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9595] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9604] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9606] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9804] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9826] l3cfg[6bbc6afc8654c>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9958] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9974] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9976] device (surfshark_w>
Apr 29 16:08:36 MGDesktopUnity NetworkManager[1280]: [1745957316.9981] device (surfshark_w>lines 1-21/21 (END)

Check the system logs for WiFi-related errors:
sudo dmesg | grep -i wifi (Nothing)
sudo dmesg | grep -i firmware

[ 0.181130] Spectre V2 : Enabling Restricted Speculation for firmware calls [ 7.605864] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: firmware Patch file not found, tried: provide the output of the following commands for further analysis:

uname -r 6.11.0-17-generic

sudo lsmod | grep wl (nothing)

sudo dmesg | grep wl (nothing)

sudo dmesg | grep firmware [ 0.181130] Spectre V2 : Enabling Restricted Speculation for firmware calls [ 7.605864] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: firmware Patch file not found, tried:

As Far as Test with a Different Kernel - I’m having difficulty with this. The only way I can boot is with ReFind. Hitting ESC does not work for me. So for now I’m stuck with 6.11.0-17-generic Kernel.

What else can I try ?

Thanks for your detailed help,
M…

6

In rEFInd arrow to the desired system, then use key-combo [F2] for more options.

7

YIKES - IT WORKS!! Incredible.

Refind → F2 → ‘BOOT with 6.11.0.24 with normal options’ and it works.

So the problem is with 6.11.0.17 and my WiFi drivers ?

So here is a good question - How Can I get Refind to default to booting with 6.11.0.24 without having to F2 and select each time ? Or is that a question for Rod Smith ?

Thank you for your excellent support.

M…

8

This is confusing for some so in my best effort. :wink:

To set rEFInd to default to booting a specific Linux kernel, such as 6.11.0.24, you can configure the default_selection option in the refind.conf file.

Set this option to the text that appears when you highlight the kernel in the rEFInd menu. For example, if the kernel is listed as “6.11.0.24”, you would add default_selection 6.11.0.24 to your refind.conf file.

/boot🔒 
└─> ls
config-6.14.0-13-generic      memtest86+ia32.efi
config-6.14.0-15-generic      memtest86+x64.bin
efi                           memtest86+x64.efi
grub                          System.map-6.14.0-13-generic
initrd.img                    System.map-6.14.0-15-generic
initrd.img-6.14.0-13-generic  vmlinuz
initrd.img-6.14.0-15-generic  vmlinuz-6.14.0-13-generic
initrd.img.old                vmlinuz-6.14.0-15-generic
memtest86+ia32.bin            vmlinuz.old

Wait there’s more, >> ensure that the kernel is listed first in the boot order. You can manage the boot order using the dont_scan_files and dont_scan_dirs options to exclude older kernels from the menu, or by using the sort_key option to sort the entries by date, with the most recent kernel appearing first.

If you want to automate the process of selecting the kernel, you can create a script that modifies the EFI variable PreviousBoot to point to the desired kernel entry. This variable is used by rEFInd to determine the default boot entry. You can use a C or C++ program to modify this variable, as described in the GitHub gist provided.

9

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