Broadcom BCM4352 Wireless not working with 16.10

Question

I believe I've tried all proposed solutions for other questions involving the Broadcom BCM4352 wifi hardware, but on a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.10 on a Dell XPS 13 9343 (2015) I cannot get the system to recognise the device.

Output of sudo lshw -C network:

  *-network
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Broadcom Limited
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: 03
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0
       resources: irq:19 memory:f7200000-f7207fff memory:f7000000-f71fffff

Output of rfkill list all (only bluetooth is recognised, not wifi):

2: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

Output of lspci -knn | grep -A2 Net:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43b1] (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Dell BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [1028:0019]
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
    Kernel modules: bcma, wl

Secure boot is disabled in the BIOS:

Wifi hardware is not shown in the Network Manager indicator:

I have selected bcmwl-kernel-source from the additional drivers application:

The wl module is loaded and and I have tried removing and reloading it.

I have also tried unloading wl, uninstalling and purging bcmwl-kernel-source and installing firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter, but the problem remains the same.

The wireless hardware works in Windows 10 and older versions of Ubuntu up until 16.04 so there is no question of a hardware fault.

What else can I try to get the device working or debug the problem?

Solution

We have found that, even though it is properly blacklisted, bcma loads anyway!! Let's correct it in rc.local.

Please do:

gksudo gedit /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service

Put in the following:

[Unit]
 Description=/etc/rc.local Compatibility
 ConditionPathExists=/etc/rc.local

[Service]
 Type=forking
 ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
 TimeoutSec=0
 StandardOutput=tty
 RemainAfterExit=yes
 SysVStartPriority=99

[Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target

Proofread carefully, save and close the text editor. Next:

gksudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Place the following:

#!/bin/sh -e

modprobe -r wl
modprobe -r bcma
modprobe wl

exit 0

Proofread carefully, save and close the text editor. Next:

sudo chmod +rx /etc/rc.local

sudo systemctl enable rc-local

sudo systemctl start rc-local.service
sudo systemctl status rc-local.service

If there are no errors, reboot and test.

Comments

[Pilot6]

Please edit your question and add output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A2; rfkill list terminal command.

[Pilot6]

I see that wl is installed, but not loaded. Please post the output of sudo modprobe wl command.

[Ian Mackinnon]

@Pilot6, wl does appear to be loaded in lsmod. I've just tried removing and reloading it (neither generates output) but no effect.

[Pilot6]

Try sudo modprobe -r bcma && sudo modprobe wl

[Ian Mackinnon]

I had to run sudo modprobe -r bcma && sudo modprobe -r wl && sudo modprobe wl but then it works! I tried blacklisting bcma in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, but bcma` still loads and takes priority at startup. Any idea why that might be? By the way, your help is greatly appreciated.

[Pilot6]

How did you blacklist it?

[Ian Mackinnon]

I added the line blacklist bcma to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Later I discovered the line was already present in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf though neither seems to have any affect. bcma is still loaded. No other modules rely on it, and it's not in /etc/modules or /etc/initramfs-tools/modules. I can't tell what's loading it.

[chili555]

Are there any items related to wl or bcma or b43 or ssb listed in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf or in /etc/modules ?

[Ian Mackinnon]

/etc/modules is empty. /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf contains the line blacklist bcm43xx but nothing else related to wireless as far as I can see.

[chili555]

Can you confirm that when you reboot, both bcma and wl load? lsmod What is your ethernet device? lspci -nnk | grep 0200 -A2

[Ian Mackinnon]

Yes, both are loaded. lspci output is in the question.

[chili555]

I see the lspci for your wireless, but I asked for the ethernet. There is a conflict with some Broadcom ethernet drivers.

[chili555]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.