how to enable wifi in ubuntu 16.04 on dell latitude with broadcom limited bcm4313 adapter?

Question

how to enable wifi in ubuntu 16.04 on dell latitude with broadcom limited bcm4313 adapter ?

sudo lshw c -network
 *-network DISABLED        
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Broadcom Limited
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlp2s0
       version: 01
       serial: bc:85:56:a9:14:db
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.248 (r487574) latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:17 memory:f7d00000-f7d03fff

lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 16.10
Release:    16.10
Codename:   yakkety

lspci -knn | grep Net -A3
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1502] (rev 04)
    DeviceName:  Onboard LAN
    Subsystem: Dell 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection [1028:0534]
    Kernel driver in use: e1000e
    Kernel modules: e1000e
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1e2d] (rev 04)
--
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [1028:0015]
    Kernel driver in use: wl
    Kernel modules: bcma, wl
0b:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ600FJ0/OZ900FJ0/OZ600FJS SD/MMC Card Reader Controller [1217:8221] (rev 05)

rfkill list
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
4: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
5: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes

Solution

Your wireless adapter is hardware blocked according to your rfkill list output.

As far as I know Dell computers have a hardware switch that is off. You need to turn it on. Depending on the model it could be a Fn+some Fx key combination.

You can also check the BIOS to see if wireless is enabled there.

If you really can't find the hardware switch you can stop the dell_wmi by

sudo modprobe -r dell_wmi

Comments

[Apologician]

will you add the output of sudo lshw c -network to your question?

[adam cadmon]

sudo lshw c -network Hardware Lister (lshw) - unknown usage: lshw [-format] [-options ...] lshw -version -version print program version (unknown) format can be -html output hardware tree as HTML -xml output hardware tree as XML -short output hardware paths -businfo output bus information options can be -class CLASS only show a certain class of hardware -C CLASS same as '-class CLASS' -c CLASS same as '-class CLASS' etc.

[Elder Geek]

What @L.D.James meant to say is please edit the output of sudo lshw -c network into your question. Please also edit in the output of lsb_release -a Thank you for helping us help you!

[Elder Geek]

Possible duplicate of Installing Broadcom Wireless Drivers

[Apologician]

@adamcadmon Someone else might be able to help, but I can't make out the content. Would you mind pasting the output to your question? It would make it substantially easier for me to process it.

[Pilot6]

@L.D.James Why do you ask to post sudo lshw c -network? It does not have the device ID. It is useless without that.

[Pilot6]

@adamcadmon You installed a wrong driver.

[Apologician]

@Pilot6 How did you infer the OP has the wrong driver?

[Pilot6]

Please edit your question and add output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A3 terminal command.

[Pilot6]

@L.D.James I can't be 100% sure because you asked for a wrong output. But most likely this adapter needs b43 instead of wl.

[Pilot6]

So I was wrong. The driver is correct. please post output of rfkill list. I bet it is a acer-wireless issue.

[Apologician]

@Pilot6 I'm sorry that the output that I needed for my research didn't meet your criterion. But it certainly helps me based on what I was looking for. I don't doubt there is more than one method of tracing possible resolutions. Your message sounded certain about the driver needed and installed. The BCM4313 for me is significant. I'm curious if it meant anything at all to you? No matter how much experience I have, I'm always open for more. The Disabled output is significant to me also.

[Pilot6]

@L.D.James There is lots of BCM4313 that require differnt drivers. The id is needed.

[Pilot6]

@L.D.James So the output you required tells me that OP has some Broadcom adapter that is disabled for some reason. We had that info without the output.

[Apologician]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

[Apologician]

@adamcadmon You have a hardware switch on the right closest to you. Sliding that switch to the alternate position will enable your Wireless adapter. I just tested it on a Dell on my workbench. It shows the same output that you added to your question.

[Philippe Paré]

I was able to get the wifi to work by checking the "install 3rd party wifi adapters" button FWIW :) askubuntu.com/a/1147774/20972

[Robin]

Tried ubuntu 18.04 Fedora 17 ; back to ubuntu 16.04. Dell inspiron E6540 . Does not see any wifi drivers at all. Getting really fed up now. Wasted several hours on this. Tried compiling drivers, blacklisting. virtually everything I have found on the forums. That wifi will not light up. Been in the bios too and its all turned on. The little button at the side is at the black position (I assume red means off). Have tried FN F2 as well.

[Robin]

Which way does the hardware switch at the side work? Does red mean OFF or ON ?

[Silas Palmer]

On my Latitude E6320, red means OFF, black means ON.