Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

Trouble installing Wifi

Linux Kernel, Network, and Services configuration.
Post Reply
Message
Author
foolioskie
Posts: 3
Joined: 2018-07-05 23:25

Trouble installing Wifi

#1 Post by foolioskie »

I'm having trouble installing the driver for my wireless card, TP-Link AC1300 PCIE adapter. I do not have an ethernet connection, so I am downloading the driver from a different computer. I'm running Debian Cinnamon, that I just installed from a live USB.

I ran "lspci -nn|grep -i net" and got the following result:

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43ao] (rev 03)

I was following this post "https://askubuntu.com/questions/55868/i ... ss-drivers". I searched for the "bcmwl-kernel-source" and downloaded one from this page "https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/amd6 ... e/download".

Next, I ran "# dpkg -i *.deb" and got the following error: Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 4.9.0-6-amd64 (x86_64). Also, there were a bunch of lines saying "possible missing firmware"

Can someone offer up some advice on getting the wifi to work?

User avatar
bw123
Posts: 4015
Joined: 2011-05-09 06:02
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 28 times

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#2 Post by bw123 »

If building a driver is the only way, I would try this way first.
https://wiki.debian.org/wl

I don't know about building it without a net connection. I did something similar when I first got into debian, but it was a real pain to find all the dependencies and get the build tools set up.

What about getting another usb dongle temporarily to get online until you get this one working?
resigned by AI ChatGPT

User avatar
stevepusser
Posts: 12930
Joined: 2009-10-06 05:53
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#3 Post by stevepusser »

Please don't try to use random Ubuntu instructions on Debian. In this particular example of differences between the two, Ubuntu names their version of the package differently, and the directions are wrong for Debian anyway.

I'll say that your missing firmware messages almost certainly refer to the wired Realtek NIC...check out the wiki for "firmware" to make them go away.

According to the Google, your chipset is only supported by the "wl" driver. Your install is missing packages needed to build the driver. Catch-22. It is possible for someone on a connected computer running the same kernel to build debs of the driver, and then these debs can be installed on the isolated machine to get the wi-fi up. I've done this before for other users here...but I'll have to check if I still have those up in one of my Google Drives.

If you're a DIY kind of guy, it can also be done on a Debian or Debian Derivative install in a virtual machine, such as Virtual Box, as long as the kernel is the same one...4.9 in Stretch:

install module-assistant and broadcom-sta-source

as root:

Code: Select all

m-a prepare
m-a build broadcom-sta-source
The deb can then be found in /usr/src when finished.
MX Linux packager and developer

User avatar
stevepusser
Posts: 12930
Joined: 2009-10-06 05:53
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#4 Post by stevepusser »

Hmmm...can't find the debs. Does anyone running the Debian kernel want to take a minute, follow the simple recipe, and help the OP out?

OP, do you need 32 or 64-bit?
MX Linux packager and developer

Wheelerof4te
Posts: 1454
Joined: 2015-08-30 20:14

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#5 Post by Wheelerof4te »

First, you will need dkms:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/dkms
As you can see, there are quite a bit dependencies for it. Try not to get discouraged while tracking them all down.
You will need to copy this driver:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/r8168-dkms
to the machine.
After that, install it using:

Code: Select all

apt install ./r8168-dkms_8.043.02-1_all.deb
for the Realtek card.


For your Broadcom card, you must first get your Realtek ethernet card working.
Then just install broadcom-sta-dkms package. You need non-free repo for this.

User avatar
stevepusser
Posts: 12930
Joined: 2009-10-06 05:53
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#6 Post by stevepusser »

Wheelerof4te wrote:First, you will need dkms:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/dkms
As you can see, there are quite a bit dependencies for it. Try not to get discouraged while tracking them all down.
You will need to copy this driver:
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/r8168-dkms
to the machine.
After that, install it using:

Code: Select all

apt install ./r8168-dkms_8.043.02-1_all.deb
for the Realtek card.


For your Broadcom card, you must first get your Realtek ethernet card working.
Then just install broadcom-sta-dkms package. You need non-free repo for this.
Well, that's no help at all when the user already said they have no wired access, even with a working card. :( Plus the wired driver is already in the kernel, and seems to work without firmware-realtek, in my experience.

Here's the 64-bit wifi driver deb: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cIpOz ... pf52mgs1ZR
It depends on the broadcom-sta-common package, so download the deb from here: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/broadcom-sta-common and install both with the "dpkg -i <file1> <file2>" command as sysadmin.

Let me know if you need the 32-bit driver instead.

If you installed without net access, the debian repos are probably commented out with "#" in your /etc/apt/sources.list file. View it with

Code: Select all

cat /etc/apt/sources.list
If that's the case, uncomment them as sysadmin by editing out the comment symbol with

Code: Select all

nano /etc/apt/sources.list
MX Linux packager and developer

Wheelerof4te
Posts: 1454
Joined: 2015-08-30 20:14

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#7 Post by Wheelerof4te »

^Man, I just figured out what you were asking for...

Code: Select all

/usr/src$ ls
broadcom-sta-modules-4.14.53_6.30.223.271-8~bpo9+2+4.14.53-1_all.deb
broadcom-sta-modules-4.9.0-6-amd64_6.30.223.271-5+4.9.88-1+deb9u1_all.deb
Already had the .deb.
Guess I'm just loosing my comprehension of English.

User avatar
stevepusser
Posts: 12930
Joined: 2009-10-06 05:53
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 71 times

Re: Trouble installing Wifi

#8 Post by stevepusser »

Wheelerof4te wrote:^Man, I just figured out what you were asking for...

Code: Select all

/usr/src$ ls
broadcom-sta-modules-4.14.53_6.30.223.271-8~bpo9+2+4.14.53-1_all.deb
broadcom-sta-modules-4.9.0-6-amd64_6.30.223.271-5+4.9.88-1+deb9u1_all.deb
Already had the .deb.
Guess I'm just loosing my comprehension of English.
No problem. I know that installing the module deb and the -common deb has got the Broadcom wi-fi working in other cases here in the past. The same trick would work for some other drivers that have -source packages available. This avoids having to install all the compiler and kernel header packages that would otherwise be necessary on the isolated machine to build the driver.
MX Linux packager and developer

Post Reply