[SOLVED] Wifi card not recognized (Laptop HP 430 G2)

[BonyHoax]

Hi everyone.

I'm a brand new user of Debian, and I just bought a (too much?) new laptop, the HP 430 G2. It seems to work great for almost everything, except that I don't have any wifi available. I searched on the web to find a solution, tried several things, but I'm a bit lost. I'm a slow-tech user, so my knowledge is very limited.

I tried so many different things (without any success) that it would be hard to resume. But for now, all I have is a new installation (to avoid parasite installations of weird things), and a kernel updated to 3.16. I don't know if it's useful though...

Here are some informtions from my system, but I don't know what you need :

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bonyhoax@bonybook:~$ sudo ifconfig
[sudo] password for bonyhoax: 
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 14:58:d0:09:72:bd  
          inet adr:130.125.57.144  Bcast:130.125.57.255  Masque:255.255.255.0
          adr inet6: fe80::1658:d0ff:fe09:72bd/64 Scope:Lien
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:27329 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3491 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 lg file transmission:1000 
          RX bytes:9161136 (8.7 MiB)  TX bytes:616861 (602.4 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Boucle locale  
          inet adr:127.0.0.1  Masque:255.0.0.0
          adr inet6: ::1/128 Scope:Hôte
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 lg file transmission:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

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bonyhoax@bonybook:~$ sudo iwconfig
eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

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bonyhoax@bonybook:~$ lspci -nn | grep -i network
09:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:b723]

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bonyhoax@bonybook:~$ lspci -k | grep -i network -A 1
09:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b723
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2231

The first element I notice is that I don't have the line with "Kernel driver in use...". Which seems to indicate that there's a problem with the kernel module (is that right?). But I don't know how to fix it...

The other thing that puzzles me with these last two commands is that according to this page, my wifi card is a Broadcom BCM43142. But it's not the result I get with the lspci command.

Anyway, I'm really lost, I don't know what to do, what to check, what to install. I don't want to go by random, testing all the different solutions I see on the web blindely. This is the reason why I ask it here.

Thanks for reading, I hope I gave you enough informations to start a diagnostic. If not, I would be glad to provide the extra infos!

BH

[reinob]

I guess you need the proprietary broadcom driver:

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# apt-get install broadcom-sta-dkms

and hope for the best.

You may have a problem if the kernel you're using (3.16) is too recent compared to the version of the wl module found in debian/stable (are you using stable?).

If so, just grab the version from debian/testing, go here:
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/all/ ... s/download

and pick a mirror.

Once the .deb file is downloaded do:
# dpkg -i /path/to/the/downloaded/file

it will (most likely) spit a number of errors. Fear not.
do:

# apt-get -f install
and hope for the best again. If it doesn't work please post here the details of whatever you've done and the output (error messages). We can take it from there.

[BonyHoax]

Thanks for your quick answer.

I installed the non-free drivers, but I had an error :

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Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.16.0-tecmintkernel (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/make.log for more information.

In the log, I found this :

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DKMS make.log for broadcom-sta-5.100.82.112 for kernel 3.16.0-tecmintkernel (x86_$
vendredi 12 septembre 2014, 16:45:03 (UTC+0200)
/bin/sh: 1: [: Illegal number:
/bin/sh: 1: [: Illegal number:
Wireless Extension is the only possible API for this kernel version
Using Wireless Extension API
KBUILD_NOPEDANTIC=1 make -C /lib/modules/3.16.0-tecmintkernel/build M=/var/lib/dk$
make[1]: entrant dans le répertoire « /home/bonyhoax/Downloads/linux-3.16 »
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
Kernel architecture is X86_64
  LD      /var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/shared/linux_osl.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function $
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2975:7: warni$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2975:7: note:$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2978:4: warni$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2978:4: note:$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function $
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:3185:2: error$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:3185:22: warn$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:3190:16: erro$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:3191:16: erro$
/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:3192:16: erro$
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[2]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o$
make[1]: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/broadcom-sta/5.100.82.112/build] Erreur 2
make[1]: quittant le répertoire « /home/bonyhoax/Downloads/linux-3.16 »

Is it due to the too recent kernel? Would it be useful if I use the 3.2 version?

I also tried your second proposition, and during the dpkg -i command gave me these warnings :

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W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8402-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for module r8169

[stevepusser]

You need to install the firmware-realtek package from the non-free section in the repos to get rid of those errors. I see you are using some outside kernel, possibly one that you compiled yourself, not the stock Debian version. No big deal, but I think you need a newer version of the broadcom-sta-dkms package to be compatible with your newer kernel, plus it's more likely to have support for your hardware. Download it from here, at the bottom of the page: https://packages.debian.org/jessie/broadcom-sta-dkms

Here's a test install on my own rebuild of the 3.16 Liquorix kernel:

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# dpkg -i /home/steve/Desktop/broadcom-sta-dkms_6.30.223.248-1_all.deb 
Selecting previously unselected package broadcom-sta-dkms.
(Reading database ... 490258 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking broadcom-sta-dkms (from .../broadcom-sta-dkms_6.30.223.248-1_all.deb) ...
Setting up broadcom-sta-dkms (6.30.223.248-1) ...
Loading new broadcom-sta-6.30.223.248 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
Building initial module for 3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
Done.

wl:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64/updates/dkms/

depmod................

Backing up initrd.img-3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 to /boot/initrd.img-3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64.old-dkms
Making new initrd.img-3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
(If next boot fails, revert to initrd.img-3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64.old-dkms image)
update-initramfs....

DKMS: install completed.
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.16-1.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64
live-boot: core filesystems devices utils memdisk udev wget blockdev.

Maybe you can get your Broadcom device to show up in lspci by updating the PCI ID database, if you have a wired connection:

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su -c update-pciids

I'm pretty sure your Realtek device is the wired network card.

May as well update the USB ID DB, too:

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 su -c update-usbids

Note that I'm not advocating and installing upstream deb files willy-nilly, but source-code files like this, along with firmware packages, generally are backwards-compatible with earlier versions of Debian and won't cause problems.

[BonyHoax]

Hi,

I did all of the above, but it didn't work. I got rid of the warnings, but my card is still silent. I looked for some solutions on the net, and here is what I found, which could be useful for you.

First, the kernel module is not present (or in charge) :

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$ lspci -k | grep -i network -A 2
09:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2231

The line 'kernel driver in use : ..." is missing. I don't know what to do about it...

So I search for the RTL8723BE Wireless adapter, and I found this page, where they say that the driver should be intergrated in the 3.15 kernel. I compiled and installed the 3.16, so it should work. And if I launch the desktop-live USB installer of Ubuntu, my wifi is automatically recognized (with a 3.13 kernel). So... well, I don't know what is missing.

[BonyHoax]

Ok, it works now!

I finally found a useful page, here. It's a Ubuntu version. So I just changed the line

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sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential git

with

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sudo apt-get install linux-headers-amd64 build-essential git

, and followed the next instructions. And I finally got the wifi.

Thank you guys for your help!

[stevepusser]

So I was barking down the wrong hole about a Broadcom device. Oh well, it looks like updating the PCI IDS at least provided the initial clue for you to find the solution. Good on you!

[n-debian]

Thanks a lot to you all - especially to stevepusser for his hint with broadcom-sta-dkms from jessie!
The easy way for me was to use backports
root@system:~# cat /etc/apt/sources.list
...
#backports wheezy:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian wheezy-backports main contrib non-free
-> select the relevant packages with aptitude and reboot :
root@system:~# dpkg -l|grep bpo7
ii firmware-realtek 0.43~bpo70+1 all Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters
ii initramfs-tools 0.115~bpo70+1 all generic modular initramfs generator
ii irqbalance 1.0.6-2~bpo70+1 amd64 Daemon to balance interrupts for SMP systems
ii linux-image-3.16.0-0.bpo.4-amd64 3.16.7-ckt2-1~bpo70+1 amd64 Linux 3.16 for 64-bit PCs