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

 

 

 

wireless not working on 13" Macbook Pro

Need help with peripherals or devices?
Post Reply
Message
Author
robertb
Posts: 19
Joined: 2007-01-05 19:57

wireless not working on 13" Macbook Pro

#1 Post by robertb »

I run Linux Mint Gnome 64-bit 201109 (LMDE). I was unable to get the wireless working on the vanilla 2.6 kernel. After reading a bit, it looks like even the 3.0 kernel wouldn't work.

So, I downloaded the latest 3.2 kernel, configured it, and compiled it. See below for the details. Note that I enabled BCMA and turned on b43 as a module.

Note (see below) that I downloaded the firmware from Broadcom. I also included below a detailed list of all the firmware files, in case there is some obvious differences with someone's working configuration (e.g., the file sizes may differ).

Below, during kernel boot, you can see that the driver gets loaded, but gets the dreaded "b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY".

Below is also a pared-down version of the output of "lshw". As you can see, it's using the "bcma-pci-bridge" driver. That's probably right because the b43 is attempting to be loaded.

Anybody have any idea what I could be doing wrong? I don't see any errors from b43 about missing firmware files, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's picking up the right ones.

Thanks for any help!

Downloading and compiling

Code: Select all

Linux springtime 3.2.13 #2 SMP Tue Mar 27 20:08:14 PDT 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux
 # aptitude purge firmware-b43-installer b43-fwcutter
 # aptitude install build-essential
 # cd /usr/src
 # wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-015.tar.bz2
 # tar xjf b43-fwcutter-015.tar.bz2 
 # cd b43-fwcutter-015/
 # make
 # make install
 # cd ..
 # wget http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
 # ls -lsdt broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2 
 # export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
 # tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2 
 # b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o 
 # reboot
 # cd /usr/src
 # wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.2.13.tar.bz2
 # tar xvjf linux-3.2.13.tar.bz2 
 # cd linux-3.2.13/
 # make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image
 # aptitude install ncurses-devel
 # aptitude install ncurses-dev
 # make menuconfig
 # cd /usr/src/linux-3.2.13/
 # make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image
 # dpkg -i ../linux-image-3.2.13_3.2.13-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb 
 # reboot
Boot log

Code: Select all

[    0.000000] Linux version 3.2.13 (root@springtime) (gcc version 4.6.1 (Debian 4.6.1-4) ) #2 SMP Tue Mar 27 20:08:14 PDT 2012
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.13 root=/dev/sda4 ro quiet
[    0.000000] DMI 2.4 present.
[    0.000000] DMI: Apple Inc. MacBookPro8,1/Mac-94245B3640C91C81, BIOS    MBP81.88Z.0047.B22.1109281426 09/28/11
[    0.000000] No AGP bridge found
[    4.713163] bcma-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt
[   11.304666] bcma: Switched to core: 0x812
[   11.305076] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 9, Type 7, Revision 1)
[   11.305151] b43: probe of bcma0:0 failed with error -95
[   11.305172] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PMNLS ]
[   11.474189] usb 1-1.1.2: USB disconnect, device number 7
lshw output

Code: Select all

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4331] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. AirPort Extreme [106b:00d6]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at a0600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
firmware files

Code: Select all

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g0bsinitvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g0bsinitvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1836 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g0initvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1992 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g0initvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1bsinitvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1bsinitvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1bsinitvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2126 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1initvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1836 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1initvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1992 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/a0g1initvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0bsinitvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0bsinitvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2126 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0initvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1836 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0initvals5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1992 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/b0g0initvals9.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ht0bsinitvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ht0bsinitvals29.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2678 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ht0initvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2720 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ht0initvals29.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0bsinitvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0bsinitvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0bsinitvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2976 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0initvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2958 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0initvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2678 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn0initvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1bsinitvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1bsinitvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1bsinitvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2976 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1initvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2958 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1initvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2678 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn1initvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2bsinitvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2bsinitvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2bsinitvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2976 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2initvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2958 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2initvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2678 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn2initvals26.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn400bsinitvals33.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lcn400initvals33.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0bsinitvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0bsinitvals14.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0bsinitvals15.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0bsinitvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3664 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0initvals13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0initvals14.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2598 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0initvals15.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2738 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp0initvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp1bsinitvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp1bsinitvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp1initvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp1initvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp2bsinitvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/lp2initvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0absinitvals11.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals11.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals17.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0bsinitvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2152 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals11.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2738 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2408 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals17.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2976 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals24.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2958 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n0initvals25.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n16bsinitvals30.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2634 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n16initvals30.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n18bsinitvals32.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n18initvals32.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n1bsinitvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n1initvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n2bsinitvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/n2initvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1320 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/pcm5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn0bsinitvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2738 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn0initvals16.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn1bsinitvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn1bsinitvals27.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn1initvals20.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn1initvals27.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn2bsinitvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn2initvals19.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn3bsinitvals21.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2552 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn3initvals21.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn4bsinitvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/sslpn4initvals22.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 31176 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode11.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28216 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode13.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    12 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode14.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 35512 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode15.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 33712 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode16_lp.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39296 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode16_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34448 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode16_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28589 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode16_sslpn_nobt.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 36216 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode17_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode19_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode19_sslpn_nobt.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode20_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode20_sslpn_nobt.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34735 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode21_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28988 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode21_sslpn_nobt.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    12 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode22_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode22_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 35267 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode24_lcn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39760 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode24_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34847 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode25_lcn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39128 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode25_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39728 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode26_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode27_sslpn.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39760 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode29_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39632 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode30_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    12 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode32_mimo.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     9 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode33_lcn40.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21328 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode5.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23256 Mar 26 23:33 /lib/firmware/b43/ucode9.fw

emariz
Posts: 2901
Joined: 2008-10-17 07:59

Re: wireless not working on 13" Macbook Pro

#2 Post by emariz »

Read http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx and http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 According to the second link, that device is supported by kernels newer than 3.2-rc3+. The current version in Backports is 3.2.12-1~bpo60+1.

robertb
Posts: 19
Joined: 2007-01-05 19:57

Re: wireless not working on 13" Macbook Pro

#3 Post by robertb »

emariz wrote:Read http://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx and http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 According to the second link, that device is supported by kernels newer than 3.2-rc3+. The current version in Backports is 3.2.12-1~bpo60+1.
The version I downloaded and compiled was 3.2.13 (see the first post on this thread). I assume that that is later than 3.2-rc3+ .

Are you suggesting that I may have better luck with 3.2.12-1 for getting this device working? I assume that I would use the same /lib/firmware/b43 that I originally downloaded, regardless.

Thanks.

robertb
Posts: 19
Joined: 2007-01-05 19:57

[SOLVED] wireless not working on 13" Macbook Pro

#4 Post by robertb »

Never mind -- things are now working with the Linux kernel 3.2.0 that was installed with the latest upgrade of Linux Mint. (Note that I still have the firmware files that I installed by hand.)

Post Reply