Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

Unturned · 2017-04-22 12:50:37

Hello guys/gals,
I just joined a few days ago and I'm trying to install Arch on my Mid 2013 Macbook Air right now.
I went through the file system and mounting setup, but now I'm stuck on the "pacstrap /mnt base" step because that require a network connection. I do not have an ethernet adapter and I can't setup a wireless connection. I checked the dmesg command, and a Broadcom wireless module showed up, and the kernel module name for it is "bcma". But when I ran "ip link" it only showed a "lo" interface, which is a loopback interface (127.0.0.1). I searched this up on the Wiki, and it seems like that I have to download & install a propertary Broadcom driver. Is there any ways around this issue without having an ethernet cable?

Thanks!
-- Richard

P.S. I am quite new to the forum, so if I did anything that's not appropriate please tell me

Last edited by Unturned (2017-07-25 12:11:48)

Alber · 2017-04-22 13:26:15

Hello

Surely there are better solutions. And I don't know if this work at all. But...

Can you get that driver with another OS? Then, save it in a USB memory (or alike) and mount it in Arch live system when it is already running.
I can be very wrong but I think that you will need compile that driver in a module and load it to the kernel (with modprobe).
As I said, I can be very wrong.
I would wait for a better answer.

Too, does pactrap use its own "repository" in installation media if there is no internet connexion? Much time ago I think a connection wasn't necessary.

Edit:
(reading loqs reply)
Getting a built package would be better.

Last edited by Alber (2017-04-22 13:57:49)

loqs · 2017-04-22 13:31:46

See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=225366 similar issue.

Unturned · 2017-04-24 02:50:29

em, I don't think pacstrap have it's own repository on the installation iso image. When I tried to do it without internet, it just gave me a bunch of mirror errors and exited without doing anything. Any idea?

Alber · 2017-04-24 09:37:50

Try the next entry:

[SOLVED] Arch Linux Install Using WiFi On a Macbook Air, Mid 2013 Model

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=182393

Surely you've searched google for alike.
What have you tried until now?

Edit:
I think there are no a easy way as "install this.... and all OK".
Looks like there are several solutions, that are like a bit of a trick.
The goal is build the broadcom-wl package and install in the live environment via usb or something.

Edit 2:
Maybe this is the easy solution ¿¿¿???:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/br … s#Manually

Last edited by Alber (2017-04-24 10:01:29)

loqs · 2017-04-24 10:30:14

Packages from the base-devel group plus their dependencies which are not in the base group these are expected to be installed in order to build any package.

$ comm -23 <((pacman -Sgq base-devel | pacman -Si - | awk -F'[:<=>]' '/^Depends/ {print $2}' | xargs -n1) | (pacman -Sgq base-devel - ) | sort -u | sort -u) <((for i in $(pacman -Qqg base); do pactree -ul "$i"; done) | sort -u)
autoconf
automake
binutils
bison
fakeroot
flex
gcc
libtool
m4
make
patch
pkg-config
sudo

Use the archive to obtain the packages that match the date of the install media you are using.
You will also need linux-headers listed as a makedepends for broadcom-wl, the tarball of broadcom-wl and the source for the architecture you are using see https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl (the link to docs.boradcom.com)
Then follow Arch_User_Repository#Installing_packages then see my previously linked thread to switch the drivers if needed.

Trilby · 2017-04-24 11:06:56

If you have an android device (or maybe iphone ... not sure) a far easier solution would be "tether" using the phones internet connection for the initial install. Once your system is installed, then it will be much easier to build and install your wireless driver.

Unturned · 2017-04-24 14:47:57

yes, right now, I ordered an ethernet ---> thunderbolt adapter for my Mac, and I'll try using it once it gets shipped. From what I've read, it seems like that working with an ethernet cable is much easier than working with wireless. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll check out the links tomorrow, gotta sleep now

Trilby · 2017-04-24 17:33:18

Ethernet is not much easier that wireless in general, but ethernet hardware either has much less variability and/or is just much more reliably supported by the kernel. A very large portion of wireless hardware is just as well supported, but there are outliers, like the specific variety of broadcom chips that Apple (previously) put in most of their macbooks.

However, note that while ethernet hardware is very well supported, thunderbolt may or may not be. With wireless there is frequently actually an ethernet cable there - but it just goes to a wireless router: connecting the computer to the router is where you're having trouble. With the new device you will have an ethernet cable connected to a thunderbolt adapter - but the computer is not actually using an ethernet device directly (e.g. via pci connection); so the question is will the kernel support your thunderbolt device. I have no experience with thunderbolt, but in the quick search I did, it seems that is sketchy too.

Unturned · 2017-04-28 10:06:44

Hey guys/gals,
After nearly a week of struggle, I still didn't manage to get Wifi to work in the Arch live image. Right now, I am dealing with a partition problem on Apple, so I won't be working on this in a few days. Is it possible for me to pacstrap /mnt base without a network connection? (maybe downloading the base package onto a usb drive or something like that?)

Alber · 2017-04-28 14:19:00

In the way to buy a "thunderbolt", may be a USB wifi dongle another solution?

Unturned · 2017-06-15 06:21:16

Hey guys,
Just finished my end-of-year exams! It's been a long time since I last touched Arch.
I tried Debian and network didn't work for me as well. But the debian wiki suggested the "broadcom-sta-dkms.deb" package and it worked. Is there a similar package available for Arch?
Can I download the package on another machine and put it onto a USB drive and install it with Pacman on Arch?

Thanks!

Trilby · 2017-06-15 10:22:17

There are various packages for broadcom wireless.

Yes you can download it on another system, but in most cases you will need to build the package (via makepkg) in an arch system.

broadcom-wl-dkms from [community] may be your best bet for a temporary workaround as you would not need to build it. You could download the pkg.tar.xz file then install it in the live system with `pacman -U /path/to/pkg.tar.xz`.

But once you get your system installed, there'd probably be better drivers you should use. But this all depends on which broadcom chip you have.

Unturned · 2017-06-15 12:05:48

Hey Trilby,
I found the "broadcom-wl-dkms" package and some related wiki pages and downloaded it from the AUR
Below is the System Report about my wireless card:

Interfaces:
en0:
  Card Type:	AirPort Extreme  (0x14E4, 0x117)
  Firmware Version:	Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.171.124.1a2)
  MAC Address:	48:bf:6b:de:59:c0
  Locale:	RoW
  Country Code:	US
  Supported PHY Modes:	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
  Supported Channels:	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 144, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
  Wake On Wireless:	Supported

Trilby · 2017-06-15 12:22:56

Unturned wrote:

I found the "broadcom-wl-dkms" package and some related wiki pages and downloaded it from the AUR

I only recommended that package as it does not need to be built from the AUR, there is alreay a built package* in the [community] repo.

That package will not likely be ideal for your hardware, but it will likely work sufficiently to get a connection, and it should be the easiest option to install in the live usb system.

As for the hardware information, thanks, but I'm not familiar with that format of output. Can you provide the output of

lspci -vnn | grep -i net

Specifically I'm interested in the 4 digit hex number after 14e4 in brackets in the line for your wireless card. The output you gave has a 3 digit number 117, but I'm not sure if this is the same thing (e.g., does lspci show [14e4:0117] perhaps).

*edit: see comments below - the package is built, but to use dkms you will need a few other packages too.

loqs · 2017-06-15 12:27:20

@Trilby I can not see a wl.ko.gz in the file list for broadcom-wl-dkms.

Trilby · 2017-06-15 13:12:29

I've not used the package, but it's in the repos so I would hope it works as intended. I'm also not experienced with dkms, but I'm pretty sure the idea is that the actual module (wl.ko.gz) is built after the package is installed. So this would require a couple other packages that may not be on the iso, but far fewer than would be needed to build AUR packages.

loqs · 2017-06-15 17:09:51

As an alternative ( although unsupported ) http://repo-ck.com/ contains kernels plus matching module packages including a broadcom-wl package.

Trilby · 2017-06-15 17:44:47

Loqs the problem there is that the OP would need a module matching the kernel on the iso. You can install a kernel package in the live environment, but you can't reboot into it.

loqs · 2017-06-15 18:08:10

@Trilby forgot that thank you for the reminder. In theory you could use Kexec to switch kernels but that would require the kexec package and is probably as complex as installing the dkms or base-devel and their dependencies.

Unturned · 2017-07-19 06:32:31

Hello Trilby,
I didn't manage to install the wl package. Pacman gave me this error:

loading packages...
resolving dependencies...
:: The following package cannot be upgraded due to unresolvable dependencies:
      broadcom-wl-dkms

:: broadcom-wl-dkms: requires dkms

I tried to download dkms from AUR and install it, but it is just leading to more and more needed dependencies (gcc, gcc-lib, make, etc.). How can I go around this problem?

P.S. This is the output of lspci command:

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)

Thanks!

Unturned · 2017-07-19 06:43:16

BTW I also bought a TP-LINK TL-WN832N wifi dongle. Plugged it in and the command "wifi-menu" did display my wifi, but the connection instantly fails everytime I attempt to connect to it. I didn't install any drivers for the dongle yet. Might this dongle be a possible solution?

seth · 2017-07-19 07:24:54

a) please rather edit your posts with updates instead of posting multiple times in a row
b) how does this relate to comment #14 (which suggests you've working support for the NIC)?
c) trilby's idea was to use a package with a precompiled driver, so you don't have to use/compile it (even using dkms) yourself. But apparently the dkms package from the community repo does not provide this, so "dead end"
d) this is chinese roulette, ie. different hardware is labeled with the same brand, at best indicated by a revision number. => please provide the output of "lsusb" to inspect the dongle for the actual chip.

Unturned · 2017-07-19 12:34:32

Hello,
The ethernet to usb adapter I bought finally arrived and I was able to connect to the internet in Arch for the very first time. Forget about the wifi dongle, gonna get a plug-n-play dongle in the future. I will stick to the ethernet adapter until I complete a working Arch installation. Thanks for the help guys!

Trilby · 2017-07-19 13:28:23

Glad you got a way to get up and running. Note that once you actually have a proper install with a working ethernet, it should be much simpler to get that wireless connection working so you need not stay tethered to the ethernet. The challenge in this thread was just due to being only in the temporary live system and not having any network connection.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-04-22 12:50:37

Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#2 2017-04-22 13:26:15

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#3 2017-04-22 13:31:46

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#4 2017-04-24 02:50:29

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#5 2017-04-24 09:37:50

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#6 2017-04-24 10:30:14

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#7 2017-04-24 11:06:56

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#8 2017-04-24 14:47:57

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#9 2017-04-24 17:33:18

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#10 2017-04-28 10:06:44

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#11 2017-04-28 14:19:00

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#12 2017-06-15 06:21:16

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#13 2017-06-15 10:22:17

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#14 2017-06-15 12:05:48

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#15 2017-06-15 12:22:56

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#16 2017-06-15 12:27:20

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#17 2017-06-15 13:12:29

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#18 2017-06-15 17:09:51

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#19 2017-06-15 17:44:47

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#20 2017-06-15 18:08:10

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#21 2017-07-19 06:32:31

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#22 2017-07-19 06:43:16

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#23 2017-07-19 07:24:54

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#24 2017-07-19 12:34:32

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

#25 2017-07-19 13:28:23

Re: Can't setup wifi connection (MacBook Air) [SOVLED]

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