Arch Linux

tragram

Member

Registered: 2018-03-29

Posts: 5

WiFi problems on a MBP

Hey everyone!

I'm new to Arch but I've already managed to get it up and running on my PC. However, now I'm setting it up on my MacBook Pro with KDE (from a Live USB Drive) and so far, the WiFi has been a hit-and-miss. Sometimes, it connects, sometimes, it doesn't and I've also found out that it probably depends on the security of the WiFi I'm trying to connect to (I've had less success with WPA2 than with open networks). Usualy, it gets stuck at "Configuring interface". I'm running the "4.15.12-1-macbook" kernel and after consulting the wiki, I've decided to use the "broadcom-wl-dkms" driver downloaded from the AUR because it, as far as I understand it, should work with this kernel and BCM4360. I've rmmoded and blacklisted all conflicting kernel modules (as per this list) and did "modprobe wl". I'm using NetworkManager and have disabled dhcpcd and netctl.

The output of "systemctl --type=service":

UNIT                                                  LOAD   ACTIVE SUB     DESCRIPTION                                                            
bluetooth.service                                     loaded active running Bluetooth service                                                      
cpupower.service                                      loaded active exited  Apply cpupower configuration                                           
dbus.service                                          loaded active running D-Bus System Message Bus                                               
kmod-static-nodes.service                             loaded active exited  Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel     
laptop-mode.service                                   loaded active exited  Laptop Mode Tools                                                      
ldconfig.service                                      loaded active exited  Rebuild Dynamic Linker Cache                                           
lvm2-lvmetad.service                                  loaded active running LVM2 metadata daemon                                                   
lvm2-monitor.service                                  loaded active exited  Monitoring of LVM2 mirrors, snapshots etc. using dmeventd or progress p>
macbook-wakeup.service                                loaded active exited  Configure LID-only device events for linux-macbook                     
mbpfan.service                                        loaded active running A fan manager daemon for MacBook Pro                                   
NetworkManager.service                                loaded active running Network Manager                                                        
ntpd.service                                          loaded active running Network Time Service                                                   
polkit.service                                        loaded active running Authorization Manager                                                  
rtkit-daemon.service                                  loaded active running RealtimeKit Scheduling Policy Service                                  
sddm.service                                          loaded active running Simple Desktop Display Manager                                         
systemd-backlight@backlight:acpi_video0.service       loaded active exited  Load/Save Screen Backlight Brightness of backlight:acpi_video0         
systemd-backlight@backlight:intel_backlight.service   loaded active exited  Load/Save Screen Backlight Brightness of backlight:intel_backlight     
systemd-backlight@leds:smc::kbd_backlight.service     loaded active exited  Load/Save Screen Backlight Brightness of leds:smc::kbd_backlight       
systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-11B9\x2dDC8C.service loaded active exited  File System Check on /dev/disk/by-uuid/11B9-DC8C                       
systemd-journal-catalog-update.service                loaded active exited  Rebuild Journal Catalog                                                
systemd-journal-flush.service                         loaded active exited  Flush Journal to Persistent Storage                                    
systemd-journald.service                              loaded active running Journal Service                                                        
systemd-logind.service                                loaded active running Login Service                                                          
systemd-modules-load.service                          loaded active exited  Load Kernel Modules                                                    
systemd-random-seed.service                           loaded active exited  Load/Save Random Seed                                                  
systemd-remount-fs.service                            loaded active exited  Remount Root and Kernel File Systems                                   
systemd-sysctl.service                                loaded active exited  Apply Kernel Variables                                                 
systemd-sysusers.service                              loaded active exited  Create System Users                                                    
systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service                    loaded active exited  Create Static Device Nodes in /dev                                     
systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service                        loaded active exited  Create Volatile Files and Directories                                  
systemd-udev-trigger.service                          loaded active exited  udev Coldplug all Devices                                              
systemd-udevd.service                                 loaded active running udev Kernel Device Manager                                             
systemd-update-done.service                           loaded active exited  Update is Completed                                                    
systemd-update-utmp.service                           loaded active exited  Update UTMP about System Boot/Shutdown                                 
systemd-user-sessions.service                         loaded active exited  Permit User Sessions                                                   
udisks2.service                                       loaded active running Disk Manager                                                           
upower.service                                        loaded active running Daemon for power management                                            
user@1000.service                                     loaded active running User Manager for UID 1000                                              
wpa_supplicant.service                                loaded active running WPA supplicant   

The output of "lspci -vnn -d 14e4:" is:

02:00.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Broadcom Limited 720p FaceTime HD Camera [14e4:1570]
	Subsystem: Broadcom Limited 720p FaceTime HD Camera [14e4:1570]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 50
	Memory at b0900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Memory at 90000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at b0800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: bdc-pci
	Kernel modules: bdc_pci

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Limited BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:0112]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	Memory at b0600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
	Memory at b0400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: wl
	Kernel modules: bcma, wl

The output of "dkms status":

broadcom-wl, 6.30.223.271, 4.15.12-1-macbook, x86_64: installed

I know there have been topics regarding BCM4360 in MacBooks but I couldn't find a solution that worked for me. It was working on Fedora previously, so I must have been doing something horribly wrong but after a week of trying to work it out on my own, I've decided to come here. I'm sorry if this is a trivial thing but again, I'm a newbie. I hope I've supplied all the relevant information. Thank you all in advance for any sort of help!

Last edited by tragram (2018-03-29 08:50:07)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,523

Website

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

Welcome to the forums.  Thanks for including good background about your hardware and what you have done.  But could you elaborate as well on the actual problem and/or symptoms, this is a bit vague:

the WiFi has been a hit-and-miss. Sometimes, it connects, sometimes, it doesn't and I've also found out that it probably depends on the security of the WiFi I'm trying to connect to (I've had less success with WPA2 than with open networks).

This leads me to suspect connection methods not driver/hardware issues.  Please stop/disable network manager and follow the manual connection steps for diagnostic purposes.  Report back on which steps work and which fail, and - most importantly - post the error message / output of any step that fails.

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

tragram

Member

Registered: 2018-03-29

Posts: 5

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

Sorry for taking so long to reply!

I haven't elaborated a lot on what's actually going on, because I can't seem to find out, when it works and when it doesn't - the same WiFi might stop/start working all of the sudden after a suspend (lid closed and opened)... However, restarting NM and wpa_supplicant (usually) doesn't help.

I followed the wiki, disabled NM, enabled dhcpcd and successfully connected using wpa_cli. However, it connects to the 2.4 GHz band. Could the issue be that NM is trying to connect to the 5 GHz band? And in the rare occasions, when it connects, it is because it connected to the 2.4 GHz as well?

Thanks for the fast reply by the way!

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,774

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

As a sanity check, what are the output of find /etc/systemd/

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

tragram

Member

Registered: 2018-03-29

Posts: 5

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

Here is the output of find /etc/systemd

/etc/systemd
/etc/systemd/journald.conf
/etc/systemd/system.conf
/etc/systemd/user.conf
/etc/systemd/network
/etc/systemd/logind.conf
/etc/systemd/journal-remote.conf
/etc/systemd/coredump.conf
/etc/systemd/user
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/gpg-agent-ssh.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/dirmngr.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/gpg-agent.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/gpg-agent-browser.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/pulseaudio.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/gpg-agent-extra.socket
/etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
/etc/systemd/system
/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.service
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/mbpfan.service
/etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
/etc/systemd/system/sleep.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/sleep.target.wants/macbook-wakeup.service
/etc/systemd/system/suppress-gpe06.service
/etc/systemd/system/remove-brcmfmac.service
/etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service
/etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.target.wants/bluetooth.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/macbook-wakeup.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/cpupower.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/ntpd.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/suppress-gpe06.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/dhcpcd.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/remote-fs.target
/etc/systemd/resolved.conf
/etc/systemd/journal-upload.conf

tragram

Member

Registered: 2018-03-29

Posts: 5

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

*bump*

In the meanwhile, I've tried installing wicd and reinstalling NM, none of which helped. Also, I found that the problem could possibly be in the interface being blocked but that doesn't seem to be the case for me, the output of rfkill list:

rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Last edited by tragram (2018-04-03 13:52:30)

tragram

Member

Registered: 2018-03-29

Posts: 5

Re: WiFi problems on a MBP

So, it seems that it could somehow depend on the AP - on the same network (eduroam), I can connect at same places at the university and cannot at other. Any info I could provide that would help resolve this?
Thanks!