Downgrade kernel

diff111 · 2018-05-26 17:45:02

Hello,

My Mac laptop has a Broadcom BCM4360 wifi card which according to the wiki
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBookPro11,x
needs downgrading the kernel to work.

So I need to downgrade the kernel to a version 1-2 years old. I did not find anything in the wiki to do that. I downloaded a 2 years old kernel from the archive and installed it but it didn't work (system freeze after 2-3 minutes after boot). Probably incompatible with the present arch system.

Can somebody tell me how to downgrade to a 2 years old kernel?

Thank you in advance,
diff111

Trilby · 2018-05-26 17:48:35

Using a kernel that old is a bad idea. I also don't see how you inferred that that would make your wireless work. I highly doubt it would.

What is the actual chip id of the wirelss card? What's the output of `lspci -vnn -d 14e4:`?

diff111 · 2018-05-26 17:59:50

Thank you very much for your fast answer.

In the wiki
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBookPro11,x
in the wifi section they say that downgrading the kernel fixes the stability issues.

In my case, the wifi works fine for a while, then it fails to connect asking repeatedly the password. Also, two years ago I was using the kernel 4.3 (I had Linux Mint installed back then) and did not experience any issues. Since I switched to Arch linux a few months ago I'm having this wifi problem intermitently.

The output of `lspci -vnn -d 14e4:` is the following:

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 c1500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Memory at a0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at c1400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [68] Vendor Specific Information: Len=44 <?>
        Capabilities: [ac] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [13c] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-ff-ff-00-00-00
        Capabilities: [150] Power Budgeting <?>
        Capabilities: [160] Virtual Channel
        Capabilities: [1b0] Latency Tolerance Reporting
        Capabilities: [220] #15
        Kernel driver in use: facetimehd
        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:0117]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Memory at c1200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
        Memory at c1000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
        Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [58] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [68] Vendor Specific Information: Len=44 <?>
        Capabilities: [ac] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [13c] Device Serial Number c4-b3-00-ff-ff-00-00-01
        Capabilities: [150] Power Budgeting <?>
        Capabilities: [160] Virtual Channel
        Capabilities: [1b0] Latency Tolerance Reporting
        Capabilities: [220] #15
        Kernel driver in use: wl
        Kernel modules: bcma, wl

Last edited by diff111 (2018-05-27 13:01:15)

Trilby · 2018-05-26 18:09:11

That section of the wiki has not been touched in years, I'd not make much of that. It also doesn't specify which kernel you should downgrade to which makes me doubt it was ever reliable.

But given your symptoms, I'd not jump to suspecting a problem with the driver, but rather a potential conflict between multiple management tools. Are you using wl? Which wl package? How do you connect (e.g., what network management tools/services are you using)?

diff111 · 2018-05-26 19:38:33

Yes I'm using wl from the broadcom-wl-dkms package. I also tried the broadcom-wl package from the aur; no change. I tried to manually compile the driver from the broadcom site, but it did not compile. I'm not aware of any other driver. I'm under KDE, so I'm using the standard network manager from kde.

seth · 2018-05-26 19:54:49

KDE has no "standard network manager", check your journal - it will not only tell you which network manager you installed and configured, but also may provide further insight on what happens when the WIFI fails.

diff111 · 2018-05-26 20:44:34

What I meant by standard network manager is the plasm-nm applet.

Here a few relevant lines from journalctl:

mai 26 22:30:28 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <warn>  [1527366628.1982] device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) asking for new secrets
mai 26 22:30:28 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366628.1946] device (wlp3s0): state change: config -> need-auth (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
mai 26 22:30:28 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <warn>  [1527366628.1945] device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) association took too long
mai 26 22:30:20 manticore plasmashell[1130]: QXcbConnection: XCB error: 2 (BadValue), sequence: 16382, resource id: 109051905, major code: 142 (Unknown), minor code: 3
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366618.6623] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="diff111" auth_failures=2 duration=20 reason=CONN_FAILED
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=68:a3:78:d4:95:68 status_code=16
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366618.6309] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> associating
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: Trying to associate with 68:a3:78:d4:95:68 (SSID='diff111' freq=2422 MHz)
mai 26 22:30:18 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-REENABLED id=0 ssid="diff111"
mai 26 22:30:13 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366613.4151] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.4123] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="diff111" auth_failures=1 duration=10 reason=CONN_FAILED
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=68:a3:78:d4:95:68 status_code=16
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2236] device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> associating
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore wpa_supplicant[808]: wlp3s0: Trying to associate with 68:a3:78:d4:95:68 (SSID='diff111' freq=2422 MHz)
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2102] Config: added 'psk' value '<hidden>'
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2102] Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK'
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2101] Config: added 'bgscan' value 'simple:30:-80:86400'
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2101] Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2101] Config: added 'ssid' value 'diff111'
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2100] device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) connection 'diff111' has security, and secrets exist.  No new secrets needed.
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2094] device (wlp3s0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.2087] device (wlp3s0): state change: need-auth -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <warn>  [1527366603.1990] device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) asking for new secrets
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <info>  [1527366603.1957] device (wlp3s0): state change: config -> need-auth (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
mai 26 22:30:03 manticore NetworkManager[719]: <warn>  [1527366603.1957] device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) association took too long

And it goes on like that for several minutes.

Last edited by diff111 (2018-05-27 12:54:27)

loqs · 2018-05-26 20:59:08

What is the output of

systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled

diff111 · 2018-05-26 21:03:13

It's the following:

UNIT FILE                          STATE  
org.cups.cupsd.path                enabled
autovt@.service                    enabled
avahi-daemon.service               enabled
cronie.service                     enabled
cups-browsed.service               enabled
dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service enabled
display-manager.service            enabled
getty@.service                     enabled
org.cups.cupsd.service             enabled
root-suspend.service               enabled
sddm.service                       enabled
sshd.service                       enabled
systemd-timesyncd.service          enabled
tlp-sleep.service                  enabled
tlp.service                        enabled
xmodmapresume.service              enabled
avahi-daemon.socket                enabled
org.cups.cupsd.socket              enabled
remote-fs.target                   enabled

19 unit files listed.

Last edited by diff111 (2018-05-27 09:54:57)

seth · 2018-05-26 21:03:54

stop networkmanager, try to connect manually and watch "few relevant lines" from the module, ie. dmesg.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?ti … nual_setup

Edit: and try to disable tlp

Last edited by seth (2018-05-26 21:06:39)

WorMzy · 2018-05-26 21:10:48

diff111, please edit your posts to use code tags around the terminal output.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … s_and_code

diff111 · 2018-05-27 13:16:08

Thank you Seth for your suggestions. I disabled tlp and tlp-sleep services.

I'm not sure how to stop networkmanager. I tried to run

nmcli networking off

but then the system would not respond to any network related command. For instance, simply runing

iw dev

give no output (just hangs).

So I uninstalled instead plasma-nm so networkmanager is not called anymore by plasma. Now I can set manually the wifi. For the moment it works fine. I will post if the issue comes back again, with the output of dmesg.

seth · 2018-05-27 13:53:24

Just stop the service.
Uninstalling a GUI will in doubt not do much - at least not bee sufficient if NM still tries to eg. scan the network and this way interferes w/ your action. Also we won't know which kernel output is triggered by you and which is triggered by NM.

diff111 · 2018-05-27 14:29:10

The network manager service does not appear to be running (see my post #9).

seth · 2018-05-27 20:35:17

Yet something™ has previously started it bypassing systemd and - I HOPE - that's not the GUI client (it would be possible via suid/polkit and maybe some dbus socket activation, but that'd be prone to completely screw up things)
So if you had not disabled it before, some startup script or one of the network dependant services might just start the service:

systemctl list-units| grep -iE '(net|wicd|dhcp|conn)'

I'd rather bet on TLP, though.

loqs · 2018-05-27 20:53:29

@seth possibly https://github.com/KDE/plasma-nm/blob/4 … sktop#L102
Edit:
No it seems the the dependency is the reverse the presence of the dbus service starting the plasmoid.

Last edited by loqs (2018-05-27 21:02:34)

diff111 · 2018-06-01 12:17:40

A late answer:

The kde network management through plasma-nm is indeed using network manager. Since I uninstalled plasma-nm, the output of

systemctl list-units| grep -iE '(net|wicd|dhcp|conn)'

does not show networkmanager running. However, I ran it on my wife's laptop which is identical with mine and has a mirror arch installation (plus plasma-nm which she still has it). On her laptop it gives the following:

sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1c.2-0000:03:00.0-net-wlp3s0.device                                    loaded active plugged   BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter                                    
sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlp3s0.device                                                               loaded active plugged   BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter                                    
sys-fs-fuse-connections.mount                                                                         loaded active mounted   FUSE Control File System                                                     
NetworkManager.service                                                                                loaded active running   Network Manager                                                              
systemd-timesyncd.service                                                                             loaded active running   Network Time Synchronization                                                 
network.target                                                                                        loaded active active    Network

Since I deactivated networkmanager I did not have any issues with the wireless. So untill the issue comes back (hopefully it will not), I will use some other gui for the network.

Do you have a suggestion for reliable gui network management? I travel a lot with my laptop, so it's better to have a gui. Also, my wife can't work with a cli.

From all gui network managers listed on
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ne … k_managers
connman seems to be the most actively developed one.

In any case, I would like to thank all of you who answered my post and especially seth. Now I understand much better how the network management works in a modern linux system (I was still at the level of venerable ifconfig) and at least I have a good idea how to debug this problem if it repeats itself.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-05-26 17:45:02

Downgrade kernel

#2 2018-05-26 17:48:35

Re: Downgrade kernel

#3 2018-05-26 17:59:50

Re: Downgrade kernel

#4 2018-05-26 18:09:11

Re: Downgrade kernel

#5 2018-05-26 19:38:33

Re: Downgrade kernel

#6 2018-05-26 19:54:49

Re: Downgrade kernel

#7 2018-05-26 20:44:34

Re: Downgrade kernel

#8 2018-05-26 20:59:08

Re: Downgrade kernel

#9 2018-05-26 21:03:13

Re: Downgrade kernel

#10 2018-05-26 21:03:54

Re: Downgrade kernel

#11 2018-05-26 21:10:48

Re: Downgrade kernel

#12 2018-05-27 13:16:08

Re: Downgrade kernel

#13 2018-05-27 13:53:24

Re: Downgrade kernel

#14 2018-05-27 14:29:10

Re: Downgrade kernel

#15 2018-05-27 20:35:17

Re: Downgrade kernel

#16 2018-05-27 20:53:29

Re: Downgrade kernel

#17 2018-06-01 12:17:40

Re: Downgrade kernel

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