[SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

davorluc · 2023-07-21 22:13:51

Hi everyone! I'm glad and not so glad to be here at the same time... I'm glad because I finally decided to try out Arch Linux, and I'm not happy because if you see this post it means that something went wrong during the installation

I'm already stuck at the step where you're supposed to connect to your wifi... those are the things i've already done: (I hope this supports markdown)

ip link

lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,...

enp4s0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,...

iwctl device list

returns an empty table

rfkill

ID  TYPE        DEVICE  SOFT         HARD
0    bluetooth  hci0         unblocked  unblocked

lspci

...
05:00.0 Network Controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rec 03)
...

lsmod | grep wl

wl                651240    0
cfg80211     1286144  3 wl, b43, mac80211

those are the things i've tried so far... i've read that archlinux sometimes has a little trouble detecting these broadcom wifi cards, but I haven't found a concrete solution yet... Any help is greatly appreciated

edit: changed from markdown to bbcode

Last edited by davorluc (2023-07-23 18:09:10)

Trilby · 2023-07-21 23:09:50

Please edit your post to use bbcode not markdown.

Then follow the wiki here to identify the actual chipset on your card. You will also find links to information from that wiki page to identify the driver options for your card. There are - at least - two different chipsets in cards labeled BCM4352. Unfortunately, it seems the options for these are limited to bad and worse - but knowing which one you have will be important for knowing the next steps.

EDIT: oops, I missed that the wl module was already loaded. So that (mostly) rules out the "bad" option, and you may be left with "worse" of ndiswrapper, or just finding another wireless card to use. But still it would be good to get the actual chip information to be sure (as perhaps wl would work if you blacklist / unload any competing modules).

Last edited by Trilby (2023-07-22 16:42:37)

davorluc · 2023-07-22 08:17:19

ok i followed the short instructions on the wiki page you linked and got the following results

lspci -vnn -d 14e4:

05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43b1] (rev 03)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. BCM4352 802.11ac WIreless Network Adapter [1043:85ba]
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
    Memory at 55400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
    Memory at 55200000 (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 xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
    Capabilities: [150] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabiltiies: [160] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [1bo] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Capabilities: [220] Physical Resizable RAM
    Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
    Kernel modules: bcma, wl

if I'm not mistaken, "BCM4352" should be the chipset right? thanks again for your help

Last edited by davorluc (2023-07-22 08:39:38)

Trilby · 2023-07-22 12:59:45

davorluc wrote:

if I'm not mistaken, "BCM4352" should be the chipset right?

Yes, sorry, I had my terminology backwards. That's the chipset name, but I was looking for the PCI-ID which is 14e4:43b1. According to the docs, this card is not even expected to be supported by the 'wl' module (there is another BCM4352 which is). So you may be left just with ndiswrapper (which I've never had to use and it seems to even have been removed from the broadcom wiki page).

But if I were you I'd still try with "wl". I'd attempt the following:

rmmod b43
rmmod ssb
rmmod bcma
rmmod tg3
modprobe wl
ip a

And check if any new interface is listed by the final `ip a` command. If not, you're pretty much S.O.L, and can try ndiswrapper, or buy a secondary wireless card.

seth · 2023-07-22 13:09:19

It seems to work for users w/ the broadcom-wl driver:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=266170
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=280423

If you installed the wl driver and did not reboot afterwards, reboot (you can also try to remove the modules first)
If you did reboot after installing broadcom-wl, try to fully power down the system (remove the battery, if you can) and boot cold.

Is there a parallel windows installation?

Trilby · 2023-07-22 13:21:21

seth wrote:

If you installed the wl driver and did not reboot afterwards, reboot

The OP is still in the iso live system.

Last edited by Trilby (2023-07-22 13:21:31)

davorluc · 2023-07-22 13:40:42

Seth wrote:

Is there a parallel windows installation?

yes i also have windows on my pc, although i don't think it should interfere since arch linux isn't actually installed yet as i am still on archiso (and i installed a new SSD where i will have arch linux separate from windows)

coming to the drivers: is there a way to have the broadcom-wl package stored on my boot medium and then installing it via pacman? i tried finding similar posts to this but to no avail...

seth · 2023-07-22 14:06:34

i installed a new SSD where i will have arch linux separate from windows

Which is irrelevant to the matter at hand.
Typically the USB boot would prevent that, but also typically the wifi chip dropping out is the primary symptom.
=> 3rd link below. Mandatory.
Disable it (it's NOT the BIOS setting!) and reboot windows and linux twice for voodo reasons.

Trilby · 2023-07-22 15:09:15

davorluc wrote:

is there a way to have the broadcom-wl package stored on my boot medium and then installing it via pacman?

There is no need, broadcom-wl is already included on the iso. However, it will not be included (by default) in a base installation, so be sure to install it before completing the installation. There are two ways to do this either A) in step 2.2 of the installation guide add `broadcom-wl` to the list of packages passed to pacstrap (this would be my suggestion), or B) after step 3.2, in the chroot, use pacman to install `broadcom-wl` in the chroot.

What you need to do to get it working within the installation iso is first to follow seth's post, then either edit the kernel command line to blacklist all other broadcom modules while booting the iso, or `rmmod` those other modules once booted and (re)load the wl module. These are the steps I listed in post #4.

Note that in many ways getting this working in the iso may be harder than in a newly installed system (aside from broadcom-wl being preinstalled) as lots of *other* drivers are also installed and a bit tricker to blacklist which may be part of the problem. So following the advice below to install via ethernet or tether may be wise, then this should be easier to troubleshoot on an actual system.

Last edited by Trilby (2023-07-22 16:42:52)

seth · 2023-07-22 15:41:09

If this still fails and if you don't have an ethernet connection you could also use https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Tethering to install the system (to be able to make more permanent adjustments) and get us a full system journal.

davorluc · 2023-07-22 17:07:34

alright so I disabled fast start on windows (inside the control panel in the power settings) and rebooted my pc twice

now let's get to the arch linux boot

i started off with checking the lsmod list with grep

root@archiso ~ # lsmod | grep wl

wl                6512640    0
cfg80211     1286144    3    wl,b43,mac80211

root@archiso ~ # lsmod | grep b43

b43                     524288   0
cordic                   16384    1   b43
mac80211        1503232    1   b43
ssb                     131072    1   b43
mmc_core          266240    2   b43, ssb
cfg80211          1286144    3   wl,b43,mac80211
bcma                    86016    1   b43

 root@archiso ~ # lsmod | grep ssb

ssb                  131072   1   b43
mmc_core       266240   2   b43, ssb
pcmcia              94208   1   ssb

root@archiso ~ # lsmod | grep bcma

bcma              86016   1   b43

root@archiso ~ # lsmod | grep tg3

nothing found

so there's everything except the tg3 module...

now to the 'rmmod' part

root@archiso ~ # rmmod b43 ssb bcma tg3

rmmod: ERROR: module tg3 is not currently loaded

after that i double checked in lsmod with grep to see if everything is removed, which it was.

next i checked out step 2.2 in the installation guide to see how i can add packages with pacstrap. i used the command

pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware broadcom-wl

shortly after that, pacstrap tried to install the packages. then i got hit with a whole wall of error messages where it basically says, that it failed to retrieve the file 'core.db' from a mirror. it looks like it tried dozens of mirrors.

the last two lines of the error message are

error: failed to syncrhonize all databases (invalid url for server)
==> ERROR: Failed to install packages to new root

i think i did something wrong, but i can't figure out where it went wrong. i'm 99% sure that i did something wrong in my approach, can one of you give me directions?

lsmod | grep broadcom-wl also returns no results, and the rest is the same also

Trilby · 2023-07-22 17:19:08

Ah ... I suggested including broadcom-wl when you got to that part of the installation. I did not mean skip everything else.

After removing those other modules, did you try (re)loading wl? And did you then check the output of `ip a`?

davorluc · 2023-07-22 17:39:13

sorry for the confusion

but yes i also reloaded wl and checked ip a and i still get the same output...

and i also checked in my windows again if the fast startup is still disabled, and it is. what else could i check? and do you reckon i should try iphone tethering to set up arch linux for now?

davorluc · 2023-07-22 18:01:31

Update: i got internet connection now via usb iphone tetherin, I'll try to install the required packages now

(For anyone reading this with the same issue, just follow the tethering link that Seth sent and follow the usb instruction part. create the file and plug your phone in via cable and make sure that your iphone trusts the pc)

seth · 2023-07-22 18:51:42

Once you've the system installed (or even from the iso, during the installation) please post your complete system journal for the boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'f:1=<-' ix.io

davorluc · 2023-07-23 11:24:44

i just got to the part of the installation guide where i had to chroot after creating the fstab file.

after running the command i got the following output

No journal files were found.
http://ix.io/nE7

after opening the link it only says --No entries--

yesterday i used archinstall to install everything after setting up internet connection via tethering and got the same result from the journalctl command, so i thought i might need to do everything manually, which doesn't seem to be the case...

now i have the problem that my bios doesn't recognise my arch linux install, would you reccomend i should do another fresh arch installation with archinstall?

Trilby · 2023-07-23 12:16:29

davorluc wrote:

now i have the problem that my bios doesn't recognise my arch linux install, would you reccomend i should do another fresh arch installation with archinstall?

No. You should solve the problem. To do so, start a new thread and actually describe that problem including what it means that the bios "doesn't recognizes" your arch install while also including information about what boot loader you installed, how you installed it, and how you configured it.

davorluc · 2023-07-23 13:01:54

nevermind it works now, i just had to completely shut down my computer and now i can get into my arch linux installation

in pacstrap i made sure to also include some extra packages (such as networkmanager, broadcom-wl, linux-headers, and other packages that aren't relevant for this problem like git, neovim, npm, etc.)

before configuring my wifi i made sure to enable networkmanager as root with

systemctl enable NetworkManager

then i rebooted again

after rebooting and logging in, i checked the ports with ip a and found a new port

wlp5s0: <BROADCAST...

after that i used NetworkManager to try to connect to my wifi. first i checked the devices with nmcli d where i saw the lo, enp4s0 (-> ethernet) and wlp5s0 (-> wifi)

then i ran the following commands

nmcli r wifi on
nmcli d wifi list

the second command listed all available wifi routers in my vicinity

the next and final command allowed me to connect to my wifi

nmcli d wifi connect [myroutername] password [mypassword]

after checking my internet connection by pinging 8.8.8.8 i can confirm that i am connected to the internet over wifi. the connection also stays saved after a reboot

do you reckon we can mark this issue as solved?

seth · 2023-07-23 13:05:08

pinging 8.8.8.8 i can confirm that i am connected to the internet over wifi

Mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

davorluc · 2023-07-23 18:08:11

Before i edit the initial post, i want to thank you and Trilby for helping me out! this has been a very warm welcome to the arch linux community I wish you both a nice sunday

Arch Linux

#1 2023-07-21 22:13:51

[SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#2 2023-07-21 23:09:50

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#3 2023-07-22 08:17:19

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#4 2023-07-22 12:59:45

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#5 2023-07-22 13:09:19

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#6 2023-07-22 13:21:21

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#7 2023-07-22 13:40:42

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#8 2023-07-22 14:06:34

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#9 2023-07-22 15:09:15

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#10 2023-07-22 15:41:09

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#11 2023-07-22 17:07:34

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#12 2023-07-22 17:19:08

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#13 2023-07-22 17:39:13

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#14 2023-07-22 18:01:31

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#15 2023-07-22 18:51:42

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#16 2023-07-23 11:24:44

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#17 2023-07-23 12:16:29

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#18 2023-07-23 13:01:54

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#19 2023-07-23 13:05:08

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

#20 2023-07-23 18:08:11

Re: [SOLVED] arch linux doesn't recognise my wifi card

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