[SOLVED] Cannot get WiFi recognized when installing PopOs 22.04 on 2015 MacBook Pro

[hvold]

I am a seasoned technical calculations developer with C/C++, Fortran (and C#) on Windows, MacOS and RHEL, but an absolute neophyte when it comes to hardware drivers and linux kernels.
I have fallen in love with PopOS installed on virtual computers, and now my MacBook Pro 15in 2015 model is no longer supported by the newest macOS Monterey, so I thought I could install PopOS 22.04. After long gyrations, I have not been able to get the Broadcom wifi (14e4:43a0) rev 03 hardware to work. I have tried updating but ultimately I am ending up with linux kernel headers etc.... not being compatible. I do have dumps and snapshots with real tech info. PopOS 21.10 did not play for me either.
To add insult to injury, when installing Ubuntu 22.04 everything works like a charm and the wifi is a happy camper. Xubuntu 22.04 also installs and is happy with the wifi.
Since PopOS 22.04 is supposedly made on the basis of Ubuntu 22.04, I do not understand why Ubuntu recognizes the Broadom wifi, but PopOS does not.
I have tried to follow several threads here and there, but as an illiterate on drivers and kernels, I am out of my depth.
The only clue I can see from the attached neofetch images, the kernel on PopOS is 5.16.19, while on the Ubuntu flavors it is 5.15.0-27-generic.

Anybody with advice?

 

[Brickwizard]

Since PopOS 22.04 is supposedly made on the basis of Ubuntu 22.04, I do not understand why Ubuntu recognizes the Broadom wifi, but PopOS does not.

Welcome to the forums
You have fallen into the same trap as many before you, Yes Pop is based on Ubuntu, but it is not a full Ubuntu build, it is specially developed by system76 to run on their own build of laptops and office desktops, so it doesn't carry the full range of codec's and drivers,
If it works for you out of the box Great, if not it can be a pain in the rear to get working, now add to that you are using a mac, and they cause problems in their own right trying to install any Linux, you will have your work cut out,

 

[hvold]

Welcome to the forums
You have fallen into the same trap as many before you, Yes Pop is based on Ubuntu, but it is not a full Ubuntu build, it is specially developed by system76 to run on their own build of laptops and office desktops, so it doesn't carry the full range of codec's and drivers,
If it works for you out of the box Great, if not it can be a pain in the rear to get working, now add to that you are using a mac, and they cause problems in their own right trying to install any Linux, you will have your work cut out,

Thanks for quick response. I can certify that trying to get WiFi with various flavors and releases of PopOS is a pain. However, I have succeeded in installing flavors of Ubuntu and Fedora with proper functioning of all hardware as far as I can see. Also, it looks as if PopOS is drawing from the same repositories as Ubuntu, so I do have a faint hope that there is some magic source out there that could do the trick. In between I will try to get comfortable with i3 on Fedora 35 on my Mac,
Should I post this on another group/forum to get more eyes on my issue?

 

[Brickwizard]

OK let's see if it may be a fairly simple fix, can you connect your pop computer [or Ubuntu, whatever Linux it currently has] to the router by cable? If yes, run from the terminal inxi -N and post back the results [this will tell us exactly which wi-fi card you have]
Oh, you may have to install inxi from the repository.
Once we know , then we can try the easy way through the repository or via the sudo apt commands

 

[kc1di]

Go to the terminal and type this command

inxi -Nn

Then post the results back here. You may need to install inxi first if it's not installed

sudo apt install inxi

can not remember is Pop installs it by default. Ubuntu does not. Also the output of

rfkill list

thanks

 

[Brickwizard]

I have to go out so....
Ok then you have the Broadcom the following should work with most BCM products if not, get back to me later

easy way [if it's available in your repositories] open software manager , in the search box type bcmwl if its available it should be the first item on the list, if its there click install, job done
if it's not in the repository, try from the terminal, sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-sorce

 

[hvold]

Gentlemen, I attach the infix rfkill dump from fedora which I just installed.
Yesterday i played around in PopOS with lspci etc, so I know that it is a broadcom wifi (14e4:43a0) rev 03 adapter
I also tried installing all kinds of bcmwl-... , but had trouble with linux kernel headers not matching dkpg --configure ...... no joy.

 

[Brickwizard]

That's what I needed to know, it's a bcm 43 series, the drivers I have listed above are the correct ones for your wi-fi card

 

[kc1di]

If you are using Fedora this page will help In Ubuntu /Pop the driver that Brickwizard offered should work.
Broadcom Fedora Also for Ubuntu/Mint/derivatives this page will be helpful. Broadcom Ubuntu/Mint

 

[hvold]

No cigar, the install of bcmwl-kernel-source crapped out again like yesterday, but now I have a screen dump. ERROR (dkms apport): kernel package linux-headers-5.17.5-......
See the attached images (neofetch and install)

 

[kc1di]

Actually the kernel may be too new and bcmwl has not been configured against it yet If it will let you downgrade the kernel to 5.4 or 5.13 etc.

 

[hvold]

Actually the kernel may be too new and bcmwl has not been configured against it yet If it will let you downgrade the kernel to 5.04 or 5.13 etc.

Or, since I plan to take the laptop on to the road on May 23, could that let bcmwl catch up with the current kernel?
I am a maths application programmer and know less about linux kernel swapping than colonel Sanders Is downgrading a job for the fainthearted?

 

[Brickwizard]

Dam it, being Loosely based on Ubuntu I hoped it would work, you were connected by wire to the router/internet I hope!
If so, let's make one last try this afternoon..
make sure you are connected to the internet, then try
sudo apt update and enter then when that's done
sudo apt install bcmwl-kernel-source and enter then when that has done
sudo modprobe wl and enter now when that's finished
RE-boot

edit, note the get has gone from the instructions as I dont think its needed with Pop

 

[hvold]

Dam it, being Loosely based on Ubuntu I hoped it would work, you were connected by wire to the router/internet I hope!
If so, let's make one last try this afternoon..
make sure you are connected to the internet, then try
sudo apt update and enter then when that's done
sudo apt install bcmwl-kernel-source and enter then when that has done
sudo modprobe wl and enter now hen that's finished
RE-boot

I did sudo apt update && sudo apt install bcmwl-kernel-source, but not the mod probe and reboot. Back to the saltiness and try again. Thanks a lot for your patience with a newbie!

 

[hvold]

And with sudo mod probe wl I get wl not found in directory /lib/modules/5.17.5-7689.......

 

[Brickwizard]

 

[Brickwizard]

@kc1di
he has tried everything I can think of, that normally works on Debian/Ubuntu based distro's, do you have any further ideas?

 

[hvold]

It could look like the driver bcmwl----- is out of sync with the kernel, in which case I will use the laptop tethered to my network switch with an RJE45 and hope that things will improve in the near future.
I am certainly not going to buy a wifi repeater and wire the laptop to that one

Thx a bnch

 

[hvold]

@kc1di
Just to complete this tale of misery, I also tried out the sequence in the page Broadcom Ubuntu/Mint.
No Joy.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

I believe the Broadcom drivers are not supported beyond Kernel 5.8 as of yet you most likely need to downgrade your kernel to the 5.4 series or revert back to 20.04 with the 5.4 series as @kc1di suggests