[SOLVED] Broadcom Wireless 1704 802.11n Not Working

Andrew A · **Joined:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:45 pm **Posts:** 57

What are some steps I can take to start trying to figure out why my Wi Fi stopped working? One minute it was working, the next I couldn't see any wifi networks to connect to. I didn't restart my computer or anything between when it was last working and when it stopped working. I attached my hard_info report. I already tried running the driving manager, which shows the same screen that I saw before i had the problem (screen shot attached).

Not sure if this could be related, but I did upgrade my kernel with:

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-4.2.0-19 linux-headers-4.2.0-19-generic linux-image-4.2.0-19-generic linux-image-extra-4.2.0-19-generic linux-firmware

After running that, my wifi worked fine for most of the day.

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:39 pm

What happens when you boot into an older kernel? When you boot, go into Advanced options and you can choose the older kernel there.

Andrew A · **Joined:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:45 pm **Posts:** 57

Same thing.

Andrew A · **Joined:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:45 pm **Posts:** 57

Now I booted into uberstudent from a USB and ran the Driver Manager. At first it showed the same screen (see previously attached screen shot)

I selected the driver and applied the changes. Then the screen reverted back to its original state, as if I had not selected the driver and applied the changes. Still can't get wi fi after now. Then I plugged back into a wired connection, ran the Driver Manager again, and now it does not even display the recommended driver as an option. "no proprietary drivers are in use," with no options to do anything. Is something physically wrong with my computer? What did I do to deserve this!? :shock:

Andrew A · **Joined:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:45 pm **Posts:** 57

Now the driver decided to show up in Driver Manager, perhaps with a useful message of "This device is not working"

It appeared to apply the changes, but still no wifi.

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2016 1:34 am

Ah! It looks like it's a known bug with the driver for your wireless card but it has been fixed and the package put into Ubuntu's trusty-proposed repository. I've added the fixed and updated package from there to the uberstudent.net repository so people don't have to wait on Ubuntu processes to get it. Please run these two lines in a terminal, reboot into the latest kernel you have installed, and let me know if this fixes the issue.

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

Andrew A · **Joined:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:45 pm **Posts:** 57

It worked! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So that means it was related to the kernel upgrade?

Stephen Ewen · **Posted:** Sat Jan 30, 2016 7:36 am

Great! Glad the issue is solved! Thanks very much for alerting me to the matter and working with me through steps to fix it.

Literally every other UberStudent user from here out with your hardware would also thank you, but they won't because they'll never experience the issue at all; so, just accept my own thanks on their behalf. :mrgreen:

In Linux, drivers integrate into the kernel. The issue was related to how the older version of the Broadcom driver failed to completely integrate into the newer kernel. The driver version I put into the uberstudent.net repository integrates into the kernel as it should, so the issue is now fixed. :geek:

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[SOLVED] Broadcom Wireless 1704 802.11n Not Working

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