b43 driver conflicts with bcmwl driver for some Broadcom devices

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
https://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/2013236

I think this affects all images - this happened to me on Ubuntu MATE too.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

kernel log entries in attached syslog don't show any PCI devices which match the modaliases for the most recent bcmwl package (which is superseded now by broadcom-sta but has the same modaliases list).

Did you find bcmwl was installed on this hardware in previous releases?

Marking this for broadcom-sta and linux-firmware.

If the restricted driver should be used but isn't, that's a broadcom-sta bug.

If the in-kernel b43 driver should be used, then it's a linux-firmware bug given the log entries about firmware loading.

> Note - on 20.04.6, 22.04.2 and 22.10 with the same laptop bcmwl
> was installed correctly during the install so this is a
> regression with the 6.2 kernel

The bcmwl driver SHOULD NOT have been installed on this hardware in either 22.04 or 22.10, because the bcmwl package has no Modaliases matching your hardware.

Please provide a log when booting with one of these OSes to show what is actually happening. It is almost certainly using a different driver than bcmwl.

attached are the syslog and partman from the recent 20.04.6 install

Hardware drivers says Broadcom BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/ using the Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver from bcmwl-kernel-source

Ok I'm sorry, this was a mistake on my part - I misread the PCI IDs in the original log, or otherwise failed to line them up with what I was seeing in modaliases. 14e4:4331 is indeed listed for bcmwl in all series < lunar, and for broadcom-sta in lunar.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

(which makes this an ubuntu-drivers-common question)

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Copying across relevant comment from previously-duped and now re-duped bug:

Booted from an Ubuntu Desktop Legacy ISO, and ran "ubuntu-drivers devices" and "ubuntu-drivers list" to get more info.

ubuntu-drivers devices:

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.3/0000:24:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000014E4d00004359sv0000103Csd0000182Cbc02sc80i00
vendor : Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
model : BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n (BCM943228HM4L 802.11a/b/g/n 2x2 Wi-Fi Adapter)
driver : broadcom-sta-dkms - distro non-free

ubuntu-drivers list

broadcom-sta-dkms, (kernel modules provided by broadcom-sta-dkms)

(Note that I typed these across since the live env didn't have Internet access, if I messed something up I'll go get an Ethernet cable and try again with termbin.)

Can someone test what 'ubuntu-drivers install' does in the lunar live environment?

ubuntu-drivers install just returns "All the available drivers are already installed"

Looking at Additional Drivers it does however offer "Using dkms source for the Broadcom STA Wireless driver from broadcom-sta-dkms

I can enable that successfully from the live session but wireless networks are not available in network manager

No errors displayed when enabling from software-properties-gtk via the terminal

Note - in 20.04.6 enabling via the software properties dialog does enable correctly with wireless networks in network manager

I was also able to recreate this today using the ubuntu-desktop-legacy-amd64 image with serial 20230403. I neglected to check the 'ubuntu-drivers install' in the live environment but will run through the process again.

bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ ubuntu-drivers devices
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.4/0000:05:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000014E4d000043B1sv00001043sd000085BAbc02sc80i00
vendor : Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
model : BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
driver : broadcom-sta-dkms - distro non-free

bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ ubuntu-drivers list
broadcom-sta-dkms, (kernel modules provided by broadcom-sta-dkms)
bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ apt-cache policy broadcom-sta-dkms
broadcom-sta-dkms:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 6.30.223.271-23ubuntu1
  Version table:
     6.30.223.271-23ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar/restricted amd64 Packages
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lunar/restricted i386 Packages

In a live session 'ubuntu-drivers install' indicates that "All the available drivers are already installed". Additionally, the bcma kernel module is loaded and used by my broadcom device. However, no wireless device is currently available and the "Additional Drivers" section of software-properties-gtk is somewhat confusing because the two radio buttons say "Using dkms..." and "Do not use device" but "Do not use device" is selected. (I wouldn't expect the words "Using" if it isn't being used.)

Using software-properties-gtk to install the additional drivers did not end up allowing the wireless device to be available.

> I can enable that successfully from the live session but
> wireless networks are not available in network manager

This is expected if SecureBoot is enabled on your system.

Re secureboot

In my case my macbook air was not secure boot enabled but with the same no wireless observation

are you sure the dkms module is still needed with the v6.2 kernel?

After installing with the new desktop installer, rebooting, manually installing broadcom-sta-dkms, and rebooting again no wireless adapter was available.

Additionally, running 'ubuntu-drivers install' (before installing broadcom-sta-dkms) indicated that all drivers were already installed.

I tried installing using the desktop legacy image and noticed that `ubuntu-drivers` behaves the same way - recommending broadcom-sta-dkms but then not installing it. Additionally, looking at the device I see the following (which I also recall from the new installer):

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]
 Physical Slot: 0-5
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 22
 Region 0: Memory at c9400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
 Region 2: Memory at c9200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
 Kernel modules: bcma

While the bcma module might be in use I have no wireless devices setup.

I tested this same scenario on Ubuntu 22.04.2 and while I still don't have a wireless device available I did discover the following:

bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ ubuntu-drivers list
bcmwl-kernel-source
bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ ubuntu-drivers devices
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.4/0000:05:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000014E4d000043B1sv00001043sd000085BAbc02sc80i00
vendor : Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
model : BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
driver : bcmwl-kernel-source - distro non-free
bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:~$ apt-cache policy bcmwl-kernel-source
bcmwl-kernel-source:
  Installed: 6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu10~22.04.1
  Candidate: 6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu10~22.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu10~22.04.1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu8 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/restricted amd64 Packages

1) On the firmware errors: they come from the open b43 driver, since the firmware is not installed. This is something the b43-fwcutter package can help with, if you want to use that.

2) As for the driver installation issue, I wonder if ubuntu-drivers is confused, finding both bcmwl-kernel-source (isn't this a transitional package in Lunar?) and broadcom-sta-source in the image (which, I assume, have overlapping modaliases)?

3) The actual lack of a network device sounds like the driver is not working, in which case, I would like to see the "dmesg" output.

I'm only seeing Modaliases for the broadcom-sta-dkms package (and not bcmwl-kernel-source or broadcom-sta-source) in Lunar so I don't think that's the issue.

Looking at the syslog from the installation I noticed that only 'ubuntu-drivers list-oem' is executed during the install process. That seems insufficient to me but I've never looked at this.

bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:/var/log/installer$ grep ubuntu-drivers *
syslog:2023-04-06T23:42:19.221400+00:00 ubuntu ubiquity[1381]: Trying to update apt indexes to run ubuntu-drivers against fresh data.
syslog:2023-04-06T23:43:11.131250+00:00 ubuntu ubiquity[1381]: ubuntu-drivers list-oem finished with no available packages. Maybe we need to apt update? Doing that and trying again.
syslog:2023-04-06T23:45:27.452124+00:00 ubuntu plugininstall.py: log-output -t ubiquity chroot /target /usr/share/python3/runtime.d/ubuntu-drivers-common.rtupdate pre-rtupdate python3.11 python3.11
syslog:2023-04-06T23:45:29.631178+00:00 ubuntu plugininstall.py: log-output -t ubiquity chroot /target /usr/share/python3/runtime.d/ubuntu-drivers-common.rtupdate rtupdate python3.11 python3.11
syslog:2023-04-06T23:45:30.167739+00:00 ubuntu plugininstall.py: log-output -t ubiquity chroot /target /usr/share/python3/runtime.d/ubuntu-drivers-common.rtupdate post-rtupdate python3.11 python3.11

Oh, the built in kernel module bcma.ko matches the PCI device of the wireless card I'm using:

bdmurray@bdmurray-Standard-PC-Q35-ICH9-2009:/var/log/installer$ modinfo bcma
filename: /lib/modules/6.2.0-19-generic/kernel/drivers/bcma/bcma.ko
license: GPL
description: Broadcom's specific AMBA driver
srcversion: 749A31694E59B438A98CF86
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000A8DCsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000A8DBsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004727sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d000043B1sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d000043AAsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d000043A9sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d000043A0sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004365sv0000103Csd0000804Abc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004365sv0000105Bsd0000E092bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004365sv00001028sd00000018bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004365sv00001028sd00000016bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004360sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004359sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004358sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004357sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004353sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004331sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d0000A8D8sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00004313sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000014E4d00000576sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
retpoline: Y
intree: Y
name: bcma

I think this is why 'ubuntu-drivers install' doesn't do anything.

As I was watching the host system (which is also running Lunar) reboot I noticed the following in dmesg:

 $ sudo dmesg | grep b43
[sudo] password for bdmurray:
[ 18.921934] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4352 WLAN found (core revision 42)
[ 18.922272] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 12, Type 11 (AC), Revision 1)
[ 18.922277] b43: probe of bcma0:1 failed with error -95

If the device is unsupported is there a way for the kernel module to get unloaded?

With the broadcom-sta-dkms package installed, can you blacklist bcma, reboot, and see if wireless shows up?

@Brian: by default, the b43 driver won't override the bcma driver (unless you force it to, of course).

As for ubuntu-drivers, it does things correctly, meaning that it lists the compatible proprietary driver (broadcom-sta-dkms), without recommending its installation (over the open driver).

The "Additional Drivers" interface (software-properties-gtk) lies - even here on my 2011 Macbook Air (with a BCM43224 wifi card, which I am using though the bcma driver - showing the Broadcom device, and saying that the "device is not working", and having "Do not use the device" selected. This is very confusing, although not specific to Ubuntu 23.04.

To answer Paolo - the wireless device did show up and appeared to be usable if I blacklisted bcma on the kernel commandline. Trying to use 'blacklist bcma' in modprobe.d/ did not work.

Steve had suggested that if the b43 driver is unusable, like an unsupported PHY, that the module should not be loaded / used anymore. I don't know how feasible that is though.

@Brian: did you update the initramfs after blacklisting the module?

sudo update-initramfs -u

@Alberto - oh yeah, updating the initramfs prevented it from being loaded without the command line arguments.

In Ubuntu we recommend to only install broadcom-sta-dkms.
It ships modprobe.d snippet that does prevent automatic loading of b43 driver.

# cat /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-dkms.conf
# wl module from Broadcom conflicts with the following modules:
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist b44
blacklist bcma
blacklist brcm80211
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist ssb

broadcom-sta-source doesn't do anything but does reocmmend module-assistant, if one uses that it probably is best to switch to the dkms package. Separately broadcom-sta-common is provided that could be installed together with boradcom-sta-source to also gain the blacklist modprobe.d. Not quite sure what is the point there, maybe we can make broadcom-sta-source depends on broadcom-sta-common, or simply remove it.

My expectation was that this is all solved already back in lunar =/

Shall I ship modprobe.d snippet in more places? and have initramfs hook to ensure initramfs is regenerated with updated modprobe.d? What's wrong with the gui that seems to not show things correctly?

I got it working on a 2015 MacBook Air 7.2
From a 23.04 fresh installation it didin't work neither with a 22.04 fresh installation. I tried all the tricks I found over internet and nothing worked.
I then had first to install an old Ubuntu 20.04 and block the version of the following packages bcmwl-kernel-source linux-headers-5-10.0.84 linux-headers-5-10.0.84-generic linux-modules-5-10.0.84-generic. Now I have a fresh 23.04 version with Wifi on a Broadcom BCM 4360 14e4:43a0.
It seems defintely to be a bug since it worked perfectly out-of-the-box with other distros such as Fedora or Arch.

I tested this today with "Ubuntu Legacy 23.10 "Mantic Minotaur" - Daily amd64 (20230927)" and discovered the b43 driver still does not work with my wireless adapter as I saw the following in dmesg:

 $ sudo dmesg | grep b43
[sudo] password for bdmurray:
[ 18.921934] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4352 WLAN found (core revision 42)
[ 18.922272] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 12, Type 11 (AC), Revision 1)
[ 18.922277] b43: probe of bcma0:1 failed with error -95

However, using software-properties-gtk to install the proprietary driver (broadcom-sta-dkms) worked and the b43 driver was blacklisted and I was able to connect to a wireless network.

On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 11:16:52PM -0000, Brian Murray wrote:
> However, using software-properties-gtk to install the proprietary driver
> (broadcom-sta-dkms) worked and the b43 driver was blacklisted and I was
> able to connect to a wireless network.

Does this mean the driver was not offered to you automatically through
ubuntu-drivers-common?

On Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 12:34:34AM -0000, Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 11:16:52PM -0000, Brian Murray wrote:
> > However, using software-properties-gtk to install the proprietary driver
> > (broadcom-sta-dkms) worked and the b43 driver was blacklisted and I was
> > able to connect to a wireless network.
>
> Does this mean the driver was not offered to you automatically through
> ubuntu-drivers-common?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by automatically. The b43 was driver
was the in use after installing and rebooting. `ubuntu-drivers list`
does show broadcom-sta-dkms as an option however, running
`ubuntu-drivers install` indicates that "All the available drivers are
already installed".

--
Brian Murray

I think the fix is https://github.com/tseliot/ubuntu-drivers-common/pull/90/files

"Let's get ubuntu-drivers-common uploaded ASAP so that we can test the fix from a daily build well before release" he said with his release team hat on.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-drivers-common - 1:0.9.7.6

---------------
ubuntu-drivers-common (1:0.9.7.6) mantic; urgency=medium

  [ Dimitri John Ledkov ]
  * Add broadcom-sta-dkms to allowlist. (LP: #2013236)
    In Lunar it was identified that both bcmwl and broadcom-sta-dkms are
    identical and maintained in the archive twice. They were merged,
    taking the Debian name as the new default one. However, allowlist was
    forgotten to be updated in ubuntu-drivers to actually offer default
    install of broadcom-sta-dkms.

 -- Alberto Milone <email address hidden> Fri, 29 Sep 2023 15:19:31 +0000

This did not seem to fix the issue entirely see bug 2037894 for details.