MacBook Bluetooth and Wi-Fi stopped working after an update

Ask Fedora
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1

After I first installed Fedora, out of the box the Wi-Fi was working. I just had to download the broadcom drivers for the Bluetooth to start working.

But today, after the update via the software centre, both stopped working. If it’s of any help, I update quite often. So the last time was a couple of days ago.
I found this mini-guide, but it didn’t fix it.

What can I try to fix it?

2

If it’s working for older kernels, but not for the last one, it might be that the wireless driver modules didn’t get built for the latest kernel. A couple of minutes should be given for that process before rebooting the system or shutting down.

Can you provide the output of the following commands:

  • dnf list --installed "kernel.*"
  • dnf list --installed "kmod-wl*"
  • dnf list --installed broadcom-wl
  • inxi -Nxx.

Please format the outputs with the preformatted text (</> button).

3

Here’s the output.

░▒▓ dnf list --installed "kernel.*"
Installed packages
kernel.x86_64 6.12.6-200.fc41 updates
kernel.x86_64 6.12.7-200.fc41 <unknown>
kernel.x86_64 6.12.8-200.fc41 <unknown>
~ 
░▒▓ dnf list --installed "kmod-wl*"
Installed packages
kmod-wl-6.12.8-200.fc41.x86_64.x86_64 6.30.223.271-54.fc41 @commandline
~ 
░▒▓ dnf list --installed broadcom-wl
Installed packages
broadcom-wl.noarch 6.30.223.271-24.fc41 rpmfusion-nonfree
~ 
░▒▓ inxi -Nxx
12Network:
  12Device-1 Broadcom BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC 12vendor Apple 12driver N/A 12pcie 12speed 2.5 GT/s
    12lanes 1 12bus-ID 03:00.0 12chip-ID 14e4:43ba

And I see that BT is functional again. But there’s no Wi-Fi.

4

Did it ever work with the proprietary driver provided by package broadcom-wl? I am asking because the BCM43602 chip doesn’t seem to be covered by the proprietary package, as it is missing from the list of covered cards:

$ dnf info broadcom-wl
[...]
Available packages
Name           : broadcom-wl
Epoch          : 0
Version        : 6.30.223.271
Release        : 24.fc41
Architecture   : noarch
Download size  : 24.0 KiB
Installed size : 38.4 KiB
Source         : broadcom-wl-6.30.223.271-24.fc41.src.rpm
Repository     : rpmfusion-nonfree
Summary        : Common files for Broadcom 802.11 STA driver
URL            : https://www.broadcom.com/support/download-search?pg=Legacy+Products&pf=Legacy+Wireless&pn=&pa=&po=&dk=&pl=
License        : Redistributable, no modification permitted
Description    : This package contains the license, README.txt and configuration
               : files for the Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA Driver for WiFi, a Linux
               : device driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-,
               : BCM4321-, BCM4322-, BCM43142-, BCM43224-, BCM43225-, BCM43227-,
               : BCM43228-, BCM4331-, BCM4360 and -BCM4352- based hardware.
Vendor         : RPM Fusion

The chipset, on the other hand, should be covered by the open source driver brcmfmac, included in the kernel.

I suggest uninstalling the proprietary package broadcom-wl, then making sure the kmod-wl-6.12.8-200 package has been removed as well, reboot and check the loaded module (with lspci -k | grep -A 2 Broadcom or similar). Is WiFi working now?

2 Likes
5

Oh, wow. It did work. The Wi-Fi and BT are working again.
I’m a bit confused, but great that it’s back to normal.
I thought broadcom-wl was required for the wireless stuff to work, because before I installed it the BT wasn’t functional.

Thank you!

1 Like
6

Glad to hear it’s fixed now.

broadcom-wl only covers older models, specifically those listed above. For more recent models, Broadcom released its open source driver.