UNRESOLVED - Macbook pro 5,5 zorin 15.3 lite wifi driver

Hardware Support
1

i have zorin 15.3 lite on this macbook pro

i just wanna connect to wifi

ive tried a lot of guides with no luck

tried:

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

sudo modprobe -r b43

sudo modprobe b43

still no wifi

here's my lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)

00:00.1 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.0 ISA bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b3)

00:03.1 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.2 SMBus: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)

00:03.3 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.4 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.5 Co-processor: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)

00:04.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)

00:04.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)

00:06.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)

00:06.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)

00:08.0 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)

00:09.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)

00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Ethernet (rev b1)

00:0b.0 SATA controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 AHCI Controller (rev b1)

00:10.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:15.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:16.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation C79 [GeForce 9400M] (rev b1)

04:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): LSI Corporation FW643 [TrueFire] PCIe 1394b Controller (rev 07)

i know there is no wireless adapter showing but i also know it works because right before i wiped the HDD it worked on macos

anyone wanna give me some commands to try and report back outputs? teach me something?

2

OK, to fix this, were going to probably need you to connect to your home router via ETHERNET cable, until we can get the WIFI adapter sorted out ok?

Once you have connected an ethernet cable, its likely you will probably need to restart your Macbook, unless its able to resolve the net connection automatically after plugging in.

Now go to your additional drivers tab, do you see something that look like this?

image
image733×490 60.1 KB

This was taken from the net because I don't own a Macbook.

You should see your WIFI adapter in there, see where it says Broadcom? Do you see anything like that? If so, please select it. Wait for it to download and install. Once completed, you can remove the cable and restart the computer, and see if you have WIFI.

I am guessing this issue is going to be more involved. And if it is, replugin the ethernet cable, restart, again unless it auto detects. Then run this command in terminal...

CTRL ALT T to enter terminal

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

sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma
sudo modprobe wl

Then once completed, once again, unplug the ethernet cable, restart the computer, hopefully you have WIFI connection now.

  StarTreker

yoda
Your Tech Support Guru

1 Like
3

the device is not listed in the linux software and updates graphical user interface

as far as these:
sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma
sudo modprobe wl

both had no output

i restarted and have no wifi

thanks for your time, wondering what else i could do?

4

What is the terminal output of

lshw -c network

1 Like
5

WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP79 Ethernet
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
logical name: enp0s10
version: b1
serial: 00:26:4a:17:70:26
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 latency=0 link=no maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII
resources: irq:29 memory:d3486000-d3486fff ioport:21e0(size=8) memory:d3489000-d34890ff memory:d3489300-d348930f
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.

6

Wifi is definitely not showing up... Not even as Network Unclaimed.

What is the make and model of the adapter for Wifi?

1 Like
7

every mac ever made has a broadcom chipset. here is my exact computer

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.53-aluminum-13-mid-2009-sd-firewire-800-unibody-specs.html?fbclid=IwAR0wMQNx-adHoyuL34Os8IdVukh2vh5nI3Ir1jgR4qvEOyQvT0xmEnJ4NI4#macspecs3

as per my OG post - there IS a wifi adapter - it worked right before i wiped macOS off of the machine

1 Like
8

When I was running Hackintosh I bought Broadcom BCM4360 to mimic Mac Pro 5,1. It's one of Broadcom network cards for sure.

@ch4mez
What is the output of
lspci

1 Like
9

please refer to my OG post for output of lspci, and thank you for your time

1 Like
10

Sorry, I missed that.
You already put lspci result.

The only thing I can suggest is to try another Linux distro in live USB mode.

@Aravisian
do you think it is something to do with that kernel regression in 5.11?

1 Like
11

i just got a wifi adapter working on debian 10 for an extremely close model (2009 iMac)
but the commands did not work the same for the MBP so i am trying zorin before just accepting debian buster

12

What were the commands?

Insufficient data.:stuck_out_tongue:

13

Actually if you are going for the Debian based distro, MXLinux is way easier than pure Debian.

2 Likes
14

This points to a kernel issue.

15

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

cd /sbin

sudo ./modprobe -r b43 ; sudo ./modprobe b43

16

What was the output of this?

17

let me run it again, that is what worked on my iMac, havent ran it in zorin on MBP yet. i did run it in debian 10 on MBP tho and it did not work

18

In that case, let's abbreviate it:

sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

sudo modprobe -r b43

sudo modprobe b43

19

Yes, I think Debian is on kernel 4.19

20

So as MXLinux.
Hence my recommendation.