Wi-Fi on Macbook Air 6.2 working well with Zorin 17 but not 17.1

General Help
1

Hi,

When I installed Zorin 17 Pro on my Macbook the Wi-Fi worked better than ever (I've always had poor reception with macOS), but that changed with the upgrade to 17.1 Is there anything I can do?

lspci -k | grep -A 3 -i "network"
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
	Kernel driver in use: wl
	Kernel modules: bcma, wl
04:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SS9183 PCIe SSD Controller (rev 14)

Thanks a lot!

Mathieu

2

Another Broadcom device :frowning:
You may wish to search the forum for "broadcom wifi" and see if any are solved. Also can do wider websearch "broadcom wifi Ubuntu 22.04"
I did some searching for another user yesterday and found little in way of solutions except Secure Boot needs to be OFF. I don't know if that is same on Mac.
Also if wifi was OK on Z17, maybe it is a kernel issue. Try an older kernel from grub menu item "Additional Options for Zorin". Latest 6.8 kernel seems to be problematic for some.

3

I posted a response on a similar issue. But try this and let us know the outcome:

How to get broadcom wifi driver on mac back using dkms after upgrade in ubuntu

Based on the provided information, here’s a step-by-step guide to reinstall the Broadcom WiFi driver using DKMS after an Ubuntu upgrade:

  1. Identify your Broadcom WiFi adapter:
  • Run sudo lshw -class network to list your network interfaces. Note the product name and vendor of your WiFi adapter (e.g., BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter, Broadcom Corporation).
  1. Uninstall any existing Broadcom WiFi drivers:
  • If you have previously installed a Broadcom WiFi driver (e.g., broadcom-wl), uninstall it using sudo apt-get purge broadcom-wl.
  1. Install the DKMS package:
  • Run sudo apt-get install broadcom-wl-dkms to install the DKMS package for Broadcom WiFi drivers.
  1. Rebuild the DKMS module:
  • Run sudo dkms install broadcom-wl-dkms to rebuild the DKMS module for your installed kernel.
  1. Load the new module:
  • Run sudo modprobe brcmfmac to load the new module. You may need to restart your system or run sudo service network-manager restart to apply the changes.

Additional Tips:

  • Make sure you have the linux-headers package installed for your kernel version. This package is required for DKMS to build the module.
  • If you encounter issues, try blacklisting the bcma module (if using a brcm80211 driver) or uninstalling and reinstalling the broadcom-wl-dkms package.
  • For further troubleshooting, refer to the ArchWiki’s Broadcom wireless and WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx pages for more detailed information.

By following these steps, you should be able to reinstall the Broadcom WiFi driver using DKMS after an Ubuntu upgrade and regain access to your wireless network.

4

Thanks for your answers!

@zabadabadoo unfortunately changing the kernel didn't solve the problem.

@swarfendor437 I'm note sure I did it right. I got Unable to locate package broadcom-wl / Unable to locate package broadcom-wl-dkms messages :

~$ sudo lshw -class network
[sudo] password for mathieu:     
  *-network                 
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wlp3s0
       version: 03
       serial: 5c:f9:38:94:c4:9a
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.271 (r587334) ip=192.168.1.102 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:18 memory:b0600000-b0607fff memory:b0400000-b05fffff

~$ sudo apt-get purge broadcom-wl
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package broadcom-wl

~$ sudo apt-get install broadcom-wl-dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package broadcom-wl-dkms

~$ dpkg -l | grep linux-headers-$(uname -r)
ii  linux-headers-6.5.0-26-generic                         6.5.0-26.26~22.04.1                          amd64        Linux kernel headers for version 6.5.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
5

What about this?:

6

Should I really follow this? Isn't it a different problem ? My wi-fi is works, but as well as with Zorin 17...

7

I thought you posted that it stopped working after update?

8

Not exactly, sorry.
My Wi-Fi always had poor reception with macOS.
With Zorin 17, it magically worked perfectly.
With Zorin 17.1, reception is bad again.

9

Have you got an android phone at all? Download Wifi-Analyser. See if your wifi connection is overlapping with a neighbour's channel.

Just had another thought, check your IPV6 settings in Settings | Network and disable/ignore IPv6.

10

Another thought. Assuming your Router supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz , are you able to switch your Mac over from 5GHz channel to 2.4GHz channel, as the lower frequency should give better signal over longer distance.
You could also try switching the other way, to see if any difference.

A good wifi anlyser will show signal strength at your Mac location for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels. Also how many neighbours are using the same channel.

Whilst many Routers automatically seek "best channel" for signal as default, it may be possible to set the Router to a channel that is less used by your neighbours.

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