2016 MacBook Pro bizarre WiFi behavior

[adamavenir]

I attempted to install arch on an old MBP and ran into some interesting challenges.

This is relevant here now because I just attempted to install the iso and had similarly strange issues.

Arch

What I did:

• station wlan0 scan -> found my networks
• station wlan0 connect <SSID> -> entered correct password -> got “Operation failed”
• same result for two different physical access points

Found:

• NetworkConfigurationEnabled was initially disabled (saw error in iwctl)
• After enabling it with NetworkConfigurationEnabled=true in /etc/iwd/main.conf, error went away, but still got “Operation failed” and status shows “disconnected”
• Also confirmed it was actually not working via pings
• Made several attempts with reboots and different incantations

Omarchy

Had similar results in Omarchy's WiFi UI:

• scan shows my networks
• enter password correctly
• fails to connect with error

But then...

I was about to reattempt it in order to document the error message for this issue, but after the couple minutes I spent writing the above, I came back to the installer (still open at network select screen) and attempted to connect and it worked (without asking my password) as it went to the next step and I'm now downloading packages!

[adamavenir]

On second attempt at install, I got this same issue.

Waiting and retrying multiple times worked again.

[adamavenir]

from arch install prompt, it shows:

[hyprhex]

When you scan shows my networks, does it list your networks?

[adamavenir]

yes!

the strangest thing is that I was able to get it to work that one time after trying to connect about 10 times.

here's journalctl -xe after exiting out of the omarchy configurator. you can see it's attempting to connect and then just getting 'connect-failed, status 16' but I'm absolutely certain I'm typing the passwords correctly each time, as I've verified letter by letter and confirmed the password is correct. (also had no such problems installing on an old Dell laptop that also needed the same passwd)

[bcorcoran]

@adamavenir Do you happen to have a 802.11ac from broadcom?

Check with lspci -vnn -d 14e4:

If you have 14e4:43a0 you can try adding brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your kernel options. This should fix the issues with connecting.

[pettersj]

For those of us who are noobs in linux, how do you do this?

(I have the following controller: Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 02))

@adamavenir Do you happen to have a 802.11ac from broadcom?

Check with lspci -vnn -d 14e4:

If you have 14e4:43a0 you can try adding brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your kernel options. This should fix the issues with connecting.

[bcorcoran]

For those of us who are noobs in linux, how do you do this?

(I have the following controller: Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 02))

@adamavenir Do you happen to have a 802.11ac from broadcom?
Check with lspci -vnn -d 14e4:
If you have 14e4:43a0 you can try adding brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your kernel options. This should fix the issues with connecting.

It depends on which bootloader you use, but if it's Limine, see https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/blob/v9.x/CONFIG.md it may also be helpful to look at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Limine

Essentially you will just add brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your list of kernel options. How exactly you do that depends on what bootloader you're using.

For example, if using systemd-boot, you will likely have a conf file located in /boot/loader/entries/ with a line that says "options". you would add that string to the end of that line.

It's also possible you will need to create a blacklist for modprobe (you can look that up for your specific wifi card) but if it's a broadcom bcm43602, this is what worked for me:

Create a file /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-wifi.conf (filename doesnt matter) and give it the following contents:

blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist bcma
blacklist brcm80211
blacklist brcmfmac
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist ssb

# this might not be necessary but won't cause any errors. 
# if you see a message about allhwsupport not existing in dmesg output, you can remove it
options b43 allhwsupport=1

It may go without saying but after either of these changes, you need to reboot.

[adamavenir]

@bcorcoran thanks a million.

@pettersj fyi working on testing a fix for this, if it works will submit a PR here.

[bcorcoran]

@bcorcoran thanks a million.

@pettersj fyi working on testing a fix for this, if it works will submit a PR here.

Let me know if you'd like to collaborate on the PR! I was going to work on one myself.

[adamavenir]

@bcorcoran Absolutely by all means, go for it! You're the one who pointed in the right direction with the Broadcom fw.

I wrote a presumptive fix in the branch linked in the issue thread, but I still haven't been able to demonstrate the fix yet.

Omarchy ISO doesn't have a pre-load (afaict?), but just the one-liner added in Arch at boot after hitting "e" didnt work for me.

I tried modifying the actual Omarchy ISO but hit some friction with not getting the EFI setup right.

[bcorcoran]

@adamavenir I'm going to try to gather up all my 2012 mbp fixes (this one amongst them) and try to make a PR for an initial macbook.sh PR. I'll tag you when I do. Likely within the next week!

[adamavenir]

@bcorcoran Awesome. Thank you for doing that!

I created draft PR #1143 in the event I can get this tested successfully when I have time next.

[brink-lab]

@adamavenir @bcorcoran

I can also help test this fix on my 2012 MacBook Pro, if you want help :)

I also raised this topic as an issue on the Omarchy iso GitHub

omacom-io/omarchy-iso#22

[bcorcoran]

@brink-lab What does lspci -vnn -d 14e4: (don't forget the colon at the end) say your wifi card is?

[brink-lab]

@bcorcoran

To clarify: I have no wifi issues, I just have to install the driver myself with sudo pacman -S broadcom-wl to enable wifi. Would be cool to have it automated as part of the installation process.

[adamavenir]

@spencern are you dual booting or is your macos drive completely wiped?

[bcorcoran]

Perhaps it was lost in a previous comment, but can you all please try the following?:

sudo pacman -S networkmanager
sudo systemctl disable iwd
sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service

The networkmanager package should contain the NetworkManager service, nmcli commandline tool and nmtui terminal app. nmtui is very straightforward to use.

I never had luck with iwd and by extensioniw.

I believe NetworkManager + kernel boot arg + broadcom-wl-dkms is the solution for us here, at least in the case of the BCM4360 cards. Something about iwd just doesn't work well with certain broadcom cards.

[spencern]

@adamavenir Wiped macos drive.

[spencern]

@bcorcoran
are you using wpa_supplicant as a backend for Networkmanager?

[bcorcoran]

@bcorcoran are you using wpa_supplicant as a backend for Networkmanager?

Yes, but it was installed via NetworkManager as a dependency. I do not have iwd installed. NetworkManager, by default, wraps wpa_supplicant as far as I understand it.

I have not configured wpa_supplicant manually but I can confirm from systemctl that the wpa_supplicant service is running.

[dantams]

Perhaps it was lost in a previous comment, but can you all please try the following?:

sudo pacman -S networkmanager
sudo systemctl disable iwd
sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager.service

The networkmanager package should contain the NetworkManager service, nmcli commandline tool and nmtui terminal app. nmtui is very straightforward to use.

I never had luck with iwd and by extensioniw.

I believe NetworkManager + kernel boot arg + broadcom-wl-dkms is the solution for us here, at least in the case of the BCM4360 cards. Something about iwd just doesn't work well with certain broadcom cards.

This resolved the issue that I had on my MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015), where it wouldn't automatically reconnect to the WiFi after a reboot. Thanks.

[iamobservable]

@adamavenir

update:
Based on testing brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 in loader is not sufficient.
Seems the broadcom-wl driver is going to be required.

There's some confounding things happening here though because Im trying this too, but this kernel option/cmd doesnt seem to persist after reboot. And I cant seem to get broadcom-wl to work yet, its possible my device id 14e4:43ba doesnt work with broadcom-wl. I feel that'll be the case for a lot of us here.

Out of curiosity, have you run sudo mkinitcpio -P after adding the modprobe options? From what I have read about limine, this update the device persistence hardware options. I'm also new to this too, so someone else here may be able to confirm or deny truth to this suggestion.

[iamobservable]

Interesting. Do you have a link?

I'm not dual booting either.

Also read a little about this and turning off SIP on the device.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/disabling-and-enabling-system-integrity-protection

This may help during your debugging as the hardware may not work correctly without it, at least that is what I've read in past posts online.

For what it is worth, my device wifi is working without the broadcom-wl package. I have yet to see my Touchbar or audio driver work fully. I've gone through configuring options for hid_appletb_bl (touchbar), hid_appletb_kbd (touchbar), hid_apple (keyboard/touchpad), brcmfmac (wifi), and snd_hda_intel (audio). I can share the /etc/modprobe.d/*.conf files I have setup if anyone wants?

Also for clarity, my MBP device designation is a 2016 model

cat /sys/class/dmi/id/product_name

MacBookPro13,2

lspci -nnv | grep "43602"

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 02)

[iamobservable]

For those of us who are noobs in linux, how do you do this?
(I have the following controller: Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 02))

@adamavenir Do you happen to have a 802.11ac from broadcom?
Check with lspci -vnn -d 14e4:
If you have 14e4:43a0 you can try adding brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your kernel options. This should fix the issues with connecting.

It depends on which bootloader you use, but if it's Limine, see https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/blob/v9.x/CONFIG.md it may also be helpful to look at https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Limine

Essentially you will just add brcmfmac.feature_disable=0x82000 to your list of kernel options. How exactly you do that depends on what bootloader you're using.

For example, if using systemd-boot, you will likely have a conf file located in /boot/loader/entries/ with a line that says "options". you would add that string to the end of that line.

It's also possible you will need to create a blacklist for modprobe (you can look that up for your specific wifi card) but if it's a broadcom bcm43602, this is what worked for me:

Create a file /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-wifi.conf (filename doesnt matter) and give it the following contents:

blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist bcma
blacklist brcm80211
blacklist brcmfmac
blacklist brcmsmac
blacklist ssb

# this might not be necessary but won't cause any errors. 
# if you see a message about allhwsupport not existing in dmesg output, you can remove it
options b43 allhwsupport=1

It may go without saying but after either of these changes, you need to reboot.

Just to verify here, is a "sudo mkinitcpio -P" also required to persist these settings into pram/etc?

[bcorcoran]

@iamobservable sudo mkinitcpio -P is necessary so that the driver (dkms variant) is built into the initramfs for booting.

[iamobservable]

@adamavenir, @bcorcoran

I've been installing a dual boot recently with my 13,2 device that required using the archinstall instead of the omarchy.iso. I've been experiencing all the issues mentioned in this thread with my broadcom device. After having stumbled around with modprobe and setting the feature_disable=0x82000, I saw @adamavenir reference to the wireless-regdb issue that @eclecticc worked on.

Fast forward and I installed iw and wireless-regdb to my device so iw is available in /usr/sbin/iw and the /etc/conf.d/wireless-regdom settings are created. I can confirm that setting "iw reg set US" fixes my broadcom device with no other changes.

Has anyone else experienced this in your testing? I was pretty surprised how direct of a fix it was after seeing the reference. 👏

Thanks to everyone involved in finding a fix!

[Opposite34]

Hi, I am helping someone who's using omarchy with BCM43602 rn. We did the kernel param and regen initramfs (this is confirmed to be set with cat /proc/cmdline) but no dice. We also tried to blacklist modules like said previously, but since broadcom-wl is not already installed that just means no wifi at all (lol), so we reverted that back.

We're going to try the wireless-regdb above (I assume register for the country residing in instead of US like said above as to not break carrier frequency law(?)). And if that doesn't work we'll try to get broadcom-wl + blacklisting other modules and try again (and then additional try wpa_supplicant if that still doesn't work).

will report back if any of these works for our case just to give more information for others!

[dhh]

Moved to discussion: https://github.com/basecamp/omarchy/discussions/4679 — this is a hardware/driver-specific issue not directly actionable by Omarchy. The original comments remain here for reference.

[adamavenir]

@dhh that discussion is gone but I was replying to you there re: this:

after the couple minutes I spent writing the above, I came back to the installer (still open at network select screen) and attempted to connect and it worked (without asking my password) as it went to the next step and I'm now downloading packages!

I had the same exact experience when I opened #1022! But I actually just gave up on my old MBP when I realized it didn't have a physical escape key.

[csvenke]

Also had this problem on my MacBookPro 14,3. It only showed 2.4 GHz wifi, almost no signal, couldnt connect with password wrong error etc

Found a fix for this on my machine by adding a broadcom NVRAM file I found and now everything works. Opened a PR for this here #7487

But its potentially problematic to vendor the NVRAM file because its Broadcom proprietary, thats why linux-firmware dont ship it. If it cant be merged because of that then you can simply add the file yourselves manually

[csvenke]

Manual steps to try if the above PR cant be merged because of the broadcom stuff

1. Download the NVRAM file:

curl -fLO https://gist.githubusercontent.com/cristianmiranda/ba9d64b4324f0803d9422d765de62252/raw/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt

2. Put your own MAC address in it (the file ships with a generic Broadcom default; using it as-is would give identical MACs to anyone else who applied this fix):

# find your wifi interface name (wlp3s0 or similar)
ip link

# substitute it into the file
sed -i "s/^macaddr=.*/macaddr=$(cat /sys/class/net/wlp3s0/address)/" brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt

(Or simply delete the macaddr= line — the firmware falls back to its built-in default.)

3. Install it:

sudo install -Dm644 brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt /usr/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt

4. Reboot

5. Verify:

nmcli device wifi list   # 5 GHz networks should now appear
iw dev wlp3s0 link       # signal and bitrate should be dramatically better