Re: Report on bookworm alpha 2 installer: wl wifi driver not found

[raph <debian@marvie.eu>]

Cyril Brulebois writes:

> Hi,
>
> raph <debian@marvie.eu> (2023-02-26):
>> Cyril Brulebois writes:
>> > Are you sure that was about the driver (kernel module) rather than
>> > about firmware?
>>
>> H,, look this is beyond my current knowledge to answer.
>
> Thanks for the logs, that seems to be a *module* issue rather than a
> firmware issue, and your subject (about wl) seems absolutely on point.
>
> The relevant part of the installer's syslog is:
>
>     Feb 26 08:50:50 kernel: [   28.095391] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4360 WLAN found (core revision 42)
>     Feb 26 08:50:50 kernel: [   28.095805] b43-phy0 ERROR: FOUND UNSUPPORTED PHY (Analog 12, Type 11 (AC), Revision 1)
>     Feb 26 08:50:50 kernel: [   28.095810] b43: probe of bcma0:1 failed with error -95
>     Feb 26 08:50:50 kernel: [   28.095839] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNLS ]
>
> after a few lines about bcma-pci-bridge.
>
> So your board is definitely detected, there's a module that tries to do
> something with it, but fails…
>
>> A few month ago, I tried to move this machine to testing. But like with
>> a previous debian install, when moving to testing the network stopped
>> working. I do not know if this is important / related or not.
>>
>> Tell me I can do anything else to help.
>>
>> This machine is ok with buster, but I can back it up and try a complete
>> install when/if needed to contribute.
>
> All files are super useful. The installer logs (meaning bookworm kernel)
> are about bcma/b43. Those don't appear in your list of buster modules,
> which contains “wl” instead. A quick search on bcma and wl suggests that
> they might fight each other, at least in some kernel versions:
>   https://askubuntu.com/questions/592191/error-during-startup-b43-phy0-unsupported-phy
>
> Checking the contents of current nic-wireless-modules udebs, we do ship
> bcma.ko, but not wl.ko, so that's not about a competition between both
> modules (at least in the installer context).
>
> Now, looking at kernel sources, I'm not seeing any broadcom-wl driver in
> mainline. Did you install a specific module on your buster system to get
> wireless up and running?
>
> I'm seeing a broadcom-sta source package that builds broadcom-sta-dkms
> and broadcom-sta-source, I suppose that's what you might be using on
> buster, after a successful wired install, maybe? At least your board
> (4360) is listed in its description.
>
>
> It's a binary-only driver so that's not something we include in the
> installer, and if the above analysis is correct, I'm not sure we can do
> anything about it. :(
>
>
> Cheers,

Thank you for all these explanations :)

Since I got this second hand machine, I have always used a usb/ethernet
adaptor before installing wifi using non-free. I think the last
installation was performed using a debian buster gnome live iso.

One of my source of information at one point was :

    https://wiki.debian.org/wl

If the information is interesting to you, I can re-install buster to see
how I get the driver. I can also try to install bookworm using ethernet
first, and then wifi, if it can provide you useful information.

Any way, my attempt at bookworm DI was mostly to test the installer with
the machines at home and provide feedback. So it is ok for me to stay on
buster on this machine.

Thanks again to you all and take care,

Cheers,


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