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Re: WiFi using b43 on macbookpro5,5 stopped working



Xiyue Deng <manphiz@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> I have an old macbookpro 13" mid-2009 (model macbookpro5,5) running
> Debian testing/Forky.  The WiFi using b43 had been running fine but just
> stopped working earlier today.  On boot, I found that the b43 module was
> not loaded, so I just did `modprobe b43' and it was loaded fine, but the
> WiFi was still not working, and the device did not show up (tried either
> `ifconfig -a' and `ip a' and nothing).  I then checked dmesg output and
> found the following part that seemed to be related:
>
> ,----[ dmesg output ]
> | ...
> | [    2.508852] b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
> | [    2.536758] ssb: Found chip with id 0x4322, rev 0x01 and package 0x0A
> | [    2.543446] usb usb3: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0001, bcdDevice= 6.17
> | [    2.543456] usb usb3: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
> | [    2.543460] usb usb3: Product: OHCI PCI host controller
> | [    2.543463] usb usb3: Manufacturer: Linux 6.17.13+deb14-amd64 ohci_hcd
> | [    2.543466] usb usb3: SerialNumber: 0000:00:04.0
> | [    2.544063] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
> | [    2.544342] hub 3-0:1.0: 7 ports detected
> | [    2.545087] ohci-pci 0000:00:06.0: OHCI PCI host controller
> | [    2.545096] ohci-pci 0000:00:06.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
> | [    2.545136] ohci-pci 0000:00:06.0: irq 22, io mem 0xd3487000
> | [    2.573835] ssb: WARNING: Using fallback SPROM failed (err -2)
> | [    2.573888] b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: Failed to register PCI version of SSB with error -2
> | [    2.574080] b43-pci-bridge 0000:03:00.0: probe with driver b43-pci-bridge failed with error -2
> | ...
> `----
>
> Below is the `Network' section of the output of inxi:
>
> ,----[ Network section of inxi output ]
> | ...
> | Network:
> |   Device-1: NVIDIA MCP79 Ethernet driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: 21e0 bus-ID: 00:0a.0
> |     chip-ID: 10de:0ab0 class-ID: 0200
> |   IF: enp0s10 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:26:b0:e4:ae:de
> |   IP v4: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/24 type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
> |   [...IP v6 info...]
> |   Device-2: Broadcom BCM4322 802.11bgn Wireless Network driver: N/A modules: ssb pcie: gen: 1
> |     speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4322 class-ID: 0280
> |   Info: services: NetworkManager, sshd, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
> |   WAN IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
> | ...
> `----
>
> I notice that the `driver' part is N/A, which I think is related to the
> errors in dmesg.  Cannot figure out how to load it.
>
> In fact, this is the second time this happened.  Last time I got stuck
> too so I just reinstalled Forky and it started working again.  I want to
> try to understand and fix it this time, and any idea/hint is
> appreciated.  Also let me know if more info is needed.
>
> Thanks in advance!

After some extensive searching and all commands suggested failed, I
finally found the fix which is quite simple and all who used mid-2009
MacBook Pro would remember: reset the SMC, PROM/NVROM, etc.  You turn
off the laptop, and press "shift + control + option + power button" to
reset SMC; then turn it on and immediately press "option + command + p +
r", the laptop will immediately reboot again.  After these sequences,
the wireless started working again.

A possible explanation is that the wireless card could enter a faulty
state (e.g. power loss, sleep failure, etc.) and stopped responding to
SPROM requests.  Resetting SMC/PROM/NVROM will reset its state.

-- 
Regards,
Xiyue Deng

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