will not load firmware on 20.04

[Bill Gibson]

tryimg to update firmware the following happens.

-network
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM43217 802.11b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0
       resources: irq:37 memory:f7500000-f7507fff

PCI-ID
Supported?
Chip ID
Modes
PHY version
Alternative

14e4:43a9
yes (3.17+)
BCM43217
b/g/n
N (r17)

bill@bill-computer:~$ sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
[sudo] password for bill:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 4155 (apt-get)
N: Be aware that removing the lock file is not a solution and may break your system.
E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), is another process using it?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: firmware-b43-installer (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-29.33-generic 5.4.30
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-29-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue May 12 14:17:28 2020
SourcePackage: b43-fwcutter
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thanks for reporting.

Based on the error message, this doesn't seem to be directly caused by firmware-b43-installer. It looks like there's a different apt-get process currently running, perhaps installing other packages in a different terminal? Could you check if all other apt-get processes are finished and if you still get the same error?

Normally it is only possible to run one apt-get process at the time, though it should remove the lock once finished. If a lock is still "left behind" that might be a bug in apt.

[Bill Gibson (wagibson290454)]

The problem seems to have sorted itself. I got the same message when I tried again from a fresh boot to ensure nothing else was loading. On rebooting the firmware had been installed, and the wifi controller now works.

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Ok, good :) Thanks for checking.

I must admit I am not sure what caused the lock in the first place, though it may have been a check for updates running in the backgorund. I believe this sometimes happens right after booting, so if it became ok after waiting a while that might have been it. In any case, since the issue seems to have been resolved, I've taken the liberty of closing this issue.

If it should happen again, please leave a comment and we'll reopen it. If the error message lists a process as in the first example " It is held by process 4155 (apt-get)", please run `ps -ef | grep 4155` (replace the number with the process id given). That way, we can take a look at what is happening.