Broadcom sta driver not working correctly on BCM43142 - low signal recieved

[MCarmen Jimenez Campos]

1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu

mcarmen@matri:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
Release: 14.04

2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy pkgname' or by checking in Software Center

mcarmen@matri:~$ apt-cache policy bcmwl-kernel-source
bcmwl-kernel-source:
  Installed: 6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/restricted amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) What you expected to happen
4) What happened instead

I have just installed Ubuntu on my laptop with a BCM43142 card. I have install the recommended driver for this card, the bcmwl-kernel-source, however it is not working properly. It detects the different wifi networks available but the signal is really low. With my other devices, phone, tablet and in windows 8.1 I don't have this issue, and I can easily connect to them.

Because signal is so low, it is constantly connecting and disconnecting.

mcarmen@matri:~$ lspci -vvnn | grep -A 9 Network
08:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4365] (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:2230]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
 Region 0: Memory at b5500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: wl

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: bcmwl-kernel-source 6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-43.72-generic 3.13.11.11
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-43-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Dec 27 09:00:39 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-12-23 (3 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140722.2)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: bcmwl
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Andre Bogus (bogusandre)]

Also affects Lubuntu Utopic Unicorn (and incidentially all other distros with a >=3.16 kernel I've tried). There is a patch on the arch linux wiki that seems to solve the problem (At least all long downloads I started last night have finished successfully). Here is the link to the arch linux bug tracker: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/broadcom-wl/

And here is the link to the patch: http://pastebin.com/pATazP6K

The solution involves the following steps:

* copying the patch to /usr/src/bcmwl-$(version)/patches/0020-null-pointer-crash.patch
* adding the patch into the /usr/src/bcmwl-$(version)/dkms.conf file (there are other patches referenced, just add it after the last one
* running "dkms build bcmwl-$(version) $(uname -r)" (this should re-install the module)
* rebooting the system

[Andre Bogus (bogusandre)]

I have added a bug with a description of the patch at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bcmwl/+bug/1415880

[MCarmen Jimenez Campos (matrimc)]

Hi Andre,

I have tried the patch but it is not working for me. When I tried what you describe in the bug, when I try the last step I get the next error:

mcarmen@matri:~$ sudo /usr/lib/dkms/common.postinst bcmwl 6.30.223.248+bdcom /usr/share/bcmwl $(uname -r)
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.13.0-44-generic
Building for architecture 3.13.0-44-generic
This package appears to be a binaries-only package
 you will not be able to build against kernel 3.13.0-44-generic
 since the package source was not provided

So I have tried uninstall the module using dkms:
1) sudo dkms uninstall -m bcmwl -v 6.30.223.141+bdcom -k $(uname -r)
2) sudo dkms remove -m bcmwl -v 6.30.223.141+bdcom -k $(uname -r)
3) sudo dkms build -m bcmwl -v 6.30.223.141+bdcom -k $(uname -r)
4) sudo dkms install -m bcmwl -v 6.30.223.141+bdcom -k $(uname -r)

But also doing that, the problem is still there. The signal is so low and it keep disconnecting ...

Thanks for your reply :)