How to install Broadcom bcm43602 Drivers on Ubuntu Linux

linux-ubuntu-install-wifi-drivers

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt update
sudo update-pciids
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
sudo reboot #note that this will restart your computer
sudo iwconfig wlp3s0 txpower 10dBm
#sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 10dBm

Thank you very much 🥹

Thank you sir!
Just installed Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS on my MacBook Pro 2016 13 inch and WiFi was not working.
I followed your steps as follows and WiFi now works:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt update
sudo update-pciids
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
sudo reboot #note that this will restart your computer
sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 10dBm

FYI, the network controller is:
Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 02)

Works great except I have to enter the last line every time I reboot. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

I am sorry I do not understand this reply. My wifi works in Ubuntu 22.04 but it will not work after a reboot. I have to paste
sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 10dBm
in a terminal on each reboot. Is there a remedy for this?
I do not see a file "wlp2so" in my files, and I would not know where to drag and drop it to even if I did see one.
Sorry If this is a silly question but I am lost.
Thanks

@satellite73 same for me -- I have to run the command sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 10dBm after each reboot.
I have not yet found a solution.

@jonpontet I am going to try this
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/root-command-startup.html
to see if it will automatically run the command on reboot, which does not really address the problem, but will save some time

@jonpontet the above worked for me. In step #4 and #8 you must replace "xed" by "gedit" . I replaced "5" by "10" in step #5. Hope it works for you.

I got the same procedure to work for Kali Linux 2023.3 on a late 2013 MBP. The only difference is the adapter designation in Kali is simply wlan0. However, the procedure is solid and worked on the first attempt. Thanks for posting this!

Thanks, this worked great!

How can this step possibly work?

- sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

The installer goes and tries to download this file:
https://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-6.30.163.46.tar.bz2

Which is impossible if you don't already have wifi connection to begin with...

(Sorry I haven't checked this email in a while) I agree, it is difficult if you don't have another means of connecting. I personally had to use my phone's ultra-slow hotspot (not very hot lol) over bluetooth in order to get anything from any repository. Just running "sudo apt update" took nearly an hour haha. But eventually I was able to download the driver and got it working. I realize not everyone has hotspot service on their phone. Fortunately, my current carrier does support it (at a very slow speed) for no additional charge. I hope you are able to find a way to get the download and get your wifi working!

…

On Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 7:41 PM DannoXYZ ***@***.***> wrote: ***@***.**** commented on this gist. ------------------------------ How can this step possibly work? *- sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer* The installer goes and tries to download this file: https://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-6.30.163.46.tar.bz2 Which is impossible if you don't already have wifi connection to begin with... — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <https://gist.github.com/torresashjian/e97d954c7f1554b6a017f07d69a66374#gistcomment-5446361> or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AXJOLHTQWQGC6W4R4MZEI5L2QUXDTBFKMF2HI4TJMJ2XIZLTSKBKK5TBNR2WLJDUOJ2WLJDOMFWWLO3UNBZGKYLEL5YGC4TUNFRWS4DBNZ2F6YLDORUXM2LUPGBKK5TBNR2WLJDHNFZXJJDOMFWWLK3UNBZGKYLEL52HS4DFVRZXKYTKMVRXIX3UPFYGLK2HNFZXIQ3PNVWWK3TUUZ2G64DJMNZZDAVEOR4XAZNEM5UXG5FFOZQWY5LFVEYTAOJUG43DMNZUU52HE2LHM5SXFJTDOJSWC5DF> . You are receiving this email because you commented on the thread. Triage notifications on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1477376905?ct=notification-email&mt=8&pt=524675> or Android <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.android&referrer=utm_campaign%3Dnotification-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgithub> .

@satellite73 same for me -- I have to run the command sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 txpower 10dBm after each reboot. I have not yet found a solution.

This worked for me:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/set-wifi-power.service
Enter the following:

[Unit]
Description=Set Wi-Fi transmit power
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/sbin/iwconfig wlp3s0 txpower 10dBm
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Now enable the service:
sudo systemctl enable set-wifi-power.service

reboot

I had the problem on my old i7 MacBook Pro 2016 (MacBookPro13,3), running Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS. The Macbook did have WiFi, could detect access points, etc., but simply wouldn't accept the password and would refuse to connect, asking me for the password over and over again.

So I set out to fix it and found this post. I'll give my experiences.

I took the exact following steps in a shell, as per the recommendations:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt update
sudo update-pciids
sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
sudo reboot

After reboot, typed:

sudo iwconfig wlp3s0 txpower 10dBm

Connected, and it worked, my password was accepted and I had the internet connection working fine.

Then I did what phpmaven did, because I wanted this to be permanent (but using vi, I'm a vi-man ;)):

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/set-wifi-power.service

Entered following:

[Unit]
Description=Set Wi-Fi transmit power
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/sbin/iwconfig wlp3s0 txpower 10dBm
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enabled the service:

sudo systemctl enable set-wifi-power.service

Rebooted.

And now my WiFi fully works.

However, after doing all that, I got to think a bit more. I think that the problem was not the firmware at all, because my system could scan the WiFi access points even before installing the b43 driver. It might have simply been that the WiFi was in some low-power or simply some unsupported power TX mode, which caused timeouts or drops on the communication with the access point (I saw some messages about timeouts in the system journal). Even though my laptop is only 1 meter away from the access point.

To test my theory, I went back to an older install from before I installed the b43 driver and only typed this into a shell:

sudo iwconfig wlp3s0 txpower 10dBm

And then I could connect fine as well.

So most probably, it's not even necessary to install the b43 driver. Which means that I actually only had to do what phpmaven did.

I checked by typing just iwconfig, and saw that the TX-Power is set to 31dBm by default. Setting the TX-Power to 10dBm is probably the only thing necessary.

Be aware that I was doing this on Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS. For other versions it could still be necessary to install the b43 drivers. If setting the TX Power doesn't fix your problem, you should probably only then try installing the b43 driver.

Cheers!