217 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
217 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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draft: true
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title: "Apple Wireless Card Issues on Debian Trixie"
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subtitle: ""
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author: Hyperling
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date: "2025-11-19T13:00:00-07:00"
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toc: true
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tags:
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- tech
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- networking
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- linux
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- wireless
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- apple
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- macbook air
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- kernel
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- broadcom
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- bcm4360
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- wl
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- dkms
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- wireless-tools
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- iwconfig
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- uname
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- modprobe
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- lsmod
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- lspci
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series:
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- sysadmin
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categories:
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- guides
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aliases:
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---
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## Disclaimer
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This article assumes that your system has had the wireless card working on Debian recently.
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I have a Macbook Air 7,2 (early 2015, i5) with a BCM4360 [14e4:43a0] and use the `wl` driver.
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```
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$ sudo apt list broadcom*
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broadcom-sta-common/stable 6.30.223.271-26 amd64
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broadcom-sta-dkms/stable,now 6.30.223.271-26 amd64 [installed]
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broadcom-sta-source/stable 6.30.223.271-26 amd64
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```
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I do not have experience with other Mac devices, the Debian wiki and forums are your best bet if this article does not apply to you.
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{{< external-link "Debian Wiki: Macbook Wireless" "https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook/Wireless" >}}
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## Introduction -- Define the Problem
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If your wireless card is no longer being recognized on a Debian device, ensure the latest version of the Linux kernal came with its headers.
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I'm not sure why this happened, but it was when the kernel version jumped from `6.12.41` to `6.12.43` that its symptoms showed up. I had already migrated from Bookworm to Trixie and thought I had went through a few kernel updates since then without issues.
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Later versions such as `6.12.48` and `6.12.57` continued to get pulled and I'd try them before having to reboot back to `6.12.41`. While booten into the newer kernel versions `/sbin/iwconfig` would show no wireless network and GNOME didn't have a Wi-Fi button listed in the Settings app nor its system menu. Then I tried this:
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```
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$ sudo modprobe wl
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modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found in directory /lib/modules/6.12.57+deb13-amd64
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$
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```
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After realizing that the wl module wasn't being loaded I thought maybe there was a packaging issue. I was confused since it said it was not found, even though I knew it was installed since it was still working if I booted to the older installed kernel versions. I saw no error when the new versions were being installed, either. And thus began my discovery...
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## Solution -- Install Headers Automagically
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Ubuntu provides the packages `linux-image-generic` and `linux headers-generic`. Debian names them slightly different.
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```
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sudo apt install linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64 --reinstall
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```
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Some sources say that Debian has no generic/meta package for the kernel and its headers. I can't find any information as to the release date of these to confirm/deny that claim.
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I'm just glad they work to now keep the headers installed automatically!
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## Still Not Working?
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If you're still having problems then it may be something else.
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Some good troubleshooting commands are below, as well as examples of when I was running them trying to troubleshoot my system.
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- `uname -a`
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- `lspci -vnn | grep -i net`
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- `/sbin/iwconfig`
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- `lsmod`
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- `modprobe`
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- `apt list`
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### Example -- Missing Kernel Headers (6.12.57)
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ uname -a
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Linux debian 6.12.57+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.57-1 (2025-11-05) x86_64 GNU/Linux
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
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03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ /sbin/iwconfig
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lo no wireless extensions.
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docker0 no wireless extensions.
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lsmod | grep wl
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ sudo modprobe wl
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modprobe: FATAL: Module wl not found in directory /lib/modules/6.12.57+deb13-amd64
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ sudo apt list broadcom*
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broadcom-sta-common/stable 6.30.223.271-26 amd64
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broadcom-sta-dkms/stable,now 6.30.223.271-26 amd64 [installed]
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broadcom-sta-source/stable 6.30.223.271-26 amd64
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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### Example -- Wireless Working Correctly (6.12.41)
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ uname -a
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Linux debian 6.12.41+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.41-1 (2025-08-12) x86_64 GNU/Linux
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
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03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ /sbin/iwconfig
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lo no wireless extensions.
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wlp3s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"Private :)"
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Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: na:na:na:na:na:na
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Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
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Power Management:off
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wg0-vpn no wireless extensions.
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docker0 no wireless extensions.
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lsmod | grep wl | sort
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cfg80211 1392640 1 wl
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wl 6459392 0
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ sudo modprobe wl
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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### Example -- Wireless Working Correctly (6.12.57)
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ uname -a
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Linux debian 6.12.57+deb13-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.57-1 (2025-11-05) x86_64 GNU/Linux
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
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03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ /sbin/iwconfig
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lo no wireless extensions.
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wlp3s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"Private :)"
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Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: na:na:na:na:na:na
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Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
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Power Management:off
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wg0-vpn no wireless extensions.
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docker0 no wireless extensions.
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ lsmod | grep wl | sort
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cfg80211 1392640 1 wl
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wl 6459392 0
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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---
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```
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[user@hostname ~]$ sudo modprobe wl
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[user@hostname ~]$
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```
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