[SOLVED]Trying to use WIFI on my old Macbok Pro

[Griffy]

I can see it using lspci and iwconfig. Network manager just sees my wired connection. How do I enable it so I can use it?

[j2mcgreg]

Have a look at these instructions from the Debian Wiki:
https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook/Wireless

[Charlie Brown]

When you right-click on the Network icon, are all the 3 boxes checked?

Also, you can post QSI when connected wired :)

[Griffy]

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System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-12-amd64 [6.1.52-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-12-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23_x64 Libretto July 31  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Apple product: MacBookPro5,1 v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 8 v: Mac-F42D86C8 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F42D86C8 v: Proto serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Apple
    v: MBP51.88Z.007E.B05.0905051508 date: 05/05/09
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 12.3 Wh (99.2%) condition: 12.4/50.1 Wh (24.7%) volts: 12.6 min: 10.9
    model: SMP bq20z951 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: charging cycles: 84
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core2 Duo T9600 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn level: v1 built: 2008
    process: Intel 45nm family: 6 model-id: 0x17 (23) stepping: 6 microcode: 0x60F
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB
    L2: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1592 min/max: 1596/2793 scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand
    cores: 1: 1592 2: 1592 bogomips: 11143
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled
  Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not
    affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA G96CM [GeForce 9600M GT] vendor: Apple driver: nouveau v: kernel non-free:
    series: 340.xx status: legacy (EOL) last: release: 340.108 kernel: 5.4 xorg: 1.20 arch: Tesla
    process: 40-80nm built: 2006-13 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: LVDS-1
    empty: DP-1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0647 class-ID: 0300 temp: 71.0 C
  Device-2: Apple Built-in iSight type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-4:2 chip-ID: 05ac:8507
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1440x900 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 381x238mm (15.00x9.37") s-diag: 449mm (17.69")
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: Apple 0x9c84 built: 2008 res: 1440x900 hz: 60 dpi: 111 gamma: 1.2
    size: 331x207mm (13.03x8.15") diag: 390mm (15.4") ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1440x900 min: 640x350
  API: OpenGL v: 3.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: NV96 direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP79 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:08.0
    chip-ID: 10de:0ac0 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-12-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP79 Ethernet driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: 41e0 bus-ID: 00:0a.0
    chip-ID: 10de:0ab0 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme driver: wl
    v: kernel modules: ssb pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:432b
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: dormant mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Apple Bluetooth Host Controller type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 4-1.1:3
    chip-ID: 05ac:8213 class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: N/A rfk-block: hardware: no
    software: yes address: <filter>
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:5 sco-mtu: 64:1 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 111.79 GiB used: 10.23 GiB (9.2%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 840 EVO 120GB size: 111.79 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: AB0Q
    scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 111.79 GiB size: 109.47 GiB (97.93%) used: 10.23 GiB (9.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 512 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 74.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 71.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2082 libs: 1055 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 216 Uptime: 1h 23m wakeups: 3 Memory: 3.8 GiB used: 1.85 GiB (48.8%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12 Client: shell wrapper
  v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

[Griffy]

Network assistant has ethernet and wlan checked. Advance networking config just shows eth0. Does the broadcom driver need to be installed? I was able to make it work in antix using conman, but it's not as easy here.

[rokytnji.1]

Not Mac proficient

Might start out with

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rfkill list

To make sure things are not turned off.

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sudo dmesg | grep firmware 

wont hurt to post that either in this thread.

Relevant info

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Network:
  Device-1: NVIDIA MCP79 Ethernet driver: forcedeth v: kernel port: 41e0 bus-ID: 00:0a.0
    chip-ID: 10de:0ab0 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme driver: wl
    v: kernel modules: ssb pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:432b
    class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: dormant mac: <filter>

Good luck.

[Charlie Brown]

At least we know that the correct driver ( wl ) is loaded. Just state: dormant

It's also "partially" supported by b43 driver.

Just, one of them needs to stay blacklisted to prevent conflicts. You can use the MX Network Assistant to do/check that

[Charlie Brown]

Yes, rfkill will be good to see.

[Charlie Brown]

... Does the broadcom driver need to be installed?..

Already installed ootb (hence wl is loaded), even the same version with AHS.


If nothing works (and then if you like) we can try ConnMan cause sometimes the culprit is just the NM and that solves the issue.

(In case you try it by yourself: You need to remove NM after the installation as they'll conflict)

[Griffy]

$ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no