WiFi stops working with kernel newer than 6.9

[Kaonandodo]

I have a 2015 MacBook Pro 12,1 with a fresh installation using kernel 6.9. Everything works like a charm until I update the 800 outdated packages - after that WiFi doesn’t work anymore with both 6.10 and 6.11 (network is visible but won’t connect).

I tried the following:

• Checking for soft/hard blocks.
• Reinstalling linux-firmware.
• Installing broadcom-wl.
• Restarting NetworkManager.
• Disable/reenable Wifi interface.
• Disable/reenable Wifi (nmcli).
• Install dkms, broadcom-wl-dkms, and matching kernel-headers (from this post - older MBP but I found it worth trying).

ip link show says wlp3s0 is down so I tried bringing it up which doesn’t seem to do anything.

NetworkManager logs only say warn - device wlp3s0: Activation (wifi) association tool to long and failed for connection <SSID>.

dmesg | grep -i firmware says

brcmfmac: 000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcmfmac/brcmfmac43602-pcie.Apple Inc.-MacBookPro12,1.bin failed with error -2
brcmfmac: 000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcmfmac/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt failed with error -2
brcmfmac: 000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcmfmac/brcmfmac43602-pcie.clm_blob failed with error -2
brcmfmac: 000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcmfmac/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txcap.blob failed with error -2
brcmfmac: brcmf_c_preint_dcmds: Firmware BCM43602/1 wl0: Nov 10 2015 06:38:10 version 7.35.177.61 (r598657) FWID 01-ea662a8c

How do I move on from here? My head is spinning after countless re-installations and debugging attempts so I’m grateful for input.

[soundofthunder]

I suggest you revert to kernel 6.6 (LTS).

• Manjaro Kernels

An LTS kernel 6.6 should serve you well enough for some time to come. If you want to use a newer kernel regardless, kernel 6.12 (LTS) is expected to hitting the Stable branch sometime in November; you could try that when it’s ready to see if it works for you. If not, you can still revert to 6.6 (LTS).

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A little compatibility information regarding your Macbook Pro:

• 2.8 - MacBookPro12,1/11,4+ 2015

Since you asked about WiFi/Wireless, I’ll recreate that section;

The brcmfmac driver is working as of 2015-11-20, with newer firmware necessary for working 5GHz support (see here.)

Note: On the Macbook Pro 12,1 if the brcmfmac driver can not be started and the following errors occur in the journal:

brcmfmac: brcmf_chip_recognition: chip backplane type 15 is not supported brcmfmac: brcmf_pcie_probe: failed 14e4:43ba

Then check whether PCI runtime power management is enabled on the device, and disable it if so.

So, it looks like you might need to disable PCI runtime power management; the link with the should guide you through that.

I hope this is helpful.

Cheers.

[Kaonandodo]

Thanks for your reply. I didn’t see that page from the ArchWiki, I was looking for a dedicated page as the prior models have. I followed your suggestion and created pci_pm.rules with a blacklist entry for the Broadcom device. It still didn’t work however I don’t get the “chip not supported” error.

This MacBook is just a media player client, I can easily keep running 6.9 until 6.12 is released. It would be nice to have my devices in sync but there’s nothing urgent about it.

[Oldhabbits]

I have the same problem with my iMac 2016, wifi stopped working after an update to wpa-supplicant. Needed to revert latest version to the previous one, to connect my wifi using wpa2 security. Now it works but I hope we will get a new version one day that fixes it for us with a broadcom chip…

[Kaonandodo]

Updating for those who find this topic in the future: I just tested the new kernel 6.12 and it didn’t work either. So there’s something about 6.9 that makes it work that 6.6 LTS and 6.10+ don’t have.

I helped myself with an external USB WiFi adapter (TP-Link Archer AC1300 / T3U Nano using Realtek RTL8812BU chip) which works just fine.