Broadcom brcm 4356 Wifi card not working

[Martin Weck]

Hi,
I have got a Lenovo L460 with Broadcom brcm4356 Wifi Adapter that I don't get working on Qubes.
To isolate the problem, I have first installed a debian-9 directly on the machine and got this after some problems working (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-wireless-networking-41/debian-broadcom-bcm4356-802-11ac-wireless-not-working-4175644801/)

Steps to reproduce:
- Have Qubes 3.2.1 (also tried Qubes 4.0.1-rc2 without success)
- Create NetVM debian-9 based with device:
-- 00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation l219-LM (rev21)
-- 03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Limited BCM4356 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev02)
(cable based Ethernet works on qube without flaws)
- install firmware-brcm80211_20180825+dfsg-1_all.deb and add brcmfmac4356-pcie.txt
- Unload kernel module sudo modprobe -f brcmfmac
- Load kernel module sudo modprobe brcmfmac
- sudo dmesg | less
[ 3.476763] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[ 3.532479] e1000e 0000:00:00.6 eth0: (PCI Express:2.5GT/s:Width x1) c8:5b:76:5c:5a:06
[ 3.532497] e1000e 0000:00:00.6 eth0: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
[ 3.532587] e1000e 0000:00:00.6 eth0: MAC: 12, PHY: 12, PBA No: FFFFFF-0FF
[ 3.535156] brcmfmac 0000:00:01.0: Xen PCI mapped GSI18 to IRQ28
[ 3.537736] brcmfmac: brcmf_chip_recognition: SB chip is not supported
[ 3.537749] brcmfmac: brcmf_pcie_probe: failed 14e4:43ec
[ 3.539846] e1000e 0000:00:00.6 enp0s0f6: renamed from eth0

- user@debian-net:/lib64$ sudo lspci -k
00:00.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I219-LM (rev 21)
Subsystem: Lenovo Ethernet Connection I219-LM
Kernel driver in use: e1000e
Kernel modules: e1000e
00:01.0 Network controller: Broadcom Limited BCM4356 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo BCM4356 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
Kernel modules: brcmfmac

user@debian-net:/lib64$ sudo ifconfig
enp0s0f6: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.45.172 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.45.255
inet6 fe80::eacd:816d:b465:e28a prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether c8:5b:76:5c:5a:06 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 29359 bytes 35630763 (33.9 MiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 17109 bytes 1910984 (1.8 MiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
device interrupt 26 memory 0xe1600000-e1620000

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 8 bytes 380 (380.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 8 bytes 380 (380.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

=> if I install on the same machine debian-9 directly the wifi works
=> if I use qubes debian-9 NetVM I get "SB chip is not supported" even though device is attached to VM
=> Has anyone an idea/suggestion what I could do to get rid of the "SB chip is not supported"? I assumed I had the wrong firmware, but why can I use the exact same *deb package on the same machine successfully if I install debian directly on the same machine without qubes?

P.S.: I have also tried to create a HVM with debian-9 installer:
- if I install debian on the HVM the X Window gets messed up => black screen => need to switch on/off the machine
- if I use live DVD on HVM => I can install package until reboot, run the modprobe brcmfmac command without error in dmesg, but the Wifi Adapter is not shown in the Network Manager

Thanks for any help!

[Martin Weck]

regarding the HVM approach, I have noticed that the whole device is missing, although I have added it to the VM:
user@debian:~$ sudo lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev 02)
Subsystem: Red Hat, Inc Qemu virtual machine
00:01.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II]
Subsystem: Red Hat, Inc Qemu virtual machine
00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
Subsystem: XenSource, Inc. 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
Kernel modules: ata_piix, ata_generic
00:01.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 USB [Natoma/Triton II] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Red Hat, Inc QEMU Virtual Machine
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
Kernel modules: uhci_hcd
00:01.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 01)
Subsystem: Red Hat, Inc Qemu virtual machine
Kernel modules: i2c_piix4
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Device 1234:1111
Subsystem: XenSource, Inc. Device 0001
Kernel modules: bochs_drm
00:03.0 Unassigned class [ff80]: XenSource, Inc. Xen Platform Device (rev 01)
Subsystem: XenSource, Inc. Xen Platform Device
Kernel driver in use: xen-platform-pci
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I219-LM (rev 21)

[unman]

That driver is quite buggy, and broadcom linux support is woeful.
Try the driver from testing - search packages.debian.org, and look under
testing for the latest version. It should install ok.

[Martin Weck]

Thanks unman for your reply!
I have
* switched the VM's kernel to debian 4.9.0-8-amd64
* installed firmware-brcm80211_20180825+dfsg-1_all.deb
* use exactly the same hardware
=> however, the debian in the NetVM is giving me a "SB chip is not supported", although I don't see any difference to installing hard on the same machine debian 4.9.0-8-amd64 with the same firmware & hardware which works.

However, it works with fedora. I have used before fedora-26 (old qubes), where I did not get the brcm4356 running. Now, with fedora-28 executing

sudo dnf install linux-firmware

it works! So for me this issue is done, even though I don't understand why it is not possible with debian in qubes.