Fedora Newbie - can’t connect WiFi

Richard

Hi. I’ve installed Fedora 31 on a MacBook and it is working fine - the only problem is that I can’t connect it to WiFi. It is a MacBook 4,1 (from 2008) and it has a Broadcom BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n wireless card installed (the default for this MacBook)

I have followed the instructions here and the wireless networks show up but when I try to join one it doesn’t work. It eventually times out with the error “connection failed activation of network connection failed”

The Ethernet connection is fine. Any ideas?

Thanks

Worztron

Hi Richard. Sorry, I'm not sure how to remedy this. I'd say give https://www.linuxquestions.org a shot also.

L.Jenkins

Have a look at the following guide. https://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?239922-HOWTO-Use-Broadcom-Wireless-Cards-in-Fedora-14-15-16


I had a similar issue. My machine ran Windows 10 prior to a full wipe and install of Fedora 31. The wireless couldn't see or connect to any networks. My card, for this example, is realtek.


So I found the best fix was to find the exact driver software I needed on github, clone it, build it and then reboot. It fixed the issue. If I had any problems there after, all I had to do was uninstall and reinstall the driver. Problems solved.


So you can check out the guide above, or check if there is a release you can download and build to see if the problem is resolved.

Richard

Thanks very much for the replies. I got it working in the end - the issue was installing the driver for Broadcom card that came with that MacBook.

Worztron

Richard wrote: »

Thanks very much for the replies. I got it working in the end - the issue was installing the driver for Broadcom card that came with that MacBook.

Hi Richard, good to hear.

L.Jenkins

Richard wrote: »

Thanks very much for the replies. I got it working in the end - the issue was installing the driver for Broadcom card that came with that MacBook.

Out of curiosity, how did you resolve the issue? Might be useful information for someone else.