BCM4322 (14e4:432b) with b43 on Ubuntu 26.04: scans networks but authentication always times out after kernel upgrade
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1567914/bcm4322-14e4432b-with-b43-on-ubuntu-26-04-scans-networks-but-authentication
BCM4322 (14e4:432b) with b43 on Ubuntu 26.04 scans WiFi networks, but authentication always times out.
System
- Computer: Mac Pro 5,1
- [wireless WiFi card: Broadcom BCM4322]
- PCI ID: 14e4:432b
- Ubuntu: 26.04 LTS
- Current kernel tested: 7.0.0-22-generic
- Previous kernel tested: 6.17.0-35-generic
- Driver: b43
- Firmware: 784.2 (2012-08-15)
Hardware is detected correctly:
lspci -nn | grep -i broadcom
0d:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:432b] (rev 01)
Firmware packages installed:
dpkg -l | grep -E 'b43|bcmwl|broadcom|firmware-b43'
ii b43-fwcutter
ii firmware-b43-installer
ii linux-firmware-broadcom-wireless
My WiFi adapter worked correctly in Ubuntu before.
After a system update, WiFi stopped working.
I previously managed to recover functionality with help from another AI assistant (DeepSeek), but after a later Ubuntu update to 26.04 the problem returned.
Ethernet works perfectly.
Other devices connect to the same router without problems:
- MacBook
- Linux laptops
- Android phones
- iPhones
Therefore the router itself appears to be working normally.
Symptoms
The adapter:
- Detects nearby networks correctly.
- Shows strong signal levels.
- Loads firmware correctly.
- Creates wlan0 correctly.
Example:
nmcli device wifi list
Shows all nearby networks including my own network.
However, any connection attempt fails.
NetworkManager typically reports:
Activation: (wifi) association took too long
ssid-not-found
After a failed attempt, network scanning often becomes unstable and WiFi networks disappear until NetworkManager is restarted.
Restarting NetworkManager restores network visibility.
Router
Router: Totalplay ISP router.
SSID:
Totalplay-2.4G-bc38
Interesting observation:
The same SSID appears advertised through multiple BSSIDs:
64:9D:F3:1D:BC:38 Totalplay-2.4G-bc38
64:9D:F3:1D:BC:41 Totalplay-2.4G-bc38
64:9D:F3:1D:BC:40 Totalplay-5G-bc38
I disabled and reconfigured WiFi multiple times, including router factory reset.
The issue remains.
Driver messages
At boot:
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4322 WLAN found
Loading firmware version 784.2
At some point I observed:
b43-phy0 ERROR: Fatal DMA error
This device does not support DMA on your system.
It will now be switched to PIO.
Because of this, I currently use:
cat /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf
options b43 pio=1
Current runtime value:
cat /sys/module/b43/parameters/pio
1
Direct wpa_supplicant test
To eliminate NetworkManager from the equation I stopped NetworkManager and tested directly with wpa_supplicant.
Configuration:
network={
ssid="Totalplay-2.4G-bc38"
psk=<generated_psk>
bssid=64:9D:F3:1D:BC:38
freq_list=2412
}
This forces:
- 2.4 GHz
- channel 1
- BSSID 64:9D:F3:1D:BC:38
- WPA2-PSK
Result:
Trying to authenticate with 64:9d:f3:1d:bc:38
freq=2412 MHz
nl80211: Authentication request sent successfully
Authentication timed out
The adapter sends authentication requests but never receives a response.
The failure happens before WPA key negotiation.
Additional observations
I tested:
- Kernel 7.0.0-22-generic
- Kernel 6.17.0-35-generic
Behavior changes slightly between kernels but neither kernel successfully connects.
I also created a fresh NetworkManager profile and forced:
key-mgmt=wpa-psk
proto=rsn
pairwise=ccmp
group=ccmp
No improvement.
Question
Has anyone seen BCM4322 + b43 authentication failures like this on recent Ubuntu kernels?
Could this be:
- a known b43 regression?
- a mac80211 regression?
- a BCM4322 firmware issue?
- an incompatibility with newer Totalplay access points?
- a consequence of running the adapter in PIO mode after DMA errors?
Any suggestions for further debugging would be greatly appreciated.
