Drivers – How to Install bcmwl-kernel-source with dpkg

If you wouldn't solve your problem in another way, you can always install it from the source, which is described in second point.

1. How I installed my BCM4360 on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial. We have the same card vendor, so just to make sure you haven't omitted any step.
2. The last resort aka building from source.

Ad. 1

sudo -i
apt update
apt upgrade
apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
reboot

sudo -i
apt update
apt-get install build-essential    # Just to make sure if it's installed
update-pciids
apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
reboot

# If it's still not working type:
# modprobe wl

After that I had list of available WiFi networks in network menu at top bar, but I had to check something like "All users can connect with this network" in Modify connections in the same drop-down menu. (I think it's much more safe to use two separate steps purge & install rather than install --reinstall).

Ad. 2

If everything else would fail, you could always install the driver from source. Pretty good explanation is given here http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt

Frankly, I've never done it before, because I've never had to and probably you also won't.

Better check that against this README, but the installation process should start like that:

sudo -i
apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic
#
# I'm not sure with this following line:
# apt-get build-dep linux-generic
#
mkdir hybrid_wl
cd hybrid_wl
[ `uname -m` == 'x86_64' ] && FILE='hybrid-v35_64-nodebug-pcoem-6_30_223_271.tar.gz' || FILE='hybrid-v35-nodebug-pcoem-6_30_223_271.tar.gz'
wget http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/$FILE
tar -zxf $FILE
make clean
make
make install

The next steps depends on whether you're already using wl module, but in README they suggest checking

/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/wireless

and on my computer I've found it in

/lib/modules/`uname -r`/updates/dkms/wl.ko

Better check it with:

sudo find / -name wl.ko

Looking at Broadcom official support site, it seems that version 6.30.223.271 downloaded above is the most up to date (compare it with 6.30.223.248 availabale in Xenial or even Yakkety repos).

Canonical updated HWE stack for Ubuntu 16.04 to the 4.15 kernel. But they forgot to update the Broadcom wireless driver, so it can be built. It is a critical and a very stupid bug, that will cause trouble for many people using the LTS.

Now the issue is being fixed and a compatible driver version has been built

This issue can be solved by installing a compatible version of bcmwl-kernel-source that should build on the 4.15 kernels.

Download http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu1~1.3_amd64.deb

and install it using dkpg.

This can be done by

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu1~1.3_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu1~1.3_amd64.deb

Windows is not related at all.

The problem is that you have a kernel that is not compatible with the driver.

Important: If you don't have any other network connection but the Broadcom Wi-Fi, you can boot with a previous kernel using grub menu and install the driver. It should build for all kernels.