Questions[mac-mini](ubuntu)

I am running Ubuntu on a Mac Mini 8,1. "No WiFi Adapter Found" I started on 20.04 and only upgraded to get the latest Linux firmware in the hope of getting the wifi working. I also updated the kernel version to 5.7.1 because in the hope of getting the firmware sorted for this BCM4364.

$ lspci -vvnn | grep -A 9 Network
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4364 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4464] (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4364 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [106b:07bf]
    Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
    Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort+ <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
    Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
    Region 0: Memory at 81400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
    Region 2: Memory at 81000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel modules: brcmfmac

Then I checked if it was loading, and I can see that the firmware is trying to load after the boot which may be the problem.

$ dmesg | grep brcmfmac
[    6.373544] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[    6.392893] brcmfmac 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    6.501153] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac4364-pcie for chip BCM4364/3
[    6.560328] brcmfmac 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac4364-pcie.bin failed with error -2
[    6.576825] Modules linked in: snd_seq_midi_event snd_rawmidi snd_seq snd_seq_device mei_hdcp snd_timer intel_rapl_msr intel_rapl_common x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp brcmfmac coretemp snd brcmutil hci_uart btqca cfg80211 btrtl kvm_intel btbcm applesmc(+) kvm btintel intel_cstate intel_rapl_perf joydev efi_pstore input_leds soundcore 8250_dw intel_pch_thermal bluetooth mei_me mei ecdh_generic ecc acpi_tad mac_hid sch_fq_codel parport_pc ppdev lp parport ip_tables x_tables autofs4 btrfs blake2b_generic xor raid6_pq libcrc32c hid_logitech_hidpp hid_logitech_dj hid_generic usbhid uas hid usb_storage crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul ghash_clmulni_intel i915 aesni_intel crypto_simd cryptd glue_helper i2c_algo_bit drm_kms_helper syscopyarea sysfillrect nvme sysimgblt fb_sys_fops intel_lpss_pci cec intel_lpss i2c_i801 idma64 rc_core virt_dma nvme_core tg3 drm thunderbolt video
[    6.576866]  brcmf_fweh_detach+0x19/0x70 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576871]  brcmf_detach+0x78/0x100 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576877]  brcmf_pcie_remove+0x78/0x110 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576888]  brcmf_pcie_setup+0x25/0x490 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576892]  brcmf_fw_request_done+0x71/0x100 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576914] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 158 at drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/fweh.c:309 brcmf_fweh_detach+0x60/0x70 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576915] Modules linked in: snd_seq_midi_event snd_rawmidi snd_seq snd_seq_device mei_hdcp snd_timer intel_rapl_msr intel_rapl_common x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp brcmfmac coretemp snd brcmutil hci_uart btqca cfg80211 btrtl kvm_intel btbcm applesmc(+) kvm btintel intel_cstate intel_rapl_perf joydev efi_pstore input_leds soundcore 8250_dw intel_pch_thermal bluetooth mei_me mei ecdh_generic ecc acpi_tad mac_hid sch_fq_codel parport_pc ppdev lp parport ip_tables x_tables autofs4 btrfs blake2b_generic xor raid6_pq libcrc32c hid_logitech_hidpp hid_logitech_dj hid_generic usbhid uas hid usb_storage crct10dif_pclmul crc32_pclmul ghash_clmulni_intel i915 aesni_intel crypto_simd cryptd glue_helper i2c_algo_bit drm_kms_helper syscopyarea sysfillrect nvme sysimgblt fb_sys_fops intel_lpss_pci cec intel_lpss i2c_i801 idma64 rc_core virt_dma nvme_core tg3 drm thunderbolt video
[    6.576932] RIP: 0010:brcmf_fweh_detach+0x60/0x70 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576942]  brcmf_detach+0x78/0x100 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576946]  brcmf_pcie_remove+0x78/0x110 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576954]  brcmf_pcie_setup+0x25/0x490 [brcmfmac]
[    6.576958]  brcmf_fw_request_done+0x71/0x100 [brcmfmac]

I think it has everything loaded to do the job but needs to be kick-started maybe? I tried modprobe, but it does not change anything I can see. Please don't suggest any of the old broadcom b43 drivers/fixes as none of them relate to this chip.

I have a brand new 2020 Mac mini (Intel i3 quad core chip). My install (dedicated Ubuntu NO dual boot) fails with the famous;

Executing 'grub-install /dev/nvme0n1' failed. This is a fatal error.

I have bypassed the T2 chip by booting into recovery mode and selecting "No Security" and "Allow booting from external drive". So when I turn on the Mac mini and hit the Alt key it shows me the two icons to select boot, the hard drive and the flash drive. My flash drive has the ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso that has been made into a bootable USB by the startup disk creator on my working Ubuntu 14.04 LTS laptop.

No matter what I do the install fails and the Mac mini subsequently boots into an old Grub 2.04 with limited capabilities.

I am unable to follow this good advice Install ubuntu 18.04 on mac mini 2018 as I cannot install rEFInd in that manner.

I have tried several of the Matt Gadient (legend) bootable iso versions.

I have reformatted the entire drive as gpt using gparted and basically started from scratch but cannot find any partition combination that will let the installer complete (other than forcing it to install when there is no EFI partition in which case the installer does NOT fail but obviously the Mac mini fails to boot to anything).

I have tried several manual grub-install options from these pages but the most common error then is /cow is busy and it cannot be unmounted.

When I boot up with boot-repair the program runs but it does not detect anything. From that program if I terminal and lsblk it does not even show the nvme0n1 drive.

So, any ideas how I can get the installer to work or how I can manually install a grub?

I'm a beginning Ubuntu user following this tutorial to enable fan management with mbpfan on my Mac Mini 4.1 running Ubuntu 18.04.

I had good success initially and then got to the point of trying to turn mbpfan into a system service. The first glitch I hit was that no mbpfan.service file was present on my system after installation, so I just downloaded it from GitHub, uploaded it via SFTP to my download folder, and then copied it as instructed with sudo cp mbpfan.service /etc/systemd/system/.

But here's the result when I try to execute sudo systemctl enable mbpfan.service:

Synchronizing state of mbpfan.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable mbpfan
Failed to enable unit: File mbpfan.service: Invalid argument

I'm kind of stuck at this point and would appreciate a nudge. Thank you.

= = = = = = = = =

Edit 1:

~$ systemctl status mbpfancs.service

Produced:

mbpfancs.service - mbpfan Custom Service
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mbpfancs.service; disabled; vendor preset
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2019-09-28 10:57:08 UTC; 27s ago
Process: 8521 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/mbpfan -f (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 8521 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: Starting mbpfan Custom Service...
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: mbpfancs.service: Main process exited, code=
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: mbpfancs.service: Failed with result 'exit-c
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: Failed to start mbpfan Custom Service.`

And so then

~$ journalctl -xe

Sep 28 09:10:19 macmini dbus-daemon[1048]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.hostname1'
Sep 28 09:10:19 macmini systemd[1]: Started Hostname Service.
-- Subject: Unit systemd-hostnamed.service has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit systemd-hostnamed.service has finished starting up.
-- 
-- The start-up result is RESULT.
Sep 28 09:10:19 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 09:10:19 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.host.services] Update service information
Sep 28 09:10:19 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 09:10:19 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.utils.gdbus] Call org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager.L
Sep 28 09:17:01 macmini CRON[2158]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Sep 28 09:17:01 macmini CRON[2159]: (root) CMD (   cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Sep 28 09:17:01 macmini CRON[2158]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Sep 28 09:50:53 macmini systemd-timesyncd[548]: Network configuration changed, trying to establish connection.
Sep 28 09:50:53 macmini systemd-timesyncd[548]: Synchronized to time server 91.189.89.198:123 (ntp.ubuntu.com).
Sep 28 10:17:01 macmini CRON[5657]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Sep 28 10:17:01 macmini CRON[5658]: (root) CMD (   cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly)
Sep 28 10:17:01 macmini CRON[5657]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Sep 28 10:36:59 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 10:36:59 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.updater] Fetch update data from https://version.home
Sep 28 10:36:59 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 10:36:59 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.store.git] Update add-on https://github.com/home-ass
Sep 28 10:36:59 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 10:36:59 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.store.git] Update add-on https://github.com/danimtb/
Sep 28 10:36:59 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 10:36:59 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.store.git] Update add-on https://github.com/hassio-a
Sep 28 10:37:00 macmini hassio-supervisor[9614]: 19-09-28 10:37:00 INFO (MainThread) [hassio.store] Load add-ons from store: 61 all - 0 new - 0 r
Sep 28 10:56:04 macmini sudo[8465]:    grant : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/grant ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/nano /etc/systemd/system/mbpfancs.service
Sep 28 10:56:04 macmini sudo[8465]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by grant(uid=0)
Sep 28 10:56:49 macmini sudo[8465]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini sudo[8518]:    grant : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/grant ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/systemctl start mbpfancs
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini sudo[8518]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by grant(uid=0)
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: Starting mbpfan Custom Service...
-- Subject: Unit mbpfancs.service has begun start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit mbpfancs.service has begun starting up.
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini mbpfan[8521]: mbpfan starting up
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini mbpfan[8521]: A previously created .pid file exists at: /var/run/mbpfan.pid. Aborting
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: mbpfancs.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: mbpfancs.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini systemd[1]: Failed to start mbpfan Custom Service.
-- Subject: Unit mbpfancs.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit mbpfancs.service has failed.
-- 
-- The result is RESULT.
Sep 28 10:57:08 macmini sudo[8518]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root
lines 1061-1108/1108 (END)

= = = = = = = = =

Edit 2:

~$ systemctl status mbpfancs.service
● mbpfancs.service - mbpfan Custom Service
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mbpfancs.service; enabled; vendor preset:
   Active: activating (start) since Sat 2019-09-28 12:17:54 UTC; 2h 41min ago
 Main PID: 13324 (mbpfan)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mbpfancs.service
           └─13324 /usr/sbin/mbpfan -f

Sep 28 12:17:54 macmini systemd[1]: Starting mbpfan Custom Service...
Sep 28 12:17:54 macmini mbpfan[13324]: mbpfan starting up

I installed Ubuntu 18.04 on my Mac mini (late2014) and when it boots, it goes directly into Ubuntu. However, it won't load. An error message states the following:

    failed to open \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi - not found
    failed to load image \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi: not found
    start_image() returned Not Found

I know for a fact that I haven't overwritten my partition of the Mac OS (I was very careful about this and double checked everything) but I didn't load rEFind in the Mac OS side before doing this. I have tried using the Apple commands such as option, command+r, and command+option+O+F to bring up the UEFI or other menus with no success and I keep getting returned to the screen error above. I have tried an Ubuntu live boot on USB and booting with a bootable USB containing rEFind iso and still get returned to this error screen.

I do not have a keyboard that has a USB connection port (all my stuff is Bluetooth) and I will try this tomorrow because I found somewhere that the new Mac minis don't load the Bluetooth keyboards until the kernel is loaded which may explain why I can't open the UEFI.

what I am looking for is any additional help that might solve the problem. I currently can't get into either OS or reinstall either of them. I really would like to get into using Linux, but I don't want to give up my Mac OS either. Please help!

Thanks.

My Mac mini doesn't boot without a monitor connected to it. As I've read in various forums on the internet, Mac OS X lets the Mac Mini boot without an attached monitor if SSH is turned on. Obviously, there's a setting in the EFI somewhere.

Is it possible to apply this setting in Linux as well?