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[Ratae]

Well hello people, I'm back for some more advice/help with a problem.

So, a pal (Steve) has been given an old laptop by his grandaughter who sensibly wiped the drive before giving it to him. Steve has never owned a computer of any description, his puter ignorance is compounded by him unfortunately being dyslexic. 

Anyway, he's given it to me, and asked if I can sort it out for him and make it as simple to use as possible, 'cos he only wants to us it for 'facebook'..'Googling' etc and booking his holidays.

I decided that I'd stick linux mint 14 on it, which means that he wouldn't have to mess about or worry about security programs.

The lappy is a Dell XPS M1530.... It originally ran Windoze Vista.

So, after changing the 'boot' options in the BIOS, I ran my Mint 14 disc and installed it on the drive. No problems, installation ran on rails.

I set about tweaking things. Connected via ethernet to my w/less router and ran 'update manager'.....updated ok.


But, I'm damned if I can get the wi-fi to work. It doesn't see any w/less networks which makes me suppose that a codec is missing.

On my Acer when I ran update manager it found the codec and installed it, obviously didn't work on this old Dell.

I'd rather keep Linux on it for Steve, 'cos I have a feeling that if I put Windoze on it, he'll knacker it up toot sweet! 

As always, any and all advice appreciated.

[Blackeagle]

What does the output of lspci say ?

[broadstairs]

Well assuming your network manager does see a wireless adapter first off I would suggest you disable any firewall and if running SeLinux as both of these are perfectly capable of stopping wireless connectivity. Looking at the specs for the laptop I would expect any current Linux distro to find and use your wifi adapter. One last thought most laptops have either a button of key combination which turns off wifi - I suppose it is turned on?

Stuart

[Ratae]

Well assuming your network manager does see a wireless adapter first off I would suggest you disable any firewall and if running SeLinux as both of these are perfectly capable of stopping wireless connectivity. Looking at the specs for the laptop I would expect any current Linux distro to find and use your wifi adapter. One last thought most laptops have either a button of key combination which turns off wifi - I suppose it is turned on?

Stuart

No Stuart, there is no firewall running and this laptop has a small w/less switch on the side, which is turned to 'On'

[Ratae]

What does the output of lspci say ?

Errr, excuse my ignorance, but what is an lspci ? 

[Blackeagle]

Oh, sorry 

Open a terminal window (usually on linux ctrl+alt+t) or open one from the menu, type in lspci (that's a lower case L at the beginning) and hit enter.  It'll return some information on what is connected to the PCI bus eg for my desktop

Code: [Select]

blackeagle@diamond:/$ lspci
00:00.0 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SMBus (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.3 Co-processor: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Co-Processor (rev a2)
00:01.4 RAM memory: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a1)
00:04.0 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a1)
00:04.1 USB controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a1)
00:06.0 IDE interface: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] IDE (rev a1)
00:07.0 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition Audio (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 SATA controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] AHCI Controller (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP77 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:12.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:13.0 PCI bridge: NVIDIA Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge (rev a1)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
01:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
01:09.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G92 [GeForce 9800 GT] (rev a2)
blackeagle@diamond:/$

If the wireless adaptor shows up in the list then we are some way to diagnosing the issue.

********** EDIT **********

A bit of googling reveals that laptop to have a Dell 1395 wireless adaptor which is in fact broadcom based.  Broadcom provide a linux driver which can be found here.  Further information can also be found on the ubuntu forums.

[Ratae]

Ah!..thanks Beagle, I always learn something new when I come to this Linux forum. I'll give that a go later on.

[Ratae]

Ok fellas, I ran that lspci command and it shows that ...Network Controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03) is installed.

[Blackeagle]

The most likely cause of it being identified but not working is the lack of the Broadcom firmware.

You said you put Mint 14 on it, which is, AFAIK, compatible with Ubuntu.  Therefore putting

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
in a terminal window will install that firmware.

Typing

Code: [Select]

iwconfig
after the command has completed should show the status of the wireless.

[Ratae]

   OMG....you little beauties, we've only gone and cracked it innit!

Yep, thanks to that info about the lspci command, I found the adaptor. Then on a hunch, I opened the package manager and typed 'Broadcom' in search.

Up popped a package for Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source. I installed that and when I returned and opened the network manager, the w/less tab found every network between here and Timbuckthree. (ok...I exaggerated) ..but you catch my drift.

So, thanks again for the help fellas, always can rely on this place to get the job done.

Way to go guys.  :clap2:

[Ratae]

Sorry Beagle, our posts crossed. As you can see, I stumbled my way to success.

[Blackeagle]

Excellent news    Glad it's all working for you 

[burakkucat]

And a "happy dance" from me.