2

I did a fresh install via USB of Ubuntu 16.04 on my 2014 model Dell Vostro 2520 laptop.
Everything went well except there's no network. It doesn't even show the WiFi options in the network.

enter image description here

How do I diagnose ?

anjanesh@anjanesh-Vostro-2520:~$ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for anjanesh: 
  *-network UNCLAIMED     
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f7c00000-f7c07fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: enp9s0
       version: 07
       serial: e0:db:55:aa:12:84
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168e-3_0.0.4 03/27/12 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:17 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f0004000-f0004fff memory:f0000000-f0003fff
anjanesh
  • 623
  • Try according to the tips at this link and the link from it if you find Broadcom wifi hardware. – sudodus Jan 26 '19 at 11:33
  • If you need an internet connection to install a new driver (or other software), please consider a wired connection (an ethernet cable to your router before you have wifi working). – sudodus Jan 26 '19 at 11:35
  • 1
    Not sure if it is going to help in your case, but I found that on a different Dell laptop neither WiFi nor Ethernet was detected by Ubuntu 16.04. On Ubuntu 18.04 both works. – kasperd Jan 26 '19 at 15:49
  • Yes :-) You have Broadcom hardware for wifi, and I suggest that you try according to my first comment (and its link). – sudodus Jan 26 '19 at 17:40
  • 1
    @kasperd : I installed 18.10 and all works. Thanks. – anjanesh Jan 27 '19 at 04:14
  • 1
    @anjanesh Just keep in mind that 18.10 is not an LTS release. So you'll have to upgrade to 19.04 once it's released as well as 19.10 and 20.04. That's why I tried 18.04 first. 18.04 is an LTS release so I can keep running that version until 20.04 is out and even further if I want to. – kasperd Jan 27 '19 at 09:39
  • @kasperd: I got boot error when trying to install Ubuntu 18.04 via USB, hence I downloaded 18.10. It could've been a corrupt file or something else. – anjanesh Jan 28 '19 at 11:05
  • @anjanesh If Ubuntu 18.10 fixes a significant problem for you then it is of course worthwhile with the extra upgrade cycles. – kasperd Jan 28 '19 at 12:01
  • @kasperd I have the latest LAMP stack on 18.10 - I don't think I would upgrade Ubuntu to a newer version on this laptop any more as the hardware is of 2011 (It came with Ubuntu 12.04 pre-installed). – anjanesh Jan 28 '19 at 15:37

1 Answers1

0

A lot of Dells used broadcom wireless cards. I'm not sure about your model. But you should be able to find out by typing inxi -Nn in a terminal. If it is broadcom then you'll need to add the correct driver depending upon the chipset used. See here for more info: Broadcom

Ok can you get a Ethernet (hard) connection? If so install bcmwl-kernel-source if you can not get it on line you can still install it from the live usb stick you used to install with by going to pool>main>g>glibc Install glibc-dev-bin fist (use gdebi) Then install libc6-dev after those are install go to pool>restricted>b and install bcmwl-kernel-source. good luck. after that wifi should work.

kc1di
  • 382