HP Pavilion 15-e043CL AMD - Wifi not working

Question

Just got a HP pavilion 15-e043CL from Costco for my kids. The laptop is supposedly preloaded/running Windows 8. I did not even try to load Windows.

I right away loaded Ubuntu 13.04 from a live CD (no harddrive installation yet). I just want to see how Ubuntu would perform before installing it. I was able to get the laptop on the network using a CAT5 cable using eth0. So the laptop can see the network/internet using a wired connection.

However, I don't seem to be able to get the Wifi to work. The Wifi button (near the F12 button/wifi antenna) is orange (supposedly working) but it seems that the base installation might not have the proper drivers. I'm far from being a Linux guru so please point me to the proper direction. Maybe the drivers are not available for 13.04? Should I try 12.10?

Thanks T

Answer 1

Per Braiam's suggestion, I'm providing the answer to my earlier question.

After much search on the internet, I figured out that the Wifi adapter is a RealTek RTL8188EE 802.11 bgn adapter. With that information, I started to Google around to figure out if a driver/solution existed.

I ended up installing Ubuntu 12.04TLS (from ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso) on the hard drive instead of running from the DVD. Then I followed the steps from this forum that talked about the drivers for RTL8188EE device. Please read the very well documented steps.

The drivers were easy to install. The WiFi of HP Pavilion 15 - e043CD is now working. My kids are now happy!

Answer 2

@user183351's answer helped me along the correct path, but there were some pieces missing. So I am providing this complete list of instructions, assuming you are starting from a brand-new Ubuntu 12.04 LTS installation having made no other modifications. This is for kernel version 3.8.0-30-generic:

Note that in order to complete this installation, you will need to install some packages and download the driver files. In order to do this, connect the laptop to the Internet via a network cable.

---

1) Open a terminal session

CTRLALTT

2) Become root

sudo su -

3) Download the drivers for your WiFi card and save them to your hard drive. I'll assume you save the file to ~/Downloads/realtek. Yoou want the entry labeled "Linux driver for kernel 2.6.24 (and later)"

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=21&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

4) Unpack the file

root@oort:/home/john/Downloads/realtek# tar -jxvf linux_mac80211_0012.0207.2013.tar.bz2

root@oort:/home/john/Downloads/realtek# mv rtl_92ce_92se_92de_8723ae_88ee_linux_mac80211_0012.0207.2013/ driver

5) cd to the directory where you unpacked the files

cd driver

6) install needed packages

apt-get install gcc build-essential linux-headers-generic linux-headers-`uname -r`

7) Edit pci.h. Insert:

#ifndef __devinit
#define __devinit
#define __devinitdata
#endif

just before:

#include <linux/pci.h>

So that the final file looks like this between lines 30 and 38 (except for the line numbers):

 30 #ifndef __RTL_PCI_H__
 31 #define __RTL_PCI_H__
 32 
 33 #ifndef __devinit
 34 #define __devinit
 35 #define __devinitdata
 36 #endif
 37 
 38 #include <linux/pci.h>

Save the file.

8) Build & install the drivers. This will take a few minutes and should complete without error. If you get an error in the make step, make sure you have followed the direction up to this point, especially the editing of the pci.h file. That stumped me for quite a while.

make
make install

9) Reboot

shutdown -r now

10) When the machine reboots, your Wireless card should be good to go in Network Manager.

*This post was composed on my HP Laptop using the wireless card.

Answer 3

HP has knowingly put faulty Realtek RTL8188EE WiFi adapters into their products since June 2014. This is a known issue that HP refuses to address.

I spent 2 months trying to figure out the problem. I spent 5 hours on the phone with Microsoft and they couldn't fix the issue...even after remotely taking over my computer. I spent $50 on a NetGear external WiFi adapter...and it worked great. However, since my computer is less than a year old, I shouldn't have to have an external.

The problem is the internal WiFi adapter itself. It is a faulty component that people have been complaining about since 2014. I called HP's corporate office and stated that I was aware that they knew of the issue, and could provide more than 10 pages from just one thread of their HP Forum where hundreds of others, were having the same issue. I threatened them with a class action lawsuit if they didn't do something about it immediately.

They have agreed (in writing) that they will fix my laptop and replace the WiFi adapter card FREE OF CHARGE. I suggest that every one else, who is experiencing this issue, call the HP Corporate office at : 650-857-1501. Press "0" and speak to an operator. Tell them you want to speak to a US Case Manager about this ongoing issue. IF the case manager refuses to assist you, then call the Corporate office number back, press "0" and ask to speak to an "Executive Customer Relations" associate. They WILL (AND MUST) FIX THIS KNOWN ISSUE AT NO COST TO YOU!

Apparently, this is such a "hot topic" that, with what I know about this issue, I am being "silenced" on the HP forum. They don't want people to know that they can fix it by replacing the adapter with one that is NOT a Realtek component. They don't want you to know that you have RIGHTS as a consumer!