Anyone help a Linux noob with ubuntu wireless networking?

[WelshBloke]

I've just put together a scrap computer out of left overs. Its got XP on it and I decided to try Ubuntu.

I've tried Ubuntu before and it was ok but not great but that was awhile ago.

Anyway the windows installer is great (Wubi), really easy to understand and clearly laid out.

My main trouble is getting wireless networking working, wired networking is not an option where I have the computer set up.

I've poked about a bit and it looks like a driver is loaded but I'm getting a disconnected message under the wireless networks icon and its not picking any available networks up.

If I type nm-tool in terminal I get

type: 802.11 wifi
driver:b43
state:disconnected
default:no
and the MAC address of my adaptor

lspci tells me its a broadcom corp bcm4306 802.11b/g wireless LAN controller.

This is all pretty much gibberish to me though. :\

I know its not a hardware problem as it works fine if I boot into windows.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[WelshBloke]

rfkill list gives:

soft blocked: no
hard blocked: no

Flying blind with google as my copilot here.

 

[ManyBeers]

rfkill list gives:

soft blocked: no
hard blocked: no

Flying blind with google as my copilot here.

Try here

 

[lxskllr]

Try using the Windows driver with ndiswrapper. I don't remember if that's on the CD or not. You may have to sneakernet it, along with any dependencies.

 

[WelshBloke]

Try using the Windows driver with ndiswrapper. I don't remember if that's on the CD or not. You may have to sneakernet it, along with any dependencies.

I have no idea how to install drivers in Ubuntu, I'm gonna guess that right clicking a windows .exe driver install file isnt going to work.:\

Is there any way to check if the driver is already loaded?

 

[WelshBloke]

Is 'FATAL: Module wl not found' relevant?

I'm thinking the FATAL bit isn't good.

 

[lxskllr]

You need ndiswrapper, and ndisgtk(graphical front end) installed on Ubuntu. Try the CD, Make sure the CD is checked off as a source in Synaptic. You need to extract the Windows driver .exe. I'd do it in Windows using 7Zip. Put that mess into a folder, and copy it over to your Ubuntu desktop. You really only need the .inf file, but I copy everything, Launch ndisgtk(shown as Windows Wireless Drivers in System-Administration from the Gnome panel), and feel your way from there. I don't remember the exact buttons to push, but it should be fairly obvious. The idea is you want to point ndisgtk to the .inf file you copied.

 

[WelshBloke]

You need ndiswrapper, and ndisgtk(graphical front end) installed on Ubuntu. Try the CD, Make sure the CD is checked off as a source in Synaptic. You need to extract the Windows driver .exe. I'd do it in Windows using 7Zip. Put that mess into a folder, and copy it over to your Ubuntu desktop. You really only need the .inf file, but I copy everything, Launch ndisgtk(shown as Windows Wireless Drivers in System-Administration from the Gnome panel), and feel your way from there. I don't remember the exact buttons to push, but it should be fairly obvious. The idea is you want to point ndisgtk to the .inf file you copied.

I don't have an installation cd, i used the window installer.

Is there any way to just download the things you suggested (ndiswrapper, and ndisgtk) in windows, put then on a usbdrive and then install them in Ubuntu?

 

[Cynicist]

You need the firmware installed. Hit ALT+F2, type gnome-terminal in the box that comes up, hit enter, and then in the terminal window that comes up type the following command.

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

 

[WelshBloke]

You need the firmware installed. Hit ALT+F2, type gnome-terminal in the box that comes up, hit enter, and then in the terminal window that comes up type the following command.

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

E: couldn't find package firmware-b43-installer


Cheers though

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have an installation cd, i used the window installer.

Is there any way to just download the things you suggested (ndiswrapper, and ndisgtk) in windows, put then on a usbdrive and then install them in Ubuntu?

Yea, you can do that. I don't remember how many dependencies there are, but I don't think it's too bad. You may have to do some running back and forth if it comes up with dependencies you're lacking. Going from memory, just double click the .deb file you find online, and pick an option that looks like install when prompted. You may error out with missing dependencies. Write those down, download them, and install those. You may get more unmet dependencies, so do the same thing again. Rinse, repeat until everything goes through :^D It can be a PITA, but you'll get it all eventually.

 

[WelshBloke]

Yea, you can do that. I don't remember how many dependencies there are, but I don't think it's too bad. You may have to do some running back and forth if it comes up with dependencies you're lacking. Going from memory, just double click the .deb file you find online, and pick an option that looks like install when prompted. You may error out with missing dependencies. Write those down, download them, and install those. You may get more unmet dependencies, so do the same thing again. Rinse, repeat until everything goes through :^D It can be a PITA, but you'll get it all eventually.

I think I'll just download the installation CD. :|


Cheers mate.

 

[Cynicist]

Most likely you don't have the repo enabled. Here just download this deb.

To enable all the repositories go to System > Admin > Administration > Software Sources, and make sure every check box besides source code is checked and then hit close. You will be asked to reload your package database.

 

[WelshBloke]

Most likely you don't have the repo enabled. Here just download this deb.

Error: dependency is not satisfiable: b43-fwcutter (>=1:12)

To enable all the repositories go to System > Admin > Administration > Software Sources, and make sure every check box besides source code is checked and then hit close. You will be asked to reload your package database.

No wireless network=no internet=no online repositories.

 

[Nothinman]

Error: dependency is not satisfiable: b43-fwcutter (>=1:12)



No wireless network=no internet=no online repositories.

It would probably be a lot simpler and quicker to just move the thing to a spot where you can plug in the Ethernet and get the wireless working.

 

[WelshBloke]

It would probably be a lot simpler and quicker to just move the thing to a spot where you can plug in the Ethernet and get the wireless working.

No it wouldn't.

Its not in a case, its in bits all over my desk, for a start.


Edit: my main PC is in the same room though, I tried and failed to get ICS going though.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

No it wouldn't.

Its not in a case, its in bits all over my desk, for a start.


Edit: my main PC is in the same room though, I tried and failed to get ICS going though.

I'm done for the night and should go to bed but since you are a fellow countryman i'll help you out.

What you want is to intall the proprietary drivers, it should autodiscover them, if it doesn't, install the b43-fwcutter drivers via synaptics, aptitude or apt-get, which ever you prefer (it's actually on the CD, you don't need to download it, for once they thought something through at Canonical)

After that it should be as easy as a reboot and the discovery service should find your network for you.

 

[WelshBloke]

Cheers all, I wont get time to try all this now, I've got a few night shifts to get through first.

Will try on Thursday and report back.

Again, Thanks for all the help.

 

[SonnyDaze]

I had this trouble with a laptop and a broadcom wireless card. Try this site:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

Go down to the part about

b43 - No Internet access

 

[WelshBloke]

Ok, I have downloaded the x86 ubuntu torrent and burnt it only to find my installation is x64.

I've downloaded the x64 ubuntu torrent and installed ndiswrapper and ndisgtk.

I then couldn't extract the .inf from the driver in window7 it just had a load of .dll's and other guff.

So rebooted scrap computer into XP and searched for ages until I found the relevent .inf and .sys files put them on a USB stick and rebooted into Ubuntu.

Ran Windows Wireless Drivers and installed the drivers.

Wooot. :awe:

Still no network. D:

Wireless networks still showing up as disconnected with no options to do anything about it.




************RRRRRAAAAGGGGEEEEE******



:'(

 

[WelshBloke]

I had this trouble with a laptop and a broadcom wireless card. Try this site:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

Go down to the part about

I get error 'cannot open input file wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o' in step 4

 

[WelshBloke]

:\ Getting

device not ready

under network connections now so somethings happening.

 

[lxskllr]

Dumb question... Did you restart the computer? It said it may be necessary. I don't have anything to offer any more. My meager knowledge has been eclipsed. Try not to give up. It looks like a lot of people have gotten it working. It can be frustrating as hell. 56k put off my Linux use for years. Every so often I'd get a bug up my ass to try it again, and I'd spend a long weekend staying up until my eyes bled trying to get 56k to work, only to fail every time :^D Wireless is easier than winmodems though... I think :^D

 

[WelshBloke]

Dumb question... Did you restart the computer? It said it may be necessary. I don't have anything to offer any more. My meager knowledge has been eclipsed. Try not to give up. It looks like a lot of people have gotten it working. It can be frustrating as hell. 56k put off my Linux use for years. Every so often I'd get a bug up my ass to try it again, and I'd spend a long weekend staying up until my eyes bled trying to get 56k to work, only to fail every time :^D Wireless is easier than winmodems though... I think :^D

Yeah I've restarted quite a few times now.

I'm pretty much getting to the end of my tether with it now, WinXP runs well on it so I may just stick with that.

 

[monk3yboy]

This may sound dumb, but when I was first experimenting with Linux I got a similar message and I spent ages trying to find the driver when all I had to do is click (don't remember if it was left or right button) on the network icon and enable networking. Then it finally showed the available networks for me to connect to. For me it wasn't the driver, just me not knowing it wasn't enabled. Just a thought. Not sure if you already checked that part. Good luck.