Help with wireless? (Mint 13 MATE 32-bit)

[Slayed-Bagel]

Hello everyone! I'm new to both Linux and forums in general, so I'll keep this short.

I recently installed Mint 13 MATE 32-bit to my Dell Inspiron 1501 computer. I set it up dualbooting because I want a safety net in case Linux goes to crap by some way. (with my luck, I wouldn't be surprised)

Anyways, I installed it and all, but for some reason my wireless won't work. My wireless works on my Windows side of my computer (Windows 7 Ultimate) but not on the Linux side.

I installed the driver for it (Broadcom STA wireless driver) but now it doesn't even give me an option to use wireless. It did before I installed it, but obviously I couldn't use it because it wasn't installed. Now it is installed and the wireless option dropped off completely.

If anyone has any advice or a way to fix it, I would be very grateful.

[oz]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

I don't run any wireless devices on my Linux box so can't help with it much, but we do have the following wireless article that might help you to get started on troubleshooting the issue:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html

[Drunk_Mexican]

Not all Braodcom cards work with the Braodcom STA driver. I have one that is a 4311 card and it requires the b43 driver. That could be the same issue you have. Please post the output of

lspci

.

[Steven_G]

I have a 1501 at home that I run Ubuntu on (the base for Mint). I like using Synaptic for this kind of stuff. I'm not real familiar with Mint (though this is a problem with the underlying UB code base, not Mint itself). If Mint does not include Synaptic then you can install it from the terminal with:

sudo apt-get install aptitude

sudo apt-get install synaptic

It *should* be found in the Systems Tools menu.

Go in to Synaptic and uninstall both the Broadcom STA driver and bcmwl-kernel-source. Then install firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter.

Reboot and it will work like a charm.

BTW, this will fix 90% of the most common problems with any UB based distro and a wifi card with a Broadcom chipset.

[skymouse]

Just wanted to say thanks, it did work like a charm and now the laptop has a new lease of life

Skymouse

I have a 1501 at home that I run Ubuntu on (the base for Mint). I like using Synaptic for this kind of stuff. I'm not real familiar with Mint (though this is a problem with the underlying UB code base, not Mint itself). If Mint does not include Synaptic then you can install it from the terminal with:

sudo apt-get install aptitude

sudo apt-get install synaptic

It *should* be found in the Systems Tools menu.

Go in to Synaptic and uninstall both the Broadcom STA driver and bcmwl-kernel-source. Then install firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter.

Reboot and it will work like a charm.

BTW, this will fix 90% of the most common problems with any UB based distro and a wifi card with a Broadcom chipset.