complete newbie with lots of ubuntu 10.10 problems! =(

[DickeypiKa]

first of all thanks for even taking the time to read this, ive been trying to teach myself linux and programing on my own but its kinda hard with no one to explain things in practical ways lol.
so i just fixed my old-ish laptop (pop accident) and instead of putting window on it my dad talked me into trying ubuntu out, gotta say love it, fast and everything but having major problems. i have a lenovo 3000 v200. everything is the same as out of the box except the keyboard, only thing i really needed to replace.
ok problems

1) wireless is not working: i have the switch on (side of the laptop) and blue tooth lights up but wireless doesnt. (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG). now i just learned about 'rfkill list' it shows that there is a soft block on the wireless. tried " rfkill unblock 0" nothing happened. also when i tried finding out wat kernel im using " uname-r" to find out more on why its not unblocking, the CLI says "comand isnt found"

next two problems are small but are still frustrating

2) built in camera: the green light is on next to the lens but when trying to test the camera on skype or a photo program the video feed/ picture is black, or blank. not sure what i can do to fix that.

3) fingerprint scanner: yes i have one, i know its not efficient but I still like using it to login in instead of typing. im not sure how to get linux/ubuntu to recognize it if it even is. not sure how to set it up if it is recognized.

i would like to fix the wireless more than anything, if i can fix the camera and scanner then yeay, otherwise i can survive. oh and note i did try using the "additional drivers" app. nothing popped up.

thank you again for reading this ridiculously long post. hope someone can help this frantic newbie.

[alf55]

first of all thanks for even taking the time to read this, ive been trying to teach myself linux and programing on my own but its kinda hard with no one to explain things in practical ways lol.
so i just fixed my old-ish laptop (pop accident) and instead of putting window on it my dad talked me into trying ubuntu out, gotta say love it, fast and everything but having major problems. i have a lenovo 3000 v200. everything is the same as out of the box except the keyboard, only thing i really needed to replace.
ok problems

1) wireless is not working: i have the switch on (side of the laptop) and blue tooth lights up but wireless doesnt. (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG). now i just learned about 'rfkill list' it shows that there is a soft block on the wireless. tried " rfkill unblock 0" nothing happened. also when i tried finding out wat kernel im using " uname-r" to find out more on why its not unblocking, the CLI says "comand isnt found"

You are most likely missing the firmware in your installed software (someone run Ubuntu will have tell you how to install that.) The the command "uname" it has options one of which is "-r". You need to place one (or more) white space (space or tab) between the command and its options. White space is used to field seperator and they are important. So the command is:

uname      -r

[quote]
next two problems are small but are still frustrating

2) built in camera: the green light is on next to the lens but when trying to test the camera on skype or a photo program the video feed/ picture is black, or blank. not sure what i can do to fix that.

3) fingerprint scanner: yes i have one, i know its not efficient but I still like using it to login in instead of typing. im not sure how to get linux/ubuntu to recognize it if it even is. not sure how to set it up if it is recognized.
[\quote]
System76 - System76 sells notebooks that come with Ubuntu installed (rather than windows and some models include the fingerprint scanner as an option or part of the complete system and cam. At least some web-cam and fingerprint scanners work. I do know that some web cams do not work as they have their own protocol and do not document it (or provide drivers).

i would like to fix the wireless more than anything, if i can fix the camera and scanner then yeay, otherwise i can survive. oh and note i did try using the "additional drivers" app. nothing popped up.

thank you again for reading this ridiculously long post. hope someone can help this frantic newbie.

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
I moved your thread here for better exposure. Let's start with one problem at a time. Start here for the Wireless and post your results back into this thread please.
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html

[Rubberman]

When the WiFi radio is disabled in Windows, it puts a flag in the flash memory so when the system boots, the BIOS detects that and disables the radio automatically. To fix that, you either need to boot back into Windows and enable the radio, or if that is not possible (as in your case), you need to do a hard reset of the system. Usually that means shutting down the system, remove the batter, and then (with the battery out of the system and it not plugged into wall power) push and hold the power button/switch for at least 15 seconds. This works for HP and Toshiba laptops at least. Don't know about Lenovo, but I'm sure there is some method if this doesn't work. That will drain all the capacitors that are used to keep this bit of memory intact, resetting the computer state to "fresh from factory" (other than actual BIOS updates). Then, plug battery back in, optionally plug in wall power, put WiFi switch in ON position, and reboot.

One last thing, is that Ubuntu doesn't directly support a number of WiFi chip sets, but have the drivers easily available for you to install from the System->Administration->Additional Drivers form. You may need to install one of those and then reboot. I had to do that with Ubuntu 10.10 on my Dell D630. Until I did that, the WiFi light would stay off.