zookrider

The relevant points:
1. I'm a raw linux noob and have only recently started working with computers in a serious way, please speak slowly. (Assuming that I'm as dumb as a rock is probably not a bad idea)

2. I have two machines running Ubuntu 8.10, a home built desktop (no, I didn't build it) and the aforementioned dell laptop.

3. The desktop is connected to the internet via an 8P8C connection which miraculously simply worked after installing Ubuntu with no input from me. It's the computer I am using to communicate with you all now.

4. I tried plugging same said RJ45 cable into the Dell and restarting it to see if it would happily connect to the internet like the desktop did. It didn't. It didn't act at all different than when I started the computer sans hard-line to the router. Don't know if that's relevant to the wireless issue but there it is.

Steps I've taken to resolve this issue:
1. I went to Ubuntu's "Connect to a wireless network" help page and it said to use System > Admin > Network and simply choose your wireless network. Yeah, right. I went System > Admin >........uh.... network??? I see no network.....I see network tools......click.....nope, not what I'm looking for. OK lets try clicking on the network symbol in the tray (two overlapping monitors, right? Just checking.) Click that and I get the following drop down menu:

Wired Network (greyed out)
Auto eth0 (greyed out)
Wireless Networks (greyed out)
VPN Connections
Connect to Hidden Wireless Network
Create New Wireless Network

Wireless networks looks promising, but alas, since it is greyed out, no dice. Connect to a Hidden Network? My home network isn't hidden. Create new network? Already have one. With a network name, key, all that jazz. Ever onward.

2. I went to Ubuntu's wireless trouble shooting page where it told me to use:
sudo lshw -C network

What that told me was.....well it told me a lot, most of which I have no idea what it means. The only thing that my retarded self noticed that worried me was the following:

*-network:0 DISABLED
description: Wireless nterface

and

*-network:1 DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface

The Ubuntu site helpfully says:
"Many wireless network devices can be turned on or off. Check to see if there is a hardware switch, some devices can be switched off from Windows and may need to be turned back on from Windows."

Great, this computer doesn't even have windows on it. Linux or bust baby!!!!! On to the next step.

3. I went to this thread:
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html
and read the directions. I then opened a terminal and used the following commands:
lspci -nm
lsmod
dmesg
dmesg | grep firmware
What I got was 3 or four pages worth of info which would take hours to transcribe into this thread. If that's what needs to happen then so be it. But I thought I'd come here and ask first.

Summary: Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase Help Me.

rokytnji

Just for info purposes, you can copy,paste and save readouts to Text editor on Laptop. Save them to your desktop. Insert a USB Stick on Laptop. Drag and drop Text editor files that you saved and Put them on a Usb inserted into Laptop. Insert saved terminal messages/readout on USB stick into your working Desktop computer. . Pull them off USB, (copy and paste) and insert them in Next post. That way you won't have to type them in. Hope that helps, because we need those readouts for all those commands in Terminal. Good luck.

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zookrider

OK, here are the results of:
lspci -nm
lsmod
sudo lsh -C network

olson@olson-laptop-II:~$ lspci -nm
00:00.0 "0600" "8086" "2590" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:02.0 "0300" "8086" "2592" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:02.1 "0380" "8086" "2792" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1c.0 "0604" "8086" "2660" -r03 "" ""
00:1d.0 "0c03" "8086" "2658" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1d.1 "0c03" "8086" "2659" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1d.2 "0c03" "8086" "265a" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1d.3 "0c03" "8086" "265b" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1d.7 "0c03" "8086" "265c" -r03 -p20 "1028" "0182"
00:1e.0 "0604" "8086" "2448" -rd3 -p01 "" ""
00:1e.2 "0401" "8086" "266e" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1f.0 "0601" "8086" "2641" -r03 "1028" "0182"
00:1f.2 "0101" "8086" "2653" -r03 -p80 "1028" "0182"
02:00.0 "0200" "14e4" "1677" -r01 "1028" "0182"
03:01.0 "0607" "104c" "8036" "1028" "0182"
03:01.5 "0780" "104c" "8038" "1028" "0182"
03:03.0 "0280" "14e4" "4320" -r02 "0e11" "00e7"
olson@olson-laptop-II:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
ipv6 263972 10
af_packet 25728 2
i915 38144 2
drm 86056 3 i915
rfkill_input 12672 0
binfmt_misc 16904 1
bridge 56980 0
stp 10628 1 bridge
bnep 20480 2
sco 18308 2
rfcomm 44432 0
l2cap 30464 6 bnep,rfcomm
bluetooth 61924 6 bnep,sco,rfcomm,l2cap
ppdev 15620 0
speedstep_centrino 15360 0
cpufreq_powersave 9856 0
cpufreq_conservative 14600 0
cpufreq_ondemand 14988 1
cpufreq_userspace 11396 0
cpufreq_stats 13188 0
freq_table 12672 3 speedstep_centrino,cpufreq_ondemand,cpufreq_stats
container 11520 0
wmi 14504 0
pci_slot 12552 0
sbs 19464 0
sbshc 13440 1 sbs
iptable_filter 10752 0
ip_tables 19600 1 iptable_filter
x_tables 22916 1 ip_tables
lp 17156 0
joydev 18368 0
pcmcia 43052 0
dcdbas 15008 0
evdev 17696 14
psmouse 45200 0
serio_raw 13444 0
arc4 9984 2
ecb 10880 2
crypto_blkcipher 25476 1 ecb
pcspkr 10624 0
b43legacy 128156 0
rfkill 17176 2 rfkill_input,b43legacy
mac80211 216820 1 b43legacy
cfg80211 32392 1 mac80211
led_class 12164 1 b43legacy
input_polldev 11912 1 b43legacy
video 25104 0
output 11008 1 video
parport_pc 39204 1
parport 42604 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
snd_intel8x0 37532 3
snd_ac97_codec 111652 1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus 9856 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss 46848 0
snd_mixer_oss 22784 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 83204 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 10884 0
yenta_socket 31756 1
rsrc_nonstatic 19072 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 43412 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
snd_seq_oss 38528 0
button 14224 0
snd_seq_midi 14336 0
snd_rawmidi 29824 1 snd_seq_midi
ac 12292 0
battery 18436 0
snd_seq_midi_event 15232 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 57776 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
snd_timer 29960 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 15116 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
snd 63268 16 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_ oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_ti mer,snd_seq_device
iTCO_wdt 18596 0
iTCO_vendor_support 11652 1 iTCO_wdt
soundcore 15328 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 16136 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
intel_agp 33724 1
agpgart 42184 3 drm,intel_agp
shpchp 37908 0
pci_hotplug 35236 1 shpchp
ext3 133256 1
jbd 55444 1 ext3
mbcache 16004 1 ext3
sr_mod 22212 0
cdrom 43168 1 sr_mod
sd_mod 42264 3
crc_t10dif 9984 1 sd_mod
sg 39732 0
pata_acpi 12160 0
ata_piix 24580 2
ata_generic 12932 0
ahci 37132 0
libata 177312 4 pata_acpi,ata_piix,ata_generic,ahci
scsi_mod 155212 4 sr_mod,sd_mod,sg,libata
ssb 40580 1 b43legacy
ehci_hcd 43276 0
tg3 129924 0
libphy 27392 1 tg3
uhci_hcd 30736 0
usbcore 148848 3 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
dock 16656 1 libata
thermal 23708 0
processor 42156 2 thermal
fan 12548 0
fbcon 47648 0
tileblit 10880 1 fbcon
font 16512 1 fbcon
bitblit 13824 1 fbcon
softcursor 9984 1 bitblit
fuse 60828 3
olson@olson-laptop-II:~$ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for olson:
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 01
serial: 00:12:3f:f3:94:df
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.94 firmware=5751-v3.29a latency=0 link=no module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair
*-network
description: Network controller
product: BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@0000:03:03.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64 module=ssb
*-network:0 DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 2
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:90:4b:49:90:aa
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
*-network:1 DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 3
logical name: pan0
serial: a6:72:34:f1:3c:6d
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes

Ever onward.

waterhead

Thank you for the detailed info. Here are your network devices, the wired LAN and then the wireless:
And here are the driver modules loading for both network devices:
I don't know why the wired LAN isn't working. But I know that the wireless needs firmware installed before it will work. In Ubuntu this can easily be done using the Hardware Drivers manager, from the menu. Unfortunately, this needs a wired internet connection to work.

You can manually download and install everything needed to install the firmware, but it is a bit complicated for a newbie. Yet this may be your only choice. Here is a link to the instructions for doing it.

b43 - Linux Wireless

Since you cannot use your distributions package (no internet connection), you need to follow the compiler instructions. You will need to install some applications that are usually not installed by default. They may be installable from the installation CD, but if there is an installation DVD, I would use that instead.

You may be better off trying to get the LAN connection working first. If you notice, in the output of lsmod, the presence of the rfkill module. This module controls the on/off switch of the wireless. Maybe it is controlling the LAN too.

Take a look in this folder:
/sys/class/rfkill

There should be a rfkill0 folder, if there is a rfkill1 folder too, then there is an entry for the LAN too. If not, then this isn't the route to follow. If it is present, then it may be possible to enable it.

Try entering the BIOS during boot, and look for any LAN settings. You may be able to enable it here. If there is a Wake-On-LAN option, you can try to get it to work by enabling that.

One thing for troubleshooting, is to look at the output of this command:
This will give system messages, from boot up on. It is a large file, but if you could post it it would be helpful.

__________________
Paul

Please do not PM me with requests for help. I will not reply.

waterhead

It just occurred to me that there is an easier way for you to install the wireless firmware.

Since you have an Ubuntu PC that has an internet connection, use that to get the firmware. Since the wireless card isn't in it, auto detection/download wont work. But you can run the script that will then download and install the firmware.
This should install the firmware to the /lib/firmware/<kernel version> folder. If you have more than one kernel version, it will install to the one that you are running.

You would then copy the firmware, and put it in the same place on the laptop. There is other firmware in that directory too. I don't know the exact names of the Broadcom firmware, but it is safe to just copy everything to the laptop.

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Paul

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zookrider

First of all, thank you Paul for taking the time to help me with this issue.

As soon as I get home from work I will do 2 things:
1. I will get the messages off of the laptop and post them.

2. I will attempt again to get the LAN connection working again. Truth be told I didn't really expend any energy on this beyond plugging in the RJ45 and restarting the computer. Since it would make my life so much easier, I'll spend a little more time and effort on it.

Perhaps you smart folk can make some sense of (1) while I try to do something about (2). More to follow this evening.

Michael

zookrider

OK, used dmesg and it spit out so much text that the terminal couldn't hold it all, as in, when I scrolled all the way to the top it cut off. What can I do to pare it down to just the messages we need. Here are the results from dmseg | grep firmware:

I am gonna start researching how to get the lan to work as well as looking into Paul's suggestion above. Tell me anything else I need to provide and I'll happily provide it.

zookrider

OK so we have the following situation according to sudo lshw -C network:
I know (or at least believe) that the issue with the wireless interface is the firmware. I'm working on that. As for the Ethernet interface, it looks like it's just disabled. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just need to enable it and it should work, right? So how do I enable it? Anybody know? I'm off to do more research.

zookrider

Ok, I was trying this on my desktop and got the following response:
Ideas?

waterhead

Try installing b43-fwcutter:
This installed the firmware on my PC. It also listed the names of the firmware files that it was installing. This is good to know, so that you can copy them.

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Paul

Please do not PM me with requests for help. I will not reply.