no wireless in dell inspiron 1520 with 12.04

**RedDriscoll** · May 5th, 2012

I am brand new to ubuntu and I just installed 12.04 on my dell, had winxp before and the wireless worked just fine.

I was reading other posts with solutions like uninstalling the preset drivers and everything but didn`t work so i decided to post.

lspci -nn | grep 0280 output was

Code:

0c: 00.0 network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)

**nm_geo** · May 5th, 2012

Red,

Do you have access to working ethernet cable?

If you do we can get it up with Synaptic Packager or terminal
commands..
If not there are other ways... I can even drop a file here and we can walk you though the installation.

**RedDriscoll** · May 6th, 2012

I don`t have ethernet connection with that laptop, but installing that file you say sounds good

It would be deeply appreciated, thank you.

**nm_geo** · May 7th, 2012

Okay here is the b43.zip folder You can put it on a flash drive and then plug in the flash drive in the laptop. Extract the b43 folder to the Desktop.

Open a terminal

Code:

cd Desktop

Code:

ls

Those will get you to the Desktop and ls will show the b43 folder

In terminal

Code:

sudo mv b43 /lib/firmware

That will move the b43 to the correct directory.

Hopefully in a few seconds your wifi light will come on, Sign in to your wifi access point.

**RedDriscoll** · May 7th, 2012

I followed the steps you posted and moved the b43 folder but there has been no change.

Did a couple of reboots too, turned the WiFi switch on and off but nothing

Am I missing something there?

**nm_geo** · May 7th, 2012

When you extracted the b43.zip to Desktop a folder appeared b43 correct?
When you did the sudo mv b43 the folder left the Desktop correct?
Be sure the folder b43 is now in /lib/firmware.

In terminal try

Code:

sudo modprobe b43

That should give the b43 a kick to get going. If it does not reboot with wifi we
might have a blacklist problem.

Did you try the STA driver before?

Be sure wifi switch is on

Code:

rfkill list

and

Code:

lsmod

That will tell us if the b43 module and the ssb are loading and might show if a conflict exists.

If all this does not get it the Networking/Wireless Forum is a great resource. I used to hang there myself.

**Lincinas** · April 9th, 2013

I was unable to fix wireless network issue for several days. But these recommendations worked like a charm! Thanks for a good post.

Regards
Linas Bartkevicius