12.04 wireless issue - driver is active, but no networks

[Abkajud]

hello, folks!
i have a dell vostro 1500. i'm dual-booting windows xp and ubuntu 12.04.

the trouble is, the network menu has no "wireless" option at all. i tried following the directions from the sticky in the "networking & wireless" forum, but it didn't help.

my wireless driver is a broadcom bcm4311 sta, and it says it's active and working properly.
any suggestions? thanks so much!

[wildmanne39]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Please open a terminal ctrl+alt+t copy and paste the following commands into it one line at a time, then paste the results here:

cat /etc/lsb-release; uname -a
lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
lsusb
iwconfig
rfkill list all
lsmod

here by clicking on new reply and click # and paste the information between the brackets.
Thank you

[Abkajud]

thanks for taking the time to lend a hand!

here's what i got:

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04 LTS"
Linux lappy 3.2.0-24-generic-pae #37-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 25 10:47:59 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX [14e4:170c] (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0228]
    Kernel driver in use: b44
--
0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN [14e4:4311] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:0007]
    Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_hda_codec_idt      60251  1 
joydev                 17393  0 
dell_wmi               12601  0 
sparse_keymap          13658  1 dell_wmi
snd_hda_intel          32765  5 
snd_hda_codec         109562  2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13276  1 snd_hda_codec
b44                    31364  0 
snd_pcm                80845  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
snd_rawmidi            25424  1 snd_seq_midi
ssb                    50691  1 b44
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
dell_laptop            13671  0 
wl                   2646601  0 
rfcomm                 38139  0 
bnep                   17830  2 
parport_pc             32114  0 
dcdbas                 14098  1 dell_laptop
bluetooth             158438  10 rfcomm,bnep
ppdev                  12849  0 
snd_seq                51567  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              28931  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
psmouse                72919  0 
r852                   17901  0 
r592                   17808  0 
snd_seq_device         14172  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
serio_raw              13027  0 
sm_common              16737  1 r852
memstick               15857  1 r592
nand                   49667  2 r852,sm_common
nand_ids                8547  1 nand
mtd                    35584  2 sm_common,nand
nand_bch               13003  1 nand
bch                    21757  1 nand_bch
nand_ecc               13070  1 nand
i915                  414603  3 
snd                    62064  18 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore              14635  1 snd
lib80211               14040  1 wl
snd_page_alloc         14108  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
drm_kms_helper         45466  1 i915
drm                   197692  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13199  1 i915
mac_hid                13077  0 
wmi                    18744  1 dell_wmi
video                  19068  1 i915
lp                     17455  0 
parport                40930  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
firewire_ohci          40172  0 
firewire_core          56906  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              12627  1 firewire_core
sdhci_pci              18324  0 
sdhci                  28241  1 sdhci_pci

let me know if any of this helps! (sure is a lot of it, too...)

[Abkajud]

(ignore this post; i'm just signing up to get emailed about the thread)

[wildmanne39]

Hi, please do:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source

then:

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer

watch for errors, then unlug your wired connection and reboot.
Thanks

[Abkajud]

that did it! hole in one. thanks so much!

[wildmanne39]

Hi, your welcome!, please use thread tools at the top of the page to mark the thread solved.
Thanks

[jethro1138]

I'm having the same prog with the same chipset (more or less, bcm4311 on an HP laptop). followed the same instructions, and still can't enable wireless ): any ideas?

[wildmanne39]

Hi, please post the output of:

cat /etc/lsb-release; uname -a
lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
lsusb
iwconfig
rfkill list all
lsmod

here by clicking on new reply and click # and paste the information between the brackets.
Thank you

[blank.bruno]

Hi, please do:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source

then:

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer

watch for errors, then unlug your wired connection and reboot.
Thanks

I was having same/similar problem with Kubuntu 12.04 on my Acer Aspire 5610z laptop with BCM-4311 wireless, and this fixed it perfectly. Thanks so much.