Wifi Problem with Dell Inspiron Laptop

[chili555]

I have worked harder on this over the last three days than I have on any problem, Ubuntu or real life, for many years. I have searched. I have translated German forum posts, I have booted into 12.04 on a live CD a half-dozen times. I have compiled, cursed and recompiled. There are tons of 64-bit packages out there. There is ONE purported 32-bit (i386) package. When I try to install it on my 32-bit live CD, it says 'wrong architecture, 64-bit.' Every attempt I've made fails.

I suspect that Dell, who has these drivers, installed 64-bit only on your model and so they only developed 64-bit drivers. Therefor, I suggest you consider re-installing Ubuntu in a 64-bit version. While I can never guarantee success, I think your chances will be a great deal better in a 64-bit system.

It might be tempting to try ndiswrapper and the Windows XP files, but I suspect the same applies there, too: 64-bit only.

I wish I had a better solution.

[ChessMasterJoe]

That's perfectly fine. Thank you for the effort!

Where would I find a good copy of the 64 bit CD? Or is that sound I can download and put on a flash drive. I'm not sure how to boot from a flash drive (I know some of them are incapable of it).

I also could burn a live CD. But I wouldn't know how using Unbuntu.

I would rather just buy the CD if I had to so I'd make sure everything was done right.

[Hadaka]

Hi, everything you need,including how to is on this page.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

choose desktop
choose 12.04
choose 64bit.
once loaded, you will need to load the wireless files again.
Good Luck !


*special thanks to chili555 for the huge effort on this.

[chili555]

I also could burn a live CD. But I wouldn't know how using Unbuntu.

After you've downloaded the 64-bit .iso, start up Brasero CD/DVD creator. Select 'Burn Image.' Navigate to the 64-bit .iso, presumably in your home directory, click 'Burn' and after it finishes, boot from the CD. It's actually easy.

[ChessMasterJoe]

I'm burning the CD now. Once I have the operating system reloaded, I assume I'll have to go back through the steps we previously mentioned. The only difference would be downloading the 64 bit version instead of the 32.

Wish me luck.

[chili555]

Good luck! We have our fingers and toes crossed.

[ChessMasterJoe]

Before I continue, I wanted to check in to make sure I get everything right. I finished loading the 64 bit version and it seems to be working well. No wireless detection yet.

"rfkill list" showed the following.

joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

I'm assuming I should go to the following link and download the 64 bit version instead.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/17510...stro-3460-3560

What are the exact terminal commands again? I don't want to mess this up.

[chili555]

I actually suggest this package: http://jas.gemnetworks.com/debian/po...19-1_amd64.deb

First be sure all the prerequisites are installed:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential dkms

Now download the package I linked. By default, Firefox downloads to 'Downloads' but let's check:

cd Downloads
ls

Do you see the package, like this?

ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Downloads$ ls
wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb

Yes? Good! Now, let's install it:

sudo dpkg -i wire*.deb

If all goes well, you should see:

depmod................
<snip>
DKMS: install completed.

If there is an error, post back and we'll help.

EDIT: A little experimentation with a 12.10 64-bit live CD suggests this installs fine there, too. I don't have the device, so I can't test further.

[squakie]

It may have gotten lost in the shuffle of things here as well, but if needed see post #24 in this thread to a link where someone got this adapter working.

[ChessMasterJoe]

Here's the entire terminal log from the process. Sorry about the length.

joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential dkms
[sudo] password for joseph:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
dpkg-dev fakeroot g++ g++-4.7 libalgorithm-diff-perl
libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl libstdc++6-4.7-dev
linux-headers-3.5.0-18 linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic
Suggested packages:
debhelper debian-keyring g++-multilib g++-4.7-multilib gcc-4.7-doc
libstdc++6-4.7-dbg libstdc++6-4.7-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
build-essential dkms dpkg-dev fakeroot g++ g++-4.7 libalgorithm-diff-perl
libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl libalgorithm-merge-perl libstdc++6-4.7-dev
linux-headers-3.5.0-18 linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic linux-headers-generic
0 upgraded, 13 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 23.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 100 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libstdc++6-4.7-dev amd64 4.7.2-2ubuntu1 [1,716 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main g++-4.7 amd64 4.7.2-2ubuntu1 [7,966 kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main g++ amd64 4:4.7.2-1ubuntu2 [1,448 B]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main dpkg-dev all 1.16.7ubuntu6 [595 kB]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main build-essential amd64 11.5ubuntu3 [5,814 B]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main dkms all 2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu1 [72.8 kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main fakeroot amd64 1.18.4-2 [88.2 kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libalgorithm-diff-perl all 1.19.02-2 [50.7 kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl amd64 0.04-2build3 [12.5 kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/main libalgorithm-merge-perl all 0.08-2 [12.7 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main linux-headers-3.5.0-18 all 3.5.0-18.29 [12.1 MB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic amd64 3.5.0-18.29 [951 kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal-updates/main linux-headers-generic amd64 3.5.0.18.21 [2,436 B]
Fetched 23.6 MB in 13s (1,797 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libstdc++6-4.7-dev.
(Reading database ... 148951 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libstdc++6-4.7-dev (from .../libstdc++6-4.7-dev_4.7.2-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package g++-4.7.
Unpacking g++-4.7 (from .../g++-4.7_4.7.2-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package g++.
Unpacking g++ (from .../g++_4%3a4.7.2-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package dpkg-dev.
Unpacking dpkg-dev (from .../dpkg-dev_1.16.7ubuntu6_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package build-essential.
Unpacking build-essential (from .../build-essential_11.5ubuntu3_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package dkms.
Unpacking dkms (from .../dkms_2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu1_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package fakeroot.
Unpacking fakeroot (from .../fakeroot_1.18.4-2_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libalgorithm-diff-perl.
Unpacking libalgorithm-diff-perl (from .../libalgorithm-diff-perl_1.19.02-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl.
Unpacking libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl (from .../libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl_0.04-2build3_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libalgorithm-merge-perl.
Unpacking libalgorithm-merge-perl (from .../libalgorithm-merge-perl_0.08-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-headers-3.5.0-18.
Unpacking linux-headers-3.5.0-18 (from .../linux-headers-3.5.0-18_3.5.0-18.29_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic.
Unpacking linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic (from .../linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic_3.5.0-18.29_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package linux-headers-generic.
Unpacking linux-headers-generic (from .../linux-headers-generic_3.5.0.18.21_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up dpkg-dev (1.16.7ubuntu6) ...
Setting up dkms (2.2.0.3-1.1ubuntu1) ...
Setting up fakeroot (1.18.4-2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/fakeroot-sysv to provide /usr/bin/fakeroot (fakeroot) in auto mode
Setting up libalgorithm-diff-perl (1.19.02-2) ...
Setting up libalgorithm-diff-xs-perl (0.04-2build3) ...
Setting up libalgorithm-merge-perl (0.08-2) ...
Setting up linux-headers-3.5.0-18 (3.5.0-18.29) ...
Setting up linux-headers-3.5.0-18-generic (3.5.0-18.29) ...
Examining /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/header_postinst.d/dkms 3.5.0-18-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-18-generic
Setting up linux-headers-generic (3.5.0.18.21) ...
Setting up libstdc++6-4.7-dev (4.7.2-2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up g++-4.7 (4.7.2-2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up g++ (4:4.7.2-1ubuntu2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/g++ to provide /usr/bin/c++ (c++) in auto mode
Setting up build-essential (11.5ubuntu3) ...
joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~$ cd Downloads
joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~/Downloads$ ls
frostwire-5.3.9.all.deb wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb
joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i wire*.deb
Selecting previously unselected package wireless-bcm43142-dkms.
(Reading database ... 172780 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking wireless-bcm43142-dkms (from wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb) ...
Setting up wireless-bcm43142-dkms (6.20.55.19-1) ...
Loading new wireless-bcm43142-6.20.55.19 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.5.0-18-generic
Building initial module for 3.5.0-18-generic
Done.

wl:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
- No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
- Installing to /lib/modules/3.5.0-18-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod.........

Backing up initrd.img-3.5.0-18-generic to /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-18-generic.old-dkms
Making new initrd.img-3.5.0-18-generic
(If next boot fails, revert to initrd.img-3.5.0-18-generic.old-dkms image)
update-initramfs....

DKMS: install completed.
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-18-generic
joseph@joseph-Inspiron-5720:~/Downloads$ ^C


I'm going to reboot and see it anything is working.