Dell wireless card 1490

[josdb]

After upgrading to Ubuntu 14.05 my Dell wireless card 1490 doesn't work anymore. I know this topic has been handled before, but none of the solutions offered there worked. I must say that up till now (Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.10) it always worked perfectly, no problem. One of the solutions previously offered was, ironically, upgrading to 14.04! I have a Dell Latitude D531. Thanks for any help.

[chili555]

In those previous threads, we always needed:

lspci -nn | grep 0280

If it is a Broadcom, please check here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2214110

[josdb]

The result of lspci -nn | grep 0280

is:
0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g [14e4:4312] (rev 01)

But then, according to the link you mention, which was one of the discussions I consulted, I proceeded to install linux-firmware-nonfree and was told that it was already installed.

I got it working by installing ndiswrapper and then using the Dell driver for Windows. But I find that disappointing: to be forced to use a Windows thingy while it should work purely under Linux. It worked perfectly before under Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.10, without a Windows driver, so it should work again now. Only, however I tried, I couldn't find the method again I used under 12.04 to get it working. I only remember that it was a Ubuntu package from Broadcom's website. Apparently it's gone.

To be able to use the Windows driver with ndiswrapper I had to blacklist bcm43xx in /etc/modprobe.d

I would rather have used another, pure Linux method, but as they say: if it works, don't touch it, and it works now, so I guess I'm stuck with it.

Thanks!

[chili555]

so I guess I'm stuck with it.

Not at all. We can fix it easily and quickly if you're ready.

I had to blacklist bcm43xx in /etc/modprobe.d

There is no module bcm43xx since a looonnnngggg time ago.

chili@T410:~$ modinfo bcm43xx
modinfo: ERROR: Module bcm43xx not found.

[josdb]

> Not at all. We can fix it easily and quickly if you're ready.

So tell me...

> There is no module bcm43xx since a looonnnngggg time ago.

Ha ha! Then I found a very old solution from a loooooooooooooonnngg time ago. But it was the only one that worked for me.

Thanks!

[chili555]

First, verify that you have the correct firmware:

sudo dpkg -s linux-firmware-nonfree | head -n5

If it isnt installed, get it:

sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

Now remove the usually conflicting package:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source  <--this is the step that many miss

And the same for ndiswrapper:

sudo apt-get purge ndiswrapper*

Check your blacklists:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

If b43 or ssb is blacklisted, remove the line(s). Proofread carefully, save and close gedit.

Check what modules are forced to be loaded:

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

If wl or ndiswrapper is listed, remove them. Proofread carefully, save and close gedit.

Reboot. How is your wireless working?

[josdb]

> Reboot. How is your wireless working?

Perfect! Thanks a lot! Could it be that "purge bcmwl-kernel" made all the difference?

[chili555]

> Reboot. How is your wireless working?

Perfect! Thanks a lot! Could it be that "purge bcmwl-kernel" made all the difference?

Yes, exactly. Purge, baby, purge!