v 9.10 lshw shows "network disabled"

[NutmegCT]

Absolute beginner to Ubuntu. I've just installed 9.10 on my Dell Latitude D505; system had no o/s prior to this 9.10 installation. Runs beautifully except I can't get the network enabled.

lshw shows network:0 Network controller BCM4309 802.11a/b/g
and network:1 Ethernet interface 82801DB PRO/100 Ethernet Controller
and *-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface

Dell BIOS shows Wireless enabled.

When I first installed 9.10 today I got a Ubuntu window "drivers available". I clicked OK and saw "Broadcom (something ...) installed". After the installation I clicked the Activate button in the lower right of that installer window. Then got small new window: "Network Not Activated".

If I open Network Manager (upper right icon, showing greyed out single network bar), I see Wired Network (disconnected) and Wireless Networks (disconnected), but can't choose any of them.

How can I enable wireless?

By the way, I also tried plugging in an active ethernet cable from my cable modem, and still can't choose Wired Network or Wireless Network from Network Manager.

Thanks.
Tom

[Sealbhach]

Hi, run some of these commands here, and give us the results, so we can have more of an idea of what works and what doesn't: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...81&postcount=1

.

[doas777]

I've just retired a fleet of D505s purchased in '04-05 (replaced with toughbook CF-71s), and 10 of 34 or so had bad/failing nics at time of retirement (it was the main reason i could justify replacing them to management). none of them had wifi nics though.

a lot of them had bad slots. have you checked to make sure the cable connector is seating correctly?

[NutmegCT]

Hi, run some of these commands here, and give us the results, so we can have more of an idea of what works and what doesn't: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...81&postcount=1

.

This might be useful: just ran dmesg and got:

eth0: link is not ready
firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw
firmware: requesting b43-open/ucode5.fw
ERROR: firmware file "b43/ucode5.fw" not found
"b43-open/ucode5.fw" not found

Gives me the url to d/l that firmware. If I download to my iBook and save to a USB, how do I install them onto the Ubuntu box?

Thanks.

[Sealbhach]

Hi, you can install the package b43-fwcutter as a deb file:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/b43-fwcutter

.

[Sealbhach]

For your ethernet connection, to try to get it working, have a go at this:

sudo modprobe e100
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
ifconfig
See this thread for more information: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1295235

.

[NutmegCT]

Hi, you can install the package b43-fwcutter as a deb file:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/b43-fwcutter

.

Definitely learning a lot! Got the deb file, copied to USB memstick, dragged to Ubuntu desktop, double clicked, ran Install, and got:

Failed to install package b43-fwcutter_012-1_i386.deb

Preparing to replace b43 ...
Unpacking replacement b43-fwcutter ...
Setting up b43 ...
http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...a-3.130.20.0.o
Resolving downloads.openwrt.org... failed: name or service not know.
wget: unable to reslve host address downloads.openwrt.org
dpkg: error processing b43 ...
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
b43-fwcutter

Hmmm - this seems to be more difficult than it should. It's like the installer is trying to reach a website, even tho' the network is for some reason disabled. Catch 22?

Thanks.
Tom

[NutmegCT]

For your ethernet connection, to try to get it working, have a go at this:

sudo modprobe e100
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
ifconfig
See this thread for more information: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1295235

.

Ran the above. Here's the output:

ethan@ethan-laptop:~$ sudo modprobe e100
ethan@ethan-laptop:~$ sudo ifconfig eth0 up
ethan@ethan-laptop:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0f:1f:a9:89:d5
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1220 (1.2 KB) TX bytes:1220 (1.2 KB)

[bostonian95]

i seem to be having an identical problem, i just installed the i386 file can anyone tell me what to do now?

[Sealbhach]

Hmmm - this seems to be more difficult than it should. It's like the installer is trying to reach a website, even tho' the network is for some reason disabled. Catch 22?

Thanks.
Tom

Yeah, that's right, it's assumed there's a wired connection... which there isn't. If you click on the link in that output:

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources...a-3.130.20.0.o

you can get the file.

Maybe try and get the ethernet connection working first, try the:

sudo modprobe e100
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
ifconfig

.