# Solved: Wireless Internet?? Dell Latitude w/ Ubuntu 10.04



## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

Hi everyone,

The hard drive of my Dell Latitude D520 laptop recently conked out and I had to order a new one. After getting it in there, I installed Ubuntu 10.04 (I tried to install a newer version of Ubuntu first, but couldn't get it to happen; 10.04 installed pretty easily though). However, I'm still not able to connect to our wireless Internet on that computer. The little "Internet signal" icon on the upper taskbar (or whatever it's called) has the little red exclamation point in front of it that indicates there's no connection. I made sure that "Enable Networking" and "Enable Wireless" are checked on the menu that drops down when I right-click on that icon; but when I left-click on it, under "Wireless Networks" it says "device not ready". So what do I have to do? 

Sorry for my newbie-hood; I'm sure there are obvious things I could have done that I just don't know about... but anyway, TIA!!!

Sincerely, Malli


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

If it is an integrated wireless adapter is it switched on?

What (brand and model) adapter?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

Thank you for your reply! I'm not sure how to tell whether or not the wireless adapter is switched on. On other laptops I've used in the past, there has been a little switch on the side that I could move back and forth in order to turn wireless receptivity on/off, but I can't see anything like that on this laptop. I'm not sure how to determine what the brand and model of the adapter are, either. I'm looking at the info printed on the bottom of the laptop and I see things like "Conexant RD02-D110 modem, B93-M004-F" and "Bluetooth Model: 6325-005166-10" and many other letter and number combinations but I'm not sure which one you're looking for, or even whether I'm looking in the right place in order to find it....


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Dell wireless switch is usually the Fn + F2 key combination.

What wireless adapters are listed when you use your Service Tag to search for your (Windows) drivers on Dell's web site?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

Hmm... interesting! I tried the Fn+F2 combination, and sure enough that does seem to be the wireless switch. Thanks for educating me about that! However, pressing those keys the first time disabled wireless. (The right-click drop-down menu under the Internet-connectivity icon now had the words "enable wireless" grayed out and the checkmark had disappeared; the left-click menu now said "wireless is disabled" instead of saying "device not ready.") Pressing the keys a second time restored the situation I described above, so the answer must lie elsewhere.

When I entered my service tag on Dell's website, in the long list of parts that followed I didn't see the words "wireless" and "adapter" listed together, but I did see each of those words separately. The second listing looks perhaps more to me as if it's what we're looking for, but since I'm not 100% sure, I'll just give you both:

DF263 Assembly,Adapter,Alternating Current,65W,Mobile 2007 Liteon,World Wide

and

RD530 Card,Wireless,Lead Free Internal,Bluetooth,350


Thanks again so much for your help!!


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

P.S. I didn't see the word "driver" anywhere, so I hope I was looking in the right place...!!!


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## vicks (Jan 31, 2005)

Is there a network adapter listed in the Device Manager?
vicks


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Neither is your wireless (Wi-Fi) adapter. The first is the power supply and the second is bluetooth.

For Latitude D520 I see:

Wireless 1395 WLAN MiniCard
Dell Wireless 13xx, 14xx, 1505 MiniCard
Wireless 1490 Dual-Band WLAN MiniCard
Wireless 1390 WLAN MiniCard
(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> P.S. I didn't see the word "driver" anywhere, so I hope I was looking in the right place...!!!


Probably not. That word is all over the place here. Of course, there will be fewer when you narrow that down to you specific computer with your Service Tag.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

vicks said:


> Is there a network adapter listed in the Device Manager?
> vicks


I'm not seeing anything on my Ubuntu desktop menus called the Device Manager, and when I go into the Ubuntu Help section and do a search for "device manager" in quotes, nothing comes up. Nor does anything come up in the help section for "network adapter" either, so I'm not sure how to find out the answer to your question.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

TerryNet, thanks for your responses too. I clicked on the link you gave me and I'll get back to you to let you know what I find out.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

All right, TerryNet... entering my Service Tag on the page you linked me to pulled up a page where it says "Refine your results: (17 files)", and lists all kinds of different categories of computer-related products. Under "Network", there's a list of 6 items. Only the last one mentions any of the wireless products from the list you gave me above. It mentions the last two you listed. Here's what it says exactly:

File Title: Intel Driver
INTEL_MULTI-DEVICE_A16_R257701.exe (33MB)
Applies to: 
(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN

Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

Importance: Optional
Release Date: 2/5/2010 
Version: FLWSP0064D, A16

and then the options to "Add to my Download List" or "Download File" are offered.

The language used doesn't give me the impression that this driver is something I already have on my computer. It looks more like it's something I could optionally obtain, upgrade to or whatever, if I wished. However, am I supposed to understand that the fact it says it "applies to" those two wireless adapters is an indication that I have one or the other of them on my computer right now, since this is the info that came up after I entered my service tag?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

On scouring the system configuration list again that I originally looked at, I'm noticing this and wondering if it's significant:


NC293Card, Network, Minicard, 3945ULD Dell Americas Organization
(The number sequence 3945 calls to my mind the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection from your list... could mine be an older version of the same type of thing...??)


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

The information you found seems to indicate that you do have that Intel adapter. If so, it should be working based on this site.

Try - System - Administration - Additional Drivers (or something similar) - see if there is another driver to be installed for the wireless.


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## DVOM (Jun 21, 2002)

In this day and age it should be easy to find an Ubuntu based linux distro that will find your wireless adapter right away. If I'm trying to find a linux distro for a machine, I'll try several "Live" versions using a USB stick.

I'd try Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10. 11.04, LinuxMint 10, 11, 12, Netrunner OS 3.2, 4. Mainly what I'm looking for is one that recognizes all my hardware right away, or at least with minimal hassle.

Then, when I've found one that finds/runs my hardware well, I'll install it. There's just no reason anymore to have to work very hard to get your hardware working.

For making a "Live USB" lots of people recommend and use UNetbootin, however I use LinuxLive USB Creator:

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

TerryNet,

On my System > Admin menu, there's something called Hardware Drivers; when I open it, it says "No proprietary drivers are in use on this system." (None of the other listings on the Administration menu were anything like "Additional Drivers.") After I closed the Hardware Drivers window, a smaller window popped up saying, "Downloading package indexes failed, please check your network status. Most drivers will not be available." When I close that window there's another small one that says "Searching for available drivers..." but of course, it soon gives up.

DVOM, thanks for your comments. I'll consider giving that a shot.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Yeah, sorry, it's Hardware, not Additional, Drivers. Are you also unable to get an ethernet connection with that machine?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

Does ethernet mean wired Internet connection? I live way out in the country; our wireless connection is achieved via satellite dish. So I don't think ethernet is an option for me.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Regardless of internet service provider you have a wireless (Wi-Fi) router in the mix, right? And you are trying to connect by wireless (Wi-Fi) to the router, right? I am talking about an ethernet cable connection between the router and computer.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

OK... sorry I'm so ignorant about how all this stuff works!  So I looked around and found what you're talking about, I believe: it says Wireless-G Broadband Router on it, among other things. Along with 4 other cables that are plugged into the router, there's also a yellow cable that says "Ethernet" on it going from the router to the printer_._ Our printer is out of ink right now and we don't have plans to buy more anytime really soon, so I'm wondering if I could unplug that cable from the printer and see whether I could find anyplace to plug it into on my laptop. I wouldn't be messing anything printer-related up permanently by doing that, would I?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

You are correct that the printer can later be instantly reconnected simply by replacing the cable.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

OK, thanks for reassuring me.  So, with the Ethernet cable I AM able to get a connection.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

So, referring back to post # 16 do any more Hardware Drivers download?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

Yes... "Broadcom B43 wireless driver" and "Broadcom STA wireless driver" both popped up after some searching. It indicates that neither of them have been activated, and it gives some additional info about both. About the B43 it says "License: Free" and notes that "fwcutter is a tool which can extract firmware from various source files. It's written for BCM43xx driver files." About the STA it says "License: Proprietary" and then states [grammatical mistake in original]: "These package contains Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4321-, and BCM4322-based hardware."


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

We may be mistaken about you having an Intel adapter. Try those drivers. What have you got to lose?


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

All right! I activated both of them, then restarted the computer in order for them to take effect... and it looks like wireless works now! Awesome! There was a message that popped up saying something like "In order for your computer to work properly, Ubuntu is using drivers not supported by Ubuntu" ... I don't remember the exact wording and I can't figure out how to get that message to come back up... but I hope that's nothing serious to worry about. "Not supported" generally means that there's no official tech support team ready to assist with problems that may come up... right? On the other hand, is there an official tech support team ready to assist with ANY aspect of Ubuntu usage? It seems like usually I've just seen users advised to seek help via online fora etc., like I've been doing... IS that message something I should be worried about?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

The message will show only once and is not to be worried about. It means that the license or copyright does not allow any modification of the driver. So if it doesn't work properly in Ubuntu that's our tough luck, as Ubuntu developers' hands are tied.

You can mark this solved using the







button at the upper left of the page.


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## villagemata (Oct 8, 2010)

OK! Thanks again so much for your patience and help. I really appreciate it!


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