[Resolved itself] Wireless issues

[ohjrson]

Hey peeps.
I have a Dell latitude 640 that I have installed Linux Lite 1.08 to. Everything works great except one thing. It is not recognizing that there is a wireless adapter. I know this because when I had Zorn 7 OS on it there was a wireless connection and it did connect to my network. I need help in trying to figure out why this is happening.

Thanks.
LH

[Valtam]

Moved to Networking section.

[busprof]

Hi, ohjrson

As a starting point, can you open a terminal and run the following command:
[pre]

Code:

lspci -knn | grep -EiA2 net

[/pre]
This will provide information on all of the ethernet devices (both wired and wireless) recognized by the kernel.  For example, here's the output on my Dell Latitude D830:


09:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1673] (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01fe]
    Kernel driver in use: tg3
--
0c:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card [1028:000b]
    Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge



So the wireless card is a Broadcom BCM4312 LP-PHY, with a product code of 14e4:4315, and the kernel is using the b43-pci-bridge adapter.  Even if there is no kernel driver loaded the system should be able to "see" the wireless card and give info on it, which should help in diagnosing any issues.

Thanks

[ohjrson]

here is the info you requested.
 lspci -knn | grep -EiA2 net
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] [10b7:9200] (rev 78)
Subsystem: Dell 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller [Latitude C640] [1028:012a]
Kernel driver in use: 3c59x
Kernel modules: 3c59x

Now what?

[busprof]

Thanks.  That tells us that something is blocking the kernel from identifying the presence of your wifi card.  We'll need to do more work (unfortunately).  

First, if your laptop has a hardware switch for wifi (on Dell systems usually on the left side of the machine) make sure it is in the "on" position.  My D830 has a hardware switch and I've had it "off" by accident from time to time.  Dell's switches don't give a visual cue for "on" or "off."  Move the switch to the "on" position and hold it there for 2 seconds then release.  The switch will return to the center of the slider bay after you release but will now be set to "on."

Next, open a terminal and install the package rfkill.  This is an application that checks for both hardware and software "blocks" of wifi cards.  To install:
sudo aptitude install rfkill

After installation, stay in the terminal and run:
sudo rfkill list

Post the results here and we'll see what the next step(s) might be.

[ohjrson]

Ok so I don't have a switch on this computer that I know of. I do have a button that has an i on it but that is it. It does nothing that I know of. So I tried the install thing you said to do. This is what I got.
Latitude-C640:~$ sudo aptitude install rfkill
[sudo] password for leslie:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

This is what I got when I ran lspci

Code:

leslie@leslie-Latitude-C640:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV200/M7 [Mobility Radeon 7500]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller
02:01.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller

What now?

[busprof]

On the aptitude errors - try using "Install/Remove Software" from the menu instead of the terminal.  It looks as though apt was already running when you attempted the installation.  

On the lspci output - yes, the kernel is still not "seeing" your wifi card.  That's what rfkill is designed to help with.  If you can get rfkill installed and run the "list" command (see my previous post) that may help us diagnose the problem.  I'm thinking that this is going to wind up being a firmware problem.  So if you want to attempt something in between posts open your menu and search for "drivers."  Launch the "install third-party drivers" app and see if it finds anything related to wireless cards.

Thanks (and thanks for hanging in!)

[busprof]

Well, I've looked at Dell's specs for your computer (Latitude C640) and it seems to use a Dell Truemobile 1150 wireless card (either mini-PCI or PCI, depending upon the build date).  In either case, this card uses the Orinoco driver set (probably orinoco_cs according to a bunch of posts on the Ubuntu forums since at least 2008).

I have found that there are long-standing problems with the Truemobile 1150 card (see for example https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sourc...bug/498336).  I think that even if we are able to find/load an appropriate kernel module to support your card, there will be other problems (this card does not support WPA2 security, for example, which means you would be forced to use less secure wireless protocols such as WEP).

Your C640 has ports for PCMCIA cards (PC cards) on the left side.  You can find PCMCIA wifi cards that are more up-to-date and support WPA2 security, such as those found  <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=pcmcia+wireless+card&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=">HERE</a>.  NOTE:  Avoid the cards from Agere and Orinoco!  That's the problem you're having now.

Anyway, if you want to stick with the internal card I'll do my best to help, but it's looking like a fairly steep hill to climb (and even if we get to the top of the hill you're STILL without support for WPA2 networks).

Let us know which direction you decide to go.

Thanks!

[N4RPS]

Hello!

On older Dells, I believe the Fn key + F2 acts like a switch to enable/disable the wireless card. It has on most every other older Dell I've come across. The Fn key is beside the CTRL key at the bottom left of the keyboard. Additionally, check your BIOS settings (F2 on startup, UIAM) to ensure your card is enabled THERE. If it ISN'T, it will NOT be detected.

Some Dells ALSO have Broadcom WLAN cards that require added software. I have posted about Broadcom WLAN cards on here elsewhere, but before going there, let's figure out exactly what you have first.

Despite aptitude and apt-get being somewhat interchangeable, the more recent versions of Ubuntu (LL's parent distro) generally use apt-get. In THAT case, your command would be as follows:

Code:

sudo apt-get install rfkill

Worst case scenario, an internal wireless card that DOES support WPA/WPA2 can be had in the $10 range, and installs pretty much the same way as memory modules do. Come to think of it, I PROBABLY *HAVE* an old, gutted Latitude C640 with its wireless card still there in my attic...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[ohjrson]

Ok great all that information sounds awesome and I really appreciate the help. Now I do want to comment specificaly

busprof, I agree with you, and I want to add that when I had Zorn os 7 lite installed I was connecting to my network in with the higher security of wpa2 so I know that it will work. In fact I went on the forum and had to ask for help because it would connect and then lose connection and then reconnect again then repeat. But after I did an update that stopped doing that. I also did manage to find through synaptic the rfkill software, installed it and opened the terminal and tried it and it asks for my password and then just gives me back the prompt again. Tried different combinations of commands and got no output information other then the help listing. Which I guess I am not understanding. here is an example:

Code:

leslie@leslie-Latitude-C640:~$ sudo rfkill list
[sudo] password for leslie:
leslie@leslie-Latitude-C640:~$ rfkill
Usage: rfkill [options] command
Options:
--version show version (0.4-1ubuntu2 (Ubuntu))
Commands:
help
event
list [IDENTIFIER]
block IDENTIFIER
unblock IDENTIFIER
where IDENTIFIER is the index no. of an rfkill switch or one of:
<idx> all wifi wlan bluetooth uwb ultrawideband wimax wwan gps fm

Not sure what I am doing here.

N4RPS as far as that switching is concerned I just tried that now. (did not seem anything changed) and I don't remember having to do that when I had Zorn os 7 lite installed. So I am not sure if that does anything at all. I am going to reboot and see.
Please let me know if you find anything else.
Thanks