[Resolved itself] Wireless issues

[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]

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]

Hi, ohjrson

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

Code: [Select]

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

[Jerry]

Moved to Networking section.

[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