[SOLVED] Zorin not starting unless USB is in

First im a total newbie and all the terms in here are just a bit overwhelming . I have always been a Win user and i tried Ubuntu years ago and only lasted a week on my system because the learning curve was way to steep for me at the time. Now i find Zorin and i think its my time to try again.i installed or tried to install win7 but every time it failed because of bad clusters on the HD so i tried Ubuntu first and it worked fine then i found zorin and wanted to test it so i installed telling zorin to delete all partitions and install as only OS
so i installed Zorin onto a usb(using Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.1.0) and when it first booted the system i chose to install , all went well it installed no problem or errors, so after playing with zorin for a while i shutdown the machine and all was fine , next day i turn the computer on and all it did was go to a command prompt sort of just a _ blinking but nothing else ever happened , so i turned the machine off and started it again and this time i hit F9 to chose were i wanted to boot from and i chose the USB were zorin is and the machine booted fine next time i rebooted the machine same problem. Booting from the usb gives me Grub with some options like:


zorin with Linux 3.2.0.24 generic-pae
' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' (recovery mode)
memory test (memtest86+)
memory test ( memtest86+ serial console 115200)

i chose the first option and all is fine but if the USB is not present on the machine i only get the blinking prompt and nothing else??? what did i do wrong?
BTW Im using a Compaq mini 110c
1gig mem
250gig HD with some bad sectors
Intel Atom

You have installed the grub boot loader in the usb rather than your /sda.

To correct it try this. Boot to zorin using a live usb or CD.
Confirm that sda is your main partition with linux in it by running

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

Then open terminal and write

Code:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

madvinegar wrote:You have installed the grub boot loader in the usb rather than your /sda.

To correct it try this. Boot to zorin using a live usb or CD.
Confirm that sda is your main partition with linux in it by running

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

Then open terminal and write

Code:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Thank you madvinegar that worked i booted the system and grub came up and booted normally into zorin ,now my problem is my WiFi does not work, i don't have access to the physical router so i cant connect it directly with a cable, i been reading around for ways to fix that and tried the one downloading the drivers and using the .inf and using the windows wireless drivers but had no luck whatsoever. Under hardware additional drivers it tells me about the broadcom STA drivers and i hit activate but always get the same error it says downloading and then the error "installation of this driver failed."
any help with that will be appreciated and remember be as detailed as possible as im just getting my feet wet in this OS and the terms are not all clear yet and procedures too.
Thanks

Ok first of all lets identify your driver.
Post here the outcome of the following 3 commands

Code:

lspci | grep Network
sudo lshw -c network
sudo rfkill list all

first command :

alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$ lspci | grep Network
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$

second command:

alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$ sudo lshw -c network
[sudo] password for alexd51-2:
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:feafc000-feafffff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: AR8132 Fast Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: c0
serial: 18:a9:05:8e:86:a0
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.0-NAPI firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
resources: irq:44 memory:febc0000-febfffff ioport:ec80(size=128)
alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$

Third command:

alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$ sudo rfkill list all
1: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
alexd51-2@alexd512-Mini-110c:~$

Ok. Your card is BCM4312. All you need to do is plug for 3 seconds an ethernet cable on your laptop and install the recomended Broadcom driver from additional drivers (and then reboot). I know that the router is not next to you but could you take your laptop in your hands and do the above procedure? or to any working router (i.e. a friend's router etc).
This is the easiest way by far to install the driver. (You were getting the error because you had no internet to download the driver).
If it is impossible, tell me if you have a live CD of ubuntu 12.04.

Also I see that your wifi is hard blocked. This means that you have a wifi switch somewhere that is turned OFF. Find it and turn it back on.
After you do, run in terminal

Code:

sudo rfkill unblock all

and then post back again the result of

Code:

sufo rfkill list all

to check if actually your wifi is unblocked.

I have Ubuntu already as a iso on my laptop, and at least at home i cant take the laptop to the router because is in a room that people in the house have no access to except the landlord and he only comes by in a emergency or to collect rent lol as per taking it to a friends house maybe. going back to the ubuntu cd is there a way to get the drivers from there is that why you mentioned that??
BTW there is a switch on the computer for the WiFi its not a slide to one side or another its sort of like a rocker switch you can only push one way and it goes back to the original starting place and i already tried to turn it on or off with no change. i ran those commands in terminal and got,
wireless LAN
Soft Blocked:no
Hard blocked:no
hp wifi:wireless LAN
soft blocked:no
Hard blocked:yes
looked in the settings and the only switch there that was on was the airplane mode and i switch to off but the switch to turn wireless LAN there will not let me move it.

Ok, do this.
Prepare a live cd or a live usb of ubuntu 12.04.
Start Zorin as usual, log into your desktop and then insert the cd/usb of ubuntu 12.04.

Browse through the files of the CD and install the following deb packages:
1. /pool/main/d/dkms
2. /pool/main/p/patch
3. /pool/main/f/fakeroot
4. /pool/restricted/b/bcmwl
(The deb files are located inside the above files. You just need to double click them, the ubuntu software center will open and then you click on "install").

After all the above have been installed, open terminal and write:

Code:

jockey-gtk

This will open the additional drivers.

Click to enable/activate the recomended STA broadcom driver. Hopefully this time it will be installed.

Then again in terminal write the following (to remove the b43 driver. Yours is wl).

Code:

sudo modprobe –r b43 ssb wl

An then in terminal write

Code:

sudo modprobe wl

so as to load your driver (wl).

Let me know if it worked.

OK i did what you said i installed Ubuntu 12.04 on a USB and then
Browse through the files of the CD and install the following deb packages:
tried the first and it will not give me the option to install the button is there but it cant be pressed.
1. /pool/main/d/dkms
2. /pool/main/p/patch
tried the second and there was no patch in the p folder so i stopped there

How come i installed Ubuntu before i installed Zorin and i had no problem with the wireless but i do with zorin???
im sorry i have taken so much of your time madvinegar its just a headache ,i tried Mint and had the same problem with the wireless same as zorin.
just let me know what you think i should do ,didn't like Ubuntu that much but it looks like that is the way i will have to go to get this mini netbook to work.

The difference is that the broadcom drivers come preinstalled in ubuntu but not in Zorin and Mint.
As I told you, the easiest way of doing it is plug an ethernet cable for 3 seconds and download/activate the broadcom driver from additional drivers.

Are you sure you could not find the files? Before I posted them here, I searched them one by one to verify that they are there. I used a CD not a USB with ubuntu 12.04. Maybe you should prepare a live CD. Do not boot into the ubuntu live CD. Boot into Zorin and then just browse through the contents of the ubuntu live CD.

We could try once more installing the deb files through the terminal. I don't remember the path exactly. I will confirm tomorrow but you can amend it accordingly.

Code:

sudo dpkg -i /media/ubuntu_12.04_LTS_i386/pool/main/d/dkms/name-of-deb-file.deb
sudo dpkg -i /media/ubuntu_12.04_LTS_i386/pool/main/p/patch/name-of-deb-file.deb
sudo dpkg -i /media/ubuntu_12.04_LTS_i386/pool/main/f/fakeroot/name-of-deb-file.deb
sudo dpkg -i /media/ubuntu_12.04_LTS_i386/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/name-of-deb-file.deb

You get the idea.

I did the USB because the netbook i installed Zorin into does not have a DVD or CD drive as is a mini and only USB would work. I have a external DVD that im looking for right now because i have not used it in ages see if i can do the CD that way

Ok, I will also check tomorrow (I have the ubuntu CD in the office) to verify the paths of the commands I gave you.

ok so i begged my neighbor to let me connect to her network and i downloaded the drivers they installed and asked me to restart the computer so i did. but now i go to the networks settings and before there was a wireless and now is gone? it say that the drivers are installed but not in use ??

swarfendor437 wrote:No guarantees, but look at the various workarounds posted here (known bug):

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/989610

Tried the first workaround but nothing and just got a headache just imagining doing the second workaround ,im a newbie with Linux and most of these commands if not all i have no clue what the heck im doing . you can give me a command to delete all in my HD and i will not know the difference.

swarfendor437 wrote:OK, fair enough! Please be patient and wait for madvinegar to respond - if anyone can get your wireless sorted - He's the Man!

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

Ok. Please give me again the results of the following commands:

Code:

sudo lshw -c network
lsmod
sudo rfkill list all

Also do a

Code:

sudo modprobe wl

and see if the wireless works. If not, post here the error.

madvinegar wrote:

swarfendor437 wrote:OK, fair enough! Please be patient and wait for madvinegar to respond - if anyone can get your wireless sorted - He's the Man!

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

Ok. Please give me again the results of the following commands:

Code:

sudo lshw -c network
lsmod
sudo rfkill list all

Also do a

Code:

sudo modprobe wl

and see if the wireless works. If not, post here the error.

Ok sir you are the MAN !!!!!!!!!!
I have no clue what those commands did but after hitting enter with "sudo modprobe wl" the network flag just came up and told me there was networks available ??? hey im not questioning it im just curious what did i just do? and BTW what does sudo men? or what is it im telling the machine because it always ask me for a pass when i use that kind of command?
Also i looked around for terminal comands for Linux and they are prety close if not the same as i used back in the day for DOS , pretty cool reeliving those DOS days lol.

Again Thank You "madvinegar" for all the help ,you are the man.

You are welcome and I am very glad I helped!
Ok, since you are curious and it is good to learn and to know 1-2 things I will explain:

First of all "wl" is your wireless card's driver. It is the latest driver of the BCM4312 LP-PHY cards. (the old one used to be "B43").
"modprobe" is the command that you use in order to load a module/driver. (in our case was "wl").
"sudo" is the command you use in order to get admin rights when "ordering" the computer to do something that will change basic/root files (and this is why it asks for your password). If you just wrote "modprobe wl" the command would not get through. You need to write "sudo modprobe wl" to tell your laptop that you are the admin and that you want to load the "wl" driver/module.

The first commands were just to get information about the driver/system after you have installed the driver.
"lspci" (list pci) is to show you a list of all internal hardware of your PC (i.e. GPU, wireless cards etc).
"lsusb" (list usb) is to give you information about devices that are pluged on your USB ports (plus for webcameras even if internal).
"lsmod" (list modules) is to show you the list of installed modules in your pc.
"sudo lshw" (list hardware) is to show you analytically your PC's hardware, what drivers are used for each hardware etc. If you write the command as "sudo lshw -c network" you are asking from the terminal to show to you only all details regarding network.

Finally, "sudo rfkill list all" is to show you if any of your modules about network and bluetooth are blocked. (either soft blocked or hard blocked).
You need to write "sudo rfkill list unblock all" to unblock them (unless you need to turn a switch ON).

Trust above give you an idea.

What I would like from you is to reboot and test if your wireless works after the reboot. If not we will have to add the driver on startup.
Let me know.

What I would like from you is to reboot and test if your wireless works after the reboot. If not we will have to add the driver on startup.
Let me know.

ok how do we load them into start up? i reboot and when it came back on there was no network.
and thanks for the little class now i know what i was doing, looking online for more info on Linux and commands and such, i loved DOS back in the day now im starting to like Linux that same way. A point and click is easy but command line and knowing what you need to tell the computer what you want her to do is just POWER LOL

Ok do the following:

open terminal and write

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

A file will open. In the end of this file, at a new line, add the word

wl

Save, exit, reboot and see if it works.

OK i did that and reboot and it was working, doing some updates 367 to be exact damm and i will reboot and see if its all good.

Again thank you . i will be bothering you again if something goes wrong lol

We are here to help!
Let me know if all is ok after the updates so as to mark the topic as solved.

madvinegar wrote:We are here to help!
Let me know if all is ok after the updates so as to mark the topic as solved.

I am pretty sure you can set this one as solved . The machine froze with all the updates so had to reboot and unchecked half of the update to do them in batches , after reboot all working fine.

One more time Thank you ,you are the man !!!!!!!

Just to let you know, I usually prefer to do the updates via terminal (in order to avoid possible freeze-ups of the software center).

Just to know, when/if you want to update, make sure you are connected to the internet, open terminal and write these two commands

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

I will mark the topic as solved.
Signature
The man

Great i will give those commands a test run i rather learn all the commands i can instead of using the point and click .
Thank you .
You The Man....
Who the man???
"madvinegar" is the MAN