[SOLVED] Wireless Driver Problem - Zorin OS 9

I have an HP dv6700 with internal Broadcom wireless card. I used Wine to extract the current Windows driver and successfully added it via Menu>System Tools>Administration>Windows Wireless Drivers (had to install ndiswrapper). It is the only driver listed under "Currently Installed Windows Drivers". The name is bcmwl6 and Hardware present says "Yes". However, it will not turn on. This same wireless card works perfectly with Ubuntu 12.04 on a different hard drive. When I open Software & Updates in System Settings and select the Additional Drivers Tab it lists "Broadcom Corporation: BCM4311 802.11 Wireless LAN Controller” and says "This device is not working" and has "Do not use the device" selected. It shows "Using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl-kernel-source (proprietary)” as an option, but when I select that option and “Apply Changes”, the progress bar hangs and will not complete. I removed the Windows driver before trying this. I can use an old D-Link wireless USB adapter, but would prefer my internal Broadcom.

Perhaps I should try an ethernet cable connection and not my D-Link before “Apply Changes” as noted above? Could there be a conflict with D-Link wireless active? I'll need to borrow a friend's ethernet for that. Perhaps there is a problem with the Server handling this additional driver?

Any suggestions?

Hi, please be patient, madvinegar is the resident wireless expert!

Where is my manners, Welcome to Zorin!

Attached are some screenshots to help with debugging. Please note that each time I install a Windows Wireless driver I get the attached ndiswrapper_bug error, but after closing, it shows the driver installed. I've attached a few more screenshots to confirm there should be no problem with the Windows driver. I also tried installing an older Windows driver from my Vista OS that was already extracted. It appears to install as well, but will not connect. The Wireless off/on switch has a yellow indicator light that changes to blue when wireless networks are detected. It stays yellow.

Thanks for your help,

OUgrad

Just to clarify...the wireless card off/on switch for my HP Pavilion dv6500 slides left (off) and right (on). After I boot Windows Vista and Ubuntu 12.04, the indicator light for the switch is yellow (off) and blue (on) whether I am connected to the Internet or not. With Zorin OS 9, the light remains yellow in the on position with the Windows Wireless driver installed as described above.

OUgrad

Correction to my last reply...I had a dv6500 before the System Board failed. The only replacement I could find was a dv6700 System Board. Both use the same wireless card and wireless Windows drivers. The Hard Drive with Ubuntu 12.04 installed worked with both Boards and booted immediately with no problems after I installed the dv6700 Board. I replaced the Board about three months ago.

Sorry for the confusion above regarding HP model numbers dv6500 and dv6700...

OUgrad

I believe that 99% you do not need ndiswrapper. BCM4311 needs the b43 driver.
Ndiswrapper is the last resort if there is no native linux driver for our network card or if it does not work properly.
When possible, please post back the results of the following terminal command, and I will let you know what to do.

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

Screenshot attached with your Terminal Command. Thanks for your help.

OUgrad

OK do the following:

Plug an ethernet cable to get internet, open terminal and run the following commands the one after the other, pressing <enter> after each one.

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe b43

Your wireless should spring to life. A restart may be needed. (there is a small chance your system to freeze after the last command. Don't worry. Do a hard reboot and your wireless should be ok after the reboot).

Will do in about 12 hours and report back. By hard reboot (only if needed) do you mean holding down the power button until shutdown, somehow using ctrl>alt>del, or something else?

Thanks again,

OUgrad

Yes, by holding down the power button.
But, this is only just in case your system freezes. It will probably not. I am just saying this because I have a laptop that uses the same card as yours, and whilst in the past (previous linux versions) all was going smoothly with the wireless driver installation, after ubuntu 13.10, I get a freeze after installing the driver. Ofcourse, after a reboot, all is working ok.

So I thought I might prepare you accordingly, just in case...

Thanks - it did not hang, but there is a problem with install.

When I run the Terminal commands it asks to insert a disc and press enter - see attached. Is that the installation DVD I burned from the 64-bit Core ISO? If so, I did not have it with me while at my friend's house with the Ethernet cable connection. The commands do not work. I tried twice. I guess I need what it's asking for in the Terminal commands attached? Please confirm and clarify what disc I need if not the installation DVD.

The attached Terminal screenshot was from the second run after restart. It was asking for the same disc the first time as well.

Thanks,

OUgrad

You don't need the DVD. I suppose you just need to untick the DVD source from your update sources and keep only the main source/server to download.
See the picture: http://i.stack.imgur.com/km8H6.png
You have to untick the box that says "cd rom with ubuntu trusty tahr".
(Go to menu > settings > software and updates)

And just to be sure, before running the commands I told you in my previous post, run also the two below commands so as to update your system.

Code:

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

and then

Code:

sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
sudo modprobe -r b43
sudo modprobe b43

P.S.Just to check, you did have internet connection (through ethernet) when you run the commands, correct? Make sure you do have internet when running the commands otherwise I can tell you how to enable your wifi online.

Good news with reservations. This post is using my built-in wireless card - hooray!

Your procedure had to be modified slightly (see below) and after running your first software update command from Terminal, it listed eight "duplicate sources" and suggests I run apt-get update to correct these problems. Perhaps I should try that? See screenshot.

I was not able to modify the Software & Updates window per your instructions. The bottom section "Installable from CD-ROM/DVD" is dim below and cannot be clicked on to un-check anything - see screenshot.

So, after updating, I ran the five Terminal commands to install the wireless driver. However, it asked for my DVD again which I inserted and continued the remaining commands. At that point it did hang, so I performed a hard shutdown. On restart, it ran an error check while booting, but after starting, no wireless. I then ran the two update commands again and the five wireless driver commands. This time it did not ask for my DVD and restarted without hang. After this restart, the wireless came to life.

My main concern at this point is the duplicate sources described above. I would like to fix that. Also, my inability to modify the Software & Updates window per your instructions is a concern. I could always perform a clean reinstall of this OS to see if any of these problems go away.

Thanks for your help getting the driver installed and any more suggestions about my remaining concerns.

OUgrad

Can I see a screenshot of the "other software" tab in software and updates?

Here they are with some overlap. Also, I forgot to mention that I was using an Ethernet cable connection (not D-Link USB adapter) to run your Terminal commands.

On the first screenshot, all the way up, uncheck the box that says "cdrom".

Also, check the 2 boxes that say "canonical partners".

Finally, as you see, you have a lot of duplicate entries. Uncheck the duplicate ones and leave only one instance of them.

For example, leave only one instance of "recommended updates" and "recommended updates (source)"
Also, one instance of "important security updates" and "important security updates (source)"

It will ask you to refresh. Answer yes.

Will do in about 12 hours when I have Hi-Speed Internet access at the Library. I only have dialup here at home and am communicating via Windows 7 PC. If I check both Canonical Partners boxes (with and without Source Code), won't that create a duplicate entry like the others? Is it better to leave the one with Source Code or without Source Code? I assume I should pick the same option for all.

This Other Software tab is a little confusing. I thought the Software Updater at Menu>System Tools>Administration worked like Ubuntu and only got what was missing. I see your point about duplicate entries, but have no idea how they got there. I have never used this tab and know nothing about how it works. Is there a tutorial on how to use this tab including the five buttons at bottom - Add, Edit, Remove, Revert and Add Volume?

Thanks again for your help.

OUgrad

Click both canonical partner boxes. It is not a duplicate entry (the one is source).

Do the same for the other boxes just as I told you.

I made the changes as instructed - see Other_Software screenshots.

I then restarted and ran your update commands here.

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

However, I'm still getting the same eight "duplicate sources" - see Terminal screenshot.

I then ran the Software Updater under Administration and it says I'm up-to-date - see screenshot.

I could perform a clean reinstall with Internet connection via D-Link to get updates during installation. Or, I'm willing to try any other suggestions to work out the bugs first.

OUgrad

Two more observations...

The Zorin Software tab in Software & Updates still shows “Installable from CD-ROM/DVD” at the bottom and “To install from a CD-ROM or DVD, insert the medium into the drive” in the space below, still dim and not clickable – same as previous screenshot above.

The Zorin Software tab shows “Download from: Main server”. I changed it from USA server to Main server a few days ago. However, while running your Terminal update command “sudo apt-get update” I noticed it was using the USA server.

Finally, my current installation of OS 9 was while connected to the Internet via D-Link USB Wireless Adapter and receiving updates during install. I'm using a dedicated hard drive with nothing but 64-bit OS 9 Core installed. Perhaps there is a way to tweak the initial installation to avoid these bugs?

You did not untick the correct boxes. I said leave one (1) instance of "recommended updates" - You have left two.
I said leave one (1) instance of "important security updates" - you have left four.

Yes indeed - will try again.

Thanks,

OUgrad

It worked! You are a genius - thanks.

See Terminal Command Updates screenshot with no duplicates and Other Software screenshots. Should I remove the Other Software unchecked duplicates next?

OUgrad

Great! Glad I helped.

Since all is working ok (do a reboot just in case and see if all is ok after the reboot), then yes you can delete the duplicate entries.

300 blue jewels to madvinegar!

Just to confirm, all is well after reboot and after removing duplicate entries in Other Software.

Hopefully, if others have similar issues with wireless drivers and/or Other Software, they will reply to this thread so we can get an idea of how widespread my experience was among other Zorin OS 9 users. If I'm not the exception, Zorin Developers may want to fix this via future updates.

Thanks again madvinegar,

OUgrad