Dell Vostro 5480 (Ubuntu) can not connect to Wifi

on the panel at the top of the screen there should be a slice of pie, click on that to see the available wifi in your area, yours should be among that list.

make sure to enable networking,
find your own and click on it and enter the routers password.

This is just a start, let us know if any of the above can be done.

thanks for replying,,
I have check it, there is a check-mark on 'enable networking' but I cannot find any available wifi.. btw, i am using wired modem right now, so there is also 'wired connection 2'

is there something wrong with my hardware or maybe driver?

(this is my first time using Ubuntu)

You mention a router and a modem. Is the router plugged into the modem. Is the Vostro plugged into the router?

This problem is NOT answered yet, so it remains open.

I am sorry for living this conversation yesterday.
I am using a wifi modem, but since i can find any wifi available on Ubuntu, i plug my modem to my Vostro..

hi, would you please paste your output message of the command "lspci -nnvv" to identify which wifi chipset you are using?

ok.. Here you go..

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI [8086:1604] (rev 09)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics [8086:1616] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 64
 Region 0: Memory at f5000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
 Region 2: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
 Region 4: I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
 Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: i915

00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller [8086:160c] (rev 09)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 65
 Region 0: Memory at f7414000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller [8086:9cb1] (rev 03) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 58
 Region 0: Memory at f7400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd

00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 [8086:9cba] (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 62
 Region 0: Memory at f741c000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: mei_me

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller [8086:9ca0] (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 32, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 63
 Region 0: Memory at f7410000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 [8086:9c90] (rev e3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
 Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
 BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
  PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #2 [8086:9c92] (rev e3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
 Memory behind bridge: f7300000-f73fffff
 Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- <SERR- <PERR-
 BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
  PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 [8086:9c94] (rev e3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=06, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
 Memory behind bridge: f7200000-f72fffff
 Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- <SERR- <PERR-
 BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
  PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #4 [8086:9c96] (rev e3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=07, subordinate=07, sec-latency=0
 Memory behind bridge: f7100000-f71fffff
 Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- <SERR- <PERR-
 BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
  PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 [8086:9c98] (rev e3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Bus: primary=00, secondary=08, subordinate=08, sec-latency=0
 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
 Memory behind bridge: f6000000-f70fffff
 Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e0000000-00000000f1ffffff
 Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
 BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
  PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB EHCI Controller [8086:9ca6] (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 23
 Region 0: Memory at f741a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller [8086:9cc3] (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich

00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] [8086:9c83] (rev 03) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0
 Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 60
 Region 0: I/O ports at f0b0 [size=8]
 Region 1: I/O ports at f0a0 [size=4]
 Region 2: I/O ports at f090 [size=8]
 Region 3: I/O ports at f080 [size=4]
 Region 4: I/O ports at f060 [size=32]
 Region 5: Memory at f7419000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller [8086:9ca2] (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 4
 Region 0: Memory at f7418000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
 Region 4: I/O ports at f040 [size=32]

05:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5227 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5227] (rev 01)
 Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5227 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5227]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 59
 Region 0: Memory at f7300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci

06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 10)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:069a]
 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 61
 Region 0: I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
 Region 2: Memory at f7204000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
 Region 4: Memory at f7200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>
 Kernel driver in use: r8169

07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 [8086:095a] (rev 3b)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:5412]
 Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
 Region 0: Memory at f7100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8K]
 Capabilities: <access denied>

08:00.0 3D controller [0302]: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 830M] [10de:1340] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
 !!! Unknown header type 7f

1) get the network name of the modem
2) click on the Ubuntu icon at the top of the column of icons on the left of the screen
3) click on the 'A' icon along the bottom of the screen (should show a list of apps)
4) expand this list by clicking on the (installed) see xx more results
5) click "Network connections'

The Network connections screen should show a "wired connection",
but also a "WI-FI" list

If no Wi-FI list click the add button and select Wi-Fi, add this to the list.
6) in the list of apps get the app called "Network"
7) In this app is a button "connect to hidden network"
8) click on that and enter the modem name from 1)

Get back here for more info when that is all done.

On "Network Connections" there isn't any Wi-Fi list..So, I click "Add" button and It tells me to "choose a Connection Type", then I choose Wi-Fi and then click "create".

Then, it shows 5 tab (General; Wifi-Security; IP4v-Setting;IPv6-Setting)

In "Wi-fi" tab, it tells me to fill in "Connection Name"; "SSID";"Mode" (either "infrastucture" or "ad hoc"); Device Mac Addres; "Cloned Mac Address"; and MTU..

So, list of apps (number 6) and the rest are not there..

What should I do then ??

Do you have the network name of the modem you are using. You should have received that with the documentation about the modem. If you do not have that, contact the modem manufacturer

Place that name in the "SSID" location, "Mode SB infrastructure, Device Mac Address will be picked up when the connection is made

As far as the apps is concerned, there are more, go to #4) and see if you have the more results.

Go to go, but will be back shortly

Please provide the output of the terminal commands

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
sudo lshw -C network
rfkill list
sudo iwlist scan | grep -Ei 'chan|ssid'

 Uname -a
Linux agung-Vostro-14-5480 3.13.0-36-generic #63+hwe3-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 18 15:53:49 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lsb_release -crid:
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty

sido lshw -C network:
*-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 10
       serial: b8:2a:72:f8:c2:b9
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168g-3_0.0.1 04/23/13 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:61 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f7204000-f7204fff memory:f7200000-f7203fff
  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Network controller
       product: Wireless 7265
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       version: 3b
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f7100000-f7101fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: eth1
       serial: 1c:4b:d6:b5:17:a2
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=cdc_ether driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=CDC Ethernet Device ip=192.168.1.168 link=yes multicast=yes

rfkill list:
0: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

sudo iwlist scan | grep -Ei 'chan|ssid':
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1 Interface doesn't support scanning.

lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

There is no driver loaded for your Intel Wireless 7265 device.

What is the output of the commands

dmesg | egrep 'iwl|firm'
sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
sudo modprobe iwlwifi
sudo lshw -C network

Just as an additional remark: Your system is running old versions of the software, it seems that several security updates are missing.
e.g. you are running kernal version 3.13.0-36 from Sep 2014, the current version is 3.13.0-61 from July 29 2015
Is there a specific reason that you are not installing updates?

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Needs information' state without activity for the last 15 days.