Ubuntu

No wired or wireless network connection on Dell Inspiron e1705 after installing 12.04 LTS

Asked by David Winiecki

I'm trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit on a Dell Inspiron e1705 laptop. This machine previously had Windows XP. That installation and any useful drivers it had were erased.

I have gone through the installation process 3 times. The first and second times there was no Internet connection during installation. The first and second times an ethernet cable was not plugged in during installation.

After the first install, I did plug it into a router with an ethernet cable after rebooting, but it didn't connect. I didn't attempt to fix the wired connection, only the wireless. The only interface listed by ifconfig was lo.

At one point while trying to get wireless working after the second install, eth1 randomly appeared in ifconfig, and then I plugged in the ethernet cable and it connected to the Internet. But then I rebooted and tried to reproduce the connection and nothing worked.

The third time I installed Ubuntu, an ethernet cable was plugged in (to the router connecting my other computer to the Internet), and the Ubuntu installer recognized it and used it to install updates during installation.

But even now, after installing updates during installation, it doesn't connect through the ethernet cable after booting up.

ifconfig prints only one interface, lo.

/etc/network/interfaces only has an entry for lo.

lshw reports:

...

*-network
description: Network controller
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=wl latency=0
resources: irq:17 memory:efdfc000-efdfffff

...

*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: memory:ef9fe000-ef9fffff

...

There is an LED on the computer to signal if the wifi is on. It has been off at least since I installed Ubuntu the first time. This isn't my computer and I've only occasionally used it in the past so I don't know if the wifi light was normally on or not. pushing fn+F2 (where there is a little radio tower symbol) does not turn the light on.

I've tried a lot of stuff, listed below, but haven't found any reliable solutions. I've mostly been trying to get the wireless working. Maybe it's time to start focusing on the wired connection.

ndiswrapper:

Downloaded ndiswrapper-1.58 (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Main_Page) and did tar -xvf ndiswrapper-1.58.tar.gz (I might not have this command exactly correct, I actually just double clicked it in Finder on my Mac, but I did test that tar command just now).

Downloaded sp32156.exe driver (from http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&softwareitem=ob-38773-1, which is currently recommended at http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Broadcom_BCM4311) and decompressed it with keka (which is an OS X app like 7zip).

Moved these to Ubuntu with USB drive

cd ndiswrapper-1.58
make
sudo make install
cd ..
ndiswrapper # Just to test that it's installed.
cd sp32156
ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
ndiswrapper -m
cat /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf
# There was an entry for wlan0.
ifconfig wlan0
# Got an error message like wlan0 not found.
(That's the end of the ndiswrapper stuff I tried.)

Tried installing these, but the second one tries to download something from the web:
b43-fwcutter_017-2_i386.deb
firmware-b43-installer_017-2_all.deb

I don't remember what happened with this, but it didn't work.
bcmwl-kernel-source_5.60.48.36+bdcom-0ubuntu3_i386.deb

Tried Commenting out bcm43xx in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, probably in combination with some other stuff, but that didn't seem to work.

But one of the above may have been what made eth1 come on at one point, I don't know.

I also tried a couple of other things...

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David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#1

$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
# This file was automatically generated by the /lib/udev/write_net_rules
# program, run by the persistent-net-generator.rules rules file.
#
# You can modify it, as long as you keep each rule on a single
# line, and change only the value of the NAME= key.

# PCI device 0x14e4:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:03:00.0/ssb1:0 (b44)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:14:22:f2:14:d3", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

# PCI device 0x14e4:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:03:00.0/ssb2:0 (b44)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:14:22:f2:14:d3", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth1"

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#2

$ sudo ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
Cannot get device settings: No such device
Cannot get wake-on-lan settings: No such device
Cannot get message level: No such device
Cannot get link status: No such device
No data available

$ sudo ethtool eth1
Settings for eth1:
Cannot get device settings: No such device
Cannot get wake-on-lan settings: No such device
Cannot get message level: No such device
Cannot get link status: No such device
No data available

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#3

It turned on (seemingly randomly again) after I did this and restarted the machine:

    1 ifconfig
    2 ls
    3 ls Desktop/
    4 ls Downloads/
    5 ifconfig
    6 exit
    7 ifconfig
    8 ifconfig eth1 up
    9 ifconfig lo
   10 ifconfig lo up
   11 sudo ifconfig lo up
   12 ifconfig lo
   13 sudo ifconfig lo down
   14 ifconfig
   15 sudo ifconfig lo up
   16 ifconfig
   17 man interfaces
   18 vi /etc/network/interfaces
   19 ls
   20 ifconfig
   21 vi /etc/network/interfaces
   22 ifconfig
   23 exit
   24 vi /etc/network/interfaces
   25 history
   26 ifconfig
   27 lshw
   28 man lshw
   29 sudo lshw
   30 vi Desktop/lshw_output
   31 exit
   32 ls /etc/modprobe.d/
   33 vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
   34 lspci -nnk
   35 vi /etc/network/interfaces
   36 sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
   37 exit
   38 ifconfig
   39 sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
   40 exit
   41 lspci =nn
   42 lspci -nn
   43 lspci
   44 lspci -nn
   45 man lspci
   46 lspci
   47 lspci -nn | tail
   48 lshw
   49 ls
   50 netstat -i
   51 netstat
   52 sudo dhclient
   53 ifconfig
   54 vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
   55 cat /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
   56 vi Desktop/rules.txt
   57 exit
   58 ifconfig
   59 exit
   60 cd Desktop/
   61 sudo dpkg -i ethtool_3.1-1_i386.deb
   62 sudo ethtool eth0
   63 sudo ethtool eth1
   64 sudo ethtool lo
   65 sudo ethtool wlan0
   66 vi ethtool_output.txt
   67 exit
   68 sudo service network-manager stop
   69 sudo ifconfig eth0 up
   70 sudo service network-manager start
   71 exit
   72 man dpkg
   73 dpkg purge ethtool
   74 dpkg --help | less
   75 dpkg --purge ethtool
   76 sudo dpkg --purge ethtool
   77 ethtool
   78 exit
   79 sudo apt-get ==purge bcmwl-kernel-source
   80 sudo apt-get --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
   81 sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
   82 ifconfig
   83 lspci
   84 ls /etc/modprobe.d/
   85 vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
   86 ifconfig
   87 sudo dpkg -i Desktop/broadcom-sta-common_5.100.82.112-4_all.deb
   88 exit
   89 sudo dpkg -i Desktop/broadcom-sta-common_5.100.82.112-4_all.deb
   90 exit
   91 history
   92 history > history_of_success.txt

But "sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source" was frozen on some initramfs update trigger step thing for a long time, so I closed the terminal window. And when I tried "sudo dpkg -i Desktop/broadcom-sta-common_5.100.82.112-4_all.deb " it said that dpkg was still busy, or another process had locked something. So it seemed like neither was a success, but after restarting after those two commands the wired ethernet started working.

I tried reinstalling Ubuntu fresh a 4th time, and tried to reproduce this, but again neither the wired or wireless connections work.

Both of the times the wired ethernet was working (in the 2nd and 3rd installs) I was doing something with bcmwl-kernel-source, and in both of those cases it had recently frozen on the initramfs part for a long time, until I decided to give up and close the terminal window. Maybe there's a pattern there. In this 4th install, I tried
sudo dpkg -i Desktop/broadcom-sta-common_5.100.82.112-4_all.deb
and then
sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source
Maybe I should purge bcmwl-kernel-source first...

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#5

That looks extremely promising. I will hopefully have a chance to try it out tonight. Thank you!

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#6

That page (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx) appears to be focused on wireless drivers. The section titled "wl - Proprietary Broadcom STA Wireless driver" lists my wireless device, bcm4311, so I tried following the instructions under "STA - No Internet access".

The output from uname -r matches one of the 3 headers found with dpkg --get-selections | grep headers, so I think I have the necessary linux-headers packages installed.

I tried following these instructions, using the files from the install media on USB:

" " "

../pool/main/d/dkms

cd /cdrom/pool/main/d/dkms
sudo dpkg -i dkms*

../pool/main/p/patch

cd /cdrom/pool/main/p/patch
sudo dpkg -i patch*

../pool/main/f/fakeroot

cd /cdrom/pool/main/f/fakeroot
sudo dpkg -i fakeroot*

../pool/restricted/b/bcmwl

cd /cdrom/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl
sudo dpkg -i bcmwl-kernel-source*

" " "

pool/main/p/patch does not exist in the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 32 bit install media I downloaded. The dkms and fakeroot packages install fine.

The bcmwl-kernel-source package seems to get pretty far, but after printing "dkms: install completed", it hangs. Pressing enter does nothing and ctrl+c prints an error saying I interrupted a subprocess.

I tried modprobe wl to see if maybe it works anyway, but that hangs as well.

I also tried sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl brcmfmac brcmsmac bcma and modprobe -r with each of those separately, and b43, ssb, and wl all hang. I haven't used strace much, but when I use it with those, it looks like they read a file like /sys/......./initstate over and over and over. The only thing inside that file for each of the corresponding modules is "coming".

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#7

More info.

" " "

~/Desktop/ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-i386/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl$ ls
bcmwl-kernel-source_6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1_i386.deb
~/Desktop/ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-i386/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl$ sudo dpkg -i bcmwl-kernel-source_6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 143303 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace bcmwl-kernel-source 6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1 (using bcmwl-kernel-source_6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1_i386.deb) ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Unpacking replacement bcmwl-kernel-source ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1) ...
Loading new bcmwl-6.20.155.1+bdcom DKMS files...
Building only for 3.5.0-23-generic
Building for architecture i686
Building initial module for 3.5.0-23-generic
Done.

wl:
Running module version sanity check.
 - Original module
   - No original module exists within this kernel
 - Installation
   - Installing to /lib/modules/3.5.0-23-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod....

DKMS: install completed.
^Cdpkg: error processing bcmwl-kernel-source (--install):
 subprocess installed post-installation script was interrupted
Errors were encountered while processing:
 bcmwl-kernel-source

" " "

I learned how to strace subprocesses, you use strace -f:

$ sudo strace -f dpkg -i ~/Desktop/ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-i386/pool/restricted/b/bcmwl/bcmwl-kernel-source_6.20.155.1+bdcom-0ubuntu0.0.1_i386.deb 2> fail_install_bcmwl_strace.txt > fail_install_bcmwl_strace.txt

I think the dpkg command hangs after printing "DKMS: install completed" because a subprocess repeats these steps forever:

[pid 16939] open("/sys/module/wl/initstate", O_RDONLY) = 3
[pid 16939] fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
[pid 16939] mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb771d000
[pid 16939] read(3, "coming\n", 4096) = 7
[pid 16939] close(3) = 0
[pid 16939] munmap(0xb771d000, 4096) = 0
[pid 16939] nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL) = 0

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#8

lsmod recently showed b44 and soon after eth1 started working. But since then b44 has not showed up in lsmod output, and I can't modprobe b44 because it hangs as described in my last comment.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#9

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

Revision history for this message
David Winiecki (david-winiecki) said : 		#10

I gave up on this, but for anyone possibly reading in the future, it may help to know that I had trouble getting the wireless working on Windows XP as well. I think the wired connection is still not working, I'll need to fix that. But I got the wireless connection working in Windows XP doing the following, using the same driver I was trying to use with Ubuntu and ndiswrapper, mentioned above. This may give clues how to get it working in Ubuntu.

Windows XP wireless driver setup

1. Download this driver and get it onto the computer, with a USB drive if necessary: sp32156.exe from http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?cc=us&lc=en&softwareitem=ob-38773-1
(This driver is currently recommended at http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Broadcom_BCM4311)
2. Open control panel.
3. Click system.
4. Click hardware. (Or similar. I'm doing this from memory from a week ago.)
5. Click Device manager.
6. Find the wireless adapter in the tree. Right click on it and select uninstall.
7. At the top of the tree, right click on the computer's name and select scan for new hardware.
8. It should detect the wireless adapter and begin setup. During setup there is an option to manually select a driver to install. Select the driver you downloaded in step 1.