Ubuntu

Dell Laptop can't use wireless

Asked by Richard Emmerson

I have Ubuntu 14.04 LTS newly installed on a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop with Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN mini-card. Despite several attempts using advice from documentation, I can still not get Ubuntu to recognise this wireless set-up, and it only connects using wired Ethernet.

When running Windows 7 on the same machine it works fine with this wireless.

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actionparsnip
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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

What Windows does or does't do is of near zero value.It works in Windows because the drivers and configuration are correct.

If you use a wired connection and get fully updated and reboot it may help. You can also use the additional driver app to install drivers. Dells frequently use cheap Broadcom WiFi which is a snap to install.

You can see the wireless chip with:

sudo lshw -C network

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Richard Emmerson (richard-emmerson) said : 		#2

I used the additional driver app and the problem is solved. Many thanks