How to install Linux and get wifi working on an old laptop without internet cable?
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
I have a really old laptop and no Linux so far had drivers built-in for it. I also don't have access to the router, so I can only use wifi, and I do want to be able to use wifi. So how do I get it working? I tried finding the package, but they just fail installation/don't work/require a few dozens of other packages. I only got a couple of Linux (out of over 10) booting up on it in the first place, and I did manage to get wifi working on Lubuntu awhile back when I had access to ethernet cable - took maybe 10 minutes to install all the packages (well, wait for them to be installed), but it worked after that.
The Wifi adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
linux wifi software-installation system-installation internet
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
I have a really old laptop and no Linux so far had drivers built-in for it. I also don't have access to the router, so I can only use wifi, and I do want to be able to use wifi. So how do I get it working? I tried finding the package, but they just fail installation/don't work/require a few dozens of other packages. I only got a couple of Linux (out of over 10) booting up on it in the first place, and I did manage to get wifi working on Lubuntu awhile back when I had access to ethernet cable - took maybe 10 minutes to install all the packages (well, wait for them to be installed), but it worked after that.
The Wifi adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
linux wifi software-installation system-installation internet
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Adding the output oflspciandlsusbcan help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.
– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
Please edit your question : Add thelspci -vvoutput relevant for "WiFi".lsusb -vv: The same. My example (ZyXEL) :$ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx→Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.
– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
2
Try theb43module :sudo modprobe -v b43
– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
I have a really old laptop and no Linux so far had drivers built-in for it. I also don't have access to the router, so I can only use wifi, and I do want to be able to use wifi. So how do I get it working? I tried finding the package, but they just fail installation/don't work/require a few dozens of other packages. I only got a couple of Linux (out of over 10) booting up on it in the first place, and I did manage to get wifi working on Lubuntu awhile back when I had access to ethernet cable - took maybe 10 minutes to install all the packages (well, wait for them to be installed), but it worked after that.
The Wifi adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
linux wifi software-installation system-installation internet
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
I have a really old laptop and no Linux so far had drivers built-in for it. I also don't have access to the router, so I can only use wifi, and I do want to be able to use wifi. So how do I get it working? I tried finding the package, but they just fail installation/don't work/require a few dozens of other packages. I only got a couple of Linux (out of over 10) booting up on it in the first place, and I did manage to get wifi working on Lubuntu awhile back when I had access to ethernet cable - took maybe 10 minutes to install all the packages (well, wait for them to be installed), but it worked after that.
The Wifi adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
linux wifi software-installation system-installation internet
linux wifi software-installation system-installation internet
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
edited May 5 at 9:24
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
asked May 5 at 6:50
Jack
12817
12817
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Adding the output oflspciandlsusbcan help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.
– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
Please edit your question : Add thelspci -vvoutput relevant for "WiFi".lsusb -vv: The same. My example (ZyXEL) :$ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx→Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.
– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
2
Try theb43module :sudo modprobe -v b43
– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19
|
show 1 more comment
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Adding the output oflspciandlsusbcan help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.
– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
Please edit your question : Add thelspci -vvoutput relevant for "WiFi".lsusb -vv: The same. My example (ZyXEL) :$ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx→Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.
– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
2
Try theb43module :sudo modprobe -v b43
– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Adding the output of
lspci and lsusb can help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
Adding the output of
lspci and lsusb can help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
Please edit your question : Add the
lspci -vv output relevant for "WiFi". lsusb -vv : The same. My example (ZyXEL) : $ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx → Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
Please edit your question : Add the
lspci -vv output relevant for "WiFi". lsusb -vv : The same. My example (ZyXEL) : $ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx → Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
2
2
Try the
b43 module : sudo modprobe -v b43– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19
Try the
b43 module : sudo modprobe -v b43– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19
|
show 1 more comment
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
I had the same problem with my oldest laptop, in order to solve the problem I recommend using Debian distribution or a flavour of it. Debian maintains plenty of devices' drivers, and on Debian wiki you can find a complete solution for bcm43xx network family card. Plus, on Ubuntu-forum, a user has provided a comprehensive solution to overcome the issue.
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Take out the harddisk of the laptop, connect harddisk to another computer with a working wifi, install some distribution with all the necessary drivers on it, put harddisk back in laptop, boot.
Alternatively: Prepare an USB stick with a live distribution which has all the necessary drivers, boot from USB stick (unless your laptop is really old, and can't boot from USB sticks).
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
The problem was that I needed to do this (for some reason Linux did not do this by default):
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
change the line managed=false to managed=true
Save, stop and start network manager:
sudo service network-manager restart
Took it from here after spending hours looking for a problem through info provided in my own thread (which is how I even got to the answer in the first place): https://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
You can install from DVD and install "firmware-iwlwifi_20161130-4~deb8u1_all.deb", or as mentioned above, put hard drive in another computer, select expert install and select to install all drivers. Since I dont like non-free firmware that I can not compile myself, I found it easier to buy a wifi card from ebay that debian had already included in their DVD ios for $3.99
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifiprovide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.
– GAD3R
yesterday
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "106"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f441926%2fhow-to-install-linux-and-get-wifi-working-on-an-old-laptop-without-internet-cabl%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
I had the same problem with my oldest laptop, in order to solve the problem I recommend using Debian distribution or a flavour of it. Debian maintains plenty of devices' drivers, and on Debian wiki you can find a complete solution for bcm43xx network family card. Plus, on Ubuntu-forum, a user has provided a comprehensive solution to overcome the issue.
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
I had the same problem with my oldest laptop, in order to solve the problem I recommend using Debian distribution or a flavour of it. Debian maintains plenty of devices' drivers, and on Debian wiki you can find a complete solution for bcm43xx network family card. Plus, on Ubuntu-forum, a user has provided a comprehensive solution to overcome the issue.
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
I had the same problem with my oldest laptop, in order to solve the problem I recommend using Debian distribution or a flavour of it. Debian maintains plenty of devices' drivers, and on Debian wiki you can find a complete solution for bcm43xx network family card. Plus, on Ubuntu-forum, a user has provided a comprehensive solution to overcome the issue.
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
I had the same problem with my oldest laptop, in order to solve the problem I recommend using Debian distribution or a flavour of it. Debian maintains plenty of devices' drivers, and on Debian wiki you can find a complete solution for bcm43xx network family card. Plus, on Ubuntu-forum, a user has provided a comprehensive solution to overcome the issue.
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
answered May 5 at 13:00
Esmaeil Mirzaee
17112
17112
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Take out the harddisk of the laptop, connect harddisk to another computer with a working wifi, install some distribution with all the necessary drivers on it, put harddisk back in laptop, boot.
Alternatively: Prepare an USB stick with a live distribution which has all the necessary drivers, boot from USB stick (unless your laptop is really old, and can't boot from USB sticks).
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
Take out the harddisk of the laptop, connect harddisk to another computer with a working wifi, install some distribution with all the necessary drivers on it, put harddisk back in laptop, boot.
Alternatively: Prepare an USB stick with a live distribution which has all the necessary drivers, boot from USB stick (unless your laptop is really old, and can't boot from USB sticks).
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Take out the harddisk of the laptop, connect harddisk to another computer with a working wifi, install some distribution with all the necessary drivers on it, put harddisk back in laptop, boot.
Alternatively: Prepare an USB stick with a live distribution which has all the necessary drivers, boot from USB stick (unless your laptop is really old, and can't boot from USB sticks).
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
Take out the harddisk of the laptop, connect harddisk to another computer with a working wifi, install some distribution with all the necessary drivers on it, put harddisk back in laptop, boot.
Alternatively: Prepare an USB stick with a live distribution which has all the necessary drivers, boot from USB stick (unless your laptop is really old, and can't boot from USB sticks).
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
answered May 5 at 15:36
dirkt
16.4k21335
16.4k21335
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
The problem was that I needed to do this (for some reason Linux did not do this by default):
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
change the line managed=false to managed=true
Save, stop and start network manager:
sudo service network-manager restart
Took it from here after spending hours looking for a problem through info provided in my own thread (which is how I even got to the answer in the first place): https://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
The problem was that I needed to do this (for some reason Linux did not do this by default):
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
change the line managed=false to managed=true
Save, stop and start network manager:
sudo service network-manager restart
Took it from here after spending hours looking for a problem through info provided in my own thread (which is how I even got to the answer in the first place): https://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
up vote
1
down vote
accepted
The problem was that I needed to do this (for some reason Linux did not do this by default):
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
change the line managed=false to managed=true
Save, stop and start network manager:
sudo service network-manager restart
Took it from here after spending hours looking for a problem through info provided in my own thread (which is how I even got to the answer in the first place): https://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
The problem was that I needed to do this (for some reason Linux did not do this by default):
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
change the line managed=false to managed=true
Save, stop and start network manager:
sudo service network-manager restart
Took it from here after spending hours looking for a problem through info provided in my own thread (which is how I even got to the answer in the first place): https://askubuntu.com/questions/71159/network-manager-says-device-not-managed
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
edited yesterday
Rui F Ribeiro
38.6k1479128
38.6k1479128
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
answered May 8 at 5:57
Jack
12817
12817
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
You can install from DVD and install "firmware-iwlwifi_20161130-4~deb8u1_all.deb", or as mentioned above, put hard drive in another computer, select expert install and select to install all drivers. Since I dont like non-free firmware that I can not compile myself, I found it easier to buy a wifi card from ebay that debian had already included in their DVD ios for $3.99
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifiprovide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.
– GAD3R
yesterday
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
You can install from DVD and install "firmware-iwlwifi_20161130-4~deb8u1_all.deb", or as mentioned above, put hard drive in another computer, select expert install and select to install all drivers. Since I dont like non-free firmware that I can not compile myself, I found it easier to buy a wifi card from ebay that debian had already included in their DVD ios for $3.99
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifiprovide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.
– GAD3R
yesterday
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
up vote
-1
down vote
You can install from DVD and install "firmware-iwlwifi_20161130-4~deb8u1_all.deb", or as mentioned above, put hard drive in another computer, select expert install and select to install all drivers. Since I dont like non-free firmware that I can not compile myself, I found it easier to buy a wifi card from ebay that debian had already included in their DVD ios for $3.99
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
You can install from DVD and install "firmware-iwlwifi_20161130-4~deb8u1_all.deb", or as mentioned above, put hard drive in another computer, select expert install and select to install all drivers. Since I dont like non-free firmware that I can not compile myself, I found it easier to buy a wifi card from ebay that debian had already included in their DVD ios for $3.99
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
user327030
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
user327030
61
answered yesterday
user327030
61
61
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
user327030 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifiprovide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.
– GAD3R
yesterday
add a comment |
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifiprovide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.
– GAD3R
yesterday
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
Welcome, As said it is a Broadcom wifi card not Intel.
– GAD3R
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
debian has packages for b43xx and b43legacy (wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx#supported-b43) if all fails, there is a possibility that your hardware is bad. As I said, I had some what of a similar issue. Spent 2 days research and 1 migraine later, I bought a used card from ebay. $3.99 later, problem was fixed on boot. I wish "i had a better answer for you,
– user327030
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifi provide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.– GAD3R
yesterday
firmware-iwlwifi provide the drivers for Intel wifi card. The last line in the question say it is a Broadcom wifi card. As you can see in the accepted answer it is not a driver problem.– GAD3R
yesterday
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Unix & Linux Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2funix.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f441926%2fhow-to-install-linux-and-get-wifi-working-on-an-old-laptop-without-internet-cabl%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Without giving the exact laptop model and the wifi chipset you won't get much help. Do you have some CDROM on that laptop? Some bootable USB port?
– Basile Starynkevitch
May 5 at 7:15
Adding the output of
lspciandlsusbcan help determine what pieces may be required: some WiFi chipsets need binary firmware in order to function, in addition to kernel modules. With the information that you provided, the answers that you will receive will be extremely general in nature as there have no specifics to base an answer on.– ErikF
May 5 at 7:30
@ErikF Thank yo ufor the suggestion! I edited the question, and the adapter is Broadcom Limited BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 01).
– Jack
May 5 at 9:24
Please edit your question : Add the
lspci -vvoutput relevant for "WiFi".lsusb -vv: The same. My example (ZyXEL) :$ lsusb -vv | grep -i zyx→Bus 002 Device 005 : ID 0586:3412 ZyXEL Communications Corp. 802.11bg ... idVendor : 0x0586 ZyXEL Communications Corp.– Knud Larsen
May 5 at 10:02
2
Try the
b43module :sudo modprobe -v b43– GAD3R
May 5 at 10:19