[SOLVED] On new install of Mint 14 Wirless is not available

[gtdcubo]

I have just installed Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon on my new laptop computer using the most recent version downloaded from the mint site and placed on a boot USB. Once I was in the MINT session running from the USB I chose the full install. The first task I attempted to carry out after the install was connect to my wireless network. On doing this I noticed that wireless network connectivity was not enabled and it appears that the drivers were not installed as part during the installation. The lack of wirless network conectivity means I cannot search the internet to get these drivers. On my other computer I have searched this forum and have noted that others have had this problem and it is marked as solved. The following two links are examples of a solution.

Each of these solutions home in on the same solution, and various contributors have remarked that the solution has functioned correctly for them.

http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=117952&p=655545

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=117945&f=53


In each case the solution cited is the following

I believe i had the same problem.The thing is that propietary drivers dnt come with the installation, for some law blabla pretty much someone wants a profit somewhere i guess, anyway.....
1) click on control center from the menu button.
2) go to Other (last option)
3) There Ull see Software Sources click on it...
4)Click on Additional Drivers (Top right last tab)
5)Select using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl blabla
6) Enter, let it do his thing and voilà
7) Enjoy and look up in you tube The summerian scripts documentary Very Interesting....
God Bless.

Now there is a flaw in this solution. In the version of Mint 14 that I am seeing on my computer, there is no "Control Center" presented when I press the menu button. So my basic query is this. How do I access the so-called "Control Center" that both these threads seem to emphatically recommend as the solution to this Wireless driver problem? If these persons are referring to some other button that in Mint 14 is no longer called the control center, but used to be in earlier versions, then it would be useful for me to know what they mean when they say "control center" . I would like to try out this solution, so if someone could clarify. I have never seen Mint before today, and have changed to it because I am somewhat disgruntled with the Unity interface that exists nowadays in Ubuntu. Mint seems to be more like the old gnome interface of Ubuntu, and this is why I have chosen to install Mint on my new laptop, despite a couple of years enjoyment with Ubuntu.

One thing is for certain. If Mint cannot provide me with Wireless Internet conectivity, then never mind how awful the look and feel of the current Ubuntu is, I shall have to go back to it anyways.

I will add this. in the terminal I have sent the rfkill list command and get this

Code: Select all

$ rfkill list
0 phy0: Wireless LAN
         Soft blocked: no
         Hard blocked: yes

This is a confirmation of a driver problem isn't it. If it is a problem of the hardware itself I would be interested to know.

I will add that I do not know how I might actually provide details of which Wireless NIC I have and which driver it needs. These two solutions refer to a Broadcom 802.11 but I do not know if they have recommended this because it is generic, or because it is apt for the hardware mentioned in the two threads.

Thanks for your attention in this matter.

[gtdcubo]

I have now found the "Software Sources" button, although it is not in "Control Center" but actually in "System Settings"

Also it does not map to the solution offered in these two threads

http://forum.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=117952&p=655545
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=117945&f=53

namely

5)Select using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl blabla

This is not the case as the tab "Additional Drivers" is actually empty.

Therefore my thread is basically this
1. How can I find out what the cause of the wireless network failure is?
2. How can I rectify this given that I cannot connect to the internet to download drivers (I do not have a RJ45 cable)?

Thank you

[bassic]

5)Select using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl blabla

My problem is that every time I boot my machine, I have no wireless card present (not working within mint), however if I disable the Broadcom STA drivers then re-enable them, it works fine... until the next reboot. I continue to search for a solution.

I have mint running fine on a desktop system with a different wireless card (Ralink, not broadcom chipset)

[gtdcubo]

How do you mark threads as solved? This one is solved, there is a function key on my new laptop that turns the wireless network on.

[gtdcubo]

This is now solved. It was a hardware problem caused by not being used to my new laptop. The symptom was the following

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~ $ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
   Soft blocked: no
   Hard blocked: yes


The manufacturer of my laptop is PC Specialist Ltd of the UK, and on their keyboards <Fn>.<F11> is the hardware key for switching on the Wireless Networking. I mention this in case someone else has the same problem with one of their models. Actually the sign on the <F11> switch does not look like it could mean networking, but I reached it through a process of deduction. It is not mentioned in their user manual.

After using the hardware switch wireless worked ok.

Code: Select all

~ $ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
   Soft blocked: no
   Hard blocked: no


I was able to set up wireless connectivity, surf the internet etc.