[SOLVED] Problems with Broadcom 4311 on Dell

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Athena

[SOLVED] Problems with Broadcom 4311 on Dell

Post by Athena »

Hi all,

I probably should have posted this in Newbie Questions, since I'm new to Linux, but the question seems to be more appropriate for this forum.

So, I decided to install Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon on my Dell XPS M1330 alongside Windows Vista Home Basic (I used mint4win previously, but now I want to install Mint properly).

I use a USB thumbdrive already used twice to install Mint on my netbook and second laptop (both Dells). With these two, everything worked perfectly. This time, I cannot connect to the wireless. I tried to add a new wireless connection in Network Connections manually, but it doesn't work :( In Vista, the laptop connects to the wireless smoothly.

What can be the problem here?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Athena

Re: No wireless connection on Dell during installation of Mi

Post by Athena »

RodMyers wrote:are you sure the wireless card is working?

if so, can you scan for your network?
Everything is working fine under Vista, so I guess the hardware isn't the issue :(
Athena

Re: No wireless connection on Dell during installation of Mi

Post by Athena »

Problem solved!

It was my Broadcom 4311 which was causing problems (I understand that it's a very common issue). Here's my way of solving the issue, just in case:

- First, I connected my laptop to the internet via my Android smartphone using USB tethering;
- Second, I found in the Software Manager and installed b43-fwcutter;
- Third, I found and installed firmware-b43-installer.

The hardest thing was to identify the source of the problem (here my thanks go to the Dell Linux Mailing List) and to find a way to connect the laptop to the internet. I did try to download the required tools using another laptop, but the offline installation didn't work.
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