I have Linuxmint Mate 18.3 I loaded onto a new SS hard drive (275GB) in a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop from about six months ago, that was running well until this past week, and have been updating the system routinely. Recently, upon booting, I found the laptop was unable to connect to the internet through wireless or wired connections. Right clicking on the network icon stated “no network devices available. During installation of 18.3, I installed an NVidia 340 proprietary video driver and the BCMWL-Kernal-Source network driver for Broadcom BCM 4312 802.11 b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315](rev 01). These appear to no longer be there, possibly erased. Opening Driver Manager, I get a statement, “Drivers cannot be installed. Please connect to the internet or insert the Linuxmint installation DVD or USB stick. When I insert the USB DRIVE, nothing happens.
If I boot the computer from the original Linuxmint 18.3 Mate USB drive, I can connect both wirelessly and with a wired connection. Is it possible for me to reinstall these drivers somehow, or is it better to just reinstall the whole system (I have backed up my Home folder)? Btw, where would I find these drivers on the DVD or USB stick?
Thanks for your help!
