Wi-Fi Card not working for Dell Inspiron 17

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron 17 and I installed Ubuntu yesterday (I was originally on Windows 8). When I logged in, there were no Wi-Fi connections at all.

I've tried everything and I can't seem to find a solution.

Answer 1

I have a Dell Inspiron 17, and I had the same problem. It is due to the fact that the machine uses a wifi card that requires a proprietary driver. It is easy to fix. First, you will need to connect your machine to your internet router by a cable. Then in a terminal window, enter the command

sudo software-properties-gtk

In the window that appears, select the "Additional Drivers" tab. The screen shows "Searching for available drivers ...". After a minute or so, you should see your wifi card listed, with two options, like this:

• Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl-kernel-source (propprietary)
• Do not use the device

Choose the first option, and click Apply Changes.

You will then just need to press F2 to enable (unlock) the wifi card, and then it should all work. When you click on the wifi icon in the toolbar, you should see a list of available networks. Select yours, and enter its password when prompted. You can then disconnect your cable from the router.

Answer 2

Please insert the command

sudo lshw -c network

If your network device is the BCM43___ then follow the thread:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/460019/wifi-card-on-but-wont-connect-to-wifi-network-dell-inspiron-e1505-ethernet-w

It might contain something useful to you, I have the same problem but with the Bluetooth functionality of B43___ board.

Answer 3

For the Dell Inspiron 17 1750 I also spent a few hours trying to get the Wi-Fi card to work. Initially I just tried the first n solutions I could find on various fora, however doing so, I had done some softwarematic damage I was not aware of. (I think I disabled the Wi-Fi driver in some way by adding it to a blacklist). That meant that the actual solution also didn't work anymore.

After a few months I did a clean install of Ubuntu (20.04) and pursued the following steps:

1. I enabled switching Wi-Fi on and off in the BIOS.
2. Installed Ubuntu without the third party software (it is a checkmark you should keep unchecked during the installation in this strategy).
3. Opened the Ubuntu Software Center and installed Synaptic Package Manager.
4. Opened Synaptic Package Manager and searched: b43
5. Next I selected the option firmware-b43-installer. This prompted me if I also wanted to install the b43-fwcutter which I did.
6. I reooted the laptop.
7. The Wi-Fi adapter was recognized, which was indicated by the airplane symbol.
8. After login, I pressed the Fn+F2switch to turn the Wi-Fi on and it worked.

So in essence, the most basic steps worked, but only after a clean install. (Note that the Synaptic Package Manger is not actually needed, you can also just install the firmware-b43-installer and b43-fwcutter from terminal, but given the amount of erroneous commands I had given, and the accompanying hassle that that brought, I picked the safer manual option).