[yerayenrique]

Hi guys, Yeray from Madrid, Spain.

I've just received my shiny Mini1018 today and, after checking that all hardware worked fine, I switched to Ubuntu 10.04.

Everything works a charm, except the WIFI.

I've tried almost every single thing i've found online (Karmic drivers, ndiswrapper, clean installation with network cable connected, and even 10.10 BETA with complete drivers installation.

Nothing works, it's driving me insane.

Any clues? Anyone had the same issue.

Hope you can help, this is putting me down .

Thx!

[reflex]

Try connecting to the Internet via a cable, then open a terminal and run "sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source" to install the Broadcom WiFi driver (which is probably what you need).

[yerayenrique]

Originally Posted by reflex

Try connecting to the Internet via a cable, then open a terminal and run "sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source" to install the Broadcom WiFi driver (which is probably what you need).

Already tried that, no luck whatsoever. Thanks though.

Any more ideas?

[reflex]

Maybe the 1018 comes with a newer wireless card, that doesn't have Linux drivers, or the Linux drivers aren't in the Ubuntu repos yet.

Open a terminal, and run "sudo lshw -C network" (list hardware, just network class devices). You should see two sections, one about wired and one about wireless. My Mini 10's wireless section starts like this:

  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.

What card do you have?

[yerayenrique]

Originally Posted by reflex

Maybe the 1018 comes with a newer wireless card, that doesn't have Linux drivers, or the Linux drivers aren't in the Ubuntu repos yet.

Open a terminal, and run "sudo lshw -C network" (list hardware, just network class devices). You should see two sections, one about wired and one about wireless. My Mini 10's wireless section starts like this:

  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.

What card do you have?

Hmm.. I remember doing this a few hours ago and I'm afraid I didnt get any "Wireless interface" output, scary. Maybe my WIFI card broke on the switching from Window$ to Ubu, doubt it though :S..

However, as this is not official, I will post the exact output of the command as soon as I can.

Thanks for your help!

[yerayenrique]

Originally Posted by reflex

Maybe the 1018 comes with a newer wireless card, that doesn't have Linux drivers, or the Linux drivers aren't in the Ubuntu repos yet.

Open a terminal, and run "sudo lshw -C network" (list hardware, just network class devices). You should see two sections, one about wired and one about wireless. My Mini 10's wireless section starts like this:

  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.

What card do you have?

Ok, so here's the output:


*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 05
serial: 5c:26:0a:09:5c:b2
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
resources: irq:26 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:f0f2c000-f0f2cfff(prefetchable) memory:f0f18000-f0f1bfff(prefetchable)
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0100000-f0103fff

I don't see any WIFI IF, im sorta afraid it did break.. Any ideas?

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 AM ----------

Ah, one more thing.

I found a package on the repos called nictools, description:

"These tools can help you to diagnose problems with your ethernet cards or
- in some cases - give those cards the final hint, to work in your
network.

alta-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Sundance "Alta" NIC
eepro100-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Intel EEPro100 Ethernet cards
epic-diag : Diagnostics and EEPROM setup for the SMC EPIC-100
myson-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Myson mtd803 Ethernet chip
natsemi-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the NatSemi DP83815 Ethernet chip
ne2k-pci-diag : Diagnostics and EEPROM setup for PCI NE2000 clones
ns820-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the NatSemi DP83820 Ethernet chip
pcnet-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the AMD PCnet/PCI Ethernet chip
rtl8139-diag : Diagnostics and EEPROM setup for RealTek RTL8129/8139 chips
starfire-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Adaptec Starfire DuraLAN
tulip-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Digital DC21x4* Ethernet chips
via-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the VIA Rhine vt86c100 and vt3043
Ethernet chips
vortex-diag : Diagnostics and EEPROM setup for the 3Com Vortex series
winbond-diag : Diagnostic and setup for the Winbond w89c840 Ethernet cards
yellowfin-diag: Diagnostic and setup for the Packet Engines Yellowfin chips
pci-config : Show and manipulate PCI configuration space

Canonical no proporciona actualizaciones para nictools-pci. La comunidad de Ubuntu puede proporcionar algunas actualizaciones."

Could this be a workaround? I don't wanna install just like that, broken Ubuntu too many times I don't wanna reinstall everything again today .

[reflex]

I'm guessing "*-network UNCLAIMED" is your WiFi card. "UNCLAIMED" means no driver is loaded. It appears to be from "Realtek", but since lshw didn't give us a helpful device name, run "lshw" again, but add the "numeric" option.

sudo lshw -numeric -C network

Then take the PCI ID (XXXX:XXXX at the end of the "Product" field) and Google it (either with or without "linux").

You could also try Googling the Dell name for the WiFi card plus "linux", if you know what Dell calls it.

As for "nictools", I dunno. But it looks like it's tailored for wired cards.

[yerayenrique]

Originally Posted by reflex

I'm guessing "*-network UNCLAIMED" is your WiFi card. "UNCLAIMED" means no driver is loaded. It appears to be from "Realtek", but since lshw didn't give us a helpful device name, run "lshw" again, but add the "numeric" option.

sudo lshw -numeric -C network

Then take the PCI ID (XXXX:XXXX at the end of the "Product" field) and Google it (either with or without "linux").

You could also try Googling the Dell name for the WiFi card plus "linux", if you know what Dell calls it.

As for "nictools", I dunno. But it looks like it's tailored for wired cards.

Output:

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10EC:8136]
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. [10EC]
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 05
serial: 5c:26:0a:09:5c:b2
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
resources: irq:27 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:f0f2c000-f0f2cfff(prefetchable) memory:f0f18000-f0f1bfff(prefetchable)
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. [10EC:8176]
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. [10EC]
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0100000-f0103fff
*-network:0
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 3
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:a1:b0:eb:9e:cf
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes ip=192.168.1.130 multicast=yes wireless=RTxx70 Wireless
*-network:1 DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 4
logical name: vboxnet0
serial: 0a:00:27:00:00:00
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes

NOTES: YOU MAY SEE NEW IF'S (VBOX AND WIRELESS, THE WIRELESS YOU SEE IS MY EXTERNAL CARD, NOT THE ONE I AM TRYING TO ENABLE, THAT IS UNCLAIMED),

I've Googled the ID, but no results come up at all.

Also, I've checked Dell's name for the card but it's as useless as: "Wireless 802.11n Mini Card".

[reflex]

I couldn't find any helpful info about Realtek's 8176, either. (try looking for rtl8176). I guess it's new? NDISwrapper might be your only option for the time being (I know you said that you already tried it). Now that the 1018 is for sale in the US, more people will try Linux, and more info should become available.... eventually.

Of course, a WiFi card upgrade is the ultimate fix. I'm considering a Intel 6200 for my Mini 1012. It's not expensive in the US (under $30) and I expect it'd work in the 1018 as well. As for drivers, my older Intel cards usually have worked well in Linux.

If the 1018 is like the 1012, you could also consider a older, half-height 5100 or 5300. I have two full-height 5100's in older laptops (older means they need full-height), and they work well in Linux.

The Intel 1000 is a newer card (2.4GHz only), I think it's related to the 6200/6300. It's available in full and half-height. But the 1000 is a bargain card (2.4GHz only). So, the 1000 is probably not worth "upgrading" to (I expect your non-functioning Realtek has similar capabilities), but the 1000 should work well in Linux.

Also, does your invoice have a Dell part number for the wireless? Maybe Googling that will get something. (My 1012's Atheros cards gets called the HB95)

[yerayenrique]

Originally Posted by reflex

I couldn't find any helpful info about Realtek's 8176, either. (try looking for rtl8176). I guess it's new? NDISwrapper might be your only option for the time being (I know you said that you already tried it). Now that the 1018 is for sale in the US, more people will try Linux, and more info should become available.... eventually.

Of course, a WiFi card upgrade is the ultimate fix. I'm considering a Intel 6200 for my Mini 1012. It's not expensive in the US (under $30) and I expect it'd work in the 1018 as well. As for drivers, my older Intel cards usually have worked well in Linux.

If the 1018 is like the 1012, you could also consider a older, half-height 5100 or 5300. I have two full-height 5100's in older laptops (older means they need full-height), and they work well in Linux.

The Intel 1000 is a newer card (2.4GHz only), I think it's related to the 6200/6300. It's available in full and half-height. But the 1000 is a bargain card (2.4GHz only). So, the 1000 is probably not worth "upgrading" to (I expect your non-functioning Realtek has similar capabilities), but the 1000 should work well in Linux.

Also, does your invoice have a Dell part number for the wireless? Maybe Googling that will get something. (My 1012's Atheros cards gets called the HB95)

Yeah, NDISwrapper didn't work either, what a shame. Let's hope that this card becomes available soon, it's very frustrating to have to plug a gigantic WIFI USB to my little Mini1018, not to mention that it reduces my USB ports to one, and if I plug a mouse in, they're gone.

So with the info I provided you, you can tell me that my card is Realtek 8176? That's, at least, a clue, cheers on that .

A new card? A while ago I had a Compaq/HP notebook and I had issues with Ubuntu as well (unsupported Atheros) and I tried swapping the card, the netbook simply didn't boot up.
I don't think I'll try that option, maybe this one will boot, or there will be a workaround, but it's a brand new thing, I'm sure a fix will come soon.

Ill try Googling the Dell part nr.

Many thanks once again.