[marmaduke]

Hi. I got a new battery and fixed one problem. Now I created another. I'm not sure if my solution would be the same as the Mini 1010 a few threads down.

I'm not that familiar with Ubuntu. Using Ubuntu 8.04. Was using my mini 9 for internet browsing. After getting a new battery, I decided to run the update manager. It said it had 421 software updates. So I let it run. When it got down to about 45 updates left, it froze. Solid. I turned it off manually, then tried booting up. Ubuntu was trashed. I got a lot of error messages. So I figured I'd try Ubuntu 10.10. I got the netbook remix version, installed to USB flash drive and gave it a shot. It installed beautifully. Looking around, I could not figure how to get online.

Right now, tapping on the Wifi icon shows me "Wired Network"-disconnected.
"Wireless Networks"-device not ready(firmware missing) and
Highlighted "VPN Connections"

I really have no idea what this means. If I have to install something manually, I'll end up going to a computer shop for help. Is there a solution where I could download something to a Windows computer and then transfer it via USB flash drive to the netbook?

[reflex]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...Driver/bcm43xx

You want to install the "bcmwl-kernel-source" driver for the Broadcom WiFi in the Dell Mini 9. Take note of the section about "LiveCD/USB" (I figure you have a LiveUSB "installation").

[marmaduke]

Thanks. I think. Give me a month to figure out that web page.

[reflex]

Let me offer you the simplest way to get it working: Connect to the network via a wire, then run the following command* in a terminal:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source && sudo modprobe -r b43 ssb wl && sudo modprobe wl

...but I'm not sure if that change will persist on a "LiveCD/USB", even if you opted for "persistence" when creating it. It should work on a FULL install of Ubuntu, even if on a USB drive.

* This command "update"s the software package data, then installs the driver, then unloads incompatible drivers, then loads the driver.

[marmaduke]

Thanks for taking the time to help me out but, I need a little bit more. I think your command line ends short. I can only see
"..... sudo modprobe w....." at the end of the box. It won't scroll over any further.

[reflex]

"sudo modprobe wl" is the final command to run. It loads the "wl" driver. Which should get the Broadcom WiFi working. Give it a sec, and you should be able to choose a WiFi network via the WiFi icon.

An alternate way... you should be able to click on the "restricted hardware drivers" icon in the taskbar (it looks like a desktop addon card) and activate the "Broadcom STA" driver there. I recently did that on a very different laptop with different Broadcom WiFi (same driver) running a Ubuntu 10.10 LiveCD.

If you don't see the icon, it should also be under "system > admin > hardware drivers". I just recommended the terminal command method 'cause it's what I usually use and has worked several times for me in the past.

[ilias5b]

I had a similar problem on my Mini 10v. Here's how I got to fix it:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-image-$(uname -r) linux-headers-$(uname -r) linux-backports-modules-wireless-$(less /etc/lsb-release | grep "DISTRIB_CODENAME=" | cut -d "=" -f 2)-$(uname -r | cut -d "-" -f 3)
sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade

reboot, test and report back