Connecting to Wifi on XUbuntu?

Question

I'm a bit new to Ubuntu, and have been trying to follow the XUbuntu docs, but I'm having a bit of trouble.

Network Manager didn't have any option to connect to Wifi, so I assumed that was because a driver wasn't installed.

The first issue I had was typing sudo lshw -C network and not seeing CLAIMED/ DISABLED/ ENABLED/ UNCLAIMED.

The second was trying to install the driver for my computer. I checked my Device Manager on Windows, saw that it was a Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter, and downloaded the LAN driver from Lenovo. I then tried installing that driver using Windows Wireless Drivers, and it didn't work. Told me that it didn't recognize the driver.

Not sure what else to try.

lspci -knn output is:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1566]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [1002:9851] (rev 45)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: radeon
        Kernel modules: radeon
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio [1002:9840]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Kabini HDMI/DP Audio [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:156b]
00:02.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:02.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
        DeviceName: CX20752 HD AUDIO CODEC
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:02.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:08.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]
        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]
        Kernel driver in use: ccp
        Kernel modules: ccp
00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7814] (rev 11)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH USB XHCI Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804] (rev 39)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: ahci
        Kernel modules: ahci
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH USB EHCI Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH USB EHCI Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 42)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH SMBus Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel modules: i2c_piix4
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH Azalia Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH LPC Bridge [103c:80cb]
00:14.7 SD Host controller [0805]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SD Flash Controller [1022:7813] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company FCH SD Flash Controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
        Kernel modules: sdhci_pci
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1580]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1581]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1582]
        Kernel modules: amd64_edac_mod
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1583]
        Kernel driver in use: k10temp
        Kernel modules: k10temp
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1584]
        Kernel driver in use: fam15h_power
        Kernel modules: fam15h_power
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1585]
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4365] (rev 01)
        DeviceName: NAMI
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company BCM43142 802.11b/g/n [103c:804a]
        Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
        Kernel modules: bcma
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [103c:80cb]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169

Solution 1

You can see in that output that no driver is listed for your Broadcom wireless chip (43142). Unfortunately, Broadcom is a very popular manufacturer which also happens to have poor Linux support, which is entirely their fault. From researching your chipset, your only option is to try and use the proprietary Broadcom drivers known as STA/WL. This here should help you install them.

Solution 2

First, remove the ndiswrapper that you used to try and use the Windows driver...

In terminal...

sudo apt-get purge ndiswrapper-dkms

note: you may have to change "ndiswrapper-dkms" to something
      else, depending on what you originally installed

Now we install the broadcom driver...

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dkms broadcom-sta-dkms

reboot

During reboot, disable secure boot in your BIOS.

Done!

Comments

[You'reAGitForNotUsingGit]

Please add the output of lspci -knn.

[adisplayname]

Alright, I've added that. The "02:00.0 Network controller [0280]..." bit is the important part, right?

[Boris Hamanov]

@Pilot6 why do you continue to link to this long-winded post from 2011 that doesn't call out the correct driver for the BCM43142? Please consider a more current posting. Thanks.

[Pilot6]

The correct driver is wl, and that answer is OK. broadcom-sta-dkms is the same driver, but a very little bit newer if you don't know that.

[Boris Hamanov]

@Pilot6 and it supports dkms... much better for most users.

[Pilot6]

Both bcmwl-kernel-source and broadcom-sta-dkms are using dkms. If you think that the first driver is better for a specific adapter, you can write a perfect answer with some explanation. Bot packages are proprietary Broadcom drivers from the same source. The latter is a minor revision of the first. It Ubuntu bcmwl-kernel-source is default for some reason.

[Pilot6]

Now I looked into the repos and see that now bcmwl-kernel-source is the same version. So broadcom-sta-dkms makes no sense at all.

[Boris Hamanov]

@Pilot6 No, bcmwl-kernel-source is version 6.30.223.248, and broadcom-sta-dkms is version 6.30.223.271-3.

[Pilot6]

Now they both are 6.30.223.271-3. In all releases but 16.10. I think it will be updated in 16.10. It is ridiculous that you insist on broadcom-sta-dkms everywhere. You actually copy my answer when I suggested to install it for a user that had some problems with this adapter, and it seemed to help. Canonical packaged an updated driver as a separate package for some reason. That was a temporary solution. And I do not think it makes mush difference. If you know why broadcom-sta-dkms is better, you can disclose this valuable information. ;-)

[Boris Hamanov]

@Pilot6 The versions that I quoted are from Synaptic in 16.10. And... just because two great minds come up with a similar answer doesn't mean that one copied from the other :-)

[M. Becerra]

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu!It would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.