Linux Ubuntu MATE 14.04.1 Connection Issues

Question

I recently dual-booted Ubuntu MATE (14.04.1) alongside regular Ubuntu (14.04.1). Regular Ubuntu was able to connect to the Internet. Ubuntu MATE is having issues. It seems that the Wi-Fi is not on, at all! I've searched the internet (including here), but none of the suggestions I've seen online have worked. I took some screenshots of what my desktop looks like:

Fig. 1 This is what the top-right corner looks like with the icon for connections.

By left-clicking I had the option to enable/disable Networking. This is what comes up when I enable/disable.

Fig. 2 This came up whether I was enabling or disabling networking.

The only options I have (that aren't greyed out) when I left-click on the network icon are: VPN Connections, Enable Networking (toggle), Edit. When I right-click, the options are: About, Lock To Panel. I've played around with these, with no progress.

There's a button on the keyboard (same key as F2) that look's like an antenna. I press it (on regular Ubuntu, it seems to be the Wi-Fi enable key) and the Bluetooth will toggle on/off, and the Bluetooth icon will appear/disappear from the top-right corner.

My only guess is that it's something wrong with my computer (weird Wi-Fi/Bluetooth key; missing drivers maybe; etc.), Ubuntu MATE (doubtful, because I'm sure others have it running fine on their machines), some file is missing from the system, or I did something wrong in the dual-boot.

I was hoping some one may have had the same exact issue, and could point me to the root of the problem.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1440, if that helps. Originally had 3GB of RAM and Windows 7. I've seen overwritten Windows 7 with these two versions of Ubuntu and now it has a total of 8GB of RAM.

Solution

Finally figured it out. I noticed I had some weird messages appearing prior to the login screen on every boot. Here's an example picture:

Here's what it says (based on my blurry pictures):

[13.198589] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode15.fw" not found
[13.198591] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43-open/ucode15.fw" not found
[13.198592] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware for this driver version. Please carefully read all instructions on this website.

I read the web page and followed the instructions. It led me to another web page where I was able to download the drivers.

Here's the web page, in case anyone is having a similar issue:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware

I ended up here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx#b43%20-%20Internet%20access

And just had to do two commands in the terminal to acquire the drivers:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

NOTE: I have the two commands up here as examples. Depending on your computer/Wi-Fi-card, you may have to go through a different set of steps/commands.

Hope this helps!