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    Wireless Fails, System Claims It's Hardware / Related Linux Dual-Boot Issues?

    Discussion in 'HP' started by Telophase, May 27, 2012.

  1. Telophase

    Telophase Notebook Enthusiast

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    I installed Linux Mint 11 last night (dual boot on 1st edition HP ENVY 14 with Windows 7), and since then I've noticed that my wireless adapter is not working - in Windows or Mint. On the Windows side, it tells me that "no connections are available" and troubleshooting tells me to turn my wireless card on. HP Wireless Assistant shows no devices and is marked with an "x" in the taskbar. On the Linux side, it tells me that that a "hardware switch is disabled." Obviously, I've tried toggling the wireless button on my keyboard. It seems to have no effect on regular WLAN; however, my Bluetooth services appear to toggle normally in response to the switch. I also tried removing my laptop's battery and holding down the power switch for a bit to see if that would reset anything, but I didn't have any luck.

    I'm not sure whether Mint 11 is to blame; however, it did change my default bootloader to Grub2. I've been dual-booting with other Linux distros for a while now without problems (with the Windows bootloader set as the default), so this change is a potential, though seemingly unrelated culprit.

    Edit: I changed 2 values in the BIOS that seemed related to wireless (something about LAN power and something about enabling the network adapter during startup), and when I reset them, my default bootloader was once again Windows, and my settings were again configurable in EasyBCD. However, my wireless is still just as broken as before, so I'll leave the description of my original bootloader situation below in the unlikely event that it is still somehow related to my wireless issues:

    To clarify the bootloader situation, my system used to load the standard Windows bootloader and give me the choice between Windows and Linux (*). Once in Windows, I was free to add entries/manage boot settings with EasyBCD. If I chose Linux, it would then load the Grub2 bootloader and I could start Linux. Now my system starts in Grub2 and when I select the Windows 7 bootloader from within Grub2, it brings me to (*) where I can then choose Windows. Curiously, EasyBCD complains that my boot configuration is messed up and has all of its options grayed out. This situation worries me a bit, but both Windows and Mint appear fully functional, other than the wireless.

    Thanks to anyone who can help.
     
    Telophase, May 27, 2012
    #1