Wanted: Ubuntu 7.10 Help and Assistance...

Ive installed Ubuntu on my XPS M1330 system with Ubuntu running off MediaDirect and vista on power. I learned real quick not to make the mistake of pressing one while the other is running = ssd/hd crash completely.

Problems....and its why I came here.

I just read on one of Dells support pages how they are saying they never dumped Linux yet, they removed all of their drivers.
Check out this on Direct2Dell!! Is their somewhere I can get these?

Specifically, I cannot get Ubuntu to recognize my wireless (Dell 1501 WifiN) and I also cant get video drivers installed.

I guess what Im looking for is some assistance on enabling the wifi and updating to start to get things rolling.

Thanx

Les

 

nVidia video drivers are under "restricted" drivers (defined so because they are proprietary).

System > Administration > Restricted Drivers on Gnome

Shame about the WifiN not being recognised. Are you sure it is due to it not being installed? Try Fn+F2 in case you disabled it somehow. Also try running iwconfig and see if it detects anything.

 

Both Wifi and video drivers could be under restricted drivers manager, take a look there first

 

Tried and tried again. I even installed Ubuntu as the sole OS on an SSD. I cannot find a way to get it to recognize my 1505n Dell card.

Thoughts?

 

Dell 1501 or 1505?

 

1505 sorry WifiN

 

It should work with Ndiswrapper
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper

 

What ever happened to simple? I try to make everything I put here simple for others to follow. Im sorry but this environment just isnt user friendly.

I have identified that yes my driver can be used but...ask me how to get the driver there and recognized. Huuuhhhh?

 

What do you want?

 

I want to know how to get the Dell 1505 N Wifi driver installed and working on Ubuntu. I feel like a real idiot...ok I am a real idiot. I dont understand...the process.

I have even downloaded and extracted the driver package to the ubuntu desktop.

The hardest part is I am only working with one system so I seek help here and then remove one SSD and throw in another...with no wifi!

If it helps...I went into the menu that deals with updates and stuff and enabled everything. It downloaded 108 updates. Does this assist as all?

 

Flamenko, I don't know if I'm helping in any way, but after some googling, I found this. Maybe you've already read that, or maybe there's a fix in Gibbon. Good luck =]

 

But have you looked at the Ndiswrapper page I mentioned?

 

I spent an hour last night messing with ndiswrapper. It won't recognize any working Vista or XP drivers I have for my mini card as well. I'll probably slog through it for awhile tonight, I hope I don't have to dig out my old slide in card.

 

I started to read the ndis page and got lost in the first 2 paras...

Amol...when I read what was compatible through the wrapper, it did list the 1505 as being compatible.

 

2.2. Installing Packages (With Internet access on another computer)

*

If you do not have a working Internet connection, you can use another computer which is connected to the Internet to download the following packages. (See note about bug below)

2.2.1. Feisty Fawn (7.04) and Edgy Eft (6.10)

1.

For 7.04 Feisty Fawn
1.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/misc/ndiswrapper-common
2.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/misc/ndiswrapper-utils-1.9
3.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/net/ndisgtk
2.

For 6.10 Edgy Eft
1.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/edgy/misc/ndiswrapper-common
2.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/edgy/misc/ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
3.

[WWW] http://packages.ubuntu.com/edgy/net/ndisgtk

*

Copy the appropriate files over to a directory on your Ubuntu computer (e.g. your Home directory) and install them in this order:

sudo dpkg -i ndiswrapper-common_*.deb
sudo dpkg -i ndiswrapper-utils*.deb
sudo dpkg -i --force-depends ndisgtk_*.deb




-------------------------------

replace feisty with gutsy

 

Ok found another hitch John... Im running X64 Vista Ultimate.... The instructions i was following dont apply.

 

For the video driver, it is an NVIDIA driver you have?.

Goto this site and

http://www.albertomilone.com/

and download and run his program ENVY, it will automatically detect what you have in your system, download the appropriate drivers, and install them. This is what I did and it was simple and flat out worked.

Can't help you with the wifi card, mine worked out of the box.

Have you searched around the Ubuntu forums? Pretty much all problems have been already solved.

http://ubuntuforums.org/

I'm sure i've seen plenty of questions and solutions for wifi issues posted over there.

~~~~~ I'm running Ubuntu 7.04 on a Dell 1520 and it is all working good.

 

Whoops looks like he has two problems.

 

No...I can get through anything once I get it online first...

 

Does everything work, apart from getting access to the internet? Or can you get access to the internet if you are wired?

 

Can you connect through ethernet?

 

yes but its 3 floors down in my basement...

Ive downloaded the 3 files now need to get to the next step.

 

Copy the files on your Ubuntu computer in your /home directory for example

 

Alrighty, from what I understand [from the guide]

In terminal type:

Code:

echo 'blacklist bcm43xx' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

[(Or just edit the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file and add blacklist bcm43xx to the end of the file.]

Reboot.

After rebooting, open up terminal again, type lspci and look for your wifi card; hopefully it should be listed [if not then I don't know what to do. I'm mostly a n00b too]

Once you have identified your card, note down the contents of the first column, which should look like 0000:00:0c.0.

Then type "lspci -n"

Find the PCI ID for your device. Your device will be referred to in the output of the command by the identifier which you just made a note of, e.g. 0000:00:0c.0. The PCI (chipset) ID will be in the third column of the output and will be in the form 104c:8400.

[More to follow, lol]

 

Wait...the files are not copied

 

Oh, crap

Sorry flamenko

[Wow this is such a mess, but it's fun helping people out in situations like this . That's how I learn ]

 

Haqd to reinstall...did something wrong but once i do, i will somehow move the files onto the ubuntu drive, open them through the method John said and then follow your echo blacklist command.

Does anyone understand that at all?

 

Tell me after you copy them.

What have you done wrong?

 

I think when I grabbed it by the base, dunked it up and down in the toilet 4 times, banged the LED off the desk and then jumped on it for 5 min...that may have been what i did wrong.


Have to come back later...says the disk is empty and time for my sons hockey...an hour away. I will be back here later tonite when i have followed all directions to that point. Tx John and Amol for now.

And yet another problem....Put my Vista drive back in and the DVD is not empty, has the 3 files. Are they supposed to be that small (18/18/33Kb)??

 

Always a pleasure. Keep us posted, so that we can figure out explosive ways to make 'em work =D

 

ok back...

I installed 2 of the 3 files. It told me there was a newer version of the third and would not let me install it.

I simply double clicked and they installed rather than typing by way of Johns Sudo commands. Was that ok?

Next I followed the command that Amol listed which started with echo and ended with blacklist. It didnt appear that anything happened but i rebooted

Typed lspci and no card. In fact there were no Dell cards at all. I did find what appears to be a wireless entry though listed as 'Broadcom Network Controller 802.11 a/b/g/n.

Is that what I am seeking??

I took down the numbers from the first and 3rd column.

Am I on the right track or stuck because of something I did?

 

Sounds good to me. I'll edit this post as soon as I get wind of what you've to do next. Hopefully John B agrees - his linux > my linux, lol.

Edit:

So now you want your windows driver for the card. You basically need this, because that's what has all your drivers. Now since you're using Linux I figure that you can't extract an exe, so I downloaded and extracted it, and tar'd the "DRIVER_US" folder, since I saw a bcmwl6.inf and a corresponding .sys file.

Linky!

This thread might also come in handy. [In case that site can't be accessed, here's a screeny of the gist of the post]. Make sure that the INF file, SYS file and any BIN files are all put into one directory.

Then, type the following in terminal:

Code:

sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/drivers/drivername.inf

[assuming the driver is in a directory in your home folder called drivers, and is named drivername.inf]

ndiswrapper then copies the .inf and sys files into /etc/ndiswrapper/.... Don't forget that the filename you type in is case-sensitive.

To check if it installed correctly, type "ndiswrapper -l" in terminal. If it worked, you'll see either of these messages:

Code:

 Installed ndis drivers:
  {name of driver} driver present, hardware present

Code:

{name of driver} : driver installed
       device ({Chipset ID}) present

.

Tell us your results, and we'll go from there .

 

I just popped in an Ubuntu 7.10 CD and am looking to install it. In Vista just prior to now I created a new 10GB partition which I intend to designate for Ubuntu. I am on step 4 of 7 and was choosing the partition but then in trying to go to step 5 it says that no root file system has been defined, and to correct this from the partitioning menu.

I open up the 10GB partition I intend to install Ubuntu on and it shows a NTFS file system. I know Linux can recognize NTFS partitions, since they can recognize Windows partitions, but maybe this is not the correct type (EXT2, EXT3, reiserfs, jfs, xfs, fat16, fat32, ntfs, swap, dontuse)? I have installed Ubuntu 7.04 in the past on my desktop, but cannot remember now how to properly install it.

I am posting this off the Live CD.

 

If you're installing linux to the 10GB partition, I think it's best to use ext3. I'm not perfectly sure, but it's what I've been using all this while.

 

Thanks for the assistance. I looked up in some user communities and found a line of code which allowed me to edit requirements. Basically typing "pass" instead of whatever was previously there. I used EXT3 file system I believe. I am posting this inside an installed Ubuntu 7.10 on my SZ. I've been waiting to set aside time to do so for quite some time since knowing about Ubuntu 7.10.

 

I used Dapper Drake on my Acer, and after fiddling with Gutsy Live CD, I didn't find much of a difference, other than the fact that it's getting better

Out of curiosity, how's wireless working for you?

 

Wireless never caught on for me...thus I am so quickly back inside Vista...although I saw it instantly recognize nearby networks for a friend on his similar notebook, thus why I got interested in it.

After I rebooted from installing and playing around inside 7.10, I arrived at the GRUB to see the options for Ubuntu 7.10, but then saw 2 options for Vista. I clicked the first one and it took me to the VAIO Recovery Center. I rebooted and clicked the second option, relief as it booted into the Vista I know...but it was pretty slow....the CPU was maxing out at 100% although memory usage was so low (under 500MB). I rebooted and the same thing....then I hard rebooted and it solved the issue....but this raises some concerns.

Why was Vista all of a sudden being stressed so much? Why are there more than one line options for both OS's in the GRUB? Particularly, why are there two options for Vista, with one being a recovery center, the other being your real OS?

 

Alright, so your Intel card works without much trouble. That's all I wanted to know. Thanks!

 

Ok...installed the drivers folder. installed bcmwl6. that and the driver file are in the 'drivers_us' folder in my home directory. it tels me bcmwl6 is installed and then I cant get further. I check as you suggest and get 'invalid driver'

Is there not an easier way to just install a driver? I know it must work somehow. lol

ok so...so far this morning I tied a rope around my M1330 and tied it to my rottys rear leg; it had about a 2 foot lead. I then sent my wife down stairs and told her to tell the dog he had treats so it went bump bump bump down 8 stairs, hit the left wall on the swing around and then wrapped around the chair leg. Do I sound frustrated ?

 

Wait!!!!! I dont know what i did but I went to Administration/Windows Wireless drivers, uninstalled the original drivers that never worked, installed and extracted the Dell executable and reinstalled bcmwl6. I rebooted and now get:

WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist line 28: ignoring bad line starting with 'lspci'
bcmwl6 : driver installed
device (14E4:4328) present

Is this good???

 

That sounds good to me! You know what they say - best way to see if it's working is to just try it out

Go here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper

Proceed to section 3.5 and onwards; it's very straightforward

 

yes but its not working...so whats next?

 

Could you please be a bit more specific?

 

I dont know what step is next. My wireless still doesnt work.

 

That's next...

 

Alrighty. Open up terminal and type in the following:

Code:

  sudo depmod -a
  sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

Then check for error messages [I don't know any fixes though ]:

Code:

  tail /var/log/messages

Also try typing ifconfig and iwconfig in terminal and see if you're getting "wlan0" in the results.

 

The problem I have is my wireless light doesnt even come on. Will it at some point?

 

Please follow the steps first

 

Probably because installation isn't complete yet

I know you're frustrated, but I'm sure we can work something out. Let's finish following through the whole guide first

 

I get 'no wireless connection after the iwconfig step