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This belongs in the category weird and freaky.

I have one of the fancy "Ezel hinge" Acer R7 touch screen laptops. (i5, 12 GB RAM)

Installing Linux to dual boot with Windows 8 is a pain... and so I have my LinuxLive Ubuntu USB stick. Hooray.

To install, I load the desktop first. Then I run

sudo software-properties-gtk

I go to the third party driver tab... and I turn on the broadcom 802.11n wireless adapter. (Broadcom STA something something.) It detects it and installs it just fine. It works like a charm!

Then I install with my new found internet access.

Then after a UEFI boot-repair, I finally dual boot. Hurray. I go to turn on my wireless adapter... rinse repeat.

sudo software-properties-gtk

It detects, etc. etc. Then, I hit apply changes just as before. The progress bar gets about 2/3 and then Ubuntu reverts to the previous "none".

This happened on 13.04 and since 14.04 came out a day ago, I redid it all. Exact same problem. I expect there is something going on here that Ubuntu can't find the driver to load it ... and I lack the skill to troubleshoot that particular problem. Maybe the installed source files aren't set up right in software center? IDK.

PS> I am not sure the exact chipset, trying to get that figured out.

Lorenz Keel
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BAMF4bacon
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1 Answers1

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OK so here's how I fixed this. For anyone wondering, this is for when your fresh Ubuntu install can't access the internet (Bleh)

Essentially the problem is that Ubuntu did not install the driver package.
So it's a straightforward problem, but a wee bit complicated to fix.

So, first,

I read this thread here. I followed Luis Alvarado's post (currently the #2 solution.)

  • lspci -nn -d 14e4:
  • I looked up in his table to confirm I needed bcmwl-kernel-source installed, which btw, Ubuntu had already told me both my driver and missing source file when I tried to install the driver
  • I installed Ubuntu 14.04 Linux Live with a 4GB persistent partition to USB stick (persistent allows the USB drive to keep updated software installed between boots)

  • booting from here, my Wifi worked. I installed Synaptic install manager

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install synaptic

  • I loaded synaptic and found bcmwl-kernel-source and told it to reinstall

  • I did NOT hit apply, I went to file and created a download script
  • I saved this to the desktop, made it executable, and tried to run it. It didn't work
  • I pulled from the script the DEBIAN filename (.deb) that I needed, googled, and downloaded it. I stuck it on my windows partition so I could carry it over to the new install.
  • REBOOT to Ubuntu (the broken one without the drivers)
  • I double click the .deb file and then try to install it. IT FAILS
  • I click on the detail link and grab the name of the 4 missing prerequisite files I need (this probably varies from install to install etc etc)
  • I go back to linux live, download the files, REBOOT to Ubuntu
  • I install the .deb files in the order given in the order fail details
  • BOOM, my wireless adapter started working

If anyone knows how to pull the files straight from Linux Live Disk, I think that answer might be easier for people.

Community
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BAMF4bacon
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