Enable wifi adapter on Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon

28
2013-08
  • Ismail El Harrak

    I just installed Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon on my laptop, but I can't find where to connct with wifi, I Googled about it and I found that I've to enable my wifi adapter in Software Sources, so I did enable it and then I restared my laptop, but this didn't solve my problem. When I open Software Sources again I find that my wifi adapter is not enabled.

    When I log in to my session, I get a notification which says :

    Network Disconnected - you are now offline

    My wifi adapter is a: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY

    This is what I get when I run the command iwconfig : 

    lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

    When I tried to install this package firmware-b43-installer_015-14_all.deb, I got this message :

    Selecting previously unselected package firmware-b43-installer.
    (Reading database ... 139679 files and directories currently installed.)
    Unpacking firmware-b43-installer (from .../firmware-b43-installer_015-14_all.deb) ...
    dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of firmware-b43-installer: firmware-b43-installer depends on b43-fwcutter (>= 1:015-14); however: Package b43-fwcutter is not installed.

    dpkg: error processing firmware-b43-installer (--install): dependency problems - leaving
    unconfigured Errors were encountered while processing: firmware-b43-installer

    After that I installed b43-fwcutter, and then I tried to install the package firmware-b43-installer_015-14_all.deb but I got this error :

    An unsupported BCM4312 Low-Power (LP-PHY) device was found. Use b43 LP-PHY firmware (firmware-b43-lpphy-installer package) instead.

    So I removed firmware-b43-installer_015-14_all.deb using Synaptic Package Manager, And then I installed the package firmware-b43-lpphy-installer, but I got this message :

    (Reading database ... 139686 files and directories currently installed.)
    Unpacking firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (from .../firmware-b43-lpphy-installer_4.174.64.19-4_all.deb) ...
    Setting up firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (4.174.64.19-4) ...
    --2013-04-13 18:52:14-- http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.178.10.4.tar.bz2
    Resolving downloads.openwrt.org (downloads.openwrt.org)... failed:
    Name or service not known.
    wget: unable to resolve host address `downloads.openwrt.org'
    dpkg: error processing firmware-b43-lpphy-installer (--install): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 4
    Errors were encountered while processing: firmware-b43-lpphy-installer

    • Answers
  • terdon

    According to this page, you should install the broadcom drivrs. If you can connect your laptop using an ethernet cable, open a terminal and run

    sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

    If you don't have access to a wired connection, get online using whatever method you used to post here and download the installer from here. You can then install it using

    sudo dpkg -i firmware-b43-installer_015-14_all.deb

    After that, restart and your wireless should work.

  • Andrew Prentice

    For my similar model card, I needed the bcmwl- pkgs, the broadcom-sta pkgs, and the b43 one for it to work.


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  • John T

    I assume you're using KDE by the Dolphin reference, so you can:

    • Press Alt + F2 to open the Run Application dialog
    • Enter dcop kicker kicker restart and run it

    If you're referring to gnome-panel however, you can restore it like so:

    • Press Alt + F2 to open the Run Application dialog
    • Select the terminal from the list and run it
    • In terminal enter these 3 commands (each followed by Enter)
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rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel
  • Ryan Gibbons

    You can try this, it works for ubuntu, should be the same for any gnome install. Press alt+F2 to open the run bar and the type in terminal to open gnome-terminal. You can then type in each of these commands.

    gconftool-2 --shutdown
rm -rf ~/.gconf/apps/panel
pkill gnome-panel