Solved HP laptop 10y with Zorin Lite, ethernet works but cannot "see" WiFi options

[Earthlight]

Hi everyone. I am almost new to Linux. Yesterday I installed Zorin Lite as a dual boot on my HP latop that was new in 2015.
I can use the internet with the ethernet cable, but when the cable is unplugged, nothing happens with wifi. My system cannot see any wifi options.

I have found the terminal and have had a few goes trying commands suggested in other threads and YT but nothing has helped yet.

I hope someone can suggest something, I am willing to try another distro booting off a usb as a trial, but don't know where to start with that idea.

 

[Brickwizard]

welcome
from the terminal run
sudo apt update && apt-get install inxi

then you should be able to run

inxi -Nn [for network details]

inxi -Fnxxz for full machine details


edit for typo

 

[Earthlight]

Thank you Brickwizard, I did that and noticed this:
Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n driver N/A

Sorry if there is a delay, I'm just getting the forum set up on my tablet so I can try things and post at the same time

 

[Brickwizard]

ok you have another means of connecting to the web? hard-wired or tethered mobile

open the software manage from the zorin menu , in the search look for Broadcom, there will be several find bc fwcutter and install, it should build the necessary drivers for your wi-fi,
this can only be done with the alternative connection to the web

 

[Earthlight]

Sorry for delay. Bc fwcutter doesn't seem to be there. It does say that the broadcom is using 802.11 linux sta wireless driver source from bcmwi-kernel-source (proprietary)

I'm online via ethernet
The terminal screen shows the same thing, driver n/a

 

[Earthlight]

$ inxi -Nn
Network:
Device-1: Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n driver: N/A
Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: d0:bf:9c:63:57:b3

dkms status
bcmwl/6.30.223.271+bdcom, 6.8.0-52-generic, x86_64: installed
nvidia/550.120, 6.8.0-40-generic, x86_64: installed
nvidia/550.120, 6.8.0-52-generic, x86_64: installed

 

[theLegionWithin]

this post over on the zorin forums --> https://forum.zorin.com/t/broadcom-43142-wireless-adapter-doesnt-work/11986/10 seems to indicate that secure boot being enabled was the issue.

if you've already disabled that then I guess trying a few other distros might be the next step (in live mode to see if they pick up the wifi adapter). zorin is a derivation of ubuntu, so I guess you could try one of those flavors, or maybe something like mint or lmde

alternately, you could just stop using the BCM43142 and get a usb wifi adapter that uses a different chipset - here's something I found a few weeks ago when I was researching to correct an issue that I had with my own wifi card --> https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiF...are_supported_with_Linux_in-kernel_drivers.md - I also had to switch over to a different distro (arch), something in MX was screwing up with wifi regardless of the adapter but the new adapter is loads faster.

think I might put that link in my sig, I've referenced it a few times now.

 

[Earthlight]

Thank you for those ideas I will look into it. Just now I am trying to reinstall Zorin without the invidia drivers due to what someone said about it having been an issue for them.

Thanks to Brickwizard as well, if something works for me I hope to post about it later.

 

[Brickwizard]

Next thought, check for hard block [is flight mode on]

check if there is bios update for your machine

 

[Earthlight]

Next thought, check for hard block [is flight mode on]

check if there is bios update for your machine

Ok I will try that, thank you Brickwizard

Is there a way to tell if you have actually reinstalled Zorin or are just looking at what you had?

 

[Brickwizard]

Is there a way to tell if you have actually reinstalled Zorin or are just looking at what you had?

Not quite with you on that, if you have installed Zorin then when you boot it, it will load,

If your having boot problems, that could be
secure boot enabled [secure boot works on some but not all Linux as yet, and there is also an anomaly with some equipment] personally I always disable it
windows quick-start/fast boot, needs to be disabled and a re-boot [not restart] is also preferable before you install Linux
when asked, did you install grub [the Linux boot app]

 

[Earthlight]

I can't remember about the grub sorry. What I meant was, I wanted to reinstall Zorin from scratch to remove anything I may have done wrong and to exclude the invidia drivers. I went thru the process but everything looked the same and I couldn't be sure I had done anything at all

 

[Earthlight]

Have disabled secure boot but not expecting it to help this time. Tried to install the correct driver for the broadcom what's it too.

The invidia drivers are still present, is there a good command to remove them? It looks like the reinstall did not work at all.

UPDATE The wifi options have appeared and I am connected, it's very exciting. Thanks so much for hanging in there with me, this solves my windows problems that I could not leave as is.

 

[Brickwizard]

When you switch the machine on do you get a screen similar to the one below [except yours may say zorin and have your windows version

 

[Brickwizard]

off for brekki,
one last thought, take out ethanet cable, boot zorin, and click on network connection icon if its showing wi-fi, make sure its switched on, after a couple of seconds it should show all available connections, find your click on and put in password

 

[Earthlight]

When you switch the machine on do you get a screen similar to the one below [except yours may say zorin and have your windows version

View attachment 24434

No I don't get that one. Can you see the update I posted just before? Somehow things are working, can't quite believe it, thank you so much.

 

[Brickwizard]

No I don't get that one. Can you see the update I posted just before?

got it, sorry brain not in top gear at the moment, glad your happy, please go back to your first post click edit and in the drop box next to the title, select solved.

 

[Brickwizard]

don't forget to drop into member's intro and tell us a bit about yourself and your kit

Member Introductions

New here? Post an introduction thread!

www.linux.org

 

[Earthlight]

don't forget to drop into member's intro and tell us a bit about yourself and your kit

Member Introductions

New here? Post an introduction thread!

www.linux.org

Thanks again, yes you are right, very happy now

 

[wizardfromoz]

@Earthlight - when you are sure this is solved, you can mark it as such by going to your first post, and do as follows

Near bottom left of the post click Edit - (No Prefix) - Solved

Cheers

Wizard