I apologize if this belongs in the noob section, it seems to be a noob/networking hybrid issue

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 with a Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card and a Marvell Yukon 88e8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller, and I cannot for the life of me get the internet to connect. I've tried both wired and wireless connection. I have a PPoE connection through a Verizon FIOS Actiontek router I believe, though the PPoE part may be wrong, I had one five years ago when I first got their internet so they may have changed it. Point is that the ethernet and internet won't work, and without a working ethernet I can't fetch the right drivers for anything.

I had also tried plain ubuntu 10.04 and couldn't get them to work then either. It said 'disconnected' at first, and then said 'device not ready' There is no hardware switch but there is a key toggle. It doesn't seem to matter what state the wireless was in before booting into Ubuntu Studio, so I'm lost as to where to even start. Even though the network manager isn't there like in regular ubuntu, I assume there will be a simple way to connect to the internet once the drivers are found, right?

I've seen issues and read about fixing them, but usually it uses an ethernet connection to fix the wifi connection and, being new to linux (<50 hours worth of experience lifetime), all I managed to do trying to fix it myself was screw up the installation to the point where the laptop couldn't access the home folder and I had to reinstall. Other than that, I am usually very good at following instructions, as long as they apply to my laptop's issue I guess

The only other issue is minor, I can't seem to control the USB mouse I have, but the trackpad works fine so it's no big deal, probably a matter of downloading the mouse driver once the internet works.

Currently I do have internet access via the same laptop while booting Windows 7 (I installed Ubuntu Studio 10.04 on a 10GB Partition with the idea of using an external HD for most data storage).

Can anyone help? I would appreciate it very much, I haven't had much luck on the "official" Ubuntu support forums.

Oh and it is a 64-bit machine, the Studio version I installed is 32-bit.

I have a Dell 1545n that came with factory-installed Ubuntu.

I managed to kill my wireless by hitting the "wireless" button. Its the Fn2 without pressing the Fn key--top row 3rd key in from the left with a white picture that looks like ((/\)).

It was a month before I figured out that it was me and not a warranty problem.

The fact that your wired internet isn't working leads me to think it may be something more serious than that, though. My wired always worked.

Good luck.

Yeah I saw the switch when I first got my laptop, in fact I use it all the time when I am running on the battery to save power when file browsing or listening to music, unfortunately it doesn't make a difference on or off, it still doesn't work. I read somewhere that the Dells need specific drivers, but I have no idea where to find them or how to install them.

My Dell has Broadcom chips; Dell seems to favor Broadcom.

A dmesg might tell you what type of network card you have. Broadcoms can be a problem--that's why I haven't replaced the factory Ubuntu with Slackware. I've fought the wireless wars before.

A dmesg to my laptop included this line in the output:

I don't know whether the wireless will show in a dmesg if you don't have the drivers.

You could go to the Dell website and look up the computer using the id number in the sticker on the bottom (I think it's called the "type"; I usually just take a picture of the sticker). With that, you should be able to look up the precise specs on the Dell website. I have looked up computer specs at Dell using this method, but that type number is required; your 1545 might do the same thing mine does, but may not have the exact same components.

What I find unusual about this is that the wired isn't working. In the dozen or so computers I messed about with using Linux, I've not encountered one where the wired didn't work, so long as the components were not physically defective.

I did hear on a couple of my Linux podcasts that Broadcom has finally decided to make some of its driver available; you might check some of the Linux news sites, such as LXer.

Good luck. I hope this helps to point you in the right direction.