I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FW180D, totally stock hardware, I tried going into the Esupport for Sony to figure out the hardware specs but came up empty. My main question is I have an intel wireless network card built in, but since installing Linux it doesnt function. How can I find a driver (that parts easy since google really helps one to find all the ones availlable) that is the right one for the hardware I have? And the real tough part, how does one install them on Linux? Step by step instructions would really help, thanx

Hello and Welcome to Linuxquestions,

There are several ways to find out what hardware you have installed. If you're only looking to find out what type of wireless network card you have you could use:
That should give you the make and model of your wireless NIC. Run that command and post the output please.

Kind regards,

Eric

Try this: In a Terminal type: man lspci > hardware.txt and press Enter. Go to your home folder and open a new file that has appeared called "hardware.txt" and you will find a text file of your "man lspci" output for you to print if you wish. Try lspci -v or try other -letters as shown on the man page.
Another thing you could now do is to use: lspci >> hardware.txt which will add the data found onto the end of your original hardware.txt folder in your home folder. The single > means send resulting data to a filename on the home folder. While double >> means add onto the same home folder. Using > and the same file name would overwrite the original file, so be aware.

Welcome to LQ!

Sony (nor any other manufacturers providing Windows information) will not
show you the particular chipset(s) of your hardware.

Issuing "lspci" or "lscpi -v" will give you a listing of your hardware
that is on the PCI bus of your motherboard. If in the future you need to
know what's on the USB bus, that is obtained with "lsusb". (All commands
are to be issued without quotes.)

The v display option will make it verbose. But at this point, you might
not understand much of the extra output.

All hardware in Linux is controlled by drivers and/or firmware. The drivers
(modules) come from the Linux kernel. Open a terminal (should find terminals
in your application/program menu somewhere) and issue "lspci -k", where the
k display option will show you which kernel driver your devices are using. In
your next post you should paste the output, and please put your output in
code blocks.

Now issue "lspci -n" and copy the output, then paste it into the driver check
page here: http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ That will show you what kernel drivers
have been reported as used for that particular hardware. (My check did not show
a Sony Vaio VGN-FW180D.)

The kernel provides the driver for devices. As for how to install it, there are now
so many different Linux distributions, which do things differently, that we might
not be able to give you a clear answer until we know that.

Which distribution of Linux are you using?

Which kernel? Issue "uname -a" in that terminal and post the output here.

1 members found this post helpful.

The jargen I am finding, is hard to translate, as I have been on Linux for about three days or since April 2, 2011. Man have I learnt alot since then but I am still using google to figure out the words/terms described. The version (or "Distro"?<-I am guessing here) I have is Unbuntu 10.10 or Maverick (codename).

EricTRA ty for your reply. However the command "lspci |grep Eth"
lists me my ethernet controller, not my wireless.

The commands are usefull to copy and paste into Terminal, since it has save oodles and oodles of hours sifting through online manuals that have way to much info, and all I need is a small fraction of it.

cycling-rod ty for your reply as well. due to your input I have been able to find all the hardware on my pc, even though sifting through it all was a bit of a pain. "lspci" is a great command and I have made a not of it.

Bruce Hill ty for assembling all criteria in one handy lil package. I think I have the info one might need to figure this mess out.

lscp1 -v command in Terminal gave me this:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Graphics Port (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00006fff
Memory behind bridge: c0000000-d00fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d5300000-00000000d54fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 70e0 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 70c0 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
Memory at d5204c00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 49
Memory at d5200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
Memory behind bridge: d3d00000-d50fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d5500000-00000000d56fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
Memory behind bridge: d2900000-d3cfffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d5700000-00000000d58fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=07, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
Memory behind bridge: d1500000-d28fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d5900000-00000000d5afffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=08, subordinate=09, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
Memory behind bridge: d0100000-d14fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d5b00000-00000000d5cfffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at 70a0 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at 7080 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 7060 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 7040 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at d5204800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0a, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: d5100000-d51fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 46
I/O ports at 7130 [size=8]
I/O ports at 7120 [size=4]
I/O ports at 7110 [size=8]
I/O ports at 7100 [size=4]
I/O ports at 7020 [size=32]
Memory at d5204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ahci
Kernel modules: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 5
Memory at d5205000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=256]
I/O ports at 7000 [size=32]
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 47
Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 6000 [size=256]
Memory at d0020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Expansion ROM at d0000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeon

01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV620 Audio device [Radeon HD 34xx Series]
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 50
Memory at d0030000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100
Subsystem: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100 AGN
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 48
Memory at d1500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
Kernel modules: iwlagn

08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
Memory at d0120000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
I/O ports at 2000 [size=256]
Expansion ROM at d0100000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: sky2
Kernel modules: sky2

0a:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
Memory at d5100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
Kernel modules: firewire-ohci, ohci1394

0a:03.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17
Memory at d5100900 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
Kernel modules: sdhci-pci

0a:03.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 9035
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 4
Memory at d5100800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <access denied>

the most useful info to me at this point is:

Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100

of course since my wifi is turned on and I have no wireless capabilities I am assuming that the driver listed is either A) not the right one B)not working properly or C) not set up correctly.

I have taken the liberty to google my controler to install with ubuntu, but all it showed me is Linux. I draw the assumption here that the two are one in the same, or very close.

I came up with a link: http://www.intellinuxwireless.org
and it got me my driver/firmware. however now I am at a loss on how to install it. I tried using the graphic display interface (since I am an old windows user, its just what I was used to doing) but no program could be associated with its use.
So now I thinking I have to do it through Terminal (sigh). I have no idea on how to do this so off, to google I went and the instructions listed weren't instructions at all. well not in plain English anyway. It tells me to copy it into set fields, but all I am getting is bad commands message in Terminal. Here is my link that I have found :

http://wiki.debian.org/iwlagn

I know we are getting close, a lot closer then I could ever do on my own. Thanks for the contributions and patience in the reading the novel I have created, lol.

I guess my summery in all this is how do I install my driver using terminal? All commands listed in a "cut-and-paste" fashion would be great! TY for all your guys time in this

Linux jargon

Please get into a terminal again and issue "lspci -n" and then
paste that into the driver check page I gave you before.
Then let us know which driver it lists for your wireless NIC.

When you post output from a terminal, it is customary to use
code tags so that your output is easier to read. If you don't
see the code tag option when making your post, put [_code]
before your output and [_/code] after your output, without the
underscores _ which were put there so that you could see the tags.

Your output should look like:
And fwiw the "Capabilities: <access denied>" you got is because you ran
the command as a normal user and not root.

Which kernel? Issue "uname -a" in that terminal and post the output here.

I'm not an Ubuntu user, so can not help you with the Ubuntu way of doing
things. That distro is designed for people coming from Windows to do things
similar to the Windows method. You should read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/
to get an idea of how to use Ubuntu.

Linux and Ubuntu are NOT one and the same. Linux refers to the kernel, which
every Linux distribution (distro) uses. These distros use the Linux kernel and
bundle different applications and scripts with that kernel; hence, they are called
Linux distros. Ubuntu is one of them -- one of hundreds, if not thousands.

Ubuntu, as a distro, hacks and patches the Linux kernel to the point where it is
not the same as the source you get from http://kernel.org. Therefore, it would be
best for you to get specific Ubuntu help. Just look at one of the threads where
this chipset issue was discussed: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1338022
There was never a technical resolution to the problem...

[QUOTE=Bruce Hill;4314940]Linux jargon

Please get into a terminal again and issue "lspci -n" and then
paste that into the driver check page I gave you before.
Then let us know which driver it lists for your wireless NIC.

When you post output from a terminal, it is customary to use
code tags so that your output is easier to read. If you don't
see the code tag option when making your post, put [_code]
before your output and [_/code] after your output, without the
underscores _ which were put there so that you could see the tags.

Kay did what ya asked, and this is what came out of it all, I just went to the page you described and pasted it there all I am listing here is my wifi :

PCI ID Works? Vendor Device Driver Kernel
80864232 Yes Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100 iwlagn v2.6.27-

Which kernel? Issue "uname -a" in that terminal and post the output here:

Linux tomasz-VGN-FW180D 2.6.35-28-generic-pae #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Mar 1 14:58:06 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux


I am gonna check out the link for Ubuntu, and see if their is anything to help me out. I did note that I already DO have a driver loaded but as to why its not working, frankly I have no clue. I heard of Linux from a friend, and taught myself through the power of google. I might have skimmed too much info to be much of a benefit, but I REALLY appreciate the help. Let me know what else to do or try, till then I am going to check out the link you provided. Thanks again!!

In your menus look for network manager or wicd. These are graphical
apps to help you connect to the internet.

So I read the guide,which has a lot of info, even bookmarked it! Tried various things listed in the wireless section. It was the pings that got me. For what ever reason when I typed the commands in Terminal listed in the guide, they wouldn't work for me. But I tried pinging my router and got a response!! I went into the Network tools and noted that the ip address listed for my wifi connection was 0 for the IP address and subnet mask. But I could not find out on how to change them, so I deleted my wifi connection and created a new one. Worked like a charm. I guess if anything, I'll take a whole lot of experience out of this.

Thanks so much to all who took time out to respond to my nonsense, especially you Mr.Hill. Trouble shooting is never fun, especially when all ya wanna do is shoot the trouble who started the question.

Hello,

Does this mean your problem is solved? If so, then please mark it as such using the Thread Tools. Have fun with Linux.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hello VistaH8r77 - I have a VGN-FW180D as well and i'm planning to install ubuntu 11.04. How is your machine running? Does all you H/W work?

Hi everybody, I am also freshman and in relation to the question mentioned above I am also using Sony Vaio laptop vpce. I have a Intel N 6250 wireless card, so I already downloaded the drivers from http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=Downloads. I would like to ask you what are the next steps which I should follow in order to install this driver on my slackware 13.1
Thanks in advance
Best Regards