I have never used a linux system before,always used windows,I find it a bit confusing at the moment, when I click on the wifi button it is ticked enable wifi,but when i click on firefox icon it says server not found, I contacted previous owner who adviced wifi works perfectly evrywhere he has tried it,I can get the internet when I am using the lan, I am pretty computer illiterate but can manage my way around windows,which is quite simple

Make sure NetworkManager is running. There are several GUI Utilities that involve Wifi, but the important one is NetworkManager. If it is not up you won't be able to connect to a network. Also, make sure that any encryption information is put in properly.

Being new to Linux are you familiar with Terminal Window?

feel really stupid, but do not even know where to find networkmanager,just playing around with the netbook at the moment,using my old netbook with windows to find the answer, not familiar with the terminal window,what is it? thanks for quick response

Ok. No problem. On your Operating System Toolbar in right corner there may be a link for networkManager. If you mouse over them they should list what they are.

If it is not there open up the programs list and it maybe listed there. If it is not open up program labeled terminal and type:

sudo NetworkManager

It would help if you mentioned which distribution of Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, Opensuse, other, etc..) you are using since there are well over 500 and the methods vary from distribution to distribution.

i am using ubuntu, i enabled networkmanager, and got the yahoo start page,tried search for facebook,yet again it adviced cannot find server, what is wrong??? should I just upload windows?

It may be an issue with your wireless card. Some wireless manufacturers are friendlier to Linux than others.

Try running the command lspci in a terminal; the output should identify your wireless chipset. Once we know that, we should be able to help.

Here's a link to a guide for troubleshooting wireless in Ubuntu:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...eShootingGuide

Well to start, are you connected to a wireless network? I don't mean to be insulting, but when you go into the menu for whatever network manager ubuntu uses, you need to select the wireless network to connect too and put in any passwords/etc you may need to that network...
Are the wireless networks in the area even shown as options? usually when I've seen an issue with the wireless connection it either worked fine, or wouldn't even be able to detect a network.
Also, once you've selected a network you might want to try to ping some site (open a terminal and type 'ping www.google.com' for example) to see if anything is being sent or received.

Another thing to try, open a terminal and type 'sudo iwconfig' this should tell you if you have any wireless device options and give some info on your connection to the wireless network. Should at the very least tell you if you have a connection at all.

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