Hi. I'm having problems with internet. I finally got openSUSE 13.1 (UEFI) up and running (took me only 6 days!!) and I am very new to Linux and have no idea what I'm doing. I am on a Lenovo G780 laptop with the following internet thingies:


Now, here are the two problems I am having:

The wired internet works out-of-the-box... but only sort-of. It randomly stops responding (sometimes lasts many minutes, sometimes stops after just a few seconds!) It will say that it is connected to Wired Connection 1 in the Network Connections thing, but it will not ping anything and can't go to webpage or whatever. If I unplug the cable and plug it back in, it will reset and work fine. The problem is not the cable coming loose or whatever -- it works 100% of the time in Windows 8 and I have never had this problem in Windows, even when I knock the cable around on accident.

The second problem is that the wireless doesn't seem to work at all. I don't think it's fully supported yet, though. But it seems like it could potentially work. I mean, it realizes the hardware is there. And now and then (usually about 20-30 minutes after starting the OS), in the Network Connections, it will actually pick up my wireless router! The connection name will appear and I have the option to connect to it. If I connect to it, it will say it's configuring for a little bit, and then change back to "Not connected" under the WLAN interface. I have also set it up completely manually in the Network Settings to no avail. Usually when I do a scan, it does not even recognize the connection is available (in fact, in picks up NO connections, whereas in Windows I get about 15 different connections to choose from when I'm sitting in this room).

But anyway, since it does sometimes detect the connection, though rare, and only for a minute or so, I feel like it's close to working and there must be something I can do to get it working.

I saw on a compatibility list that similar adapters/chipsets need b43 firmware to function, but I have no idea what that means, or how to get it/apply it to my system. So I tried googling that and found another page that said that b43 firmware is not compatible with my exact setup anyway (http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43) and alternative is brcm80211. Well, that's great, I guess, but I still don't know what that means or how I can use that knowledge to help me. I don't know how to change a firmware or install things or really do much of ANYTHING in Linux.

Also, I should note that despite being able to go to web pages, whenever I try to do something else with internet connection (like search for updates or whatever from within a software), nothing seems to happen. It just seems to hang at the searching part. This is of course with the wired connection, because the wireless doesn't work at all.

So, for a complete noob who has no idea how to Linux (and not particularly that well-versed in computers), what should I be looking for/trying at this point? Everything works 100% in Windows 8 of course.

ETA: please see post #3.

Broadcom wireless can sometimes be an issue with new Linux installs. This post may help with that. You could also open YaST and search the software repos for something about Broadcom. Unfortunately, I'm not that familiar with YaST to suggest other places you could check--I do know that Ubuntu has an item in its control center for "Additional Drivers" or some such title that can identify and find drivers for Broadcom.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ux-4175434970/

As for the wired connection, you have already answered my first question--has the cable been tested--and I'm confident that the cable run is not more than 100 meters, which is the ethernet standard. What I would do is to burn a Live CD of something other than OpenSuse (Knoppix would be my suggestion, as it's designed to be a Live CD) and see it the problem happens then; if it does, it definitely narrows the problem to something in your OpenSuse load.

Then let us know what you found.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for your help. After looking through everything you linked, I got a better understanding of the drivers, and I'm confident I'm using the proper driver.

The wireless settings do indeed appear, I just don't seem to be able to pick up any signals. When I do a SSID scan, I get no results.

I'm less concerned about the wired, as I'll never use it and I don't even mind that I have to keep pulling and reconnecting the cable. It could just be something went wrong with the cable recently...

But anyway, I just want to get the wireless going.

http://imageshack.com/a/img837/774/x9p3.png

This is an example of what's happening. Saying I'm connected through wired, but pages not loading (can't ping anything or whatever either... no connections at all). That will work fine again if I just unplug the cable and reconnect it. So, no big.

But as for wireless...

In the snapshot, my SSID is showing up, and I've set up all of the information for it by adding the connection manually, but when I try to connect to it, it gets "stuck" during this configuration phase. The password is correct and I use it perfectly fine in Windows 8. Sometimes it will go to the next phase, which I forget what it says, and get stuck there. Eventually it just gives up and says "Not connected." And the SSID will only appear for maybe 3 or 4 minutes before disappearing. It only appears once every few hours, and only lasts for a few minutes. If I go do a scan for SSID during that time, it will indeed appear in the list! (Though it's the ONLY one in the list, despite there being many access points nearby).

Hi, nesseggman

I have the exact same wireless card on my notebook. Every Linux ditribution except RHEL and Fedora doesn't have already build-in correct drivers for that card. I enabled wireless card by installing linux-firmware-nonfree package and then i typed:

And everything worked normally after that.

Thanks for your response.

I don't know how to get linux-firmware-nonfree package, but I did extract the b43 firmware from the device using b43-fwcutter... so I'm assuming I have the same firmware as you.

I tried what you suggested, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Do I need to blacklist the brcmsmac thing that is pre-installed?

I am at a different place today... the wired connection does the same thing even though I know this is a really nice (and short) cable, which works perfectly everywhere except in openSuSE on this lappy.

The wireless was kinda weird. When I'm sitting RIGHT NEXT to the router (within 2-3 feet) it constantly recognizes the access point, and the option is always there in the Network Connections. If I click it, it asks me for the password, and then constantly connects and disconnects (and asks me for the password every time lol). It does seem to be working; I can ping sites and I can go to sites (I was on this forum using it earlier!) but it's extremely slow and keeps cutting in and out.

I've tried all kinds of combinations of probing and unprobing (is that the words to use??) the modules b43 and brcmsmac. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be using the b43legacy (since it's for things WAY older than this).

Perhaps this is an openSUSE problem. I need to get back to where I can get my Fedora and Mint LiveDVDs and see what it's like on those. I don't have access to them where I am now.

I found this link. It might help: http://software.opensuse.org/package/broadcom-wl

Thanks. I'll try to find that when I'm able to use the wired connection again. I have a feeling it's just the driver that comes pre-installed with openSUSE, or the b43 ones we've been talking about, but who knows. I've been searching everywhere and everything comes back to those two things. Perhaps this is an openSUSE-specific problem... I'll have to go on their forums and ask, maybe??