This is a Dell D-620 laptop, Ubuntu 9.10 / XP-Pro dual boot, fresh install of 9.10. After having all of the usual issues with the native bcm STA driver I blacklisted it and installed the Windows bcmwl5.inf driver through ndiswrapper. When I try to pull up the driver in Ubuntu Windows Drivers, it comes up as invalid.

What happened with Ubuntu's native driver is that it would connect to the Internet sporadically, most of the time it would show connected but I could not get on the Internet. A cable connection always works.

My thought is that this is a very common laptop, so somebody out there has to have the solution: what has actually worked, instead of theories of what might! I've been working on this for a week now. HELP!!

Thank you!

There are a few how-tos around for this model, but Dell have a habit of switching hardware within the same model. Can you show us the output of lspci and iwconfig please.

Welcome to LQ.

I'll try! I don't really know how to do this properly, so I'm going to try to attach it as a jpg. If that doesn't work, I'm open to suggestions!

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Had I done this on the Linux laptop in the first place, I would not have uploaded the tiny jpg's. Sorry about that. I hope this works better.

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http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 - the Broadcom 4312 card turns up in a lot of Dells. Read through the link and let us know if there is anything you don't understand. I have a 4311 and the instructions and drivers work without fault on my system.

You might want to go to the ubuntu forums: http://ubuntuforums.org and enter bcm4312 into the search box. I haven't yet gotten a definitive solution but it appears that the b43 driver doesn't work, or when the system updates are enabled, the wireless fails, hunts, or is basically intermitent.

Some people have had success loading the 'wl' driver/module bcmwl-kernel-source from your CD/DVD.

Good luck

OK, I've already gone through tons of searching on this and have come up with this:
Chipset name: Broadcom 4312
Chipset 3CM4312 802.11 b/g Rev:01

A Windows search for the driver and then the subsequent dissection of the .exe file came up with this:

bcmwl5.inf, bcmwl5.sys, and a lot of other files that I'm supposed to ignore. I blacklisted the native Ubuntu bcm 43xx STA driver and installed the Windows driver with ndiswrapper. The install would accept only the .inf file, so that's all I installed. When I try to open the file in Ubuntu "Windows Drivers," it comes up as invalid.

I've read in several forum posts that the Windows driver is the best fix-all solution for this issue, so it must work? Why did my install done several times come up as invalid?

Well, here it is. I want to extend my appreciation to all of you who have helped me through yet another adventure in trying to get Ubuntu to a place on my test laptop where I finally felt confident enough in it to switch over our four computers. Alas, since after two long weeks of entering cryptic terminal entries and trying at least half a dozen entirely different tedious approaches to the seemingly simple end of getting the wifi working, I admit defeat.

I love Linux and especially Ubuntu and was so hoping to be able to pull it off this time. Every app I need to run our two businesses is up and running, but as long as there is no one doable answer to something as basic as getting the wifi working, I just can’t take the chance on it at this time. I will try again, maybe when M/S officially stops supporting XP-Pro, but for the meanwhile, I need an OS that works without my Lovely Bride having to drag me away from yet another eight-hour day of trying, in vain, to get it working.

I tried again because of the several reviews I read that announced 9.10 being pretty much plug-and-play. For most things it is. Maybe after a while somebody will come up with a list of proven drivers that actually work with the most common wifi cards. I’m working with the ubiquitous Dell D-620, and I’m sure Dell has those drivers hidden away somewhere, since they ship new laptops with Ubuntu. Compiling a list of WHAT WORKS shouldn’t be such a big deal for the good folks who are designing the OS. It just seems unfathomable to me that with all the expertise there is on these forums, nobody has taken on that challenge and become the Ubuntu Hero of All Time! A huge percentage of the mystified users who post here are asking the same questions and still there are no finite answers.

Ubuntu is SO CLOSE to being the perfect OS . . .

With much appreciation for all the ongoing effort of the terrific Linux/Ubuntu community, I can only say that I can’t stay away for long, so I’ll be back. I hope when that happens I can get my wifi to work!

Aloha from Hawaii,

Hiloguy