I have a Dell Studio 1749 running "Ubuntu 12.10 (quantal) 64-bit", its very buggy and is giving me issues. I'm not exactly a newbie but I'm having a lot of trouble with my (broadcom) wifi, screen dimmer, and some of my infrared buttons and can't seem to fix it. I'm wondering if these problems can be fixed or if im even using the correct distro for that matter. Is there possibly a distro thats compatable or a way to fix these issues?

This is my first post so sorry if its in the wrong spot of not informative enough. Thanks for your consideration and time.

Hello and welcome to LinuxQuestions,

What's buggy to you works good for others. Choosing a distribution to use is a personal preference, some people like Ubuntu while others prefer Fedora or any other distro for that matter. If you feel that the issues you are having are related to Ubuntu, then download a live cd of another distro and boot it from that one. This gives you the ability to check if your hardware is detected correctly and functioning as expected.

Now, concerning your issues. You should be really a lot more descriptive about the errors you are encountering. Based on what you provide as information we can do nothing, there are too many possible reasons for your issues. So, please be as descriptive as possible and take it one problem after the other, don't mix unrelated issues in the same post but open a thread for each separate question/issue. That will help you and us to keep track.

For example, taking the first issue you mention, the Broadcom network card:
- Is the hardware detected correctly
- Did you install extra drivers
- Do you see any wireless extensions in the output of iwconfig

For starters provide output of:
What exactly is you problem with the screen dimmer?

What are you referring to as infrared buttons? On/off switch?

Looking forward to your participation in the forums.

Kind regards,

Eric

Sorry for adding so many problems on one post. I've also tried Fedora Core 14 and had the same issues. I mostly wanted to know if there was a more suitable distro for my laptop but would love it if Ubuntu woulr work correctly. with the screen dimmer I tried the fn+f4/f5 and o pop up appears telling me that my birghtness is turning down but the backlight doesnt actually dim any, I've also tried going through the system settings and same thing. My infared buttons are above my keyboard and include a "settings, mute, volume up/down, rewind/fastforward, play/pause, and eject button. The play/pause and settings button wont do anything when I swipe my fingers across them but display a circle with a cross which implies that the button has no function or cant be used. http://www.dell.com/us/p/studio-1749/pd here is a ling to the specs of my laptop so you can see the images, maybe you'll understand what I mean by infrared buttons and maybe offer some help. As for wifi I havent downloaded any extra drivers that Im aware of. I've looked into the problem and I don't really understand how to fix it. I guess broadcom doesn't offer much support.
my "lspci" output reads
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
14:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (rev 01)
14:00.1 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MMC/SD Controller (rev 01)
14:00.2 Mass storage controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MS/MSPRO/xD Controller (rev 01)
20:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
My "iwconfig" reads
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"lopeztena"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 20:AA:4B:18:80:F1
Bit Rate=28.9 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=33/70 Signal level=-77 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:43 Invalid misc:3577 Missed beacon:0
But thats with my TP-LINK usb wifi adapter pluged in. If you need I can run it without tthe TP-LINK plugged in and post it as well
My "ifconfig" reads
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:26:b9:ba:53:f0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:62554 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:62554 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:6028102 (6.0 MB) TX bytes:6028102 (6.0 MB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr f8:d1:11:5e:b6:7d
inet addr:192.168.1.118 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fdb3:2322:ef6:0:fad1:11ff:fe5e:b67d/64 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: fe80::fad1:11ff:fe5e:b67d/64 Scope:Link
inet6 addr: fdb3:2322:ef6:0:407b:6453:c852:7673/64 Scope:Global
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:54398 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:52919 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:43120045 (43.1 MB) TX bytes:9486465 (9.4 MB)
and finally my "route" reads
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlan0
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 wlan0
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 9 0 0 wlan0
Again I can't thank you enough for the help, and I apologize for asking so many things on one post. It was my first post and I didn't know really how to go about asking for help here. If I need to run these codes without my USB wlan adapter and re-post I will to help out. Thanks again for your time, consideration and edicate lesson I apreciate it so much.

Hi,

Let's take it one problem at a time. I'm a bit confused, are you connected using a USB WiFi adapter right now because your Broadcom is not working? If so, disconnect the USB adapter and rerun the commands to get correct output for the hardware you would use. Just to avoid confusion.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ok, sorry for the confusion. The only problem im really concerned with is my wifi anyway so lets just forget the other problems. Anyway here is my read out you requested with the USB wlan disconnected.

robert@robert-Studio-1749:~$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
14:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (rev 01)
14:00.1 SD Host controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MMC/SD Controller (rev 01)
14:00.2 Mass storage controller: O2 Micro, Inc. Integrated MS/MSPRO/xD Controller (rev 01)
20:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
robert@robert-Studio-1749:~$ iwconfig
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

robert@robert-Studio-1749:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:26:b9:ba:53:f0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:82425 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:82425 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8106123 (8.1 MB) TX bytes:8106123 (8.1 MB)

robert@robert-Studio-1749:~$ route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface

Hi,

Ok, that's a known issue. You can try for example the instructions in this thread.

Kind regards,

Eric

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you very much for your patients and help. Much appreciated!

Hello,

No problem at all, if you have any problems with that solution I pointed you to just post it here, mentioning what and where it's failing and we'll take it from there. If you do get it working, I'd appreciate it if you'd let us know.

Kind regards,

Eric

1 members found this post helpful.

Well I tried sudo apt-get remove --purge bcmwl-kernel-source and rebooted with no change. When I ran dmesg | grep b43 it didn't display anything at all. I downloaded b43-fwcutter and got this screen

robert@robert-Studio-1749:~$ b43-fwcutter
b43-fwcutter version 015

A tool to extract firmware for a Broadcom 43xx device
from a proprietary Broadcom 43xx device driver file.

Usage: b43-fwcutter [OPTION] [proprietary-driver-file]
--unsupported Allow working on extractable but unsupported drivers
-l|--list List supported driver versions
-i|--identify Only identify the driver file (don't extract)
-w|--target-dir DIR Extract and write firmware to DIR
-v|--version Print b43-fwcutter version
-h|--help Print this help

Example: b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
to extract the firmware blobs from wl_apsta.o and store
the resulting firmware in /lib/firmware

I believe the command im looking for is "b43-fwcutter -w" but I dont know the parameter to place after the w... Am I on the right track?

Hi,

I think you're only missing the correct drivers at this moment. Check this page, it has screenshots on where to find and activate the Additional Drivers on Ubuntu (sorry, not an Ubuntu user myself). You'll most likely have to reboot once or twice.

Kind regards,

Eric

1 members found this post helpful.

That worked and I thank you. Ive been trying to get this for weeks now and Im more than happy.

Hi,

You're welcome. Glad you got it solved. Please mark your thread as solved if you consider your problem as such. Have fun with Linux.

Kind regards,

Eric

Well, I just now noticed that my sound is no longer working. I think something in the fix caused it to stop. It detects my sound card and I can adjust volume but no sound whatsoever. =/

Hi,

I don't have a lot of experience with sound on Linux but did you check your settings (with alsamixer for example) to see if there is anything muted? That happened to me before. If that's not the issue then I'm sure that somebody here can help you out with this too.

Kind regards,

Eric