Bad
 

I bought this Dell inspirion i5 laptop with Linux Ubuntu preinstalled, so \i decided to give it a try. I first downloaded the ubuntu 11.10 version, it was working fine, but next day I decided to upgrade to 12.4 . when that was done, I found that I lost the sign for wireless connection, I am now connected via a lan wire. I tryed many things, and yesterday I restarted my laptop, and funny enough the wireless worked. I then attempted to configure my vodafone mobile broadband usb stick, modle:k3770, through configure VPN, under broadband, I followed all the steps and saved. you could see the word vodafone broadband inside the window, but that is all. I still cannot establish connection. So I took my laptop to vodafone, who were not able to help. When I came back home, I discovered that I had lost the wireless indicator once again. I toggled the wireless controle button on the key board, I checked the net to see there is a software to download, nothing. I am now considering discarding linux and downloading silly old windows to make life easier. But I like what I see, and want to give it another try :)
In brief I now have two urgent problems:

1- I cannot connect to a wireless, the internet connection indictor has only wired connection- the wireless connection option has disapeared.

2- Is it possible to ever connect through the Vodafone USB broadband stick?

Thank you
MN

Yes it is possible to connect using the Vodafone USB but depending on where you are on the globe you are you have to pay as you go and that can be very costly! Hope that's not your case.
http://www.vodafone.in/internet/pages/usbstick.aspx
Here's support for the stick but you need to know which one you have.
http://www.business.vodafone.com/sit...stick_2row.jsp

Try looking in your Network Manager and make sure that you have everything checked and set up. Type in your wireless passphrase and select WEP or WPA. You should be able to see your wireless network to connect to.

Also you may need a driver to assist your Vodafone USB.

If you continue to have problems open the terminal and post the output to this command:
This helps members here to diagnose.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the prompt reply, but I still have that wireless problem, I am so unfamilier with Linux, I cannot find where I should check on WEP or WPA in the network manager window or advanced settings. My descktop and my i pod read my wirless well, except for this laptop. I must remind you that this problem started occuring when I upgraded to 12.4!

I was thinking if there is a way to revert to Ubuntu 11.10 if this would solve the problem.

If you didn't create separate /home partition when you installed, you'll have to backup your user data. But you can download and re-install 11.10, and then migrate your data back. When you re-install 11.10, make sure to create a separate /home partition. With a separate /home partition, you can chose to not format that partition on a subsequent upgrade install, but only select it as a mount point for /home . You just need to make a new user name (such as; johndoe2, when the first was johndoe1). That way, you can retain your user data, and only have to migrate that data into your new user account, then delete your old one.

Note: SuSE is the only distro I know of that allows you to re-use your old user account on upgrades, all others require you to create a new user account, or else you will have problems.

This page at ubuntu might help as other Ubuntu users posted how they worked to get their wireless working. Your Network Manager is up in the right hand top of your Gnome destop unless you have Unity it might be a little different.

http://ubuntuforums.org/search.php?searchid=88082335

If it's a Dell, there's a good chance that it has Broadcom wireless.

You can determine the wireless chipset by running the command lspci in a terminal.

Once you find out what the chipset is, post it here for more assistance.

Here is some good background information on Broadcom wireless: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

Edit: Also, for future reference, please use more descriptive thread titles. "Bad" does not give someone cruising the forums any idea of what the thread is about. Something like "Wireless not working in Dell Inspiron i5 with Ubuntu" would have been preferable.

Thank you all again.
1- Since I had just bought this laptop, I practically have no data on it, so I simply formated it back to factory settings, it got me back to ubuntu 11.10, I have my wireless back now, which is good. When I did that, I haven't had the chance to see jaseP's advice to create partitions. I can however always back up my work on an external drive for now. I usually do that anyway.
2- I solved the USB broadband problem by buying a mobile, battery operated wireless device that uses a sim card from a cell phone network provider. Now I have totally avoided the hideous task (for me) in trying to figure out which particular software to download from the net. All I need is to find a way to get connected to the Internet service. when I travel or go on a trip.
3-Frankbell: I found it to be a : Broadcom Corporation Device 4365 - if that is of any help. I however, ever since resetting my laptop to 11.10, have not been able to download skype nor adobe flash driver properly. They used to before. When I upgraded to 12.4 skype worked fine, but then I had problems with wireless the next day. and Adobe flash worked any way on both. I am not sure if I am missing something or not, but should I now upgrade again to 12.4, for them to work properly?

And thank you, I can use a more descriptive title for my threads, though as I was looking into this forum for the first time, it offered choices as such, from bad to very good, which I clicked, and it appeared on my thread title. I'll be careful next time :)

Thanks

Any time you need install new programs in your computer do it from the software center in ubuntu, dont go into random web sites downloading applications. You can try to re install flash player and skype from there and anything else you need for your everyday computer uses.

Good luck to you!

If it's working to your satisfaction, that's what matters.

As regards this

I went back and I can see how someone new to LQ and for whom English may not be the first language could make this conclusion.

What the "Bad" meant was the "What follows this is an example of a bad subject line." The "Good" was an example of a good subject line, and so on.

Welcome to LQ and, again, glad you got it working. Look forward to seeing you around.