Wow. I am amazed at all these quality responses. Thanks!
I did install Ubuntu on this computer a few months ago. I installed it, then ran into this problem, and then decided to wait until after school before doing anything about this. So I don't really remember configuring any network settings. I don't think I did.
Also I ran ipconfig -a in terminal and it outputted 'ipconfig: command not found'
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lspci outputted that my Network Controller: Intel Corporation WiMAX/WiFi Link 6050 Series (rev 57)
and Ethernet Controller: Atheros Communications AR8152 v1.1 Fast Ethernet (rev c1)
And thanks for those links. I did check out some other places before posting here and I did that same command series mentioned in your first given link.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
cd ~/Desktop
tar -xjvf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless*
scripts/driver-select atl1c
make
sudo make install
This didn't work for me because the update would fail because i wasn't connected to the internet.
So I downloaded the tar file they linked and started inputted
tar -xjvf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless-2010-12-26
scripts/driver-select atl1c
make
sudo make install
I rebooted and it still didnt work so i followed the 'sudo modprobe atl1c' command. Still didn't work.
http://www.downloadatoz.com/driver/a...ntu-10-10.html
-these were the steps i was following