[SOLVED] HP laptop not recognizing wifi

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 07:22 PM

Ubuntu 20.04 lts fresh install
No option in top right menu to select wifi
Worked before fresh install

frankbell · 02-09-2021, 07:26 PM

The first thing I'd is do is go to the software center (or whatever they are calling it this week) and look for something called "Additional Drivers" and run it.

If that doesn't help, run the command lspci in a terminal to determine your wireless chipset, then post the relevant output here, being careful to surround any terminal output with "code" tags which become available when you click the "Advanced" button beneath the compose/edit post window. (Those tags make terminal output much easier to read.)

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 08:08 PM

I installed additional drivers and rebooted. Still no wifi option.
Only other thing I can think of, is that HP did a wifi upgrade/fix years ago. I changed little battery and computer reverted back to factory bios on first boot up. Perhaps hp did some type of bios upgrade and I lost the wifi card recognition or something - ?

Code:

michael@michael-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 5500 (rev 09)
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 09)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev e3)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #2 (rev e3)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev e3)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev e3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 03)
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 0a)
michael@michael-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$

jefro · 02-09-2021, 09:40 PM

Something like this.
https://suryanshpradhan.wordpress.co...u-18-04-3-lts/

I doubt this will hurt if you have ethernet connected sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

There is a small possibility that you have disabled nic in bios or by switch.

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

Something like this.
https://suryanshpradhan.wordpress.co...u-18-04-3-lts/

I doubt this will hurt if you have ethernet connected sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

There is a small possibility that you have disabled nic in bios or by switch.

ok, please tell me exactly what to type into terminal. Want me to type "sudo apt-get install" or "sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source" or should I type things in from that webpage. Sorry for being such a novice at this.

computersavvy · 02-09-2021, 09:58 PM

That lspci shows
08:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
as the wifi.

With a quick search I found this among others about that wifi chip.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1262...n-ubuntu-20-04

I would first do the "sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source" and reboot, then see what the response is.

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 10:30 PM

sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

I entered the command into terminal, it went about its business, then I came to a screen that I couldn't figure out how to click "ok" or hit enter or whatever to allow the "ok"

Should I go into Bios/UEFI and turn off secure boot and try again?

see screenshots

computersavvy · 02-09-2021, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Piziak

sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source

I entered the command into terminal, it went about its business, then I came to a screen that I couldn't figure out how to click "ok" or hit enter or whatever to allow the "ok"

Should I go into Bios/UEFI and turn off secure boot and try again?

see screenshots

Don't know how you attached the images, but I cannot view any of them. As a result I cannot answer. Possibly attach the images as something other than a thumbnail.

Late night. will check tomorrow.

This however really should have nothing to do with secure boot, it seems a driver issue for the wifi.

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by computersavvy

Don't know how you attached the images, but I cannot view any of them. As a result I cannot answer. Possibly attach the images as something other than a thumbnail.

Late night. will check tomorrow.

This however really should have nothing to do with secure boot, it seems a driver issue for the wifi.

I was able to make a secure password and supply it upon reboot. I entered the command again and it went through. I'll reboot and see what happens.

Code:

michael@michael-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
[sudo] password for michael:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
libfprint-2-tod1 libllvm10
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/1,544 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 189991 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu7~20.04.1_amd64.deb ...
Removing all DKMS Modules
Done.
Unpacking bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu7~20.04.1) over (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu7~20.04.1) ...
Setting up bcmwl-kernel-source (6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu7~20.04.1) ...
Loading new bcmwl-6.30.223.271+bdcom DKMS files...
Building for 5.8.0-43-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 5.8.0-43-generic
Done.

wl.ko:
Running module version sanity check.
- Original module
- No original module exists within this kernel
- Installation
- Installing to /lib/modules/5.8.0-43-generic/updates/dkms/

depmod...

DKMS: install completed.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.136ubuntu6.3) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-5.8.0-43-generic
michael@michael-HP-Pavilion-Notebook:~$

Michael Piziak · 02-09-2021, 11:33 PM

SUCCESS!

Thanks to you and to the others that stuck with me and helped me out!

If there are any other Linux commands I should run to tidy things up, please tell.

Hurray!!!

computersavvy · 02-10-2021, 10:29 AM

In the page you linked to in post 5, the fix suggested at the end with the update dated Jan 10, 2021 was to enter the commands

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-source
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-dkms
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common

This changes the driver used.
After a reboot the command

lspci -k

should show the driver currently in use and if it is the new one then you should be good to go, if not then there are steps earlier in that page that may need to be done, including blacklisting the unwanted modules.

Simply follow that guide and see what happens at each step.