WiFi access does not work on my Laptop Acer Aspire 7750G

KubuntuTcshellFan · 05-03-2018, 01:21 PM

Hi All, I have worked for many years in industry projects with Unix, mainly Sun Solaris based, and would like to use Linux in parallel to Windows 7 and 8 at home. The installation of both Suse and Kubuntu worked fine, with one exception:

The only obstacle is internet access via Wifi. I have tried both Suse
and Kubuntu 17.10 with the same frustrating result. Windows 7 works fine,
but Linux needs a cable connection. I assume, that some drivers may be
missing for this hardware, bought some 4 years ago. My old Acer laptop
(almost 10 years old, with 32 bit architecture) has no difficulty with
remote internet access.

Is there any straighforward documentation to diagnose and repair this?

thanks for any hint
Laszlo

bodqhrohro · 05-03-2018, 03:36 PM

This laptop probably has an Atheros card. Do you have the corresponding firmware package installed? What does dpkg -l|grep firmware show?

It may also be because of a software lock enabled. Try to install rfkill and run sudo rfkill unblock wlan.

AwesomeMachine · 05-05-2018, 02:46 AM

Hello KubuntuTcshellFan,

Welcome!

I would post the output of

Code:

$ lspci | grep -i wireless

so we can see which wireless chip you have. Then we can help you. Or, you can look up which firmware package you require for your adapter, and install it.

fatmac · 05-05-2018, 04:35 AM

Some distros require you to enable wifi through wicd GUI, once enabled, you can set it up.

It seems to be a wicd problem, because one of my HP laptops that used to work perfectly, now requires me to enable wifi through the wicd GUI.