Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

[Thyme]

I finally removed Vista (YEAH!) last night and have been configuring, learning Kubuntu all day today. I have managed to get most things working, except no sound and no wireless. I have been hunting this, Ubuntu's, Linux and Dell's forums. I installed Wireless Assistant, as well. KNetwork Manager lists my wired ethernet, but does not see any wireless. Wireless Assistant states I have no wireless device. When I checked with the terminal for a list of Ethernet controllers, it only gives one - the Broadcom wired controller, which fortunately works. But there is no awareness of the Dell Wireless 1505 802.11n.

Whoops, just to check again, I did the l spci command again. The last entry shows up now (why now?) as a wireless device. Not called Dell Wireless 1505, though. I am pasting the item here:
Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 03)

So does that mean the the device IS known? It still isn't showing up in KNetwork Manager and when I open Wireless Assistant I still get:
No usable wireless devices found.
Wireless Assistant will now quit.

I am assuming that I still have to find another driver. Dell's answer is that drivers are received from the 'distro' for Linux. I have not found (or did not understand) what steps I need to take now - how to go about getting another driver (if there is one) and then how to install it.

Is there some specific place (a link) to get drivers?

I really need my wireless - then I can work on getting sound.

Thanks for any help.
Thyme

[kreggz]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

Hi,

At this stage, the b43 drivers aren't compatible with BCM4328.

However you can use the Windows drivers with NDISwrapper:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...river/bcm43xx/

Cheers,

[Thyme]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

Thank you. After investigating the link you provided and the wireless.org site, I do not have much hope with my particular wireless driver. I am now looking for a USB wireless network adapter that will 'just work'. There is one listed that also has WPA security (which I must have in order to get into my existing network) that I will try to get.

Again, thanks.

Thyme

[Thyme]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

As a follow up, I purchased Linksys Wireless - G USB Network Adapter with Wi-Fi Finder. Kubuntu was able to recognize it and I actually had it working for a little while. I am still working with it. As I figure out how to articulate the problems, I will open another thread if I need help.

[kreggz]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

Does it work again if you use the live CD??

[Thyme]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

Using the Linksys USB Wireless Adapter with WiFi Finder has worked great now, so have not needed to check it with the live CD. I just had to iron out the security (WPA) and now it works fine.

Next step is getting my printer recognized with the Linksys Wireless Print Server. Been checking forums for that.

Bottom line for this topic, my easy fix was to use a known wireless network adapter that works with Linux. I needed one that could do WPA, since the current network is set up that way. There were three that I could find, a Belkin (that got poor reviews for performance), a Hawking and this Linksys. I could not find any of these at stores, but Amazon.com had the Linksys one.

So all is resolved.

[Guest]

Re: Dell Wireless 1505 not recognized by Kubuntu 8.04

Here is the instructions to install 1505 i found this and i am spreading the word now that i got it to work *** key you must use the xp dell 1505 driver to get it working including the wifi light on my D630 with dual 1505 Wireless N


Here is the best write up on using ndis wrapper.



IF you need more like the whole extracting it..let me know.


3.4. Installing Windows driver
3.4.1. Installing Windows driver using ndisgtk (ndiswrapper graphical interface)

· If you chose to install ndisgtk, the graphical interface for ndiswrapper, after installation click on System | Administration | Windows wireless drivers and follow the instructions on-screen. For an idea of what to expect, some screenshots of ndisgtk can be found here.

If this works, and you have a network connection, then you can skip to Automatically loading at Startup - ndisgtk will load the driver if it installs correctly.
3.4.2. Installing Windows driver using command line

In a Terminal, run the following command:

· sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/drivers/drivername.inf

(assuming the driver is in a directory in your home folder called drivers, and is named drivername.inf)

ndiswrapper then copies the .inf and sys files into /etc/ndiswrapper/.... Don't forget that the filename you type in is case-sensitive.
3.4.2.1. Check to make sure the driver was installed correctly

* Run the following command from a Terminal:

ndiswrapper -l

If the driver is installed correctly, you should see the following output:

Installed ndis drivers:

{name of driver} driver present, hardware present

or

{name of driver} : driver installed

device ({Chipset ID}) present

If you don't see this message:

a. Try a different driver such as the drivers for Windows 2000, or another driver matching the PCI ID on the ndiswrapper list.

b. This document has a troubleshooting section which may provide an answer.

c. Look for additional help. Read HowToGetHelp for more information.
3.5. Load the new driver module

* If ndiswrapper correctly associates the driver to the wireless adapter, you are now ready to load the driver into memory, and try to establish a network connection. Open a Terminal and run the following commands:

· sudo depmod -a

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

Then, also in a Terminal, check for error messages:

tail /var/log/messages

Alternatively, open a Terminal and try the commands ifconfig and iwconfig. Your wireless card should appear with an interface name of wlan0. If it doesn't appear here, then the driver is not working properly. If no errors are given, you should now be able to configure the network connection.