how to restore network access to my netbook

[tomcloyd]

I have an HP-Mini 110 netbook which lost network (WWW) access last week, for no reason that I've been able to discover. I've been accessing my router with a cable, since I have have yet to figure out how to get wireless access to work via Kubuntu on this machine. Then...no access, suddenly.

Prior to this I'd installed the wicd network manager. That didn't result in wireless access, but wired access worked. In an attempt to get wireless access working, I'd downloaded the proper wireless drivers from HP, used the *.exe they came in to extract them, then copied them my Kubuntu and installed the ndisgtk package from Synaptic (GTK frontend for ndiswrapper). At this point, Kubuntu should be able to detect the wireless drivers, but it couldn't. I still had wired access however. Then, some weeks later it disappeared.

Since I no longer have internet access on this machine, I can only download packages, etc., to my desktop, copy them to a flash drive, and access them that way on my netbook.

MY QUESTION:

What packages or other software/drivers available in the Kubuntu world do I need to download and re-install on my laptop to restore the machine to its former status? My fallback is to reinstall the whole system, but that will require a half-day to reload my large suite of application programs as well (arrrrrgh!). Can do this, but I'm looking for another option.

Can anyone assist me?

[vinnywright]

Re: how to restore network access to my netbook

I'd downloaded the proper wireless drivers from HP, used the *.exe they came in to extract them, then copied them my Kubuntu and installed the ndisgtk package from Synaptic (GTK frontend for ndiswrapper). At this point, Kubuntu should be able to detect the wireless drivers, but it couldn't.

onley if you used ndisgtk to install them!!

pleas ls the path to the drivers OR put them in thar owe folder and then post

ls /path/to/folder

not shur what you did to the wierd conection but I'll try to help you with the wireless and ndiswrapper as I'v done that severall times

VINNY

[tomcloyd]

Re: how to restore network access to my netbook

Vinny,

Thanks so much for stepping up. This networking stuff is a vast sea of ignorance of me. I'm eager to try out your suggestions and get back to later tonight. Nice to know you have some ideas I can chew on.

~t.

[tomcloyd]

Re: how to restore network access to my netbook

OK, here's the listing of the dir containing the wireless drivers I got from the Windows (XP) install module:

bcm43xx64.cat
bcm43xx.cat
bcmwl564.sys
bcmwl5.inf
bcmwl5.sys
bcmwlcoi64.dll
bcmwlcoi.dll

Update:

I now have wicd reinstalled and working. It's doing things I've never seen before, including detecting multiple wireless channels and my wired connection, which is working.

However, I cannot get an IP address on the wireless (a nice problem to have, since I've never gotten this far before!).

I'm thinking maybe I'm using the wrong security access protocol, or whatever it's called. When I set up the router for wireless access (which works automatically in WinXP), I copied these details to my notes:

*Wireless settings* - from router admin screen
* Wireless network:
** name = QuietMind
** region = (default: USA)
** channel = auto
** mode: b & g
* Security options:
** specification: WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]
** passphrase: usualx2.

I have wicd set up to use the "WPA 1/2" security protocol (again, I may have the name wrong), but it cannot seem to get an IP address. It just times out.

I should mention that when I launch ndisgtk I get an error message saying "Unable to see if hardware is present". When I click "OK" to get to the main window it tells that the "Currently installed Windows drivers" are just one: "bcmwl5" Beneath that it says "Hardware present: Yes". There is a "Configure Network" button in the window, but clicking it doesn't appear to do anything.

Launching the "kmenu > system > hardware drivers" application, I learn:
* there are no proprietary drivers installed on this machine
* the "Broadcom STA wireless driver"
* it is not activated; when I click the "activate" button, the "Broadcom STA wireless driver" text is grayed, but nothing else happens. It still says the driver is "not activated".

Can you suggest how to troubleshoot this?