i installed linux mint 21 onto my laptop, allwent well as it was supposed todo. then i tried to set uo the internet conection, i found all i had was a wired option and NO wireless option.
how do i get this option. it seems i have a lesser kernal, i have trien to upgrade the kernal to 6.2, but it all failed.
is there any program or data i can use via the terminal that will rectify this issue. im now stuck with a desktop i cant moved from with no internet facility…
any help guys
Hi Chaza,
First of all, it’s unlikely to be an issue with the Operating System itself in terms of the kernel or kernel version, UNLESS you have a bleeding edge brand new laptop that has some new fancy WiFi hardware that’s only supported in the latest Linux Kernel. In this instance, I’d recommend trying the latest version of Ubuntu (or Fedora) on the laptop via a Live CD or bootable USB key. (just to see if this fixes the issue)
Thoughts;
Many laptops have physical switches to enable and disable wireless connectivity, speaking from experience, make 100% sure this hasn’t been accidentally knocked into the “disabled” position
Check the interface isn’t blocked (typically there is a physical hardware switch AND a software switch)
Check available interfaces
# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
enp19s0 no wireless extensions.
wlp7s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Check what is blocked
# rfkill list all
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
For anything that is blocked that you wish to use;
# rfkill unblock 2
# rfkill list all
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
Bring the device up
ifconfig wlp7s0 up
See what networks it can see …
iwlist wlp7s0 scanning
If this gives you something, then the desktop WiFi setup should be able to take over and connect you up.
If none of that helps, we might need a little more information … make and model of Laptop would be a good start … 
hi mad, i get what your saying, so i did as you typred. i didnt get the same result as you. soft and hard are not blocked, byt my bluetooth soft is blocked.
i did the iwlist but it says it doesnt allow scanning
so im lost again…
hi mad
i tried the wlp7s0 butthat came back as no such device.
cheers chaza
Ok, that was the device name on my laptop, you need to look at the output from iwconfig for your device name. If you dont use the correct device name, then none of the above is going to help much.
hi Mad,
i dont understand , am i looking at the network info. all that gives me is the realtek model. where doi have to lookmto get the devce name…
cheers
If you do;
iwconfig
It should list the devices it can see, for example on my RPi5;
$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
So in this case my WiFi interface is called “wlan0” , whereas on my laptop it was called “wlp7s0” …
hi mad
so, if i do the same i get
lo no wireless extention
enp2s0f2 no wireless extention
so does that mean my device name is enp2s0f2
cheers
Mmm, I think it means that it can’t see a wireless interface. What do you see if you do;
$ rfkill list
On my machine I see;
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
This helpfully (!) uses a different naming scheme, so in this instance “phy0” is actuall “wlan0”. You can see this with;
$ iw dev
phy#0
Interface wlan0
ifindex 3
wdev 0x1
addr 2c:cf:67:19:ed:01
type managed
channel 34 (5170 MHz), width: 20 MHz, center1: 5170 MHz
So if you do “rfkill list” you should see a “phy0” device if can see the wifi, in which case “iw dev” will give you it’s real device name. You would also try “rfkill unblock all” to try to enable everything …
rfkill list returns
0: acer-wireless: wireless LAN
soft blocked : no
hard blocked: no
14: hci0 : bluetooth
the same as above
no i dont see any phy0 just the ones i just sent
Mmm, looks like it can’t see your laptop’s wireless hardware then. Again, really need to know the make / model of your laptop …
its an asus aspire v5 571 series
model no ms2361
i took a screen shot of the data in the network part it said this
device 1: realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI express gigabit ethernet
driver: r8169 v: kernel port:2000 bus ID:02:00.2
IF: enp2s0f2 state:down mac:
device 2: broadcom BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n vendor: foxconn
driver:bcma-pci-bridge v: N/A bus ID: 03:00.0
then it went to bluetooth
Ok, so are you sure this is an "ASUS " and not an “Acer” ?
Either way, if it’s a BCM43228 chip, I think you need a proprietary driver to make it work. Can you tryl
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
For anyone interested in more detail, the detail is here;
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx
You may (or may not) need to reboot after installing, but I’m guessing this is going to make the device visible and hopefully work as expected.
update went ok till the end then it failed to fetch packages.
the other failed unable to locate kernel.
its an acer as you said.
Ok, so it sounds like either your wired connection has problems, so either you’re going to need to install the driver from your installation media, or you’re going to need to get a wired connection to the Internet. One way or another, the machine needs software that’s not currently present on the machine.
so how can i wire it up to get the software.
can i di it if i join two pcs together.
i have another laptop with linux mint on it, if i join them together will that work. via usb
the instalation media was a usb stick
Ok, so;
That “should” work.
Yes you can connect one PC to another, but it would take a lot longer.
my router has rj45, but the pc has not.
how about the usb jioning to another pc
im looking at the instalation usb and all its files, will the driver i need be in there