Enabling Bluetooth & WiFi

Hardware Support
2

This is a bit of a long reply with multiple parts to it and several links thrown in, so please bear with me.

  1. If you're dual-booting Windows, please check for and disable both "fast boot" and "fast startup". One is a Windows setting and the other is a BIOS / UEFI setting you may or may not have; whether your BIOS / UEFI has the option, and where to find it if so, I can't say. Unfortunately, every BIOS and UEFI is totally different, using different names for the same features even within the same brand!

  1. Now, check the output of lspci and sudo lshw -C network to make sure Zorin is actually seeing your wifi card at all, and check what driver its trying to use. When you know that, it will be easier to search / ask for specific help for your exact chipset.

  2. Run the command rfkill list all in a terminal and see if your WiFi devices are blocked at all. If so, try sudo rfkill unblock all and then run rfkill list all again to see if it changes.

  3. I have also seen some mention previously of an Acer kernel module that can block certain WiFi drivers, even on machines from other brands like ASUS and HP. If you see acer_wmi or acer-wmi in the output of sudo lsmod | grep acer then it may be worth trying this fix. WMI modules are for mapping the Fn keys on laptop keyboards to system functions, such as toggling WiFi or changing screen brightness. If the chosen WMI for your keyboard is broken or the wrong one - such as acer-wmi on a Dell or HP laptop - this somehow causes the WiFi driver to fail / be blocked in the system. Why? I have no idea, it just does! :joy:

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