New OS 17 install doesn't recognize Wifi

Hardware Support
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1

Hi there, I recently installed Zorin 17 on my Mom's laptop (per her ask) since windows was kneecapping an already pretty bad laptop. The device in question is an HP Stream Notebook PC 13. After looking at a couple of other threads (yes I tried their solutions but they unfortunately didn't work) I kept seeing the use of the command sudo lshw -C network to show adapter details, the results of this command is:

*-network
   description: Network controller
   product: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n
   vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
   version: 01
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
   configuration: driver=bmca-pci-bridge latency=0
   resources: irq:19 memory:91000000-91007fff

Any help would be appreciated!

2

Hi, welcome to Zorin OS forums!

You may need to install additional drivers for this particular network controller. Easier done through the terminal:

  1. First, update:

    sudo apt update

  2. Then, install the following package:

    sudo apt install broadcom-sta-dkms
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3

Welcome to the Forum!

Did you take a Look in the ''Additional Drivers'' Tab in Software & Updates if there are any Drivers offered?

4

Nope, throws the error E: Unable to locate package broadcom-sta-dkms

5

Says that there are no additional drivers available

6

You'll need to gain internet access first somehow e.g., tethering from your phone via USB, plugging in an ethernet cable, etc. This is the best option, but if you can't there's also the possibility of downloading the package on a separate machine first, and then transfer it to this laptop and install it manually.

You can download it from this site, scroll down until the Download section and use the URL for "Binary Package":

image
image1131×252 18.7 KB

The protocol to download this package is http instead of the more secure https, but this is to be expected in this case.

Transfer it to your laptop using a USB flash drive or something similar. Then, install with:

sudo apt install /home/zenzen/Downloads/broadcom-sta-dkms_6.30.223.271-23~22.04.1_all.deb

Make sure to update the path to point to the correct location where you placed this file. I'm using /home/zenzen/Downloads here as an example.

EDIT:

In the interest of keeping things as secure as possible, you can also download from any of these official mirrors:

https://packages.ubuntu.com/jammy-updates/all/broadcom-sta-dkms/download

Notice that at the bottom of the site there's a section to verify the checksum. If you download the .deb manually, you want to verify it's the right file. To do that run in terminal:

sha256 /home/zenzen/Downloads/broadcom-sta-dkms_6.30.223.271-23~22.04.1_all.deb

Use the result to compare it with what is shown in that website. If it doesn't match exactly, do not use it and download from another source:

sc1
sc11366×626 38.6 KB

1 Like
7

Ok so I've been trying this for a bit now but it's basically in a constant state of not having required dependencies, I'll keep at it for a little bit but if all else fails I reflashed the boot drive so I can try a fresh install and see if that somehow magically fixes things.

8

Did you select the option to download updates and drivers during the installation of Zorin OS? That's about the only reason I can think of for this package to fail because of missing dependencies.

1 Like
9

I did, luckily now the issue is resolved! It appears that the issues stemmed from a bad flash, after reflashing and reinstalling it's working flawlessly (or at least as flawlessly as a cheap HP laptop form 2014 can run). Thank you guys for the help regardless!

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