As you can see in this thread,
She was able to use her WiFi with Zorin 15,3.
But at one point, it stopped working.
I suspect kernel regression, but I am just guessing.
On that, I am stumped. I am not aware of any kernel updates recently on 15.3.
(Perhaps @Becky can chime in which kernel it was on when WIFI went out.)
Drivers either work or they do not work. They do not work and then just suddenly stop being drivers one day. Becky points out that the wifi still works on Windows, suggesting that rules out the hardware. I am not so sure on that. Sometimes hardware gives out slowly. A small part of the component dies... Not enough to kill it entirely but enough to stop it working in one setting, though it still seems to work in a different setting. I have seen the reverse, too. Where a dying piece of hardware seemed to work on Linux for a while when it didn't on Windows. Then it went out completely a couple months later.
You see this in cars, too.
It's funny how often something will stop making a noise or something... and the owner thinks It Fixed Itself. No... It doesn't work that way...
2 Likes
I see... well, I remember that my kernel version was 5.4.9 (not sure tho, maybe I could be wrong)
If 5.4 - then there was no regression. There were additions to the kernel up to 5.8. But nothing (or at least very little) was removed til after 5.10
2 Likes
I am bit surprised since I have never experienced a WiFi module failure for over 20 years since my first laptop.
1 Like
I have had it happen twice, but keep in mind that these were Shop Computers -in the heat and even dust...
2 Likes
Becky using her laptop in the kitchen? 
Joke aside, I remember my acquaintance got exactly the same laptops for him and his wife. He travelled with it al lot and it failed much faster than his wife's that seldom move out of the house.
The condition of use certainly affect the life span of laptops. Come to think about of it, it is not a good idea to use it as a portable music player...
2 Likes
If it's a notebook... Clogged or dirty fan or fan going out... Can cause overheating and other hardware to start giving out.
Always monitor temps. I have a conky always on my desktop just for temps.
2 Likes
I clean inside of laptops every so often.
I bought this to stop buying expensive and environmentally unfriendly compressed air cans.
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01G1Z0RF0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
2 Likes
I can confirm that 15,3 is with Kernel 5,4.
If there is no regression, then your speculation about hardware failure seems probable.
In that case, using another distro would not help.
1 Like
Oh no... so, what could I do now?
2 Likes
Alright, first I'll go with another distro just in case, if the problem still remains, I will try option 1. Thank y'all very much!
2 Likes
Make sure to report back here 
1 Like
Has anyone asked Becky to do this?
sudo hwinfo --network --short
So we can find out what hardware the chipset is? Pity ifconfig command is not present in modern distros ... because net-tools is now needed ... and with no internet it ain't going to happen.
#There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, Dear Liza, ...#
1 Like
With only 4GB of RAM, I strongly recommend Zorin OS LITE.
I have Zorin OS PRO/Gnome installed on an old dual core machine, where I had upgraded the RAM to 8GB, and Zorin runs a bit slow on that machine, with only a dual core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and running on an integraded Intel HD GPU.
The great thing about LITE, is because its uses XFCE, it only needs like maybe 1GB of RAM out of the box to run. Which pretty much leaves 3GB of RAM left over, for your APPS.
Where as in PRO/CORE, which uses Gnome, will take all 4GB of that RAM, leaving nothing for APPS. Trust me, I know, I've seen it. Let me post a screenshot from my Zorin Star Labs machine running PRO.
Here it is consuming 2.9GB of RAM after only running for a few minutes.
I've seen it consume up to 3.7GB before on this machine.
In other words, Gnome wouldn't be the best fit for your machine. I strongly recommend LITE/XFCE.
Hey guys! Becky reporting back here...
The problem still remained even on Linux Mint, but I got a Wi-Fi dongle my dad had, and it seems to work perfectly without any driver installation needed!
Thank you all for the help again, maybe some day I'll come back to Zorin haha!
I'll be seeing you all soon.
2 Likes
Ah, so @Aravisian was right.
It was indeed a hardware failure.
With the amount of RAM you have, you might want to check out Zorin 16 Lite when it is released.
1 Like
Yes of course I will give it a try when it comes out! I'm pretty excited for it hehe.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.