Hello, I'm new on here so apologies if replying to this thread is hijacking it but wasn't sure if having multiple threads for the same issue is allowed!!
I recently installed zorin os on my old Lenovo and everything worked perfectly after the install. I've now installed zorin os on my mate's old i3 Toshiba laptop but I can't get the wifi to connect. I've looked through various threads and other sites and tried running various suggestions in the terminal window but nothing has solved the issue. Can anyone help please?
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*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: RTL8723AE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: wlp2s0
version: 00
serial: 74:e5:43:19:1d:ce
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8723ae driverversion=7.0.0-28-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:17 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:c2400000-c2403fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: enp3s0
version: 05
serial: 4c:72:b9:1e:90:2e
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=7.0.0-28-generic duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw ip=192.168.1.10 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:18 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:c0004000-c0004fff memory:c0000000-c0003fff
This is what's reported typing sudo lshw -C network in terminal window if it helps. I've only ever used dos and windows so this is all new to me. Thanks
Hello,
another thread would be better, never mind, you can try to boot to older kernel, but for now go in terminal and give me the output of this command
apt list --installed | grep linux-image
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Sorry about that. Here is the output thanks
apt list --installed | grep linux-image
WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.
linux-image-6.17.0-20-generic/noble-updates,noble-security,now 6.17.0-20.20~24.04.1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
linux-image-7.0.0-28-generic/noble-updates,noble-security,now 7.0.0-28.28~24.04.1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
linux-image-generic-hwe-24.04/noble-updates,noble-security,now 7.0.0-28.28~24.04.1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
whatyou can try is to boot to Older kernel
- Restart the PC and press Escape during boot to access the GRUB menu (may also be accessed with Shift)
- Select "Advanced options for Zorin OS"
- Here, you can see the available kernels to boot into. Choose the older one (without recovery option) for you 6.17.0-20
if it work for you problem we will see to fix your boot to this kernel
OK thanks I'll try that now
Unfortunately that hasn't worked, still get activation of network connection failed
Welcome to the Forum!
I've collected Your's and @Nourpon's Comments and created an extra Thread for it.
Let me ask some Questions for more Details first:
- Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
- If Windows is installed: Is Fast Start-Up in Windows disabled?
- Does Zorin run in Wayland or X11? You can check that with the Terminal Command
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE - Does Your Ethernet work?
- How old is Your Laptop? Depending on that, it might be neccessary to install an older Kernel for better Hardware Support.
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Give me the output of
dmesg | tail -n 200 | grep -Ei 'rtl8723|wlp2s0|firmware|rtw|mac80211'
ls /lib/firmware | grep -i rtl8723
ls /lib/firmware/rtl* | head
It is now working.......I tried 5GHz and 2.4Ghz when I originally installed zorin and neither worked. I've just realised the age of the wifi card and have tried 2.4GHz again and it is now working so something you've told me to input has solved the issue I think thanks. I'll restart it and try again just to make sure.
Edit: It's working perfectly now thanks for all your help
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Great, don't forget to mark this topic as resolved 
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secure boot and fast boot both disabled
no windows installed just new Zorin OS install
It's reporting wayland
ethernet works fine
laptop is i3 Toshiba Satellite and was running windows 7
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That would be something were we could make a Change. But when Your Wifi runs now, keep an Eye on it and simply use it a couple Days. When it then still should run, simply report back that all is fine. Then ... we accuse the Ghost in the Machine for this.
And when You should get Problems report back too of Course. Then, we will see if we can get it running fine.
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OK thanks, I'll update in a few days
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Update....everything still working thanks
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