HowTo: Ubuntu Linux on HP Pavilion series laptops
5 Wireless
A) Intel Wireless (3945ABG, 4965ABGN)
On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04 and Karmic 9.10 the wireless subsystem is supported (all ABGN modes).
Drivers are now slipstremed into the Linux kernel (since 2.6.24). Developers site: http://intellinuxwireless.org
To install the linux backports modules open a terminal and type
sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-lucid
or for karmic
sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic
Note for Ubuntu Hardy 8.04:
with an Intel PRO/Wireless adapters some users have noticed, that after killing the wireless adapter with the kill switch or resume from standby/suspension, it won’t come up again, when I re-enable it. Until a reboot. However, reloading the iwlagn kernel module (the wireless adapter driver), it works again! To achieve this either untick and tick again the ‘enable wireless’ on the right-click menu of network-manager or use this command. (thanks Nicolas!)
sudo modprobe -r iwlagn && sudo modprobe iwlagn
B) Broadcom wireless
On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04 and Karmic 9.10 Broadcom wireless drivers are supported through System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers
Broadcom itself provides a closed source STA driver for those chipsets that aren’t yet covered by the b43 driver. Their compiling instructions are pretty distro-inspesific, I found it easier to connect the laptop to a wired connection and install the same closed driver offered by Ubuntu. (Thanks to Neva for reporting!)
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
With previous Ubuntu versions there was no native support, they worked through two workarounds: ndiswrapper and b43-fwcutter. Nowadays b43 driver has merged into linuxwireless.org project and you should first try simply installing kernel backports, then manually installing modules form latest linuxwireless stable package.
Further reading about supported devices here: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
Blacklist your existing not working drivers by editing blacklist file and inserting the affecting modules names
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
append to the file:
blacklist b43legacy blacklist b43
I strongly suggest at first to try installing the backport modules since many drivers are often backported to stable OS versions:
sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-jaunty
or
sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid
you need to reboot before being able to test your device.
If those drivers haven’t been backported yet you have to download and manually install b43 drivers.
Download latest stable drivers and install them:
wget http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 sudo tar -jxvf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 cd compat-wireless-[DRIVERS DATE] make sudo make install sudo make unload sudo make load
Remember you also need the firmware for your device to work.
This provided with package linux-firmware
sudo apt-get install linux-firmware
however if your device still doesn’t work (since the required firmware is not shipped in this package yet) you may follow these steps in order to download and load it:
Use version 011 of b43-fwcutter.
Download, extract the b43-fwcutter tarball and build it:
wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2 tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2 cd b43-fwcutter-011 make cd ..
Use version 4.150.10.5 of Broadcom’s proprietary driver.
Download and extract the firmware from this driver tarball:
export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware" wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2 tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2 cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta_mimo.o
Reboot your computer.
If you have internet access install b43-fwcutter
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
You can download the windows drivers here (these are for a Broadcom BCM 4328 but should work for all the series) then extract the archive in folder bcm4328 in your home directory.
Locate into bcm4328 folder file bcmwl5.sys and do
sudo b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware bcm4328/bcmwl5.sys
sudo b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/`uname -r` bcm4328/bcmwl5.sys
reboot
Install ndiswrapper and follow the procedure:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils
sudo ndiswrapper -i $HOME/broadcom/DRIVER_EN/bcmwl5.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -l
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
To make ndiswrapper automatically run at each startup:
sudo ndiswrapper -m
OR we can add ndiswrapper module to boot modprobed drivers
gksu cat ndiswrapper >> /etc/modules
At next bootup your Broadcom wireless card will be recognized!
Jlandaw has written a comprehensive guide on this issue here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4808350 also worth reading is http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=185174
NOTE: a serious issue has been reported by users and acknowledged by HP concerning not only the wireless card but also the motherboard. This affects model versions
HP Pavilion series with model numbers between dv60xx and dv63xx; between dv90xx and dv93xx; Compaq Presario series between V60xx and V63xx, also some dv2000 like dv2312us.
The core issue is that the wireless card can often lose the signal and display an orange led light. More on the technical issues can be found here where you can also find a link for the RMA procedure, even though your warranty has expired (being a technical design flaw).
Despite that being a win only technical support forum it’s not difficult to implement the workarounds in linux too: you should first update the BIOS (from a windows partition possibly) and the try updating also the wireless driver (downloading them from your HP model support page).
Not being supported by any linux driver, ndiswrapper enables you to use the latest up-to-date windows drivers. You can remove previous drivers from ndiswrapper and install the new ones.
C) Atheros wireless
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter and others
On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04 and Karmic 9.10 Atheros wireless drivers are supported through System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers.
On older distributions this wireless card is not supported, to make latest Atheros wireless cards work in Ubuntu linux:
Blacklist your existing not working drivers by editing blacklist file and inserting the affecting modules names
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
append to the file:
blacklist ath_pci blacklist ath_hal
I strongly suggest at first to try installing the backport modules since many drivers are often backported to stable OS versions:
sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-jaunty
or
sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid
you need to reboot before being able to test your device.
If those drivers haven’t been backported yet you have to download and manually install madwifi drivers.
Download latest stable drivers and install them:
wget http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 sudo tar -jxvf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 cd compat-wireless-[DRIVERS DATE] make sudo make install sudo make unload sudo make load
Reboot your computer.
Related posts:
- Linux Power Saving Tweaks for HP Pavilion laptops
- Call for enabling HP Pavilion internal softmodem
- Ottimizzazioni per il Risparmio Energetico per portatili HP Pavilion su Ubuntu Linux
- [EN] Configure HP Pavilion QuickPlay multimedia buttons in Ubuntu Linux
- Guida per Ottimizzare Ubuntu Linux sui portatili HP Pavilion
- How to update ALSA to latest version easily
- Ad Hoc Wireless Networking in Linux
Go to page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 of this post
|
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Thank you very much, Aldeby, for this great collection of tips! I found it after solving almost all problems in 9.04 and wished that I had found your site much earlier.
One hint for the suspend/hibernate chapter: I run a dv9500 with the most recent BIOS, but after a clean install of 9.10, the machine hung while trying to hibernate. There are two more solutions to this topic, one is to use the package “uswsusp” instead of the default pm-utils. The other is to list modules (mostly wifi) to unload before suspending or hibernating. Google “SUSPEND_MODULES” or have a look here:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/fix-for-suspend-and-hibernation-problem-for-laptops.html
Best regards,
Uwe
i runed the script setup_alsa and it gets to a point where it says “Choose the mode which best fits you” but when i type my prefered number and i hit enter doesnt do anything.am i doing something wrong?
Makis, why don’t you use an utility like meld to compare the original and your customized script to highlight all the differences (and eventually the mistakes)?
In the audio section, sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic should be sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic.
This site saved my 9.04 + 9.10 ubuntu installations on my HP dv 7 (3165dx) notebook. Thank you! I just did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and everything works perfectly: sound, front audio jacks, wireless card, web cam, etc. I hope this helps If your considering upgrading.
I confirm my flawless upgrade to 10.04 from 9.10 – on the 6th of May 2010 – kra20kra!
Thanks for this wonderful website that helped in the first place, when I doubted about buying this machine for Linux.
So I guess HP should be thankful as well…
Charlot
I’m happy to read your feedback CharlesdArvay!
By the way I haven’t heard a word from HP yet.
They seem way too busy making profit to even bother understanding what the opensource approach is!
Thanks for your detailed site. I look forward to delving in to it. My initial task however is to install 10.04 Server on a Pavillion notebook using an external monitor as the LCD screen is not working. The external monitor initially shows the cdś loading progress and then the screen is completely black. When the off button is pressed the external monitor again details the shutting down process. Is there some way of seeing what is occurring through the whole process? Thanks for any help that can be offered.
Hi Darren!
As far as I recall the external monitor would switch off when the video driver takes control of the video card. As long as is the BIOS controlling both internal and external screens are enabled. You should then be able to enable the external screen from within the driver settings.
But I guess your laptop has a broken screen…
Basically I would suggest you to install the operative system in text only mode (so that you would benefit from the BIOS controller and be able to use the external monitor) and not forget to install SSH support so that you could access via network cable your install. Now it would be fairly easy to enable the external monitor by configuring your laptop driver ( /etc/X11/xorg.conf for instance).
Linux newbit who installed the newest version of Linux Ubuntu 10.04 on my HP Pavilion dv6000 Laptop. Both my wired and wireless connections do not work. Thank you for your help.
Below is the output of sudo lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP67 Ethernet
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
logical name: eth0
version: a2
serial: 00:1b:24:8c:7b:fa
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm msi ht bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:27 memory:f6488000-f6488fff ioport:30f8(size=8) memory:f6489c00-f6489cff memory:f6489800-f648980f
*-network
description: Network controller
product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
version: 02
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0
resources: irq:19 memory:f6000000-f6003fff
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:1a:73:84:5e:66
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
It seems your hardware is supported. Have you had a look at System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers to see whether your computer needs restricted drivers?
By the way I find it suspicious to read: *-network DISABLED
If you have installed the default packages and had not modified any file inside /etc by hand you should at least be able to connect via ethernet. Check right clicking on the Network Manager applet if you can tick Enable Networking.
[...] [...]
Broadcom also offers closed STA drivers for those chipsets that aren’t yet covered by the b43 driver. Their compiling instructions are pretty distro-inspesific, I found it easier to connect the laptop to a wired connection and install the same closed driver offered by Ubuntu.
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
Thank you for sharing your suggestion Neva!
I’ve added it to the tutorial. Have a nice day!
Hi Aldeby, it’s me again.
This time with an addition to 7. (Touchpad):
Under 9.10 as well as 10.04 I had problems with the touchpad after disabling it with the touchpad’s “on/off”-button. Re-enabling did not work, although the button’s light changed from off to on. Restarting X or rebooting did not work, either.
Cause: The gnome-settings-daemon interferes with the Synaptics touchpad driver and saves the “off” state forever.
Remedy: Run “gconf-editor”, navigate to “apps”-”gnome-settings-daemon”-”keybindings” and change the value of “touchpad” to “” (empty string).
Source: Ubuntu Bug #549727, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/549727/comments/103
Best regards,
Uwe