Score:0

New Ubuntu - Install wireless drivers with no Ethernet available?

gh flag

The Problem: I'm in Spain and my friend in America is new to Ubuntu and he has a tower pc that he installed Ubuntu Mate on, but then I find out that he has zero access to any ethernet (no friends have it, can't use his works, can't use his family, nothing!)

He does have wifi on his phone but no ethernet on it.

We have been trying to download drivers for about 2 weeks but we can only find driver packs for windows (we download then unzip and find only exe files)

We have got a netgear usb wireless adapter that the local store recommended him to buy but I checked the netgear website and found that the sticks software is only made for win10

I thought that I would just get him to click: start menu > additional drivers then it would auto detect everything and he'd be fine but I was wrong and I have no idea of what I am doing.

I found this command to detect his wireless networking card on his pc:

lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville)
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 19
       bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
       logical name: eno1
       version: 04
       serial: 00:22:4d:9e:7d:ce
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=5.11.0-27-generic firmware=0.13-4 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:29 memory:fe500000-fe51ffff memory:fe528000-fe528fff ioport:f080(size=32)
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.

Can someone please give advice, I'm at a total loss of how to help.


UPDATE

sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for [redacted]: 
  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville)
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 19
       bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
       logical name: eno1
       version: 04
       serial: 00:22:4d:9e:7d:ce
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=5.11.0-27-generic firmware=0.13-4 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:29 memory:fe500000-fe51ffff memory:fe528000-fe528fff ioport:f080(size=32)
lsusb; lsmod|grep cfg
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0781:5575 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Glide
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID c0f4:01b0  
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0000:3825  
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
snd_intel_dspcfg       28672  1 snd_hda_intel
soundwire_intel        40960  1 snd_intel_dspcfg

@jeremy31

Q: Your question seems unclear: Are you trying to set up wired (ethernet) networking? Or are you trying to set up wireless (wifi) networking? – @user535733

A: We are unable to get any physical Ethernet, so we cant get wifi drivers. We just want to surf.

UPDATE 2

lspci -nnk | grep net -A2
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) [8086:1502] (rev 04)
    DeviceName:  Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Ethernet Device
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (Lewisville) [8086:200f]
    Kernel driver in use: e1000e

Per the above; I think he is suppose to install this https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005480/ethernet-products.html (for the e1000e)

But, it says he needs to do

apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
apt-get install gcc make

How can he do it without the internet??

UPDATE 3

We can now tether successfully from his phone and can surf the web, but we do not find the WIFI drivers in additional drivers and we have done both a full update and upgrade. So I am puzzled - what are we meant to do now?

Thank you all.

Jeremy31 avatar
ke flag
What model is this computer? Your friend may be able to USB tether to the phone. Ask for results from terminal for `lsusb; lsmod | grep cfg`
guiverc avatar
cn flag
Please provide OS & release details. Those details provide clues as to the software stack in use (& *drivers* which are actually kernel modules thus details matter; LTS releases have two stack options selected at install time for some ISOs & by ISO used for others).
guiverc avatar
cn flag
? @waltinator Ubuntu-MATE is an official flavor (https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours) and what we're missing as I understand it is release details. The provided `lshw` command should also have been run as `sudo lshw` so details were full.
waltinator avatar
it flag
You have to run `lshw` as `root`, with `sudo lshw -C network` to get full information. https://askubuntu.com/questions/425155/my-wireless-wifi-connection-does-not-work-what-information-is-needed-to-diagnos/425180
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Data point: https://linux-hardware.org/?id=pci:8086-1502-8086-0000 says that `82579LM Gigabit Network Connection` should be properly detected and work properly on all supported releases of Ubuntu without any extra drivers or configuration needed. Verify that the problem is REALLY software, and not faulty hardware, bad connection, bad cable, etc.
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Your question seems unclear: Are you trying to set up *wired* (ethernet) networking? Or are you trying to set up *wireless* (wifi) networking?
ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
You can use USB tethering from your phone, any smartphone will do.
ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
@user535733 True and I'm aware of that. But USB tethering doesn't depend on a data plan, it can be done also by "bridging" WiFi. The OP wants to installs drivers for the WiFi device so we infer that there's some WiFi AP they are intending to use. It's just a matter of connecting to the WiFi and then do the USB thing. This isn't and can't be disabled by the mobile carrier.
user535733 avatar
cn flag
@ChanganAuto much clearer, thanks. I've seen problems with low-end phones, but otherwise completely agree with you.
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