[ltp] No wireless after Debian install

[tomtom at tutanota.com]

Just because I recently came across a case where someone had similar symptoms and was quite desperate because wireless wasn't working - and it turned out that they accidentally moved the hardware-switch for wireless connections that you can still find on older Thinkpads...

I'm pretty sure the T520 doesn't have that anymore, and most likely you already ruled out this option, and it's quite unlikely that this is the solution to your problem... But also on newer Thinkpads you can turn WiFi on and off with a combination of Fn+F(1-12), I think it's usually F5, but the blue icons on the F-keys should tell you which one.

Sorry if I'm telling you something you already know and have tried out before. But in case you haven't, there's a slight chance that this could save you a lot of hassle and give you an "Aaah, it's working!"-moment...



2. Dez. 2020, 02:57 von cyne at cmk4u.com:

> Thank you! I found and installed the non-free firmware package but it
> doesn't seem to have changed anything.  I re-started the computer but
> it is still only offering me the Ethernet connection. 
>
> Looking for information I opened the dreaded terminal and typed
> lspci and it said "command not found."  Tried "iwconfig" and
> "command not found."  I'm used to these commands returning
> something, even though I don't always understand what I'm seeing.
> Does Debian use a whole different lingo? Or am I missing
> something? 
>
>
> On Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:26:37 +0000
> "Basil L. Contovounesios" <basil.conto at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> [ Apologies for sending this twice, Cynthia - I accidentally sent from
>> the wrong account the first time. ]
>>
>> Cynthia Eliason <cyne at cmk4u.com> writes:
>>
>> >   I've just installed Debian on my Thinkpad T520 and it seems to be
>> >   good except that it doesn't see any wireless networks.  I've got
>> > it connected to an ethernet cable so it does have internet access. I
>> >   used Synaptic to upgrade everything that was upgradeable. I've
>> >   re-started. Under "Network Configuration" the only option shown is
>> >   still Ethernet. 
>> >    I had been running Mint on it and wireless was working.  I only
>> >    installed Debian to try something different, am not
>> >    generally comfortable with using the command line unless someone
>> > can tell me exactly what to type.  If there is no easy way to get
>> > Debian to see the wireless hardware, I'll ditch Debian rather than
>> > fight with it. There are plenty of other options or I can go back to
>> >    Mint. But before I do that I thought I'd see if anyone here has
>> > some simple solution for this problem. 
>>
>> My guess is you're missing the non-free Intel Wi-Fi firmware found in
>> the package firmware-iwlwifi.  (Debian does not include
>> non-free-as-in-freedom packages by default.)
>>
>> To install this package, you must first permit Debian to find and
>> install non-free packages.  I think you can achieve this with Synaptic
>> by going to Settings > Repositories, selecting the main or default
>> repository (it's usually something like debian.org/debian/), and
>> adding "non-free" (without the quotes) to the "Section(s):" line at
>> the bottom of the window.  That line should now read "main non-free"
>> or something like that.  Then click OK.  (Apologies if these
>> instructions are inaccurate - I don't use Synaptic.)
>>
>> Once that's done, you should be able to click Reload and then install
>> the firmware-iwlwifi package.  If not, perhaps you added the
>> "non-free" text to the wrong repository.
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>
> -- 
> The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
> http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad
>
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