Wifi adapter not detected in Linux Mint

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 1:53pm

lspci does not list any WiFi adapter.
Running inxi -Fxz --> Network Message: No device data found.

Trying to install on a Positivo Technologia Laptop.
The wifi Device description from the drivers download on Positivo is:
RTL8723
DriverVer = 06/06/2017,3008.54.0414.2017

This was pulled from the inf driver download.
The WiFi card is enabled in Bios, and was working with windows 10.
There is no Ethernet cable port on the laptop.
The linux Kernel is 14.5.
Some forum posts online showed issues with an older kernel back in 2016 with a broadcom driver.

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

astra · April 21, 2020, 5:46pm

You can try: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2019/04/nstall-rtl8723de-wifi-driver-ubuntu-19-04/
(For Ubuntu, but terminal commands should work for Mint - possible you’ll need to install git.)

Or you could try running Ubuntu/Mint 18 - for my Broadcom adapter I believe kernel support was dropped after 4.15 - I was able to install a driver in a newer kernel but the performance was unreliable - so I’m stuck with 18 for now on one machine.
Boot into the live OS first and check that wireless adapter is detected!

Best option, assuming you’d like to run a newer kernel (Ubuntu 20 releases Thursday!), might be installing a different adapter… I think Intel adapters are well supported in Linux - someone else probably has a better answer on that. Not particularly expensive or difficult.

Or if you want to go super easy and don’t mind giving up a usb port you could get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Panda-Ultra-150Mbps-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B00762YNMG/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=panda+wireless&qid=1587490574&s=electronics&sr=1-5

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 6:47pm

Lets start with the output of lspci to verify which chipset is detected.

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 8:20pm

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 8:44pm

Does it have a physical switch or button to turn it on and off?

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 9:16pm

It does not have a physical switch. It is strange as it was working in windows, and bios does show it as enabled.

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 9:24pm

I’m not sure what else you can realistically do. does lshw show anything?

If the machine doesnt have a hardware whitelist you could get an intel 3168. They are fairly cheap and well supported.

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 9:25pm

This is probably a noob question, is there an easy way I can download the drivers from this command from the form post you provided: sudo apt install git build-essential dkms
Onto a USB and copy to the machine without internet and then install on the machine without internet?

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 9:31pm

no, you need access to the packages to do that.

you’ll have to plug into ethernet or something.

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 9:46pm

So if I don’t have an Ethernet cable or a USB to Ethernet adapter or an easy/time efficient way to get a hold of one, what would be my options?

I guess try tethering the phone to the laptop for internet to get the drivers?

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 9:50pm

the phone would maybe work, you can download build-essential and dkms (you might have dkms already) as .deb files and install them that way. then download whatever driver and install that, but the problem is your wifi isnt even being detected in hardware so I doubt installing the kernel module for it will do anything for you.

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 9:53pm

Alright thanks.
Would another option to try a kernel from back in 2017 or even 2015 and hope there is kernel support for it?

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 10:22pm

what are you trying to achieve with this linux install?

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 10:30pm

Have a working laptop that is faster than running windows.
It has an atom processor and 2gb memory. On windows its hardly usable, vs in linux which is significantly faster.

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 10:38pm

you’re already on mint 18 right?

ryan10x · April 21, 2020, 10:41pm

19, but it is possible to go to any other version or even different distro, so long as it looks and functions similar the windows UI. As it is for a friend of mine.

Adubs · April 21, 2020, 10:50pm

try 18 first but I would seriously look at replacing that wifi with something else.

Mastic_Warrior · April 22, 2020, 7:12am

@ryan10x, That chispet does not have mainline support. You will need to build this from scratch. The only way to get this to work possibly out of the box would be to use a bleeding edge distro and even then, they may not package that driver.

As mentioned, the best bet would be to get an Intel WiFi adaptor to replace the internal card or get a USB dongle wifi chipset as linked above.

The add in card is the better option if this is for a friend as the out of tree module would need to be rebuilt when upgrading the kernel unless you script something to take care of that for you. That is until Realtek gets their act together and actually complies with mainline requirements to get the module into mainline.