Linux noob using mint for the first time, decided to boot from a flash drive before fully installing on my PC, just to try it out first. I’m having issues getting Wi-Fi to work during the live session though; clicking the Wi-Fi icon only brings up Network Settings and Network connections. Network connections lets me try to set it up manually, but I can’t figure out how to get it to connect after putting in all the info I can find for my Wi-Fi. Is this normal? Did I mess up the installation somehow, or is a drivers problem?
Hardware: HP laptop, AMD Ryzen 5 7520U w/ Radeon Graphics (Model # 15-fc0025dx). OS: Linux kernel 5.15.0-91 generic, Linux Mint version 21.3, Cinnamon version 6.0.4. Booted off a flash drive (live session).
edit: I also get the following screen when I try to shut my laptop down from the Mint boot:
I too had this problem recently during my first Linux test drive.
The network set up you’re describing is actually the process for setting up your device as a hotspot, not to connect to the Internet.
As mentioned here elsewhere, it’s a driver issue. You have two choices:
- Download drivers to the USB drive and update the WiFi chip.
- Easier: connect your phone’s hotspot by Bluetooth connection from the device instead. Then run the update manager to bring in everything that’s missing.
After this you should be able to click the system tray network icon and just pick your WiFi connection/router of choice like you’d normally expect to be there.
I would just do USB tethering. Almost all of the time the Bluetooth is managed by the same chip that manages wifi
Not sure how to connect to my phone’s hotspot via Bluetooth, or if my Bluetooth drivers also need updating lmao. What drivers should I be looking for then, and where can I find them?
I went looking for the webpage that followed to resolve my problem but couldn’t find it.
This page has some tips.
But I think you got some good advice in the other replies. I hope something helps to fix the issue.
Normally, the bit you clicked on would show a list of nearby possible WiFi connections - so it should be as simple as clicking the name of your WiFi and putting the password in. It’s fairly likely to be a driver issue.
If you’re at the “testing from a live session” stage, you can try the “edge” version of Linux Mint linuxmint.com
The edge version has a newer kernel with newer drivers for hardware - I guess they’re less tested/stable than the normal version, but I wouldn’t expect problems.
Mint is (was?) based on Ubuntu Long-Term-Support versions (which use older, well-tested drivers instead of the newest), so you can sometimes end up with a case where, for example, it has the WiFi drivers for every WiFi card that existed up until 2022, but any WiFi card released since isn’t yet included by default - though it can be separately added, or a newer Kernel can be installed.
Anyway, it might be worth testing the Mint Edge version, as a relatively quick and simple solution - less likely to succeed if the laptop is older.
If you’re unlucky, there may be no working drivers (for a while), and you may have to use a USB WiFi Dongle for a little while.
Is not definitely this, but it’s this often enough that is worth trying :)
[Edit] Apologies, someone’s given roughly the same answer already. Still worth trying anyway :)
As it might be a driver issue, it may be useful to specify the wifi chip and the used driver as well. You can e.g. identify it from the output of
lspci -vv. Also the output fromsudo dmesgafter trying to connect is often helpful.did the
lspci -vvcommand, if the network controller is the WiFi chip, then I got:Network Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Con., Ltd. Device b85b. Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 88e6. Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 255, IOMMU group 10 I/O ports at f000 [disabled] [size=256] Memory at fce00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=1M] Capabilities:not sure if that’s the right thing. I also found another command that supposedly returns only the wireless card
lspci -vq | grep -i wireless -B 1 -A 5but that only returns the following line:pcilib: Error reading /sys/bus/PCI/devices/0000:00:08.3/label: Operation not permittedI did the
sudo dmesgcommand, but it returned so much info I’m not sure what’s relevant or not. Is there anything specific within the log I should be looking for?If sometimes permissions are missing, try putting
sudoin front of the commandThe chip seems to be a Realtek
b85b. Asking Google showed that there have been issues with this chip previously.As I don’t see the driver that is used from the output from
lspci -vv(I does display it on my system), I am not sure whether any driver is loaded at all. If the wifi interface is not shown insudo rfkill --list, which shows all available wireless interfaces, that is probably the case.This website also collects some helpful tips for solving issues with Realtek wifi devices on Linux Mint and Ubuntu 22.04, which is the basis of LM.
Edit: According to this post (in German, however the links are in English) on the issues of somebody with the same wifi chip, it should be working in kernels 6.2 and above.
I suggest downloading the ‘edge’ version of LM, as it should have newer kernel and firmware.
The
sudo rfkill --listcommand just returnsrfkill: unrecognized option. Appending sudo to the beginning of the other command I listed (the -vq | grep one) didn’t work: it returns pcilib: Error reading /sys/bus/PCI/devices/0000:00:08.3/label: Operation not permitted`.I’ll check out that site and see if there’s anything there that can help. otherwise I might just format the drive and do a clean install, see if maybe that will fix it.
I just had this experience on a Dell XPS 9530 in live usb, and the subsequent install. I used my phone over usb to update kernel to 6.5 then WiFi worked.
What program did you use to make the live usb stick? (I use Rufus, myself). Did you create a persistent partition?
(I’m wondering if “access beyond end of device” is happening because there’s no storage space on the flash drive for new data, like remembering/configuring a WiFi connection)…
