Dell Inspiron 5720 Wifi (Broadcom BCM43142, Ubuntu 12.10) [duplicate]

12.04

Drivers for this are only officially available with the Vostro 3460 as provided by Dell.

However, based on the instructions and the Dell deb from the Vostro 3560 provided in this forum thread, I have created a modified DEB file that compiles and installs the driver on 12.04 (see thread for 11.10 link).

First, install the prerequisites by opening a terminal and pasting, one line at a time:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers$(uname -r | grep -Po "\-[a-z].*")
sudo apt-get install build-essential dkms

Please download the appropriate DEB file from Dropbox here:

  • 32-bit/i386
  • 64-bit/amd64

Open a terminal, and install it with sudo dpkg -i.

Hopefully it works!

Edit: 12.04 now has an updated bcmwl-kernel-source package that reportedly supports BCM43142. bug#923809, comment 15


12.10

Please verify your pci.id with a terminal command:

    lspci -nn

Is it 14e4:4365? I am not sure it is even possible in a 32-bit system. If you have a 64-bit system and the device I mentioned, then I suggest this package: http://jas.gemnetworks.com/debian/pool/main/w/wireless-bcm43142/wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb

First install the prerequisites:

    sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential dkms

Then install the package with:

    cd Desktop   <--or wherever you downloaded the deb
    sudo dpkg -i wire*.deb
    sudo modprobe wl