Installed Ubuntu 14.04 - cannot connect to internet with wired or wireless connection

I just installed Linux and Ubuntu 14.04 alongside my Windows 8 on my HP Pavilion. First, I had problems with the graphics card and it said it could only operate in low graphics mode.But it just stall when I tried this.

I have Googled some potential fixes for this, but they all require an Internet connection which I am unable to obtain. I can boot in recovery mode, but I can't connect to either a wired or wireless connection. It can see both but can't connect, just keeps trying to connect.

Any help on either issue would be greatly appreciated.

$ sudo lshw -c network 
  *-network               
       -description: Wireless interface
       -product: RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
       -vendor: Ralink corp.
       -physical id: 0
       -bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
       -logical name: wlan0
       -version: 00
       -serial: 54:35:30:80:eb:01
       -width: 32 bits
       -clock: 33MHz
       -capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       -configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800pci driverversion=3.13.0-29-generic firmware=0.37 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:18 memory:c2610000-c261ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 08
       serial: a0:1d:48:e4:ff:c4
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl8106e-2_0.0.1 04/23/13 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:59 ioport:4000(size=256) memory:c2504000-c2504fff memory:c2500000-c2503fff

$ ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr a0:1d:48:e4:ff:c4  
          inet6 addr: fe80::a21d:48ff:fee4:ffc4/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:36631 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:189 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2200377 (2.2 MB)  TX bytes:38826 (38.8 KB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:191 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:191 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:13717 (13.7 KB)  TX bytes:13717 (13.7 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 54:35:30:80:eb:01  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

I figured it out. Thanks everyone for your help.

It was a combination of two problems:

https://superuser.com/questions/756145/ubuntu-14-04-wired-connection-detected-but-no-internet-access

That worked after I did some other stuff to allow the changes to be saved, and then I went to the settings and used the proprietary drivers as suggested below, although it didn't work the first time. I had to reinstall in order to achieve success.

Solution 1:

Going on assumption that you're plugged into a router that gives out IPs automatically (DHCP), try sudo dhclient -r then sudo dhclient eth0 if successful try ping 8.8.8.8 post results if it didn't work

Solution 2:

I had a similar problem with my HP Pavilion, but only with the wireless.

Here's how I fixed it:

After booting up run sudo service network-manager restart.

Then my wireless started working.

Go to System Settings->Software&Updates-> Additional Drivers

If there is a proprietary networking driver available, enable it.

Restart the computer, and it should connect.