Hi,
I tried to install ubuntu mate 16.04 on my Dell Inspiron 15 Special Edition and no wifi networks appear whatsoever. I have tried installing linux Mint Mate and the problem is still there. I installed the additional drivers, and it did not work.
My card is Dell Wireless 1820 WiFi 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0 (2x2) (2.4/5.0 GHz).
A little help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Hi @Luiz_Rodrigues,
have you tried Control Centre > Hardware > Additional Drivers?:
Have you tried running the following terminal commands (Ctrl + Alt + t) which might fix missing packages/dependencies?:
sudo apt-get --fix-missing install
The above command downloads and installs any missing packages on your system.
sudo apt-get --fix-broken install
The above command downloads and installs any broken dependencies on your system.
RESTART YOUR SYSTEM IF ANYTHING UPDATES!. 
Please provide the output for the following command executed in a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T)
lshw -C network
Cheers
Hi guys. First of all, thank you for trying to help me.
Wolfman, I had already tried to install the additional drivers the way you showed in the pic. I did not work. I tried again anyways, same output. Then, I run the 2 commands you asked and nothing was installed or updated.
Ouroumov, here is the output you asked.
Thanks again, guys.
@Luiz_Rodrigues, check this out: https://askubuntu.com/questions/770897/problems-with-qualcomm-atheros-qca6174-in-ubuntu-16-04
At least one other user with the same exact problem you have, he seems to have found a way to fix it.
Edit: by the way, next time please copy / paste the output of the command, instead of an image of the result :], it’s easier for us to copy.
Edit 2: and the reference your gave for your Wi-Fi adapter, I’m not sure where you got that from. lshw says it’s a Qualcomm card not a Dell card.
Can you connect using a wired connection? I suggest using a wired connection and updating your system then scan your system for additional drivers. Then reboot the system and see if you can connect to your wireless network
I’m sorry, Ouroumov. I saw other people posting pics of outputs when I was searching for my problem on the forum and thought this was how it was supposed to be. Will do as asked next time.
About the WIFI, my machine is Dell and I went there (website) to get the specs. Only copied and pasted here. I will try the link you suggested. Thank you
Yes, I can, but I have already done what you suggested and it did not work, Robgoss.
Thanks for your help.
Hi,
do you have an On/Off switch on your keyboard and have you checked it is set to on? as your picture shows it only as disabled!. 
It should be the “FN” key + whatever key has the WiFi symbol on it for your laptop!. 
Tried that already, Wolfman. It’s not it…
Did what was instructed by this link and it did not work, Ouroumov. Also tried some other tutorials and nothing works.
I think I have to give up on linux…
hi @Luiz_Rodrigues,
did it work okay when you tested in “Live Mode”?, when you installed; did you tick the two boxes shown here? (the 2nd one is very important for people with WiFI!):
Have you try Ubuntu 16.04 to see if you have this issue it just seems odd you have this problem with every distro. What are the specs for this machine you’re using
I am running MATE 16.04 LTS from a USB stick in test mode. I ran software and updates and chose the proprietary driver for the wifi card; but it can not find any wifi networks.
I also tried
sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get install firmware -b43-installer
But that said to reboot. That is no help since it loses all information.
Is there some way to save everything up to “this” point to the USB stick I booted from? That way I would have the right wifi drivers and my bluetooth mouse would connect without me going through the re-pairing.
I am trying to migrate from Windows 
and have an older Compaq nx6325 AMD Turion dual core. Other than the wifi problem everything is looking great. If I remember right, this stopped me a few years back while trying Mint.
Thanks for any help, Fred
PS Hi Robgoss
Hi @fey42,
keep restarting as it takes a while for the updates to bite!, I had the same problem on both WiFi and cable network connections after updating. Try it and let us know!.
Edit: Ignore this advice for Live CD, I misread the post sorry all!.
In the terminal type:
sudo rfkill list
This will output a list similar to this:
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: yes Hard blocked: no 1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no 2: phy0: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: yes Hard blocked: no
In the list above you can see that the Wireless LAN is being 'soft blocked' at "0" and "2". If your output shows that your wifi is being blocked you can unblock it by using 'rfkill'. Using the example above (your settings may be different, so be careful), to unblock you could type in the terminal:
sudo rfkill unblock 0
sudo rfkill unblock 2
Then restart your networking with:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Sorry wolf an, how can that work?
Won’t it always revert to the fresh out of the box install?
At least that is what it is doing to me.
Hi @fey42,
sorry Fred, I misread your post earlier!.
Okay, try the following, install in live mode using the following terminal command (Ctrl + Alt + t):
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common
You might also try
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-dkms
(Although I am not really sure if installing the “dkms” package will help in live mode?).
Restart your network with:
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
We are out of sync.
I did a Software and Update / Additional Drivers and chose the BroadCom proprietary and did an install. Then I tried your “terminal” restart and that did not help.
I will try a hard restart (I am using a Persistent USB stick) and see if that helps. If that doesn’t I’ll try your first suggestion. Will let you know.
Thanks Fred