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BoxunloX

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Ubuntu 10.4LTS on HP Pavillion dv6000 / Wireless Adapter Just Disappeared. Can No Longer Connect

Hello all,
 I have an HP Pavillion dv6000 that is a few years old that I did a data recovery on some time back and in return the guy gave me the laptop. I run a box with BackTrack and a Box with Fedora so I thought I would give Ubuntu 10.4LTS a try.

 I had everything working beautifully for a few weeks and then yesterday, out of nowhere the wireless adapter just disappeared. What I mean is that all of a sudden I was no longer able to connect to my wireless network (iPad, Windows systems, and other Linux systems can still connect) and an ifconfig shows no wireless adapter in the output. I just see the loopback and two ethernet adapters....no wlan0 as before. I have deleted the network from network connections, tried forcing the adapter up with "sudo ifconfig wlan0" but nothing has worked. Yes the wireless switch is enabled.  

 I am not MAC filtering on the router so I don't know what else could be causing this. Any ideas anyone?
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liddler
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First guess would be a driver update, if you look under System --> Administration --> Hardware Drivers
Is the wireless driver listed in there as a restricted driver?

Have a look in /var/log/messages - see if there are any references to fwcutter, pointing towards a blob driver
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I suggest testing the system with a live CD first (backtrack for example, or also ubuntu as livecd). If you can't get a connection that way either it would point to a hardware issue with the wireless NIC. If that is the case, you can try removing the NIC (on most laptops you just need to open a cover at the bottom, remove the antenna cables from the NIC, and then remove the NIC similarly to removing RAM modules). Then reconnect everything (maybe there was a contact issue), and try again. If the issue persists, replace the NIC, or get a cheap USB wireless NIC (they are often cheaper and easier to get than those that need to be installed in the PC), and use that instead.

If the NIC itself works with LiveCD's, there may have been an update that got installed which broke things. Possibly when booting you can select a previous kernel which might still work from your GRUB booting selection.
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Davis McCarn
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UPDATE! Go to http://www.nvidiasettlement.com before March 14th and you can get a FREE replacement laptop.