Even though the wireless adapter is connected to the computer, it may not have been recognized as a network device by the computer. In this step, you will check whether the device was recognized properly.
- Open a Terminal window, type lshw -C network and press Enter. If this gives an error message, you may need to install the lshw program on your computer.
- Look through the information that appeared and find the Wireless interface section. If your wireless adapter was detected properly, you should see something similar (but not identical) to this:
- If a wireless device is listed, continue on to the Device Drivers step.If a wireless device is not listed, the next steps you take will depend on the type of device that you use. Refer to the section below that is relevant to the type of wireless adapter that your computer has (internal PCI, USB, or PCMCIA).
Internal PCI adapters are the most common, and are found in most laptops made within the past few years. To check if your PCI wireless adapter was recognized:
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- Open a Terminal, type lspci and press Enter.
- Look through the list of devices that is shown and find any that are marked Network controller or Ethernet controller. Several devices may be marked in this way; the one corresponding to your wireless adapter might include words like wireless, WLAN, wifi or 802.11. Here is an example of what the entry might look like:
- If you found your wireless adapter in the list, proceed to the Device Drivers step. If you didn’t find anything related to your wireless adapter, see the instructions below.
Wireless adapters that plug into a USB port on your computer are less common. They can plug directly into a USB port, or may be connected by a USB cable. 3G/mobile broadband adapters look quite similar to wireless (Wi-Fi) adapters, so if you think you have a USB wireless adapter, double-check that it is not actually a 3G adapter. To check if your USB wireless adapter was recognized:
- Open a Terminal, type lsusb and press Enter.
- Look through the list of devices that is shown and find any that seem to refer to a wireless or network device. The one corresponding to your wireless adapter might include words like wireless, WLAN, wifi or 802.11. Here is an example of what the entry might look like:
- If you found your wireless adapter in the list, proceed to the Device Drivers step. If you didn’t find anything related to your wireless adapter, see the instructions below.
PCMCIA wireless adapters are typically rectangular cards which slot into the side of your laptop. They are more commonly found in older computers. To check if your PCMCIA adapter was recognized:
- Start your computer without the wireless adapter plugged in.
- Open a Terminal and type the following, then press Enter:This will display a list of messages related to your computer’s hardware, and will automatically update if anything to do with your hardware changes.
- Insert your wireless adapter into the PCMCIA slot and see what changes in the Terminal window. The changes should include some information about your wireless adapter. Look through them and see if you can identify it.
- To stop the command from running in the Terminal, press Ctrl+C. After you have done that, you can close the Terminal if you like.
- If you found any information about your wireless adapter, proceed to the Device Drivers step. If you didn’t find anything related to your wireless adapter, see the instructions below.
If your wireless adapter was not recognized, it might not be working properly or the correct drivers may not be installed for it. How you check to see if there are any drivers you can install will depend on which Linux distribution you are using (like Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora or openSUSE).
To get specific help, look at the support options on your distribution’s website. These might include mailing lists and web chats where you can ask about your wireless adapter, for example.
In order to connect your computers wirelessly, all the gizmos on your wireless network must adhere to the 802.11 wireless networking standard. The standard has gone through released four (4) versions. Each version is indicated by a letter at the end of 802.11. From oldest to newest, they are a, b, g, and n.
To see which type of wireless NIC is installed in your computer, follow these steps:
- Press the Win+Break key combination to open the System window or System Properties dialog box.
- Open the Device Manager.
- In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, click the link on the left labeled Device Manager.In Windows Vista, you also need to type the administrator’s password or click the Continue button.
- In Windows XP, click the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager button.
- In the Device Manager window, expand the area labeled Network Adapters.You most likely see two network adapters. One entry represents the wired Ethernet adapter (NIC); the other, the wireless.One way to gauge the adapter type is by looking at its name. If the adapter’s name ends with AGN, it implies that the NIC might adhere to the wireless networking standards 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11n. But you can dig deeper:
- Open the wireless networking adapter item.The adapter’s Properties dialog box appears.
- Click the Advanced tab.If you have an 802.11n-compatible adapter, you see a couple of entries for 802.11n settings. They confirm that the adapter is 802.11n-compatible, which means that it can also talk with older 802.11g as well as with 802.11b wireless networking hardware.
- Click the Cancel button to close the adapter’s Properties dialog box.
- Close the Device Manager window and any other windows you opened.
All your wireless network devices should be of the same standard, especially if you want to get the most performance from the wireless network. Although you can mix up the lot, such as an 802.11n hub with 802.11g NICs, things still work — although you’re not getting all the 802.11n goodness from your 802.11g adapters.
When you’re having trouble connecting an older PC or laptop to the wireless network, it’s probably using an older wireless standard. Replace it with a newer NIC.
- If any of your computers is using an 802.11b NIC, you would do well to replace it with an 802.11n model or get an 802.11n USB adapter.
- Yes, some letters are missing. I’m sure that there was an 802.11c standard, and who can forget that 802.11j standard? Although they probably had datasheets and prototypes, those standards were never released or made widely available to the public.