Ubuntu – How to enable wireless on a Dell Vostro 3400

I have a vostro myself. But a BCM43224. Maybe the solution does not fit for you. However this helped me out. Somehow the "sta" driver stopped working correctly. You need to install another driver. Before installing remove the following packages

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source

(removing these was essential for me. Without I had massive connection problems with the b43 driver)

Afterwards install the following packages

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer
sudo echo b43 >> /etc/modules

then reboot and check if your card is found. (You can try by hand without rebooting. If you currently use the wl driver execute

sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe b43

)

More info, what helped me can be found here:

http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/WLAN/Broadcom_bcm43xx

Alternatively try the driver described here: http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/brcm80211 this one should support your chip.

Try this:

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
sudo apt-get remove bcmwl-kernel-source

It worked for me on a Dell Inspiron 6400 with the Broadcom wifi chip.