Inspiron Desktop 3472 WiFi issue on Ubuntu

Question

I recently purchased an Inspiron Desktop 3472 machine from Dell which came pre-loaded with Ubuntu 16.04. The machine worked great when it arrived - all hardware interfaces including bluetooth and wifi worked without any issue.  Few days back, I got an update for the OS and after the update the Wifi and bluetooth stopped working. I can see the bluetooth and wifi signs on the screen, it can even search nearby devices and routers but it just can't connect to them. If I try to connect to my Wifi router it gives me an error saying 'Activation of wireless network connection failed'. The machine has a Qualcomm / Atheros 9565 chipset for Wifi (it also does bluetooth i guess). I tried updating the kernel and re-installing the ath9k drivers by following the guidelines on various ubuntu, linux and debian forums but I could not get this thing to work. I have a HP laptop with the same version of Ubuntu (16.04) installed and it's Wifi works fine with my router, so I don't think the Wifi router is at fault. From some of the forums it seems that the Ubuntu 16.04 version which came loaded on my 3472 Desktop machine was a modified OEM version for Dell, so I guess the Dell forum is the best place to find support.  Since I had everything working before the update I am expecting Dell would be able to guide me on how to get the Wifi up and running again. Could someone at Dell / from the community please tell me where I could get the kernel / driver for this 3472 desktop? I am comfortable with building the drivers from git and installing it so I'll be able to do that if necessary.   Thanks & Regards, MManjrekar

RoHe · Answer

Dell is only offering Win 10 drivers on the Support page for this model. I'll ping me Dell tech contact to see if they can locate Ubuntu WiFi/BT drivers, unless all those drivers are supposed to be built into Ubuntu.

Did you try rebooting the router in case it doesn't see the PC correctly after the update? And/or did you try re-establishing a network connection on this PC in case your previous settings and network pass code got deleted by the update?

Don't know Ubuntu, but at least in Windows, there's a network troubleshooter so if Ubuntu has something similar, try running that...

MManjrekar · Answer

Hi RoHe,

Thanks for the reply.

The link below states that "This system was tested with 16.04 LTS, running the 4.13.0-1008-oem kernel".

https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/201711-25970/

So I am pretty sure that the generic ubuntu kernel did not have the supported drivers and someone at Dell too had to somehow re-compile the drivers and make it work with the Ubuntu 16.04 image that shipped with the machine.

If I could get ready-compiled drivers it would be awesome! If not then I would be happy to get the driver source, compile it myself and install it, if Dell could let me know the steps on how to do it.

Thanks & Regards,

MManjrekar

RoHe · Answer

My Dell tech contact said 'Dell does not offer any Ubuntu drivers. They all come from the shipped Ubuntu Linux 16.04 operating system.' His recommendations are: Read the section about updating Ubuntu drivers here. Uninstall that recent operating system update to get Dell's shipped version with drivers working for WiFi and BT. Hope this helps...

MManjrekar · Answer

Hi RoHe

I downloaded and installed Ubuntu 16.04, and the wifi and bluetooth still did not work. How do I reinstall the image that came preloaded? Does dell have a link from where I could download the image and reinstall it?

I understand that dell does not provide support for Ubuntu but is it possible for them to atleast let me know what customisations they did to make the Bluetooth and WiFi working on the Ubuntu 16.04 before shipping it?

Thanks,

MManjrekar

RoHe · Answer

All Dell wanted you to do was uninstall the last update you installed to the version of Ubuntu that came pre-installed, not completely reinstall Ubuntu.

I don't believe Dell modified Ubuntu at all. My Dell tech contact said the WiFi+BT drivers were built into Ubuntu, and did not come from Dell.

Maybe you should start a thread on the Ubuntu forums (https://ubuntuforums.org/) where the experts can help you figure this out.

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