Part 2 of: networking disabled on laptop running ubuntu 16.04 LTS

[Liam Proven]

Sorry -- I accidentally replied directly as Marco CCed me in the
previous email. Marco, please don't do that. Automatic copies are what
mailing lists are _for_.

On 12 November 2016 at 18:41, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
> Liam,
> you suggested to upgrade the firmware or use an USB network adapter.
> I did NOT ignore nor "dismiss" those suggestions. I have explained why they
> are
> NOT feasible in my own situation. More exactly, I have explained in
> these messages:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2016-November/288240.html
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2016-November/288245.html
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2016-November/288242.html
>
> that:
>
> a) I spent many hours in October just trying to update the firmware.
>  without success

So here is a key problem, maybe *the* key problem, and you have
skipped over it.

You can't do that.

You *must* troubleshoot that before proceeding.

You appear to have some kind of issues with the laptop. Windows can
partly cope; Linux cannot.

You cannot choose to just ignore these and hope for the best.

> c) VERY slow connectivity in the past days would have made (still does)
>    downloading many MBs of updates undoable

Tough. Go find faster connectivity.

I am sorry but there's no point in trying to tell you comforting lies.
If your home/office/whatever broadband is too slow, try a library or
some place with fast Wifi that you can use. Better still, a cabled
connection.

> b) in the installed Ubuntu, not the live one of course, even USB is
> broken, so I couldn't use a an USB network adapter anyway

It's screwed. No, you probably can't fix it. It is comprehensively
broken in ways that render remote-control impossible. In that state,
if you need to ask, you can't fix it.

 But Windows still works, you say, so use Windows to rescue your data.
Copy it to a partition visible to Windows, then onto external media.

> Anyway, I could manage to have the same distro live, on a USB stick,
> and as you can read in my other reply that software does find and
> uses the ethernet card without problems, so (even if the constraints
> above still hold) we DO know now for sure that the problem is only in the
> Ubuntu software installed in the laptop drive, don't we?

No, we don't.

We know that there is some kind of compatibility issue between your
hardware and Ubuntu but we don't know whose or what's fault.

So first, before proceeding, ensure that:

* Windows is fully current and working. That probably means Win10.
* All your firmware is up to date.

IIWY what I would do is this:

* make multiple backups of any and all important data on the machine.
* upgrade to Win10.
* extract the product key, keep it safe.
* Disable SecureBoot in the firmware
* wipe, reinstall a clean copy of Win10 with SecureBoot off
* activate with the key from earlier
* Update Window fully -- Anniversary Update and all. You might wish to
pre-download that and a Win10 ISO from MS.
* Use this new copy of Windows to update any outdated firmware
* Then restore or reinstall any apps and data. (Hint: use ninite.com)

Now that you have a clean install and current firmware and SecureBoot
is disabled, reinstall a clean copy of Ubuntu. When installing UNTICK
the option to install updates while setting-up.

Check the new copy works.

Update it --staying on the 16.04 LTS if that's your preference. Check
it still works.

> If that's the case, I'd rather rescue the distro already on the hard drive,
> since I spent a couple weeks customizing it after install, than
> re-install from the USB stick, and suggestions are still very welcome.

We've already said that in our collective opinion you can't.

It sucks but computers suck.


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