How to disable internal wifi card and install/activate usb wifi dongle [Solved]

[williepabon]

Hi!
I recently purchased a Bros Trend 1200Mbpd usb wifi adapter (Linux compatible) to replace the slower internal wifi card that runs in my laptop. Will need some help in the procedure to do this. Thanks. Here is the information about my system.

Code: Select all

System:    Host: <filter> Kernel: 4.19.0-16-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-16-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.4_x64 patito feo May 31  2020 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion dm4 Notebook PC 
           v: 0587110002242B10000022100 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 146A v: 58.27 serial: <filter> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 
           v: F.23 date: 10/21/2010 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 45.8 Wh condition: 45.8/45.8 Wh (100%) volts: 12.4/11.1 
           model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5 M 460 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Nehalem 
           family: 6 model-id: 25 (37) stepping: 5 microcode: 7 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 20216 
           Speed: 1367 MHz min/max: 1199/2534 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1376 
           2: 1296 3: 1405 4: 1352 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
           Type: mds 
           status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT vulnerable 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
           STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0046 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ironlake Mobile v: 2.1 Mesa 18.3.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:3b56 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-16-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 [Kilmer Peak] driver: iwlwifi 
           v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:0089 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-3: Intel type: USB driver: i2400m_usb bus ID: 2-1.3:3 chip ID: 8086:0187 
           IF: wmx0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 596.17 GiB used: 24.26 GiB (4.1%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MK6465GSX size: 596.17 GiB block size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
           rev: 2C scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 297.94 GiB size: 292.27 GiB (98.09%) used: 24.22 GiB (8.3%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.78 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap swappiness: 15 (default 60) 
           cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda6 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 69.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
           1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 214 Uptime: 54m Memory: 3.66 GiB used: 1.02 GiB (27.9%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

Thanks again.

[kc1di]

Hello williepabon,
You will most likely need to disable the internal card in your Bios settings. Each machine is different in how you access the bios so not sure I can instruct you on that. On some Laptops there a wifi on off switch which may do it also. Good luck
P.S. on some HP's it is the F10 key to access bios settings. You have to press it before it gets to the boot menu.

[j2mcgreg]

The wifi key on that laptop is F12. You may have to press it in combination with the Fn key.

[Huckleberry Finn]

On my both HP Pavilions , this is one of them at the moment, (though different models with yours) , the usb dongle doesn't work, either if you disable / turn off the built-in wi-fi device.

So I simply click on NM icon and "disconnect" the connection with the internal device.
______________________________________

... But if you mean it doesn't work for some reason, its website says:

The Linux driver is compatible with kernels up to 5.11, and has been tested on Ubuntu 21.04/20.10/20.04/19.10/19.04/18.10/18.04/17.10 ~ 16.04, Debian 10/9/8, Linux Mint 20/19/18, LMDE 4/3/2/1, Kali Linux, Fedora, openSUSE Tumbleweed, Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian) 10/9/8, MATE, GNOME, Cinnamon, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Budgie, Kylin, MX Linux, Pop! OS, Elementary OS, Zorin OS, KDE neon, antiX Linux, Q4OS, Parrot OS, PureOS, Bodhi, deepin, Linux Lite, SparkyLinux, Peppermint OS, Devuan.

Note: To install the driver on Linux OSes, an Internet connection is required at the time of installation, so as to be able to download the driver and its dependencies. That means that you might have to use a wired connection, i.e. a LAN cable.

______________________________________

• Code: Select all

   sh -c 'wget deb.trendtechcn.com/install -O /tmp/install && sh /tmp/install'

• Or:
  

  Code: Select all

  wget deb.trendtechcn.com/install -O install

  Code: Select all

  chmod +x install

  Code: Select all

  ./install

• Or:
  
  rtl8812au

_____________________________________

How to disable built-in wifi:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/168032/ ... 22#1321922

https://askubuntu.com/questions/168032/ ... 046#168046

[williepabon]

Huckleberry Finn:

Thanks for answering. If I understood you correctly, you said that the usb wifi adapter that I'm expecting to receive within a couple of days may not work even when the seller says that it is compatible with mx Linux? Please, explain.

[Huckleberry Finn]

To my understanding, it just won't work "ootb" as it's not ready in the kernel, but just you need to install the required driver as above. That single line copy-paste-Enter may do the job (that's already from their official site).

P.S. If you ask them they'll say: "Yes sir, we just said it's "compatible" with Linux and that's true".

P.P.S. Actually, no need to wait for it to arrive. You can copy-paste-hit Enter and install the driver from now, then just plug and try when it comes - a kind of ootb :)

[williepabon]

Huckleberry Finn:

Today, I did the installation of the Bostrend 1200mps wifi dongle following the instruction that came with the package. Essentially, the same instructions that you gave me in your post. And as you said, it didn't work ootb. Even though that the installer said that the driver installed successfully, the usb wifi adapter is not working. Right now I would need some guidance to troubleshoot my problem. Thanks again for the help.

[Huckleberry Finn]

So, does it appear on

Code: Select all

inxi -nxxxz

or

Code: Select all

lsusb

when it's attached ? And you can issue

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock all

[williepabon]

Huckleberry Finn:
Thanks for answering so quick. Yes, I think it shows.

Code: Select all

williepabon@mx192:~
$ inxi -nxxxz
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 [Kilmer Peak] driver: iwlwifi 
           v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:0089 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-3: Realtek type: USB driver: rtl88x2bu bus ID: 2-1.1:3 chip ID: 0bda:b812 
           serial: <filter> 
           IF: wlan1 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-4: Intel type: USB driver: i2400m_usb bus ID: 2-1.3:4 chip ID: 8086:0187 
           IF: wmx0 state: down mac: <filter> 

Think it is device 3. What should I do next?

[Huckleberry Finn]

The driver (rtl88x2bu) is ok. So, it must be something else preventing it to run.

Here's a similar one:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=142811

(Just try when ethernet is off)
______________________________________

Or: Just to try what happens when you stop the built-in device: "MX Network Assistant" : blacklist iwlwifi

(also leave the new device alone, unplug all others including ethernet) Reboot.

(In case it doesn't work and you need internet, remove blacklist same way ... )