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No Network Adapter Found After Installing Ubuntu 19.10(iMac)

E

EDLIU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2015
235
8
I have an old iMac that I'm trying to install Ubuntu 19.10 on it.

After the installing, I cannot setup my Network. A message showed that: No Network Adapter Found.

Is this because my old iMac has a broken Network Adapter?

Or the Network Adapter is not supported. Will the problem be solved if I wire connect my old iMac while installing the Ubuntu and let it download updates?
 
We’d need to know more about the exact iMac model you have.
It might just be a matter of installing the correct driver.

Also, are you trying to use ethernet or wireless networking?
 
EDLIU said:
20-inch, early 2008.

Wireless.
Click to expand...

You may need to enable Broadcom drivers, since they are proprietary. I believe they come on the install media but not installed by default. With the install medium in go to Additional Drivers and enabled the Broadcom drivers, and report back if it worked
 
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Could be you just need the proper driver. This same thing happened to me a week ago while trying to install Ubuntu on an hp Pavilion x360 laptop - no wireless network adapter found.
 
revmacian said:
Could be you just need the proper driver. This same thing happened to me a week ago while trying to install Ubuntu on an hp Pavilion x360 laptop - no wireless network adapter found.
Click to expand...

So how do I get the proper driver for my network adapter? How do I know what driver my network adapter need?
 
revmacian said:
See @casperes1996 post, sounds like he’s done this before. I had to compile my Realtek driver, hopefully you won’t have to go to that extreme.
Click to expand...

Not on that exact model, of machine, but I Googled it and it has a Broadcom chip, which I have worked with on Ubuntu before. Depending on the specific Broadcom chip it's varying levels of difficulties. Most of the Broadcom chips Apple have used are common enough that they are bundled with the install media, but as my post mentioned not installed by default.
If it doesn't appear in the additional drivers list, there are lots of good resources for Broadcom wireless on Linux. If memory serves the drivers I needed for my old laptop's Broadcom chip was something like "Broadcom-sta wl [version number]"
 
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casperes1996 said:
You may need to enable Broadcom drivers, since they are proprietary. I believe they come on the install media but not installed by default. With the install medium in go to Additional Drivers and enabled the Broadcom drivers, and report back if it worked
Click to expand...

So I install Ubuntu, go to Additional Drivers after installation, and enable the Broadcom drivers. But how do I know the version number and how do I enable the drivers?

Moreover, what about the firmware? Is it possible that the firmware is missing? Will it help if I wired connect my iMac while installing the os?
 
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EDLIU said:
So I install Ubuntu, go to Additional Drivers after installation, and enable the Broadcom drivers. But how do I know the version number and how do I enable the drivers?

Moreover, what about the firmware? Is it possible that the firmware is missing? Will it help if I wired connect my iMac while installing the os?
Click to expand...

The Additional Drivers utility should auto detect your hardware and allow you to select the required Broadcom driver. Select it, click apply. A wired connection shouldn't be necessary. if the one on the installer isn't the latest, it should still get you on Wi-Fi and letterboxed you upgrade it the usual way afterwards.

You don't need to worry about firmware stuff. Firmware is on hardware ROM chips and not dependant on the operating system you install (generally speaking)
 
EDLIU said:
I have an old iMac that I'm trying to install Ubuntu 19.10 on it.

After the installing, I cannot setup my Network. A message showed that: No Network Adapter Found.

Is this because my old iMac has a broken Network Adapter?

Or the Network Adapter is not supported. Will the problem be solved if I wire connect my old iMac while installing the Ubuntu and let it download updates?
Click to expand...

It may be that the builtin network adapter is not supported by Ubuntu.

You can maybe work around that with a cheap USB network adapter until you can figure it out. The Apple USB2 ethernet adapter works in Ubuntu, as will most USB network adapters i believe.
 
Do I need to plug in the Bootable USB Drive when using the Additional Drivers Utility?
 
EDLIU said:
Do I need to plug in the Bootable USB Drive when using the Additional Drivers Utility?
Click to expand...

I believe so, yes. Not entirely certain, but I don't think the drivers carried over with the installation if not first selected. Since you don't have networking, the only place to get the drivers is on the install media, which should have them
 
The driver is not in the Additional Drivers Utility. I have to wired connect my iMac and select the "download third-party software for graphic and Wi-Fi" while installing the os.

The Wi-Fi works, but display has problems.

I checked the "Install Broadcom Wireless Drivers Offline", and it said that "install the drivers the same way as the dams package". Do you know how to do that?

If I only install the Broadcom driver, will the display problems be solved?

BTW, after installing the os and run the system, a lot of messages showed. Seems like there are a lot of problems and files missing running the system.
 
Last edited:
EDLIU said:
The Wi-Fi works, but display has problems.

I checked the "Install Broadcom Wireless Drivers Offline", and it said that "install the drivers the same way as the dams package". Do you know how to do that?
Click to expand...

I'm confused. If you got the wi-fi working, why are you looking at installing wireless drivers again? Think you meant DKMS package. If you have the DKMS version don't switch away from that to something else. The DKMS version will rebuild itself if you upgrade the kernel, where a non-dkms version won't work if you upgrade the kernel without rebuilding it into the kernel again.

EDLIU said:
If I only install the Broadcom driver, will the display problems be solved?

BTW, after installing the os and run the system, a lot of messages showed. Seems like there are a lot of problems and files missing running the system.
Click to expand...

I don't see why the Broadcom driver would relate to anything display-wise at all, so probably not.

What kind of errors are you getting?
 
casperes1996 said:
I'm confused. If you got the wi-fi working, why are you looking at installing wireless drivers again?
Click to expand...
The Broadcom driver was not in the Additional Drivers Utility. I had to re-install the OS, wired connect(cable) my iMac, and select the download third party software for graphic and Wi-Fi while installing the OS to get the Broadcom drivers.

I don't see why the Broadcom driver would relate to anything display-wise at all, so probably not.
Click to expand...
When I selected download third party software for graphic and Wi-Fi, I think it downloaded drivers for both graphic and Wi-Fi.

What kind of errors are you getting?
Click to expand...
The only error message I remember is: /boot missing.

BTW, what's "Archive Automatic Signing Key"?
 
EDLIU said:
When I selected download third party software for graphic and Wi-Fi, I think it downloaded drivers for both graphic and Wi-Fi.
Click to expand...

Right. Well if your Wi-Fi works, the graphics issue isn't related. Ticking the box to install graphics and networking drivers may indeed have installed a graphics driver that works wonkily with your system, but it's separate to the networking driver. Try googling the symptoms and the name of the GPU.

EDLIU said:
The only error message I remember is: /boot missing.
Click to expand...

Right, well, if it can boot that's not an issue.
 
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