I am an absolute beginner. My name is Tom Cooper. I am using 64 bit with ubuntu 20.04 with gnome 3.36.2 on my HP17-ca1500 AMD Ryzen Laptop. I have lost my wifi and it only works with the ethernet cable. I want a wireless connection. What do I do?
Hi there and welcome.
Have you tested your Notebook bevorehand with the live Ubuntu?
If not, maybe you can now fire up the DVD again and test, if Wifi works in live mode.
Is there a hardware switch for turning on/off Wifi?
Or any function-key combination for doing that?
Many times it is something like “Fn” + “some F-key”.
Welcome to the community. Well, your WiFi problem with Ubuntu 20.04 is at least the 4th time I’ve seen this posted. It seems Ubuntu did not include enough drivers for WiFi or just plain missed some.
Either way, I saw someone who was able to D/L the driver they needed.
It was under
Good Luck.
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@tomsk, I had one other thought about this problem with Ubuntu 20.04.
When you installed the software were you connected to the internet?
Did you have have installed 3rd party software box checked?
If you have troubles D/L the driver you need, maybe just re-installing Ubuntu while connected to the internet and the 3rd party S/W box checked might make Ubuntu D/L (install) the driver you need.
There is a great tutorial on this subject at
As said before if you check the box at install it foes it automatically but found with WiFi and screen displays it does not always work so you have to hook a cable then do the above to solve it
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Fast Edi,
Thanks for trying to help me out. On the HP laptop I can find no way in the hardware to switch the Wifi on. On ubuntu installed HP laptops the fn key will not work , only with Windows 10.
I’m now going to try your first suggestion so I’m not sure where I will get a live Ubuntu as previously I used the upgrade button from Ubuntu 19.10. I only bought this pc some 6-7 months ago with Windows 10 and decided to change to Ubuntu as I have used it before on a desktop. Unless I can get the Wifi to work I will have to stay where the cable is. Anyway I will let you know what happens.
Are you aware of “airplane mode”. On my 9 year old Dell Vostro the f2 key is also the airplane mode switcher. Your problem showed up a few days ago as I was testing some other ISO’s (currently POP!OS) I had played with the F keys and inadvertently set my laptop to airplane mode, I had no Internet, no bluetooth and so on… After a day of worrying I remembered, undo the airplane mode, I do not know which f key on your computer, it could be F12 or F2, but hunt a bit or contact the manufacturer for info. Hope this helps.