How To Fix Linux Mint Wireless Issues On Modern Laptops Including Lenovo Y700 IdeaPads

Introduction

A little while ago I provided a guide showing how to dual boot Linux Mint and Windows 10. 

Most people will find that the guide is suitable for their needs but people with more modern laptops might find that they can't access WIFI networks.

I found this issue with my new Lenovo Y700 Ideapad which requires an iwlwifi driver that is later than the one available in the current kernel released with Linux Mint.

These steps show how I fixed the issue. Most of the solution was garnered from this page but I had to add some extra steps and it isn't always easy to tell from forums which solutions worked and which didn't

I will show you the steps that you need to follow in order to fix the issue. Note this is only required if your computer has an Intel wireless controller.

Install Build Essential Package

This is the main step that doesn't work if you follow the forum article that I linked previously. You will receive a missing library error.

Open a Linux terminal by pressing CTRL ALT and T at the same time.

Now run the following command:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Fix The Issue

Run the following command within the terminal

wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable/v4.4.2/backports-4.4.2-1.tar.gz

Extract the tar file

tar -zxvf backports-4.4.2-1.tar.gz

Change directory into the folder of the uncompressed tar file

cd backports-4.4.2-1

Make the package by running each of these commands one after the other

make defconfig-iwlwifi 

make 

sudo make install

Download the driver:

wget http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/iwlwifi-8000C-16.ucode

Copy the file to the relevant folder:

sudo cp iwlwifi-8000C-16.ucode /lib/firmware

Finally reboot your computer

Summary

I realise that this post is quite specific to probably just a few people but hopefully it will save somebody some time.

Needless to say that in order to download the files you will need to have an internet connection which leaves you in a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.

You will need to use an ethernet (wired) connection to connect to the internet until the wireless issue is resolved.

If you are using mobile broadband and have no access to an ethernet connection you can get a device which enables you to convert WIFI into Ethernet as shown below.