I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 with the Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card, one that has given many Linux users big headaches.

After trying many different approaches suggested all over the web, and gathering clues in many Ubuntu forum posts, I finally worked out this solution:

First of all you must check if you have the correct card:

lspci -nn | grep 14e4

Result: 05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI [14e4:4311 (rev 01)]

Then proceed to the first step:

1. blacklist bcm43xx

echo blacklist bcm43xx | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

2. install ndiswrapper and related files

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ndisgtk

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When volume of the sound captured is too low, even with system sound volume set to maximum level, do the following:

1. Open the GNOME volume control tool:

$ gnome-volume-control

2. Select Edit -> Preferences and verify the following tracks are visible: PCM, Front, Capture, Mux and Digital. Click Close when done.

3. In the Options tab, verify that the Input Source is set to “Mic”.

4. To maximize volume of recorded sound: In the Recording tab, adjust the “Capture”, “Mix” and “Digital” sliders higher to raise the volume level of the captured audio. Click on the microphone icon on the bottom if it has a red cross on it to unmute it.

5. To maximize volume of playback sound: In the Playback tab, adjust the “PCM”, “Front” and “Surround” sliders higher to raise the volume level.

When the overall sound volume is too low, you should:

1. Right click on speaker icon in system tray, and select “Open Volume Control”

2. Go to Edit: Preferences

3. Put a check next to Front. Hit OK

4. Turn Front volume all the way up.

5. Now the master volume control raises and lowers the volume between much greater extremes.

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