I have just installed 16.04 on my HP-149tx alongside Windows. I am unable to access the Wifi from Ubuntu. The signal is too weak even if I hold the laptop close to the router.I can confirm this is a driver issue since I have flawless access to my Wifi from Windows.

What I did to try and rectify this issue is try to download and install the wifi drivers as per instructions specified over here. The problem I get when installing the driver is as follows-:

(Reading database ... 174937 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack rtlwifi-new-dkms_0.10_all.deb ...



------------------------------

Deleting module version: 0.10

completely from the DKMS tree.

------------------------------

Done.

Unpacking rtlwifi-new-dkms (0.10) over (0.10) ...

Setting up rtlwifi-new-dkms (0.10) ...

Loading new rtlwifi-new-0.10 DKMS files...

First Installation: checking all kernels...

Building only for 4.8.0-36-generic

Building for architecture x86_64

Building initial module for 4.8.0-36-generic

Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 4.8.0-36-generic (x86_64)

Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/make.log for more information.

Also the contents of make.log is as follows-:

DKMS make.log for rtlwifi-new-0.10 for kernel 4.8.0-36-generic (x86_64)

Sun Jul 30 17:10:27 IST 2017

make: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.8.0-36-generic'

  LD      /var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/built-in.o

  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.o

In file included from /var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.c:30:0:

/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/wifi.h:1327:40: error: ‘IEEE80211_NUM_BANDS’ undeclared here (not in a function)

  struct ieee80211_supported_band bands[IEEE80211_NUM_BANDS];

                                        ^

/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.c:138:10: error: ‘IEEE80211_BAND_2GHZ’ undeclared here (not in a function)

  .band = IEEE80211_BAND_2GHZ,

          ^

/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.c:150:10: error: ‘IEEE80211_BAND_5GHZ’ undeclared here (not in a function)

  .band = IEEE80211_BAND_5GHZ,

          ^

scripts/Makefile.build:289: recipe for target '/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.o' failed

make[1]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build/base.o] Error 1

Makefile:1491: recipe for target '_module_/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build' failed

make: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/rtlwifi-new/0.10/build] Error 2

make: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.8.0-36-generic'

I can confirm that my wifi lan card is a Realtek RTL8723BE device since that is what my Windows OS recognizes it as and I have installed the Windows equivalent driver for it and it working fine there.

The output from modinfo rtl8723be is as follows-:

alex@alex-HP-Notebook:~/Desktop/rtlwifi_new-master$ modinfo rtl8723be

filename:       /lib/modules/4.8.0-36-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/rtl8723be.ko

firmware:       rtlwifi/rtl8723befw.bin

description:    Realtek 8723BE 802.11n PCI wireless

license:        GPL

author:         Realtek WlanFAE <[email protected]>

author:         PageHe  <[email protected]>

srcversion:     1520FD8B69687790125304A

alias:          pci:v000010ECd0000B723sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

depends:        rtlwifi,rtl8723-common,rtl_pci,btcoexist,mac80211

intree:         Y

vermagic:       4.8.0-36-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 

parm:           swenc:Set to 1 for software crypto (default 0)

 (bool)

parm:           ips:Set to 0 to not use link power save (default 1)

 (bool)

parm:           swlps:Set to 1 to use SW control power save (default 0)

 (bool)

parm:           fwlps:Set to 1 to use FW control power save (default 1)

 (bool)

parm:           msi:Set to 1 to use MSI interrupts mode (default 0)

 (bool)

parm:           debug:Set debug level (0-5) (default 0) (int)

parm:           disable_watchdog:Set to 1 to disable the watchdog (default 0)

 (bool)

parm:           ant_sel:Set to 1 or 2 to force antenna number (default 0)

Also my router is configured with the following parameters-:

Wireless Band: 2.4 GHz

802.11 Mode: Mixed 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b

Auto Channel Scan enabled

Wireless Channel : 2.437 GHz - CH 6

Channel Width: Auto 20/40 MHz