Brand new to Linux and having trouble connecting to a wireless network. Internet works when hardlined but not wireless for a HP pavilion zv5120us. Any idea how to solve this?

The solution would depend on what wireless adapter you have and which distro you are using.

I am running Ubuntu 7.10 on a HP zv5120us (being new to Linux, I am using my old P.O.S. laptop) with a Broadcom PCI LAN(BCM94306).

I would try installing the windows driver using ndiswrapper. If you don't have the driver, you should be able to find a download for it on the net or from the broadcom website. If it's in an .exe file, you'll need to extract it first. I just installed the .exe using WINE for an different Broadcom driver, then moved the .inf file from where it installed to a more convenient location. Here's a guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper But basically, open the terminal to where the driver file is and type: sudo ndiswrapper -i sudo modprobe ndiswrapper Driver file being the name of your broadcom driver. Probably something like bcm94306.inf.