[SOLVED] Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Hi,
The wireless on my Dell Inspiron 1018 (Dual booted Windows and Ubuntu) seems to have stopped working after I pressed the wireless button (F2) on the keyboard.
Pressing it again does not seem to re-enable it.
This has happened before and booting it into Windows and press F2 normally re-enables the wireless.
This time, however, (after updating to 12.04) the wireless is disabled again when I boot back into Ubuntu.
Here's my outputs:
rfkill list
Code:
me@sInspiron-1018:~$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
4: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
5: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
(Interestingly, after I enable the wireless in Windows and go back to Linux, dell-wifi hard blocked is listed as no. Despite this, phy0 is still hard blocked and the wireless is still disabled)
iwconfig:
Code:
me@sInspiron-1018:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
eth0 no wireless extensions.
ifconfig
Code:
me@sInspiron-1018:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 5c:26:0a:10:c9:e6
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:43
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:848 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:848 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:66912 (66.9 KB) TX bytes:66912 (66.9 KB)
lspci -nn
Code:
me@sInspiron-1018:~$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation N10 Family DMI Bridge [8086:a010]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:a011]
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation N10 Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:a012]
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation NM10 Family LPC Controller [8086:27bc] (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [8086:27c1] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller [8086:27da] (rev 02)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 05)
07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)
lsmod
Code:
me@sInspiron-1018:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 12617 1
nls_cp437 12751 1
vfat 17308 1
fat 55605 1 vfat
dell_laptop 13671 0
bnep 17830 2
rfcomm 38139 16
parport_pc 32114 0
ppdev 12849 0
arc4 12473 2
binfmt_misc 17292 1
joydev 17393 0
iptable_nat 13016 0
nf_nat 24959 1 iptable_nat
nf_conntrack_ipv4 19084 3 iptable_nat,nf_nat
nf_conntrack 73847 3 iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_defrag_ipv4 12649 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
iptable_mangle 12646 0
iptable_filter 12706 0
ip_tables 18106 3 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter
x_tables 21974 4 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter,ip_tables
snd_hda_codec_realtek 174055 1
dcdbas 14098 1 dell_laptop
snd_hda_intel 32765 3
rtl8192ce 127376 0
snd_hda_codec 109562 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80845 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
rtlwifi 107553 1 rtl8192ce
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25424 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 28931 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
uvcvideo 67203 0
videodev 86588 1 uvcvideo
btusb 17912 2
psmouse 87140 0
bluetooth 158438 23 bnep,rfcomm,btusb
serio_raw 13027 0
mac80211 436455 2 rtl8192ce,rtlwifi
snd 62064 15 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
cfg80211 178679 2 rtlwifi,mac80211
i915 414568 3
soundcore 14635 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14115 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
drm_kms_helper 45466 1 i915
drm 197692 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13199 1 i915
video 19068 1 i915
mac_hid 13077 0
lp 17455 0
parport 40930 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ums_realtek 17920 0
usb_storage 39646 2 ums_realtek
uas 17699 0
r8169 56321 0
I have tried (thanks to some of the advice in other threads)
1) As mentioned above, booting into Windows and pressing the hardware switch - which works until I boot back into Ubuntu.
2) rmmod dell-laptop and then attempting to unblock/press the switch
3) Reinstalling my wireless driver rtl8192ce
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Is there maybe some small and hidden non-keyboard switch on the case?
The "hard-locked" means a mechanical switch locked it.
HP laptops have that switch on a weired spot making it easy to switch it w/o noticing, maybe you have something like that as well.
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Originally Posted by
roelforg
Is there maybe some small and hidden non-keyboard switch on the case?
The "hard-locked" means a mechanical switch locked it.
HP laptops have that switch on a weired spot making it easy to switch it w/o noticing, maybe you have something like that as well.
Thanks for responding
I have had a quick look around the laptop for any other switches but I can't seem to find anything.
When I go into Windows the wireless is disabled until I press F2 which is what made me think that it was this switch that was the problem.
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ZeroZeroZero
Thanks for responding
I have had a quick look around the laptop for any other switches but I can't seem to find anything.
When I go into Windows the wireless is disabled until I press F2 which is what made me think that it was this switch that was the problem.
I think the windows driver has a part in this.
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Originally Posted by
roelforg
I think the windows driver has a part in this.
Does the windows driver influence the Linux drivers? Or does it not fully unblock the wireless card?
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Please try:
Code:
sudo modprobe -r dell-laptop
sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all
Any improvement? If so, let's blacklist dell-laptop:
Code:
sudo su
echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Originally Posted by
chili555
Please try:
Code:
sudo modprobe -r dell-laptop
sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all
Any improvement? If so, let's blacklist
dell-laptop:
Code:
sudo su
echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit
Thanks but sadly it still isn't working.
rfkill list all:
Code:
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
Interestingly, when I boot it up and enter into settings (before Ubuntu loads), it has the Wireless set as enabled. I don't know whether that means anything.
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Interestingly, when I boot it up and enter into settings (before Ubuntu loads), it has the Wireless set as enabled.
??? Meaning what? Can you hold down the F2 button as it boots and it works? Now that dell-laptop is not loaded, what does F2 do?Now press F2.Any change?
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Problem's fixed, though I'm not quite sure how it happened.
I booted into Windows, enabled the wireless and then rebooted into an older version of Linux.
Then the wireless worked and it connected. Then I rebooted it again into 12.04 and then it worked there too.
Thanks for all your help. Seems like the issue was something to do with the latest update.
Re: Dell Wireless Hard Blocked
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ZeroZeroZero
Problem's fixed, though I'm not quite sure how it happened.
I booted into Windows, enabled the wireless and then rebooted into an older version of Linux.
Then the wireless worked and it connected. Then I rebooted it again into 12.04 and then it worked there too.
Thanks for all your help. Seems like the issue was something to do with the latest update.
This'll answer the question if the win drivers influence the linux ones as well.
Hardware makers can add proprietary interfaces to their hw (just look at the oss noveau vs. closed source nvidia drivers) most hw-makers only write drivers for win as it has 90% of all desktops.
As such most lin drivers started by reverse-engineering the win ones,
but noone's perfect so bugs exist.
Besides that source of info, the only other sources are docs publised by the hw-maker that often omit proprietary interfaces.
It could be that (as the fn-alt2 is software) some part of installing triggers the card to lock.
But noone knows how...