Enable Wireless - unchecked and greyed out

[iharacomix]

First-timer asking for help. ^^'

I have a strange problem with the wireless too, where the Enable Wireless option is unchecked and grayed out. (Dell Inspiron n5010)

When I run 'rfkill list' and 'sudo lshw -C network' one way I get this:

--
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
--
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: WiMAX/WiFi Link 6050 Series
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:12:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 57
serial: 00:23:15:1d:3b:d0
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn driverversion=2.6.32-24-generic firmware=9.201.4.1 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
resources: irq:34 memory:fbc00000-fbc01fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:13:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: a4:ba:db:c8:66:be
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=75.191.248.135 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:33 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0b10000-d0b10fff(prefetchable) memory:d0b00000-d0b0ffff(prefetchable) memory:fb200000-fb21ffff(prefetchable)
--

However, when I press the wireless key and run the two again, it changes to this:

--
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
--
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: WiMAX/WiFi Link 6050 Series
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:12:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 57
serial: 00:23:15:1d:3b:d0
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn driverversion=2.6.32-24-generic firmware=9.201.4.1 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
resources: irq:34 memory:fbc00000-fbc01fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:13:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: a4:ba:db:c8:66:be
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=75.191.248.135 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:33 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0b10000-d0b10fff(prefetchable) memory:d0b00000-d0b0ffff(prefetchable) memory:fb200000-fb21ffff(prefetchable)
--

... and that goes back and forth.

Any advice?

[chili555]

Please run:

sudo rmmod -f dell-laptop

Repeat the tests. If the wireless is working now, do:

sudo su
echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Then the errant module will be permanently blacklisted.

[iharacomix]

I followed your instructions and it worked, my wireless is fine.
But can you, by any chance, tell me what 'sudo rmmod -f dell-laptop' does, and why it needed to be handled as it did ('echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf')?

I'm trying to learn some stuff here at the same time, and hopefully, this will help me help others. ^^

[hockeytux]

Ive got the same problem on an Acer Aspire One but neither the 'rfkill unblock all' nor the 'sudo rmmod -f sn-netbook' have any effect.

Am I missing something here? Whats the correct name of the module for Acer Aspire Ones?

[bkratz]

I followed your instructions and it worked, my wireless is fine.
But can you, by any chance, tell me what 'sudo rmmod -f dell-laptop' does, and why it needed to be handled as it did ('echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf')?

I'm trying to learn some stuff here at the same time, and hopefully, this will help me help others. ^^

The first command temporarily removed the dell-laptop module. It would have returned at the next boot. The second made it permanent by not allowing it to load at boot-time (blacklisted it).

From an earlier Dr Chili post (must be coffee-ing!)

February 24th, 2010, 09:41 AM
dell-laptop is supposed to enable some functions that are unique to Dell. As you can see, it doesn't work well. I suspect that it conflicts with another similar module, dell-wmi. If you notice that other functions now don't work correctly, obviously reverse the removal.
.
.
.

dell-laptop is now blacklisted and will not reload on boot, unless, of course, you edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf to remove the blacklist line.

[chili555]

Ive got the same problem on an Acer Aspire One but neither the 'rfkill unblock all' nor the 'sudo rmmod -f sn-netbook' have any effect.

Am I missing something here? Whats the correct name of the module for Acer Aspire Ones?

Would you please start a new thread and PM me if I don't catch it right away?

[chili555]

The first command temporarily removed the dell-laptop module. It would have returned at the next boot. The second made it permanent by not allowing it to load at boot-time (blacklisted it).

Exactly correct!

From an earlier Dr Chili post (must be coffee-ing!)

Also exactly correct!

[iharacomix]

Thanks, (Dr?) Chili and bkratz, for the help/information! ^^

[chakkday]

Please run:

sudo rmmod -f dell-laptop

Repeat the tests. If the wireless is working now, do:

sudo su
echo "blacklist dell-laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Then the errant module will be permanently blacklisted.

This thing should be a sticky !!

It was a life saver for me.

Any idea why this happened ? Is there an issue with 10.4 or was there a later update that I took ?

But - thanks a lot for all who contributed to this simple 2 step solution.. saved me lot of grief.

I've created an account on the forum to just thank you guys !

[chili555]

Any idea why this happened ? Is there an issue with 10.4 or was there a later update that I took ?

I think dell-laptop, the module that translates key presses to kernel activity, has been flaky for some time, not just in 10.04. It is ironic that the fix is to just remove it.

See, for instance, posts #3 and 4 here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1414946