rfkill blocks wifi but can not unblock

[sujitrjadhav]

Hi friends,

I am new to Linux and currently learning Linux. I have dell inspirion mini 1018 and I have installed fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04 on it ( dual boot ) .

I keep on trying different commands( to learn) and while giving a try to rfkill command I found that in Ubuntu 11.04 I can block wifi, bluetooth using
"rfkill block all". But trying to unblock dose not work at all. If I boot in to fedora 15, I am able to unblock all blocked devices using " rfkill unblock all".

Can someone please guide me why is it so or how can I unblock wifi and bluetooth on ubuntu itself. I mean if I come across such situation and I dont have fedora on that pc then what would be solution?

[bkratz]

Hi friends,

I am new to Linux and currently learning Linux. I have dell inspirion mini 1018 and I have installed fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04 on it ( dual boot ) .

I keep on trying different commands( to learn) and while giving a try to rfkill command I found that in Ubuntu 11.04 I can block wifi, bluetooth using
"rfkill block all". But trying to unblock dose not work at all. If I boot in to fedora 15, I am able to unblock all blocked devices using " rfkill unblock all".

Can someone please guide me why is it so or how can I unblock wifi and bluetooth on ubuntu itself. I mean if I come across such situation and I dont have fedora on that pc then what would be solution?

You might want to post the output of

rfkill list all

and

 lsmod

[sujitrjadhav]

Here is output of the commands before and after blocking and then trying to unblock.

sujit@ubuntu:~$ rfkill list all
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
sujit@ubuntu:~$ rfkill block all
sujit@ubuntu:~$ rfkill unblock all
sujit@ubuntu:~$ rfkill list
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
2: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
sujit@ubuntu:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
ppp_deflate 12838 0
zlib_deflate 26594 1 ppp_deflate
bsd_comp 12777 0
ppp_async 17308 1
crc_ccitt 12595 1 ppp_async
rndis_wlan 28293 0
rndis_host 13521 1 rndis_wlan
cdc_ether 13033 1 rndis_host
cdc_phonet 12853 0
usbnet 25175 3 rndis_wlan,rndis_host,cdc_ether
cdc_acm 22150 3
phonet 29296 1 cdc_phonet
parport_pc 32111 0
ppdev 12849 0
dm_crypt 22463 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 255882 1
snd_hda_intel 24113 2
snd_hda_codec 90901 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13274 1 snd_hda_codec
rfcomm 38125 0
snd_pcm 80042 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
arc4 12473 2
snd_rawmidi 25269 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
rtl8192ce 120858 0
snd_seq 51291 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
sco 17827 0
bnep 17785 0
l2cap 48656 4 rfcomm,bnep
joydev 17322 0
rtlwifi 78961 1 rtl8192ce
binfmt_misc 13213 1
dell_laptop 13515 0
snd_timer 28659 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
mac80211 257001 2 rtl8192ce,rtlwifi
btusb 18160 0
dcdbas 14054 1 dell_laptop
snd_seq_device 14110 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
bluetooth 65493 5 rfcomm,sco,bnep,l2cap,btusb
snd 55295 13 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec, snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,sn d_seq_device
psmouse 73312 0
uvcvideo 66851 0
serio_raw 12990 0
cfg80211 156212 3 rndis_wlan,rtlwifi,mac80211
videodev 75143 1 uvcvideo
soundcore 12600 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14073 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp 13349 0
parport 36746 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
usb_storage 43946 0
uas 17676 0
i915 451033 3
ahci 21591 3
drm_kms_helper 40745 1 i915
libahci 25548 1 ahci
drm 184164 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
r8169 42534 0
i2c_algo_bit 13184 1 i915
video 18951 1 i915
sujit@ubuntu:~$


I will be back again. Need to boot in fedora to get wifi unblocked. sending this post with mobile gprs connection

[bkratz]

The module Dell_laptop often causes problems with rfkill, it might be worth a try to:

sudo rmmod -f dell-laptop

and see if everything improves. This would only be temporary and would have to make permanent before rebooting if it does help. If not, if will reload next time you reboot. If it does help we will make it permanent, just post back.

[sujitrjadhav]

Removing dell-laptop module did help. It working now. But does removing dell-laptop disable any other functionality?. Will it have any negative impact too? And how can I make it permanent if it is safe? Also note that of the four interfaces listed by rkill list now the two with word dell in them no more appear.

[bkratz]

Removing dell-laptop module did help. It working now. But does removing dell-laptop disable any other functionality?. Will it have any negative impact too? And how can I make it permanent if it is safe? Also note that of the four interfaces listed by rkill list now the two with word dell in them no more appear.

Well, we have removed the Dell_laptop module many, many, times in the Networking and Wireless forum and no one has ever returned with any problems. It you see some negative results you can simply put it back in, but I don't think you will want too! It appears to be some part of the Dell_wmi module which decodes special function keys. Anyway, to make it permanent,

Please do:

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

Before you press Enter, proofread carefully. The double arrows append the line to any other lines currently in the file.

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.

[sujitrjadhav]

Well, we have removed the Dell_laptop module many, many, times in the Networking and Wireless forum and no one has ever returned with any problems. It you see some negative results you can simply put it back in, but I don't think you will want too! It appears to be some part of the Dell_wmi module which decodes special function keys. Anyway, to make it permanent,

Please do:

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

Before you press Enter, proofread carefully. The double arrows append the line to any other lines currently in the file.

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.

Problem is solved.
But I would like to say something more- This is first time I ever posted a problem here. And I never expected such an expert and speedy resolution. It was few months before that I switched to Ubuntu from Windows. I am really impressed and very happy that not only linux is better and free but it also has such a strong problem resolution system- credit goes to people like you. I will never ever go back to windows. I do not know how to express my thanks to you.

[sujitrjadhav]

Ps: A very minor issue with it is that

rfkill block all

blocks bluetooth. and

rfkill unblock all

unblocks it. But bluetooth do not work unless you turn off bluetooth and restart.

[bkratz]

Glad to have been able to help you. I don't really understand your very last post, is this some sort of problem? You really should not have to mess around with rfkill block and unblock all commands at all, anymore since that module was blacklisted.

[sujitrjadhav]

I mean that

rfkill unblock all

or

rfkill unblock bluetooth

Unblocks blocked Bluetooth and Bluetooth "appears" as turned on. But still it and its settings are not accessible. "Turn off Bluetooth" option is only accessible option and if I turn Bluetooth off and turn it on again then only it works.