Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000, Edubuntu 11.04 in Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 420

[madik]

Hi i am requesting help for my problem with Wifi on my notebook Lenovo E420. I just cant get it working

Here are some terminal outputs:

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc NI Whistler [AMD Radeon HD 6600M Series]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
04:00.0 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Device e823 (rev 04)
09:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000
madik@madik-ThinkPad-E420:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b4)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc NI Whistler [AMD Radeon HD 6600M Series]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
04:00.0 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Device e823 (rev 04)
09:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000

lsusb

Bus 002 Device 006: ID 0a5c:217f Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth Controller
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 147e:1002 Upek 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b257 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      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:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
hidp                   22572  1 
hid                    91020  1 hidp
iptable_filter         12810  1 
ip_tables              27456  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               29581  2 iptable_filter,ip_tables
parport_pc             36959  0 
ppdev                  17113  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     28103  1 
snd_hda_codec_conexant    57511  1 
joydev                 17606  0 
binfmt_misc            17565  1 
rfcomm                 47694  8 
sco                    18131  2 
bnep                   18308  2 
l2cap                  53570  21 hidp,rfcomm,bnep
arc4                   12529  2 
snd_hda_intel          33211  2 
snd_hda_codec         103804  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13604  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                96625  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
thinkpad_acpi          81587  0 
iwlagn                333500  0 
snd_seq_midi           13324  0 
snd_rawmidi            30486  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                61621  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              29602  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
btusb                  18600  4 
acer_wmi               23771  0 
iwlcore               167503  1 iwlagn
mac80211              294370  2 iwlagn,iwlcore
snd_seq_device         14462  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
sparse_keymap          13898  1 acer_wmi
bluetooth              72448  10 hidp,rfcomm,sco,bnep,l2cap,btusb
i915                  514985  2 
uvcvideo               72195  0 
psmouse                73535  0 
snd                    67382  15 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,thinkpad_acpi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
fglrx                2739144  0 
cfg80211              178528  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
videodev               82052  1 uvcvideo
serio_raw              13166  0 
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    17078  1 videodev
drm_kms_helper         42136  1 i915
snd_page_alloc         18529  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
drm                   227495  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13400  1 i915
video                  19438  1 i915
soundcore              12680  1 snd
nvram                  14419  1 thinkpad_acpi
lp                     17825  0 
parport                46458  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ahci                   25951  2 
r8169                  48022  0 
libahci                26642  1 ahci
sdhci_pci              13989  0 
sdhci                  27387  1 sdhci_pci

sudo lshw -C network

*-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 06
       serial: f0:de:f1:54:a1:6e
       size: 1Gbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.148 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
       resources: irq:41 ioport:4000(size=256) memory:e0404000-e0404fff memory:e0400000-e0403fff
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Centrino Wireless-N 1000
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 00
       serial: 8c:a9:82:6d:39:f0
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn driverversion=2.6.38-8-generic firmware=128.50.3.1 build 13488 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:44 memory:e1d00000-e1d01fff

rfkill list

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
3: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
5: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

I would appreciate any help with my Wifi issue. thanks

[chili555]

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

The laptop thinks the wireless is turned off in software. Be sure the ethernet cable is detached so that Network Manager doesn't interfere and do:

sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all

Is soft block now changed to no? If not, try:

sudo rmmod -f acer-wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all

We can modify a couple of files to make which ever combination works permanent.

I am a bit surprised that a Thinkpad thinks it's an Acer and that both thinkpad-acpi and acer-wmi are loaded. I still learn something new every day.

[madik]

Awesome chill555 this worked like a charm.

sudo rmmod -f acer-wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all 
rfkill list all

Wifi is now working nicely

Thanks a lot

[chili555]

Would you care to make it permanent?

sudo su
echo "blacklist acer-wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Upon your next boot, you should be all set.

[madik]

Hehe i love this support. i was just coming back after restart to ask how to make it permanent. thanks a lot

[rjantz]

I am thinking seriously about getting an Edge 420 and running Ubuntu on it. Are you happy with yours?

[MorrisseyJ]

Hi,

Thanks for this, the advice worked for me as well - also using a Centrino Wireless-N 1000, on a Lenovo Thinkpad x121e.

One difference though, my thinkpad doesn't seem to think its an acer as 'sudo rfkill list', gives:

0: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
5: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

Given this i was wondering if you could tell me how to make these changes permanent.

Thanks.

[chili555]

Hi,

Thanks for this, the advice worked for me as well - also using a Centrino Wireless-N 1000, on a Lenovo Thinkpad x121e.

One difference though, my thinkpad doesn't seem to think its an acer as 'sudo rfkill list', gives:
Given this i was wondering if you could tell me how to make these changes permanent.

Thanks.

I am assuming all you need to get the wireless going is:

sudo rfkill unblock all

If that's the case, please do:

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Add a line above exit 0:

rfkill unblock all

Proofread carefully, save and close gedit. You should be all set, but feel free to post back if you need more help.

[MorrisseyJ]

Yes, you assumed correctly (sorry for not being clear).

All works perfectly now. Thanks very much.

One thing i could add in case anyone stumbles across this thread. The wireless on my ubuntu install would only disappear if i restarted without the battery plugged in. Then i could get it back by booting to windows, using the wireless, and restarting (with the battery in).

This is a much better solution.

Thanks again.

[MorrisseyJ]

Hi,

While this solution works at getting my wireless working, it appears to have left me unable to turn off my bluetooth. When i click on the bluetooth icon from the top panel, there is no longer any option to turn it off. I am guessing that i have somehow turned it on all the time.

This isn't too bad, but since mine is a portable laptop, switching off the bluetooth is nice for being able to extend battery life.

Any ideas how i might set this up so that wireless is enabled and bluetooth can be turned off?

thanks again,