Acer Aspire L3600 - WiFi hard blocked

[dalekky]

I have an Acer Aspire L3600. It is not a laptop but has laptop parts inside. There is NO physical switch to turn WiFi on or off. There is NO physical built-in keyboard with WiFi fn switch keys (you have to plug your own keyboard in).

rfkill list all results in -

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

I've tried several different WiFi cards - all same result.

I am reluctant to buy an external USB WiFi dongle to try if that is going to be hard blocked too.
What do I do to get this working?
How do I unblock this hard blocked WiFi card with no switch?

[chili555]

Is the module acer-wmi loaded? Check:

lsmod | grep acer

Does it help to unload it?

sudo modprobe -r acer-wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all

If it helps, we can make it permanent.

[dalekky]

There is no acer-wmi module present. grep returns no results.

[chili555]

Any wmi or laptop modules at all? Please show us the entire:

lsmod

[dalekky]

Module                  Size  Used by
gpio_ich               16384  0
snd_hda_codec_realtek    86016  1
snd_hda_codec_generic    77824  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_intel          40960  3
snd_hda_codec         135168  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_core           73728  4 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
arc4                   16384  2
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               106496  3 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_core
snd_seq_midi           16384  0
snd_seq_midi_event     16384  1 snd_seq_midi
iwl3945                69632  0
snd_rawmidi            32768  1 snd_seq_midi
iwlegacy              102400  1 iwl3945
mac80211              737280  2 iwl3945,iwlegacy
cfg80211              565248  3 iwl3945,iwlegacy,mac80211
coretemp               16384  0
snd_seq                69632  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
serio_raw              16384  0
snd_timer              32768  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd                    81920  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device
joydev                 20480  0
input_leds             16384  0
soundcore              16384  1 snd
shpchp                 36864  0
lpc_ich                24576  0
8250_fintek            16384  0
mac_hid                16384  0
parport_pc             32768  0
ppdev                  20480  0
lp                     20480  0
parport                49152  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
autofs4                40960  2
uas                    24576  0
usb_storage            69632  1 uas
hid_generic            16384  0
usbhid                 49152  0
hid                   118784  2 hid_generic,usbhid
i915                 1208320  4
psmouse               131072  0
ahci                   36864  2
libahci                32768  1 ahci
firewire_ohci          40960  0
video                  40960  1 i915
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
pata_acpi              16384  0
firewire_core          65536  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              16384  1 firewire_core
e1000e                237568  0
drm_kms_helper        155648  1 i915
syscopyarea            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
sysfillrect            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
ptp                    20480  1 e1000e
sysimgblt              16384  1 drm_kms_helper
pps_core               20480  1 ptp
fb_sys_fops            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
drm                   364544  6 i915,drm_kms_helper
fjes                   28672  0

[chili555]

I see nothing in your lsmod that relates to the keymap, wmi, etc. Typically, in a laptop, a helper module like the aforementioned acer-wmi translates key presses into action. For example, on my laptop, F8 turns the wireless on and off. My helper module is thinkpad_acpi.

I assume that the simple act of:

sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all

...does nothing; or does it?

If unblock all doesn't help, then harder measures are needed: http://madwifi-project.org/wiki/UserDocs/MiniPCI

Also check here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thre...i-card.732714/ And here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2355144

I am sorry that I have no better suggestions.

[dalekky]

As I said. This isn't a laptop. It's an Acer Aspire L3600. It looks like this: https://imagebin.ca/v/3iEvRF7UT07l

sudo rfkill unblock all has no effect.

device remains hard blocked

[dalekky]

This unit is also sold as a VeritonL460 if that helps. The WiFi card I have however was bought separately and did not come with the machine.

[chili555]

I fully realize that it isn’t a laptop.

Since unblock all has no effect, then the tape trick is the only remaining possibility I know of. Since you added the card later, I assume you know how to get it out, tape a pin and replace it.

[dalekky]

I can't figure out which pin is pin 13.
The diagram on the link shows:

1  key  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 ...
2  key  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 ...

But every wifi card I've ever seen (including my one) looks like this:

1  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 key 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33...
2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 key 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34... etc

So are the pins to the left of the key not numbered?

and the link to the picture supposedly showing a photo is a dead link.