Asus laptop disabled WiFi (hard blocked)

[praseodym]

Try hitting that combo permanently or repeatedly during boot-up. Any chance to check the BIOS settings?

[rikyepoveri]

Just tried, but I've gained no results. I've entered the BIOS countless times but it appears to me that everything is fine: the wireless card is enabled at boot.

[praseodym]

If its a BIOS, try resetting it to default values, but not with an UEFI!

Try also

sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list

[rikyepoveri]

Already tried but the phy0 wireless LAN is still hard blocked.

If its a BIOS, try resetting it to default values, but not with an UEFI!

What does it mean? How can I reset the BIOS without an UEFI?

[praseodym]

Please show the output of

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

[rikyepoveri]

It just says

UEFI

[praseodym]

Ok, please check all options available there for activating wireless

[rikyepoveri]

During Christmas holidays I've tried to install Xubuntu 14.04, 16.04 and 18.04 just to discover that the WiFi card doesn't work with any of these versions. I'm assuming therefore that my issue doesn't depend neither on the Ubuntu version nor on the kernel, although I've found out that installing the RT3290 drivers as suggested by praseodym returns an error due to some changes between kernel 4.4 and the following ones.

For all Xubuntu versions the WiFi card is hard blocked and wireless connection is consequently disabled. However, it works without any problem on Windows. For this reason I've checked my BIOS configuration but I haven't found any option that turns the WiFi off.

Options in my BIOS are (except for date and time settings):

Advanced section
Internal Pointing Device: Enabled
Wake On Lid Open: Enabled
Power Off Energy Saving: Enabled
Intel Virtualization Technology: Enabled
Intel AES-NI: Enabled
VT-d: Enabled
Sata Mode Selection (IDE/AHCI): AHCI
DVMT Pre-Allocated: 64M
Legacy USB Support: Enabled
HXCI Pre-Boot Mode: Enabled
Network Stack: Disabled

Boot section
Fast Boot: Enabled
Launch CSM: Disabled
(boot options: ubuntu, windows, ...)

Security section
Administrator password: Not Installed
LAN Network/CardReader Interface: Unlock
Wireless Network and Bluetooth I/F: Unlock
HD Audio Interface: Unlock
SATA ODD Interface: Unlock
USB Interface: Unlock
External Ports: Unlock
CMOS Camera: Unlock

Secure Boot Variables section
Platform Key (PK)
Key Exchange Key Database (KEK)
Authorized Signature Database (DB)
Forbidden Signature Database (DBX)

I'm really discouraged because I've tried like hell but still I haven't got any result, and I'd really need the WiFi connection to work on Ubuntu for job purposes.

[chili555]

I'm really discouraged because I've tried like hell but still I haven't got any result, and I'd really need the WiFi connection to work on Ubuntu for job purposes.

Please check here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2150597

[tea for one]

Boot section
Fast Boot: Enabled
Launch CSM: Disabled
(boot options: ubuntu, windows, ...)

I'm really discouraged because I've tried like hell but still I haven't got any result, and I'd really need the WiFi connection to work on Ubuntu for job purposes.

Is there a chance that leaving Fast Boot enabled has allowed Windows to somehow control/lock the wireless device and prevent any fix working correctly?

I have no idea if Windows would be able to do this but I would not be too surprised if it were possible?

The general advice for dual-booting is to disable Fastboot

@OP - I reckon that you are in good hands with praseodym, chili555 together with jeremy31