Ubuntu – AR9285 Wifi on Lenovo z570 not enabled

11.10lenovonetworkingwireless

Help please. Installed ubuntu 11.10 32bit on lenovo ideapad z570. When choosing Network Manager > Enable Wireless nothing happens. WiFi not enabling

Tried the response of Wireless problems with Atheros AR9285

Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)

code output for :sudo lshw -class network

*-network DISABLED      
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: d0:df:9a:a0:c3:5a
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=3.0.0-12-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 memory:d0500000-d050ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 05
       serial: f0:de:f1:72:0e:89
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/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 autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw ip=192.168.0.103 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:40 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d0404000-d0404fff memory:d0400000-d0403fff

rfkill list all

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
3: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

Best Answer

You may be suffering from a clash with the acer-wmi kernel module.

rfkill list all says it is "acer-wireless: soft blocked: yes"

try the following:

sudo modprobe -r acer-wmi
cd /etc/modprobe.d
sudo nano blacklist.conf

Then add blacklist acer-wmi as a new line at the end of the file.

Save and reboot.

Rerun rfkill list all again - if there still is a "hard-block" you have disabled the wifi via a switch or a Fn key type wireless on/off.

On some laptops the hardware switch can be quite small to find - check your laptop manual.

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