I previously installed Ubuntu 10.04 on my laptop. That version installed wireless driver automatically and it worked well.
But now I have installed Ubuntu 11.10 and cann't enable it's wireless.
My laptop has a physical "wireless device switch" that for enabling its wireless, it has to switched on.
When I run "System Settings" >> "Additional Drivers" it announces "No proprietary drivers are in use on this system"
My laptop is Lenovo Ideapad U330 and below is some information about my laptop network specs:
>> sudo lshw -class network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:1f:16:20:ef:14
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.119 duplex=full firmware=sb v3.04 ip=192.168.1.100 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:47 memory:95600000-9560ffff
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 00
serial: 00:1e:65:f7:51:0a
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn driverversion=3.0.0-15-generic firmware=8.83.5.1 build 33692 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
resources: irq:45 memory:94600000-94601fff
>> rfkill list all
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
3: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
After applying iwlagn changes, although my laptop's "physical wireless switch" is on and I press Fn+F5 key combination, network manager cannot detect it and announces that wireless is disabled by hardware switch.
I use Ubuntu 11.10 as sole OS on my laptop.
Best Answer
Your rfkill-list results indicate both a hard-block issue and soft-block issue.
Lets deal with the acer-wmi soft-block:
Try blacklisting the acer-wmi kernel module:
add
blacklist acer_wmi
as a new line at the bottom of this file.then reboot.
After reboot rerun
rfkill list all
- hopefully your soft-block value is changed from "Yes" to "No".As to the hard-block value of "Yes". This is a physical problem not a software problem.
There should be either a bios setting, Fn-key wireless toggle or a physical switch you need to use.
Sometimes these hardware block issues require the use of MS Windows - you boot into Windows, re-enable the wifi and then reboot into Ubuntu.
iwlagn
Sometimes the iwlagn kernel module can cause an issue. Try the following:
Another variation is:
Wireless Switch
Since you mentioned that you see the error "wireless is disabled by hardware switch"...
On the Lenovo U330 laptop according to its manual: