Ubuntu – ThinkPad X61 wireless failure

lubuntunetworkingthinkpadwireless

With a ThinkPad X61 and Lubuntu 14.04.1, wireless fails to connect but Ethernet is AOK.
Multiple SSIDs are seen, in tests at multiple locations, but entering their keys do not enable connection.
Open access points also fail.
Same key works well on other Thinkpad.
MAC address filtering is not on in the gateway (SMC D3GNV).
Problem replicated with a different distro booted from flashdrive.

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi fails with

modprobe: FATAL: Module mac80211 is in use,
modprobe: FATAL: Error running remove command for iwlwifi

sudo modprobe -r iwl4965

and

sudo modprobe iwl4965

both execute with no errors or messages, 

sudo service network-manager restart

wants me to pick SSID and give WPA key. But, that does not fix problem, issue persists.

rfkill returns:

0:hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1:tcacpi_bluetooth_sw:Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2:phy0:Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

Tried this, rebooted, still fails:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-dkms
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

What's my next step? Other logs linked below.

dmesg
lsmod
syslog
wireless-info.txt (from wireless_script as per https://askubuntu.com/questions/425155/my-wireless-wifi-connection-does-not-work-what-information-is-needed-to-diagnos)

Best Answer

While I might not provide the exact solution to the problem right now, because your question is missing relevant information, here's some things you can do to troubleshoot the problem and perhaps include them into the question, so that other users can help you.

What can you include into your question?

  • Script output from My wireless/WiFi connection does not work. What information is needed to diagnose the issue?
  • Ouput of /var/log/syslog. Try reproducing the problem and note the time when you do it. After you go through the whole process, read the syslog. The recent events are all at the end of file, so you might want to do something like cat /var/log/syslog | tail -n50 to list last 50 lines in that file, but you can change that number as needed.
  • Output of lsmod ( perhaps a driver isn't loading properly );
  • Output of dmesg
  • Output of rfkill list all

Possible issues:

Your ethernet works, but wireless doesn't. So it may well be issue with wireless card ( failiing hardware ), with wireless drivers, or wireless configuration. But until we know what's in your syslog, we probably won't be able to pin-down the issue. There are wireless dongles, which you could use to test whether or not this is wireless card issue, but the better way IMHO would be to boot on a live USB, and see if that works.

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