Ubuntu – Wifi disabled due to hardware switch. Not re enabling. What should i do

dellwireless

I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 on Dell Inspiron mini 1018. I disabled the wireless network and it does not enable again. It reports that wireless is disabled by hardware switch. Pressing the hardware switch and any combinations on the keyboard has no response. Neither does sudo rfkill unblock all have any effect.

Rfkill list gives the following results:

0: hci0 bluetooth ...........  
1: dell-wifi:wireless lan
  soft blocked yes
  hard blocked yes  
2: dell bluetooth ...........  
3: phy0; wireless lan
  soft blockes no
  hard blocked ye

sudo iwconfig wlan0 gives:

ieee 802.11bgn essid off/any
mode:managed access point:not associated tx-power=off
retry long limit:7 rts thr=2347 b fragment thr:off
power management:on

sudo lshw -c network returns:

*network DISABLED
...................

Best Answer

ugh... that sounds like a BIOS bug. You can try updating your firmware in hopes that they might have fixed it for Linux, or, if you still have Windows installed, boot into it, and from there toggle the switches until the Wifi comes back. Happened to me once with an Acer laptop where I was playing with rfkill and the only way I could "unflip" that bit was by booting into Windows.

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