Wireless Switch doesn't recover wireless

[benste]

Switching off the wireless switch works,
BUT switching on doesn't work,
following
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/wireless-became-disabled-how-do-i-enable-858357/

i had to use rfkill to reenable that device - i assume that some even is not mapped correctly - here some debug output:

benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill event
1337533722.625287: idx 0 type 1 op 0 soft 1 hard 0
1337533722.625438: idx 1 type 2 op 0 soft 1 hard 0
1337533722.625479: idx 2 type 1 op 0 soft 1 hard 1
#SWITCHED
1337533728.069059: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 1
1337533728.069139: idx 1 type 2 op 2 soft 1 hard 1
#SWITCHED
1337533730.683552: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 0
1337533730.684240: idx 1 type 2 op 2 soft 1 hard 0
^[[A^Cbenste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: yes
#UNITY BUTTON FOR BLUETOOTH
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: yes
5: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: yes
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill unblock sony-wifi
Bogus unblock argument 'sony-wifi'.
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill unblock 0
benste@benste-vpc-sb1c5e:~$ sudo rfkill list all
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no

→→ I'd expext switching the button would at least reenable the wireless

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: rfkill 0.4-1ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.37-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun May 20 19:11:39 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426)
SourcePackage: rfkill
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-14 (6 days ago)

[dst (dast)]

I believe I had this problem, too. But now with 3.2.0-26 the wireless switch *usually* works for my sony vaio. However, if I disable wireless via NetworkManager, I can't switch it back on. NetworkManager obviously causes the device to be hard blocked, but refuses to reenable due to hard block. In this case, the wireless switch still works for bluetooth but does not reactivate wireless.

In short: Switching wireless off via hardware-switch works, switching it back on via hardware-switch works. Switching wireless off via Network Manager works, switching it back on fails.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[benste (benste)]

i just tried again - problem is indeed NM - i assume the phy0 device is just a logical wrapper for the sony device

Wireless swith after on off + nm disabled wirelss before - but - important the softblock of device 0

0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: yes

manually unblocking device 0 (wireless light indicator is on but NM stil disconnected)

0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no

rightclick disable NM and enable again - offers possibility to enable wirelss again / refreshing NM possibilites and result is

0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
5: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

i assume the problem is that NM can't handle the interaction with the sony-wifi module or any other 3party level devices

[benste (benste)]

btw. just using the wireless swith it looks like this:

BEFORE
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
5: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

AFTER SWITCH OFF
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes

AFTER SWITCH ON
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
6: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

and nm picks it up correctly

[benste (benste)]

my interpretation is that the error must be in NM

[dst (dast)]

Maybe the necessity to disable and re-enable NM in order to reactivate wireless connections once the devices have been unblocked is a bug of its own.

Here's some more interesting output:

sudo rfkill event
# initially:
1341508858.670966: idx 0 type 1 op 0 soft 0 hard 0
1341508858.671014: idx 1 type 2 op 0 soft 1 hard 0
1341508858.671024: idx 2 type 1 op 0 soft 0 hard 0
# hardware switch-off:
1341508862.464313: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 1
1341508862.469270: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 1
1341508862.469312: idx 1 type 2 op 2 soft 1 hard 1
# hardware switch-on:
1341508892.690015: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 0
1341508892.696960: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 0
1341508892.698356: idx 1 type 2 op 2 soft 1 hard 0
# NM wireless off:
1341508921.532916: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 0
1341508921.533245: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 1
1341508921.534261: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 1
# rfkill unblock 0
1341508991.084537: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 0
1341508991.084750: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 1 hard 0
# NM disable, NM enable, NM wireless on:
1341509044.899252: idx 0 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 0
1341509044.899303: idx 2 type 1 op 2 soft 0 hard 0

Whatever the reason may be for the duplicate event of turning device "phy0" into state soft blocked/hard blocked, the notable difference is the result after switching off :

Hardware switch-off:
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes
...
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes

NM switch-off:
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
...
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: yes

Probably the contradicting values of sony-wifi and phy0 caused by NM serve as an explanation.

[Danilo Piazzalunga (danilopiazza)]

benste: what did you use to disable the wireless? The hardware killswitch or the Network applet's Enable wireless option?

[dst (dast)]

Oddly enough, for me it now once failed either way. The hardware switch only re-enabled sony-wifi but not phy0, therefore rfkill was no help and I could only unblock by rebooting. However, I could not reproduce the problem.

@Danilo: Isn't it obvious from what benste wrote? Hardware killswitch usually is ok. NM applet's "Enable wireless" causes the trouble.

[Danilo Piazzalunga (danilopiazza)]

@dst: No, it wasn't obvious to me. Thanks for your confirmation, now I know for sure I am affected by this bug (and reported a duplicate).

[dst (dast)]

I just realised that this is a duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/network-manager/+bug/1017051, with a bit more activity there.