WiFi Key doesn't work in Dell Studio 1557

[Reloweb]

When I press the wifi key, the connection is interrupted but the wifi card isn't deactivated...

[Jerone Young (jerone)]

Please check your bios settings. This is controlled in the bios, you can also say what radios are controlled by it as well in the bios

Also can you give the output of the command "rfkill list"

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in linux.

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

[Reloweb (reloweb)]

reloweb@Emily:~$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

This is when card is turned on. When I press the key "soft blocked" and "hard blocked" say yes but when I press it another time, soft blocked says no and hard blocked says yes...

[Reloweb (reloweb)]

I've restarted my PC and now the command rfkill list doesn't give any output...

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

I've the same problem, but I can't enable wifi:

$ uname -a
Linux xxxx 2.6.32-19-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 1 10:39:41 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ cat /proc/version_signature
Ubuntu 2.6.32-19.28-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1

now hitting fn-f2 to enable wireless, then
$ sudo dmesg -c
[ 1967.605092] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
[ 1967.618496] BUG: scheduling while atomic: swapper/0/0x10010000
[ 1967.618504] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_usb_audio snd_pcm_oss snd_usb_lib snd_mixer_oss snd_hwdep snd_pcm snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi arc4 snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq fbcon tileblit font snd_timer iwlagn bitblit snd_seq_device fglrx(P) snd softcursor vga16fb vgastate iwlcore mac80211 dell_wmi sdhci_pci sdhci led_class uvcvideo videodev soundcore snd_page_alloc cfg80211 compat_firmware_class joydev dell_laptop video dcdbas v4l1_compat output lp parport usbhid hid v4l2_compat_ioctl32 psmouse serio_raw ahci r8169 mii
[ 1967.618667] CPU 4:
[ 1967.618672] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_usb_audio snd_pcm_oss snd_usb_lib snd_mixer_oss snd_hwdep snd_pcm snd_seq_dummy snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi arc4 snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq fbcon tileblit font snd_timer iwlagn bitblit snd_seq_device fglrx(P) snd softcursor vga16fb vgastate iwlcore mac80211 dell_wmi sdhci_pci sdhci led_class uvcvideo videodev soundcore snd_page_alloc cfg80211 compat_firmware_class joydev dell_laptop video dcdbas v4l1_compat output lp parport usbhid hid v4l2_compat_ioctl32 psmouse serio_raw ahci r8169 mii
[ 1967.618787] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: P W 2.6.32-19-generic #28-Ubuntu Studio 1557
[ 1967.618796] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff8130ce7e>] [<ffffffff8130ce7e>] acpi_idle_enter_simple+0x117/0x14b
[ 1967.618816] RSP: 0018:ffff880133b4bea8 EFLAGS: 00000202
[ 1967.618822] RAX: 0000000000010570 RBX: ffff880133b4bee8 RCX: 00000000000f4240
[ 1967.618830] RDX: ffff880028300000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 000000000000d59c
[ 1967.618837] RBP: ffffffff81013b0e R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 00000000000000f5
[ 1967.618844] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffffff81543626
[ 1967.618852] R13: ffff880133b4be48 R14: 00000000ffffffff R15: ffff880130dc000c
[ 1967.618861] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff880028300000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 1967.618870] CS: 0010 DS: 0018 ES: 0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
[ 1967.618877] CR2: 00007ffafac68000 CR3: 00000000b72af000 CR4: 00000000000026e0
[ 1967.618885] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[ 1967.618892] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[ 1967.618899] Call Trace:
[ 1967.618910] [<ffffffff8130ce77>] ? acpi_idle_enter_simple+0x110/0x14b
[ 1967.618923] [<ffffffff81437067>] ? cpuidle_idle_call+0xa7/0x140
[ 1967.618937] [<ffffffff81011e73>] ? cpu_idle+0xb3/0x110
[ 1967.618947] [<ffffffff8153a85c>] ? start_secondary+0xa8/0xaa

$ sudo rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wirele...

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

problem still exists with:

$ uname -a
Linux xxx 2.6.32-20-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 9 20:35:00 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

new dmesg output is:

[ 185.692298] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.
[ 185.696052] BUG: scheduling while atomic: swapper/0/0x10010000
[ 185.696058] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_usb_audio snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_usb_lib snd_pcm arc4 snd_seq_dummy snd_hwdep snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi fbcon tileblit font snd_rawmidi bitblit snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq iwlagn softcursor snd_timer iwlcore uvcvideo joydev sdhci_pci dell_wmi snd_seq_device mac80211 videodev v4l1_compat sdhci psmouse video vga16fb snd dell_laptop cfg80211 snd_page_alloc soundcore vgastate serio_raw led_class output v4l2_compat_ioctl32 usbhid hid dcdbas lp parport ahci r8169 mii
[ 185.696135] CPU 3:
[ 185.696138] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_usb_audio snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_usb_lib snd_pcm arc4 snd_seq_dummy snd_hwdep snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi fbcon tileblit font snd_rawmidi bitblit snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq iwlagn softcursor snd_timer iwlcore uvcvideo joydev sdhci_pci dell_wmi snd_seq_device mac80211 videodev v4l1_compat sdhci psmouse video vga16fb snd dell_laptop cfg80211 snd_page_alloc soundcore vgastate serio_raw led_class output v4l2_compat_ioctl32 usbhid hid dcdbas lp parport ahci r8169 mii
[ 185.696210] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: G W 2.6.32-20-generic #29-Ubuntu Studio 1557
[ 185.696215] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff8130cf5b>] [<ffffffff8130cf5b>] acpi_idle_enter_c1+0xa3/0xc1
[ 185.696229] RSP: 0018:ffff880133b2fea8 EFLAGS: 00000202
[ 185.696233] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff880133b2fee8 RCX: 0000000000000000
[ 185.696238] RDX: 00000000000001c7 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 000000000006f3ca
[ 185.696243] RBP: ffffffff81013b0e R08: 0000000000000002 R09: 0000000000000a87
[ 185.696247] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 00000000ffffd339 R12: 00000000ffffd379
[ 185.696252] R13: ffff8800282d5bc0 R14: ffffffff81088733 R15: ffff880133b2fe38
[ 185.696257] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8800282c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 185.696262] CS: 0010 DS: 0018 ES: 0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
[ 185.696267] CR2: 00007fdb4415c4f0 CR3: 000000009248f000 CR4: 00000000000026e0
[ 185.696271] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[ 185.696276] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[ 185.696280] Call Trace:
[ 185.696288] [<ffffffff8130cf3a>] ? acpi_idle_enter_c1+0x82/0xc1
[ 185.696298] [<ffffffff81437617>] ? cpuidle_idle_call+0xa7/0x140
[ 185.696307] [<ffffffff81011e73>] ? cpu_idle+0xb3/0x110
[ 185.696314] [<ffffffff8153ae7b>] ? start_secondary+0xa8/0xaa

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

just found something in my dmesg output that looks different from the already posted messages:

[ 311.290307] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
[ 311.301515] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.
[ 311.301854] BUG: scheduling while atomic: swapper/0/0x10010100
[ 311.301857] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_usb_audio snd_hda_intel snd_usb_lib snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_seq_dummy snd_pcm snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi arc4 snd_rawmidi iwlagn snd_seq_midi_event fbcon snd_seq snd_timer uvcvideo iwlcore tileblit snd_seq_device mac80211 videodev snd font snd_page_alloc cfg80211 soundcore v4l1_compat bitblit fglrx(P) softcursor v4l2_compat_ioctl32 dell_wmi sdhci_pci sdhci led_class joydev vga16fb vgastate usbhid hid dell_laptop video output dcdbas psmouse serio_raw lp parport r8169 mii ahci
[ 311.301902] CPU 3:
[ 311.301904] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc ppdev kvm_intel kvm snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_idt snd_usb_audio snd_hda_intel snd_usb_lib snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_seq_dummy snd_pcm snd_seq_oss snd_seq_midi arc4 snd_rawmidi iwlagn snd_seq_midi_event fbcon snd_seq snd_timer uvcvideo iwlcore tileblit snd_seq_device mac80211 videodev snd font snd_page_alloc cfg80211 soundcore v4l1_compat bitblit fglrx(P) softcursor v4l2_compat_ioctl32 dell_wmi sdhci_pci sdhci led_class joydev vga16fb vgastate usbhid hid dell_laptop video output dcdbas psmouse serio_raw lp parport r8169 mii ahci
[ 311.301943] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: P W 2.6.32-20-generic #30-Ubuntu Studio 1557
[ 311.301946] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff8106e35b>] [<ffffffff8106e35b>] __do_softirq+0x6b/0x1e0
[ 311.301965] RSP: 0018:ffff880133b2fd38 EFLAGS: 00000206
[ 311.301968] RAX: 0000000000010180 RBX: ffff880133b2fd98 RCX: 0000000000000000
[ 311.301970] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff880137c1d240 RDI: ffff880137c1d2a4
[ 311.301973] RBP: ffffffff81013b13 R08: ffff880137c381e0 R09: 0000004884930d38
[ 311.301975] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff880133b2fcb0
[ 311.301978] R13: ffff880133b2fdf8 R14: 000000000000001b R15: 0000000000000282
[ 311.301981] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8800282c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[ 311.301983] CS: 0010 DS: 0018 ES: 0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
[ 311.301986] CR2: 00007f6d24d1c000 CR3: 000000006141d000 CR4: 00000000000026e0
[ 311.301988] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
[ 311.301991] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
[ 311.301993] Call Trace:
[ 311.301999] [<ffffffff810c4de0>] ? handle_IRQ_event+0x60/0x170
[ 311.302003] [<ffffffff810142ec>] ? call_softirq+0x1c/0x30
[ 311.302007] [<ffffffff81015cb5>] ? do_softirq+0x65/0xa0
[ 311.302010] [<ffffffff8106e245>] ? irq_exit+0x85/0x90
[ 311.302014] [<ffffffff81546005>] ? do_IRQ+0x75/0xf0
[ 311.302017] [<ffffffff81013b13>] ? ret_from_intr+0x0/0x11
[ 311.302022] [<ffffffff8130d37e>] ? acpi_idle_enter_simple+0x117/0x14b
[ 311.302026] [<ffffffff8130d377>] ? acpi_idle_enter_simple+0x110/0x14b
[ 311.302031] [<ffffffff81437647>] ...

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

with kernel
$ uname -a
Linux xxx 2.6.32-21-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Tue Apr 13 20:37:36 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I don't get this trace anymore when pressing the wifi key, but it still doesn't work:

$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

press wifi key:
dmesg shows
iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.

$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: yes

press wifi key again:
dmesg shows
iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.

$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

see also https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/523143

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

next interesting finding: last time switching on my notebook I pressed the wifi key before booting (during the bios init phase).

this caused another output for rfkill:

$ sudo rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

and wifi was working! the very interesting thing is that the dell-wifi entry is missing.

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

I was just playing around a little:

I did a rmmod dell_wmi, then rfkill unblock all.

after that rfkill list showed phy0 and dell-wifi in the same hard blocked state.
after that, the wifi key enabled both.
wifi is working from here!!!

now I did a modprobe dell_wifi which gave some output in dmesg:

10723.479682] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::radio
[10723.479727] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::assoc
[10723.479768] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::RX
[10723.479812] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::TX
[10723.559717] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[10735.294126] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:15:f2:0a:ab:c5 by local choice (reason=3)
[10735.294201] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:15:f2:0a:ab:c5 (try 1)
[10735.298553] wlan0: direct probe responded
[10735.298560] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:15:f2:0a:ab:c5 (try 1)
[10735.301935] wlan0: authenticated
[10735.301972] wlan0: associate with AP 00:15:f2:0a:ab:c5 (try 1)
[10735.305199] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:15:f2:0a:ab:c5 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=1)
[10735.305205] wlan0: associated
[10735.310601] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[10741.104663] r8169: eth1: link down
[10745.337658] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
[10755.937293] input: Dell WMI hotkeys as /devices/virtual/input/input18

and wifi is still working.

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

I can confirm this works now!

[Reloweb (reloweb)]

Which kernel do you use? Which procedure do you do in order to fix this problem?

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

hi!
I'm using the generic ubuntu kernel. when I first tired it with the kernel
version that came with the lucid final release, it worked really nice. but I
already had a problem that I didn't report yet. since then I was once
required to manually execute *rfkill unblock all* but since the last kernel
I was never required to unload the module to get this working.

jürgen

2010/5/4 Reloweb <email address hidden>

> Which kernel do you use? Which procedure do you do in order to fix this
> problem?
>
> --
> WiFi Key doesn't work in Dell Studio 1557
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/522545
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Fix Released
>
> Bug description:
> When I press the wifi key, the connection is interrupted but the wifi card
> isn't deactivated...
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/522545/+subscribe
>

[MichalM (jafa81)]

Hi guys,
My question is little bit off-topic but I want to take this opportunity to ask you since you have the same Dell Studio 1557 laptop.

My Wifi (Intel 5300) doesn't work every other reboot. In other words - when I restart laptop for any reason (update of kernel, boot to Windows...) I have to reboot laptop twice. With Lucid it got worse- I need to reboot it three times.
(When I went to dmesg I saw the module didn't load at all..)

I just want to know if this is only my case (and I need to have wifi module replaced) or if other people have the same issue with Dell 1557.

Thank you,
Mike

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

Hi!
my notebook has the same wireless card/chip. I don't have the problem as you,
but I also don't boot into windows (it's not here).
Since I found the workaround with module unloading I was never required to
reboot the system to get wireless working.

with lucid, try using the notebooks wireless key + check the status with
rfkill list all and maybe execute rfkill unblock all sometimes (always check
the status with rfkill list after each operation).

hth,
jürgen

Am Donnerstag 06 Mai 2010, um 17:14:11 schrieben Sie:
> Hi guys,
> My question is little bit off-topic but I want to take this opportunity to
> ask you since you have the same Dell Studio 1557 laptop.
>
> My Wifi (Intel 5300) doesn't work every other reboot. In other words - when
> I restart laptop for any reason (update of kernel, boot to Windows...) I
> have to reboot laptop twice. With Lucid it got worse- I need to reboot it
> three times. (When I went to dmesg I saw the module didn't load at all..)
>
> I just want to know if this is only my case (and I need to have wifi
> module replaced) or if other people have the same issue with Dell 1557.
>
> Thank you,
> Mike

[Reloweb (reloweb)]

When I upgrade, for example, the kernel rfkill list output me
Soft Blocked No
Hard Blocked Yes
and the wifi doesn't work.
After, if I reboot, rfkill list doesn't output me anything. The Wifi card work but if I press the wifi key the connection is interrupted and after it reconnect again, but the wifi is not disactivated! The connection jumps only!

[alexpennos (pennos)]

So, excuse me for being noob, but is this bug fixed? On Status is reported as "fix released" but i cannot reach it...
any links?

[JR (juergen-richtsfeld)]

hi!
actually, the problem still exists, but it's not very important for me anymore
because when I do a
rmmod dell_laptop
it works.

as far as I can see, the problem isn't that the wifi key doesn't work, it's
about that the 2 existing wifi devices have a different hardware enablement
state (it changes when I press the wifi key, but one of them always stays
disabled). this can be worked around by unloading the dell_leptop module as
mentioned above.

Am Montag 28 Juni 2010, um 16:47:51 schrieben Sie:
> So, excuse me for being noob, but is this bug fixed? On Status is reported
> as "fix released" but i cannot reach it... any links?