[maverick] iwl3945 not working after upgrade from lucid

[dewert]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.35-22-generic

After upgrading to Maverick (ubuntu 10.10), my wifi would refuse to turn on. I am using wicd, but I think that the kernel is the problem, since
- when I use the 2.6.32-25 kernel, the wifi works
- other users have reported this problem with nm (and an ath, interestingly) as well: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1592876

I tried
sudo iwconfig wlan0 txpower on
to no avail - Tx-power still showed up as off, and the light didn't turn on. My laptop has an external wifi switch - did nothing.

WORKAROUND: blacklist hp_wmi

[ricarribe (ricarribe)]

Same problem here, using my Acer 4520 with Atheros AR5001 wireless card. Besides this, I've notice that when I disable wifi network using Network Manager the option becomes gray and I can't turn it on anymore. Wifi network only works fine with kernel 2.6.32.

[Sergey (svs1957)]

linux-image-2.6.35-22-generic version 2.6.35-22.35
Fujitsu-siemens Amilo Pro notebook
kernel crash while iwl3945 connecting to ad-hoc

[klerfayt (klerfayt-deactivatedaccount)]

same problem with HP Pavilion dv2000

[ 8.873400] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, in-tree:s
[ 8.873404] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2010 Intel Corporation
[ 8.914736] iwl3945 0000:05:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG

[klerfayt (klerfayt-deactivatedaccount)]

I should be more specific: on this particular notebook there is an hardware kill switch that when switched on turns orange led into blue. In Maverick led stays orange and there is are no new messages visible in dmesg after moving kill switch several times between "on" and "off" position.

[klerfayt (klerfayt-deactivatedaccount)]

adding
blacklist hp_wmi
to file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf solves the kill switch problem and now led turns blue, but the connection speeds are rather poor -- 4 times slower compared to cable.

[bigcrunch (bigcrunch)]

I have been able to solve the problem using 'sudo modprobe acer-wmi'. I have not done speed tests, but now connects and not before.

[ricarribe (ricarribe)]

Thank you very much, bigcrunch!!! Your solution worked for me! I've just added the line 'acer-wmi' to '/etc/modules' file, and now network manager is woking fine with wireless, though I have not done speed tests either.

[dewert (dewert)]

sudo modprobe acer-wmi
obviously doesn't work for us HP folks ("no such device" message), but blacklisting hp_wmi works like a charm! Many thanks to klerfayt.

I also have an HP Pavilion dv2000. I haven't run speed tests yet, but my feeling is that it's performing very well.

klerfayt, would you mind explaining to me how you knew to do what you did?

[klerfayt (klerfayt-deactivatedaccount)]

>would you mind explaining to me how you knew to do what you did?

I googled for "maverick dv2000 wifi". I have no idea what "hp_wmi" does.

[Uwe Koch (uwe-koch)]

I have tried, on my Acer Aspire 4520, maverick 64 bit distro:

dmesg | grep acer

It says:

[ 418.636472] acer-wmi: Acer Laptop ACPI-WMI Extras
[ 418.636486] acer-wmi: No or unsupported WMI interface, unable to load

So, I could not modprobe acer-wmi

Any idea how to do it?

[merc (merc)]

Hi,

I just wanted to fully confirm that 2.6.35 is broken.
With 2.6.32, when I run rfkill I get:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

If I have the killswitch on (meaning, "killing"), I get:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

HOWEVER, with 2.6.35 "Hard blocked" is always "yes" no matter what you do.
At the modem, downgrading seems to be the only fix...

Bye!

Merc.

[Nils (bacardicoke)]

Same problem here with a Dell Precision M4300. Unloading or force-loading dell_wmi doesn't solve the problem.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

dewert, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. Maverick reached EOL on April 2012.
Please see this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We were wondering if this is still an issue in a supported release? If so, can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command in a supported release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]