Ubuntu has confused my bluetooth feature with my wireless card

[jairo2350]

I am running ubuntu 11.10. I have been using ubuntu since 9.04. I have 11.10 installed on a Dell Inspiron switch. The OS seams to have confused bluetooth and wireless. When I turn off bluetooth all wireless activity immediately ceases. When I attempt to access wireless networks through the wireless card every option is grey and I am unable to access it. It acknowledges the pressence of the card itself, identifys it, gives me its MAC address and even the type of card it is but I cannot turn the wireless function on, search for wireless networks, or connect to one via anything but the bluetooth function. It also seems to be in perminent airplaine mode. I have turned airplaine mode off several times and yet it still will not allow me access to my wireless functions. When I exit the network settings folder airplaine mode is immediately re-enstated and is "on" again when I open it back up. I have made several attempts to rectify this and had absolutely no luck.

[jairo2350 (jairo2350)]

One of my favorite features of past Ubuntu distros (9.04-10.10) was how in depth the customization was. The ability to change the colors and sound effects, fonts and etc were one thing that made Ubuntu awesome for me. I really hope that's coming back in 12.04.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/909938/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello
Are yuo turning off your bluetooth phisically with a switch or by software clicking on the disable button ?
Fabio
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Urop (urop)]

I have what I believe is the same problem on a HP Pavillion dm1-4030sa and a fresh install of ubuntu 11.10 and a Broadcom 4313GN wireless adapter. I don't have a hardware switch as such - but the f11key can act as a wireless communication toggler. There is a light on it that is supposed to turn from orange to white when wireless communication is activated. (That's how this worked when I originally booted this up under Windows.) However under ubuntu it is always orange, even though it does seem to toggle all wireless communication as expected.

The problem for me is that when I start the laptop bluetooth shows as being turned on and I want to turn it off. No point it eating the battery. However, when I do so, via the bluetooth status indicator dropdown menu my wireless connection is also disabled. Furthermore, if I go to the networking status indicator dropdown menu the "Enable wireless" menu item is unchecked (as you might expect), but it is impossible to re-enable it by selecting it. All wireless communication has becomes blocked - or airplane mode as the original poster says. Even selecting to turn on bluetooth again via the dropdown doesn't work. The only solution I have found to reenable wireless networking is to select Preferences from the bluetooth dropdown and slide the bluetooth toggle from off to on - which also switches on bluetooth. Confusingly though, even when bluetooth is displayed as On in the drop down menu of the status indicator it displays as being disabled in the preferences dialog! As original poster says, Ubuntu has got really confused about bluetooth and wireless.

Any help that you anyone could provide sorting this out would be gratefully received.

[jairo2350 (jairo2350)]

Paul: You have described the exact same problem. Very well put sir.
Fabio: I am turning it off in Ubuntu and not with a switch.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hello
Can someone of you reproduce the bug then attach here, using the button below 'Add attachment or patch' the file:
/var/log/kern.log
/var/log/dmesg
/var/log/syslog
I suppose the kernel switching down both the devices.
fabio
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager-applet (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

This is a kernel issue, presumably with the killswitch support in that particular driver being used. Reassigning to 'linux'.

Paul, please make sure you file a separate bug report for your system, using 'ubuntu-bug linux', to ensure we can fix the issue for you in case this is different hardware.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 909938

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.3 kernel[1] (Not a kernel in the daily directory). Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag(Only that one tag, please leave the other tags). 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.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[1] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.3-rc7-precise/

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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