NetworkManager erroneously reports iwlwifi as "disabled by hardware switch"

[James Tait]

I noticed last night that one of my wireless access points was not listed in nm-applet, which seemed odd given that it was only 2 metres away. I thought that disabling and re-enabling the wifi might cause a rescan, so I clicked Disable wireless networking in nm-applet. Now, nm-applet will not allow me to re-enable wireless - the section in the drop-down is greyed out, and says "wireless is disabled by hardware switch", even though the wireless card is enabled.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: network-manager 0.9.4.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: dd3689fa6394f60ec14dbe98d0bab891
CheckboxSystem: b633b4f40868d491c2ae5b50030ce6f3
Date: Tue Apr 10 01:18:24 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100816.1)
NetworkManager.state:
 [main]
 NetworkingEnabled=true
 WirelessEnabled=false
 WWANEnabled=true
SourcePackage: network-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-12-12 (119 days ago)

[James Tait (jamestait)]

I managed to restore my wifi using the rfkill command as described here:

  http://sunilkumarn.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/solution-to-wireless-disabled-by-hardware-switch/

I had to reboot for the device to become available, however, and I'd like to understand how NetworkManager got itself in such a state in the first place.

[James Tait (jamestait)]

Turns out this is easy to reproduce, at least for me:

 * Associate with a wireless network. (This step may not be necessary, but is the normal state for me.)
 * Click nm-applet to activate the drop-down.
 * Uncheck "Enable Wireless" from the nm-applet drop-down.
 * Click nm-applet a second time to activate the drop-down.
 * Note under "Wireless Networks" in the nm-applet drop-down, the message "wireless is disabled by hardware switch".
 * Note that "Enable Wireless" in the nm-applet drop-down is greyed out.

To re-enable wireless, I have to:

 * Open a terminal.
 * Issue: "sudo rfkill list".
 * Note the indexes of the Wireless LAN entries that show "Soft blocked: yes".
 * Issue: "sudo rfkill unblock <n>" for each value of <n> returned by the command above.
 * Issue: "sudo service network-manager restart".
 * Click nm-applet to activate the drop-down.
 * Check "Enable Wireless" from the nm-applet drop-down.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

I can't reproduce this on my own device (also using iwlwifi).

Could you please include debug logs from NetworkManager when reproducing the issue? See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingNetworkManager for how to retrieve the debug logs.

[James Tait (jamestait)]

Hm, me neither now. Marking invalid - clearly either I or my computer was having a brain fart.

[Yiyo (vespinosa2000)]

I can confirm this bug affects my laptop Sony Vaio F Series model VPCF120FL, that uses Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6200, wireless card.

To reproduce, one just have to follow the steps mentioned in comment #3:
 * Click nm-applet to activate the drop-down.
 * Uncheck "Enable Wireless" from the nm-applet drop-down.
 * Click nm-applet a second time to activate the drop-down.
 * Note under "Wireless Networks" in the nm-applet drop-down, the message "wireless is disabled by hardware switch".
 * Note that "Enable Wireless" in the nm-applet drop-down is greyed out.

To re-enable wireless:

 * Open a terminal.
        $ sudo rfkill unblock all
        $ sudo service network-manager restart
 * Click nm-applet to activate the drop-down.
 * Check "Enable Wireless" from the nm-applet drop-down.

[Yiyo (vespinosa2000)]

I'm adding a debug log for Network Manager as requested

[Israel Dahl (israeldahl)]

I marked it confirmed because Yiyo confirmed the bug and I also can confirm the bug.
the workaround:

rfkill unblock wlano
sudo service network-manager restart

does indeed fix the issue.

In my case, I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FW275J
This was not an upgrade, but a fresh install (I preferr fresh installs)

05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100

3.2.0-37-generic-pae Ubuntu 12.04.1 i386

[Israel Dahl (israeldahl)]

I am testing Raring Ringtail and this issue seems to have been fixed. If anyone is interested in testing it, that could put an end to this bug report.

[Michael Bewley (michael-bewley)]

I get the problem as described on Ubuntu 12.04, with a Sony Vaio SVS15116 laptop, and wifi (from lspci):
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)

Every time I manually uncheck "enable wireless" from the networking menu (default unity setup), it stays greyed out. Sending "sudo rfkill unblock all" then disable/reenable networking, it is fixed.

While broken, "rfkill list all" gives:

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

The laptop has NO hardware wireless switch, and NO function key combination for wifi (they rely on a proprietary program in windows to manage wireless... yuck).