Dell Inspiron 1525 WLAN (Intel 3945) doesn't work with Ubuntu Kernel in Karmic [regression]

[unggnu]

Wlan is always shown as disabled in Karmic with Dell Inspiron 1525. It works fine with Hardy and Jaunty. The killswitch isn't activated and it works fine if I use the mainline 2.6.31 Kernel.

0b:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 4008 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfe9fc000 irq 21'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9228'
   Components : 'HDA:14f12c06,14f1000f,00100000 HDA:10951392,10280242,00100000 HDA:83847616,10280242,00100402'
   Controls : 36
   Simple ctrls : 23
Date: Sun Aug 30 22:17:53 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Alpha i386 (20090812.3)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1525
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-5-generic 2.6.31-5.24
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/hostname.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- console-setup/layoutcode=de
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-5.24-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-5-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.15
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-5-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 10/16/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.name: 0U990C
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA16:bd10/16/2008:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1525:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0U990C:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1525
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

The same problem appears also with current Karmic and 2.6.31-8 Kernel.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Still an issue with version 2.6.31-9.
WLAN works with mainline Kernel 2.6.31-rc7. RC8 has a boot problem so I can't test it but I think it works.
So it seems to be an Ubuntu issue.

I guess the Dell Inspiron 1525 is common especially since it was the first Dell Notebook shipped with Ubuntu.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

Still an issue in current Karmic. The final mainline Kernel 2.6.31 works fine.

[Pedro Francisco (pedrogfrancisco)]

It's machine specific, on a NON-Dell machine IWL 3945ABG works fine.
Maybe the title should be updated accordingly?

[unggnu (unggnu)]

I have found the reason but it is still a bug.
My Dell Inspiron 1525 have Bluetooth which isn't needed most of the time.
It is possible to to change the function of the wlan switch in the Bios. Since I need WLAN most of the time and it is easily possible to disable it through the Network Manager I have changed the function to only disable Bluetooth.
If I do that WLAN is shown as disabled all the time with the Karmic Kernel, even, if I the switch is set on enabled.
If I reset the Bios function to the default configuration WLAN works fine with the default kernel but I can't easily disable Bluetooth.
Anyway it is a bug and neither Windows nor the Mainline 2.6.31 Kernel nor the old Kernel of Hardy have a problem with this configuration.

[Boban Aleksov (aleksovboban)]

I can confirm this bug. I have also Dell Inspiron 1525, but with broadcom wifi 4312 i think.
In jaunty everything was working ok.
If i turn of or on switch rfkill doesnt register it. If i leave it on during boot everything is ok. My wlan and bt is on and works ok.
I also like it to be set only to bluetooth, and regulate wifi from OS.
In jaunty that worked fine, but here i have to set it to ON during boot so that network manager doesnt disable my wifi.

[Boban Aleksov (aleksovboban)]

If someone needs logs to locate bug i will happily provide every log.
Network manager disables wifi because it thinks it is disabled in rfkill switch.

[Boban Aleksov (aleksovboban)]

sudo rmmod dell_laptop
sudo modprobe dell_laptop
This seems to enable wireless in network manager.

[TrinT (trint)]

Still an issue with version 2.6.31-11

[rsoika (ralph-soika)]

I can confirm this issue also on my Dell Vostro 1520 with WIFI intel link 5100.
I am running kernel 2.6.31-15.
After boot there is no wlan detected. If I run the command
>sudo rmmod dell_laptop

wlan is activated and works fine.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi unggnu,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? 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 from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 421662

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.

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

[rsoika (ralph-soika)]

I can confirm that this bug is fixed in my case until I run the current kernel version kernel 2.6.31-20. I have had the issue with my Dell Vostro 1520 and a Intel Wifi adapter.
It also works with kernel 2.6.32-020632 which I tested december 2009
 sorry for late response

[unggnu (unggnu)]

@rsoika
I can't test it right now but you have set in the bios that the hardware wlan switch is only for Bluetooth and if it is disabled WLAN works with Kernel 2.6.31 but Bluetooth is disabled?

[Dan Hill-Moses (danhm)]

Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: dan 2025 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf6dfc000 irq 21'
   Mixer name : 'Silicon Image SiI1392 HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:111d7675,10280254,00100202 HDA:10951392,10280254,00100000'
   Controls : 27
   Simple ctrls : 15
CheckboxSubmission: dfafc7c000df0e2922e9e01a2dff6f7b
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=df9f6b4d-4641-4188-b1fa-357299865965
MachineType: Dell Inc. Studio 1535
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=26719237-db50-4c15-8cf4-b1b5fe3290cf ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.57-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-20-generic 2.6.31-20.22
 linux-firmware 1.26
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin audio cdrom dialout dip floppy fuse lpadmin netdev plugdev sambashare video
WifiSyslog:

WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 07/30/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A05
dmi.board.name: 0H279K
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA05:bd07/30/2008:svnDellInc.:pnStudio1535:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0H279K:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Studio 1535
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[unggnu (unggnu)]

I have rechecked it and it seems to be fixed in current Karmic. WLAN works fine even with disabled bluetooth (wlan) switch.