[Dell Inspiron 14z (N411z)] Toggling Bluetooth off also Disables Wifi Networking (Wifi Hardware Switched Off)

[Benjamin Kerensa]

Expected Result:

User goes to Bluetooth GUI and toggles Bluetooth off because they either are not using it or to conserve power

Actual Result:

User toggles Bluetooth off but same toggle also disables Wireless Networking which cannot be re-enabled without toggling bluetooth back on and rebooting.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: bluez 4.98-2ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-18.29-generic 3.2.9
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-18-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.94.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Mar 11 20:00:33 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
InterestingModules: bnep rfcomm btusb bluetooth
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System Inspiron N411Z
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-18-generic root=UUID=ec6660ce-0cd1-4086-bd71-cccd72d07613 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: bluez
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-03-12 (0 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/24/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A00
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 0VK06J
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: FAB1
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA00:bd06/24/2011:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemInspironN411Z:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0VK06J:rvrFAB1:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System Inspiron N411Z
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
hciconfig:
 hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
  BD Address: AC:72:89:44:9D:8B ACL MTU: 310:10 SCO MTU: 64:8
  UP RUNNING PSCAN
  RX bytes:1295 acl:0 sco:0 events:52 errors:0
  TX bytes:717 acl:0 sco:0 commands:52 errors:0

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

I've got very similar hardware, and can't reproduce this. It looks very much like a driver issue with the wireless/bluetooth coexistence code in iwlwifi.

Looks like your bluetooth device is this USB entry:
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 8086:0189 Intel Corp.

Now, what would be a good test would be if you could toggle the bluetooth connection in the same way you usually do as reported in this bug report: via the bluetooth UI, then attaching the output of 'rfkill list'. I expect to see there only 2 or 3 entries rather than 4.

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Below are the results of rfkill list before and after a bluetooth toggle...

Before Bluetooth Toggle ON

bkerensa@buddha:~$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

After Bluetooth Toggle OFF

bkerensa@buddha:~$ rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
1: dell-bluetooth: Bluetooth
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

Thank you for taking the time to file a bug report on this issue.

However, given the number of bugs that the Kernel Team receives during any development cycle it is impossible for us to review them all. Therefore, we occasionally resort to using automated bots to request further testing. This is such a request.

We have noted that there is a newer version of the development kernel than the one you last tested when this issue was found. Please test again with the newer kernel and indicate in the bug if this issue still exists or not.

You can update to the latest development kernel by simply running the following commands in a terminal window:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade

If the bug still exists, change the bug status from Incomplete to Confirmed. If the bug no longer exists, change the bug status from Incomplete to Fix Released.

If you want this bot to quit automatically requesting kernel tests, add a tag named: bot-stop-nagging.

 Thank you for your help, we really do appreciate it.

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Any progress on investigating this before 12.04 Beta 2?

[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-precise/

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

I tested the latest v3.3 kernel and the issue is still reproducible.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

This issue appears to be an upstream bug, since you tested the latest upstream kernel. Would it be possible for you to open an upstream bug report at bugzilla.kernel.org [1]? That will allow the upstream Developers to examine the issue, and may provide a quicker resolution to the bug.

If you are comfortable with opening a bug upstream, It would be great if you can report back the upstream bug number in this bug report. That will allow us to link this bug to the upstream report.

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/kernel

[Paddy Launch (paddylaunch-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi, this bug affects me. I am using xubuntu 12.04 Beta 2 on a Dell Vostro 3750. Kernel is 3.2.0-23-generic.

When I toggle bluetooth off using the widget, wireless goes off and the wireless applet reports "wireless is disabled by hardware switch". Also, my laptop's wireless LED goes off. I can toggle the wireless LED back on using "Fn F2" ... however, wireless capability never returns without rebooting.

[Stéphane Guillou (stephane-guillou)]

I am experiencing this too on an HP Pavilion dm1 with a fresh install of 12.04 up to date.
Is anyone still having the same problem?

And could anyone say if they think those ones are duplicates:
Bug #962621
Bug #912488

Cheers

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Benjamin Kerensa, as per http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/inspiron-n411z an update is available for your BIOS (A06). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate , does it change anything?

If not, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Thank you for your understanding.

[Stéphane Guillou (stephane-guillou)]

Doesn't the fact that the bug appears on three different machines reported here (Dell Inspiron N411Z, Dell Vostro 3750, HP Pavilion DM1) show that it is not a BIOS issue?
I still experience that on my HP Pavilion DM1, on which I just replaced Ubuntu by Linux Mint 17.2.

[mirh (mirh)]

No, it doesn't show it.
Every laptop (especially between different OEMs) is its special different world.

Said this, long story short, dell-laptop had quite some rfkill work already in 2013, while HP last year.
Please retest with some >4.8 kernel.