rfkill gets stuck in hard-blocked state erroneously, blocking wireless

[Bryan Donlan]

With my RF kill _off_, I get:
# rfkill list
0: (null): Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes
3: phy2: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no

But with it on:
# rfkill list
0: (null): Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: no
3: phy2: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: no
 Hard blocked: yes

As you can see, rfkill always reports one of the kill switches on.

It should be noted that there is not, in fact, a hardware block - by mounting tmpfs over /sys/devices/virtual/rfkill/rfkill0, I can get NetworkManager to connect normally. So the state of rfkill0 is just plain wrong here.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bd 2495 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfebfc000 irq 21'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9228'
   Components : 'HDA:83847616,102801f3,00100201 HDA:14f12c06,14f1000f,00100000'
   Controls : 29
   Simple ctrls : 19
CheckboxSubmission: 470a7923235c63eedbd48596cfb078dd
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
Date: Thu Dec 31 15:45:58 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=8e62ec13-1b65-46d2-8b96-888f82d2fe94
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1420
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-16-generic 2.6.31-16.53
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=1850d9f2-f12f-4e72-8416-54ef5f309fdb ro single
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.53-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-16-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.25
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-16-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2513): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2513): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:2606): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:2649): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (dropbox:2618): Gdk-CRITICAL **: gdk_window_thaw_toplevel_updates_libgtk_only: assertion `private->update_and_descendants_freeze_count > 0' failed
dmi.bios.date: 07/11/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: 0JX269
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA09:bd07/11/2008:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1420:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0JX269:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1420
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Bryan,

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 501973

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.]

[Robert (robert-j-m)]

Affected. With a fully-updated kernel, rfkill erroneously reports that the wireless is hard-blocked. The fix in the report - mounting tmpfs over the virtual device in /sys - works.

Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 32bit with an Intel 5300 using the wlagn driver. Key problem: NetworkManager shows the card, but lists it as 'disabled' and un-enableable. The tmpfs trick and a NetworkManager restart fixes the problem.

[Robert (robert-j-m)]

It should be noted that this sporadically works after a number of restarts. If it works, it continues to work just fine until the system is restarted.

[Serhiy (xintx-ua)]

After several hours of trying different methods I just found solution that worked for HP Compaq nx6310:
Just disconnect the wire. That's all.
Seems that there is a sensor in the Ethernet slot that disables wlan when a cable is present.
Because I even tried downgrading rfkill package to 0.3.x with no difference. Or similar mechanism was implemented somewhere else in Ubuntu. If so, then it should notify user about such behaviour.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

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

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.