I am also experiencing this issue. It started just recently.
On Dell D630 with wireless switch off: rfkill list 0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no
with wireless on: rfkill list 0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: yes
Linux 2.6.32-23-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 11 08:03:28 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
I am also experiencing this issue. It started just recently.
On Dell D630 with wireless switch off:
rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
with wireless on:
rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
Linux 2.6.32-23-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 11 08:03:28 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux