Arch Linux

gixxy

Member

Registered: 2012-04-07

Posts: 4

[Partially Solved] Strange Wireless Issues

Installed Arch, got Gnome 3, Gnome Shell, networkmanager, networkmanager-applet, all installed and I believe configured correctly.

However when I boot up my network manager applet is showing wireless "unavalible" and I believe it means no networks avalible, not the device.

So the first thing I try is turning the device on and off (using the in GUI switch) and then it doesn't want to turn back on. upon using

iwlist wlan0 scan

it complains about a problem in rfkill. Assuming it is a softblock that is stuck I run

rfkill list

and get

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

So I hit my wifi on/off button on my compaq and try again and get:

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

the switch is interating with the wrong device (that didn't happen back with Ubuntu, so not sure what to do.) I also do not know what the hp-wifi is, and while that was also in Ubuntu, I never did anything with it.

my wireless card is Athos AK5001.

So I try

rmmod ath5k

then

modprobe ath5k

and the device turns on but again shows the unavalible text. rfkill shows its not hardblocked.

I was able to get this connected with wireless-tools and wpa_supplicant to my house network. before I installed Gnome, and believe I could do it again now if I put the network Daemon back in place.

also noticed that

iwlist wlan0 scan

showed nothing when run unless I was root. But I think that is just the root has direct access to hardware.

Any help is appreciated. Need more info, just tell what command to run for it and I will post the output.

Last edited by gixxy (2012-04-10 17:22:31)

leonid

Member

Registered: 2012-03-15

Posts: 6

Re: [Partially Solved] Strange Wireless Issues

Do you have rfkill daemon in your DAEMONS array?
If yes:
you need to edit /etc/conf.d/rfkill:

RFKILL_UNBLOCK="all"

If no (I don't have):
On my laptop I need to press wifi on/off button several times until I get all rfkill devices unblocked. Try hitting your wifi on/off button several times and after each time see output of 'rfkill list'. When you find that all rfkill devices hard-un-blocked, run 'rfkill unblock all' to soft unblock (if any is soft blocked). This solved my issues, hovewer, this solution is not perfect, as I need to run command 'rfkill unblock all' everytime I press my wifi on/off button.

PS: Also waiting for better solution.

gixxy

Member

Registered: 2012-04-07

Posts: 4

Re: [Partially Solved] Strange Wireless Issues

I do not have the rfkill Daemon started, however the problem isn't with soft blocks, only hard block. I went ahead and check the /etc/conf.d/rfkill and it already had that line uncommented. So tried starting up the Daemon. No luck there.

The button: Tried it over and over for several minutes, the only device that toggled was the hp-wifi. The button worked on the right device in Ubuntu, so maybe there is a way to choice which device it works with and if so, anyone know how to go about going it?

and also the problem of why is phy0 being hard blocked when I turn it off in the networkmanger applet at all, wouldn't that be a soft block?

Last edited by gixxy (2012-04-07 13:46:59)

gixxy

Member

Registered: 2012-04-07

Posts: 4

Re: [Partially Solved] Strange Wireless Issues

One issue solved. I was able to get my wireless working.

I updated wpa_supplicant and when I had the card on, it displayed networks and I was able to connect.

However still having issues with when I turn off wireless in networkmanager-applet it is stuck off. Button still toggling wrong device.

Last edited by gixxy (2012-04-10 17:23:02)