laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

xero · 2014-07-24 14:30:09

hello,
this is my 3d arch install. i kept notes, and followed them exactly and this time i've ran into an issue i just cannot seem to debug myself.

this laptop is the hp envy 4 1130us. i also have the hp envy 6t-1000 with arch installed and this is not a problem at all for that version of the computer (one is my personal the other is my work machine).

after installing the base system i installed the wifi related packages:

pacman -S wpa_supplicant iw wireless_tools networkmanager network_manager_applet gnome_keyring

i enabled the network manager

systemctl enable NetworkManager.service

disabled dhcp (enabled from install)

systemctl stop dhcpcd.service
systemctl disable dhcpcd.service

enabled the wpa toolkit

systemctl enable wpa_supplication

add my user to the network group

gpasswd -a xero network

turn off the network interface controllers

ip link set down eno1
ip link set down wlo1

start the supplicant

systemctl start wpa_supplicant

start the network manager

systemctl start NetworkManager.service

reboot

after that the wired internet work perfect fine. the network manager applet detects the network and does it's thing. i configured and tested vpn as well, and it is also working as expected.

but then i pressed the hardware wifi switch (F12 key) and nothing happened. i pressed it a few more times, rebooted, tried again, tried during the bios/post test, etc. i simply cannot disable the hardware lock on the wireless.

so i went hunting on the wiki and here in the forums. nothing has worked. since, this was a fresh install last night i actually wiped the drive and tried the install again hoping i did something wrong, but with no avail. here's the debug messages:

--------------------------------------------

[~]── - lspci -k    (edited for brevity)
01:00.2 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0a)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1894
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 (rev c4)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 BGN
	Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi

[~]── - ip link                 
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eno1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 28:92:4a:1c:0c:af brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlo1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 68:5d:43:b1:d3:89 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

[~]── - ip link set wlo1 up
RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

[~]── - dmesg | grep firmware    
[    7.166700] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1 op_mode iwldvm

[~]── - dmesg | grep iwlwifi     
[    7.133763] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
[    7.141638] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X
[    7.166700] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1 op_mode iwldvm
[    7.245928] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG disabled
[    7.245934] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS disabled
[    7.245937] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING enabled
[    7.245941] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2230 BGN, REV=0xC8
[    7.246078] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Enabled; Disabling L0S
[    7.253731] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.

[~]── - rfkill list              
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

--------------------------------------------

so based on some of the output it looks like RFKILL is blocking it during the boot process. i tried to unblock it via the unblock all command, but that's only soft blocks. i'm really not sure what to try next, so i'm asking for help (before i throw my laptop out the window).

thank you in advance for any advice

Trilby · 2014-07-24 14:58:00

hardblocks should have nothing to do with the OS - they are hardware (or firmware/bios) blocks.

What should have an effect is either the same toggle switch you used before or resetting it in the BIOS if that is an option. I say "should" here as I have previous experience where this was not the case. I've never heard it for other machines, but in the case of my old Lenovo S10-3 it has become a wellknown issue that the hardware toggle switch is a one-way switch. I know many S10-3 owners who end up supergluing the switch in the "on" position so they don't kill their wireless.

The only way to recover wireless on the S10-3 is to either install/dualboot windows, and use the windows-only fixit program from lenovo, or disassemble the machine and remove the CMOS battery for a few moments. This latter solution worked for me.

basica · 2014-07-24 15:05:09

Resetting the bios, pulling the battery out for a minute and putting it back in again, and lastly upgrading the bios are all possibilities. I encountered a similar issue to you, I checked and saw that I had stock firmware and there was an upgrade. Did an upgrade and my wifi started working under all linux distros I had on my lappy at the time (arch, slackware and ubuntu).

xero · 2014-07-24 15:17:37

it's just odd that is worked out of the box in debian, and i don't have this issue with a new model of the same laptop w/ the same wifi card.

yes, i am still running the stock bios. maybe i'll give that a shot.

i just found this page on the wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP … ook_840_G1

Set CONFIG_HP_WIRELESS=y in your kernel config to enable the hardware button (Linux 3.14+).

an i wrong in thinking this is an instruction for compiling a new kernel? or is it a parameter i can pass to it via gummiboot (that's the boot manager i'm using of uefi)???

just tired it as a parameter with no effect. i've never build a kernel before... :S

Last edited by xero (2014-07-24 15:18:43)

Trilby · 2014-07-24 15:21:45

xero wrote:

an i wrong in thinking this is an instruction for compiling a new kernel?

Yes ... I mean no. You are not wrong. That is an entry for a kernel config file which would be used for (re)compiling a kernel. This is quite easy to do with an AUR kernel package, or the ABS. But depending on your hardware it can also take quite a while to compile the kernel - and doing so with every update would be very low on my list of ways to approach this.

xero · 2014-07-24 15:44:40

yeah,
i was thinking that recompiling each kernel would be a huge hassle as well.

so i just booted 2 live usb disks.
the 1st, the arch installer - the wifi was still hard blocked.
the 2nd, debian / crunchbang. what's odd, is that in debian the wifi key light is while (enabled) but it's still blocked. if the press the button it turns amber (disabled), if i press it again it turns white again and is actually enabled.

it almost seems like arch is not "catching" the action keypress. the keyboard backlight key works out of the box, and so does the screen brightness keys. but i run xfce4-volumed to control the volume related keys. is there anyway to emulate the hardware keypress to even see if that's the issue?

-----------------[update]-----------------

so i decided to try and enable the rfkill unblock all service:

systemctl enable rfkill-unblock@all.service

that alone didn't work, but... i booted into another os, enabled wifi, then hard powered off the laptop. when i rebooted into arch it seems to work now. it's a really hacky work-around. but i'll take it. i'd really like a proper solution, but it works for now i guess.

Last edited by xero (2014-07-24 19:34:53)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-07-24 14:30:09

laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

#2 2014-07-24 14:58:00

Re: laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

#3 2014-07-24 15:05:09

Re: laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

#4 2014-07-24 15:17:37

Re: laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

#5 2014-07-24 15:21:45

Re: laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

#6 2014-07-24 15:44:40

Re: laptop wireless hard blocked - hardware key does not toggle state

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