[SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

mcaceres · 2016-01-10 06:24:40

Hello! I just installed Arch and after install my wireless is not working. It seems that my wireless is hard blocked.

# ip link set wlp1s0 up
RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
# rfkill list wifi
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes

Searching online, the answer is typically that "hard blocked" refers to a physical laptop switch. My laptop doesn't have one other than the Fn + F12 key combination. This toggles the soft block, however ("Soft blocked" switches between no and yes whenever I press it).

rfkill unblock wifi
rfkill unblock all

don't seem to do anything (they target the soft block as I understand it anyway). A solution proposed in https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=181194 is to blacklist wmi, but that hasn't worked.

I should mention that my wireless worked until I rebooted from the installation (i.e. I was able to connect through wifi-menu during install). So thought I could just re-install. However, when I boot into the live USB i get the same issue, so I can't even do that. Really not really sure what to do. Any help? Many thanks!

***EDIT***

After fiddling around with rfkill, I turned off my laptop, unplugged the power chord, took out the battery, and booted a few minutes later into the live ISO. wifi-menu was working. Booted into Arch. Same! No idea why or how this worked (I hadn't just rebooted, btw, I had actually turned my laptop off and on on several occasions). Cheers!

Last edited by mcaceres (2016-01-15 05:34:36)

Docbroke · 2016-01-10 06:44:52

Can you check your bios setup, wifi may be switched off from bios.

Edit: reading your post again as you said your card was working during installation, are you sure you have installed drivers for your card, as all wireless support during installation may disappear after reboot if you have not installed wireless tools/drivers in your installed system.

Last edited by Docbroke (2016-01-10 07:10:48)

ayekat · 2016-01-10 12:17:08

What laptop model have you got?

mcaceres · 2016-01-10 20:10:28

ayekat wrote:

What laptop model have you got?

It's a Toshiba satellite P75 A7200. The relevant bit from

# lspci -k
01:00.0 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

Docbroke wrote:

Can you check your bios setup, wifi may be switched off from bios.
Edit: reading your post again as you said your card was working during installation, are you sure you have installed drivers for your card, as all wireless support during installation may disappear after reboot if you have not installed wireless tools/drivers in your installed system.

I restored the BIOS defaults and rebooted. No avail in either the installed system or the live one... For the live one, does it matter if I installed the drivers? It worked the first time out of the box.

Last edited by mcaceres (2016-01-10 20:13:09)

Strike0 · 2016-01-11 17:14:34

No, for the "iwlwifi" driver the linux package pulls everything necessary.
If your machine has a dual-boot windows, start that and make sure the wifi is active (not turned off) before shutting it down. Windows is known to hardlock; so this can only occur if you used it.

mcaceres · 2016-01-11 20:32:22

Strike0 wrote:

No, for the "iwlwifi" driver the linux package pulls everything necessary.
If your machine has a dual-boot windows, start that and make sure the wifi is active (not turned off) before shutting it down. Windows is known to hardlock; so this can only occur if you used it.

When I got it I replaced the hard drive with an SSD and put Kubuntu on it. I don't think i ever booted into windows. I deleted the Kubuntu partition to install Arch, however, so I have nothing else to boot into. Also, as I check the wifi is also down on my Kubuntu live USB, oddly enough...

Strike0 · 2016-01-11 22:30:55

Maybe your "Fn+12" hotkey has more toggles than on/off, so you have to press it more than once/twice to return to prior state? Have a look what the log says when you press it repetitively e.g.

journalctl -f

and after booting

dmesg |grep iwlwifi

mcaceres · 2016-01-12 00:06:06

# dmesg | grep iwlwifi
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 loaded firmware version 18.168.6.1
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG disabled
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS disabled
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVCE_TRACING enabled
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 Detected Intel (R) Centrino (R) Wireless-N 2230 BGN, REV=0xC8
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 L1 Enabled - LTR Disabled
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0 wlp1s0: renamed from wlan0

# journalctl -f
-- Logs begin at Sat 2016-01-09 23:16:32 EST --
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost kernel: sdc: sdc1 sdc2
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost kernel: sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Starting Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status...
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Started Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status.
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Starting Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status...
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Started Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status.
^@Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Starting Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status...
Jan 11 18:55:08 localhost systamd[1]: Started Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status.
^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
^C

Strike0 · 2016-01-12 12:26:50

Those don't show much unfortunately. Let's go back to rfkill. In your post you show:

mcaceres wrote:

# rfkill list wifi
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes

There should be another interface showing for wifi. Here on the machine it is #1 and #2. "rfkill block 1" it hardblocks. Likewise "rfkill block 2" (the phy0) softblocks.
Check if you have blacklisted anything during your trials (eg wmi), undo any blacklisting and have a look at the output of

rfkill list all

after another reboot (choose the fallback kernel entry if you have it).

ewaller · 2016-01-12 16:26:05

This smells like the firmware is not being loaded, but dmesg indicates that it is. Let me ask for a couple sanity checks.
What are the output of:
ip link
iw list
lspci -nn
uname -a
and
pacman -Qi linux (assuming you are using the main line kernel)

mcaceres · 2016-01-13 05:31:58

Thanks for the help! Here's the output

$ rfkill list all
0: Toshiba Bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
2: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

$ 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: enp7s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:9e:01:cc:17:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 68:17:29:81:d7:33 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

$ iw list
Wiphy phy0
	max # scan SSIDs: 20
	max scan IEs length: 195 bytes
	max # sched scan SSIDs: 0
	max # match sets: 0
	Retry short limit: 7
	Retry long limit: 4
	Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
	Device supports RSN-IBSS.
	Supported Ciphers:
		* WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
		* WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
		* TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
		* CCMP (00-0f-ac:4)
		* 00-0f-ac:10
		* GCMP (00-0f-ac:8)
		* 00-0f-ac:9
	Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
	Supported interface modes:
		 * IBSS
		 * managed
		 * AP
		 * AP/VLAN
		 * monitor
	Band 1:
		Capabilities: 0x1072
			HT20/HT40
			Static SM Power Save
			RX Greenfield
			RX HT20 SGI
			RX HT40 SGI
			No RX STBC
			Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
			DSSS/CCK HT40
		Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
		Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 4 usec (0x05)
		HT Max RX data rate: 300 Mbps
		HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-15
		Bitrates (non-HT):
			* 1.0 Mbps
			* 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
			* 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
			* 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
			* 6.0 Mbps
			* 9.0 Mbps
			* 12.0 Mbps
			* 18.0 Mbps
			* 24.0 Mbps
			* 36.0 Mbps
			* 48.0 Mbps
			* 54.0 Mbps
		Frequencies:
			* 2412 MHz [1] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2417 MHz [2] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2422 MHz [3] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2427 MHz [4] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2432 MHz [5] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2437 MHz [6] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2442 MHz [7] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2447 MHz [8] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2452 MHz [9] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2457 MHz [10] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2462 MHz [11] (16.0 dBm)
			* 2467 MHz [12] (16.0 dBm) (no IR)
			* 2472 MHz [13] (16.0 dBm) (no IR)
	Supported commands:
		 * new_interface
		 * set_interface
		 * new_key
		 * start_ap
		 * new_station
		 * new_mpath
		 * set_mesh_config
		 * set_bss
		 * authenticate
		 * associate
		 * deauthenticate
		 * disassociate
		 * join_ibss
		 * join_mesh
		 * set_tx_bitrate_mask
		 * frame
		 * frame_wait_cancel
		 * set_wiphy_netns
		 * set_channel
		 * set_wds_peer
		 * probe_client
		 * set_noack_map
		 * register_beacons
		 * start_p2p_device
		 * set_mcast_rate
		 * set_qos_map
		 * connect
		 * disconnect
	Supported TX frame types:
		 * IBSS: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * managed: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * AP: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * mesh point: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-client: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
		 * P2P-device: 0x00 0x10 0x20 0x30 0x40 0x50 0x60 0x70 0x80 0x90 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0 0xe0 0xf0
	Supported RX frame types:
		 * IBSS: 0x40 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * managed: 0x40 0xd0
		 * AP: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * AP/VLAN: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * mesh point: 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * P2P-client: 0x40 0xd0
		 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
		 * P2P-device: 0x40 0xd0
	WoWLAN support:
		 * wake up on disconnect
		 * wake up on magic packet
		 * wake up on pattern match, up to 20 patterns of 16-128 bytes,
		   maximum packet offset 0 bytes
		 * can do GTK rekeying
		 * wake up on GTK rekey failure
		 * wake up on EAP identity request
		 * wake up on rfkill release
	software interface modes (can always be added):
		 * AP/VLAN
		 * monitor
	valid interface combinations:
		 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 1,
		   total <= 2, #channel

$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller [8086:0c04] (rev 06)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0416] (rev 06)
00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller [8086:0c0c] (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI [8086:8c31] (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:8c3a] (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 [8086:8c2d] (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller [8086:8c20] (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3 [8086:8c14] (rev d4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #4 [8086:8c16] (rev d4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #5 [8086:8c18] (rev d4)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 [8086:8c26] (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation HM86 Express LPC Controller [8086:8c49] (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] [8086:8c03] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:8c22] (rev 04)
01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 [8086:0887] (rev c4)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1091] (rev 10)
08:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5229] (rev 01)

$ uname -a
Linux localhost 4.3.3-2-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Dec 23 20:09:18 CET 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ pacman -Qi linux
Name           : linux
Version        : 4.3.3-2
Description    : The Linux kernel and modules
Architecture   : x86_64
URL            : http://www.kernel.org/
Licenses       : GPL2
Groups         : base
Provides       : None
Depends On     : coreutils  linux-firmware  kmod  mkinitcpio>=0.7
Optional Deps  : crda: to set the correct wireless channels of your country
Required By    : None
Optional For   : None
Conflicts With : None
Replaces       : None
Installed Size :  74.11 MiB
Packager       : Tobias Powalowski <tpowa@archlinux.org>
Build Date     : Wed Dec 23 14:10:36 2015
Install Date   : Sat Jan  9 22:28:05 2016
Install Reason : Explicitly installed
Install Script : Yes
Validated By   : Signature

ewaller · 2016-01-13 14:53:12

Sadly, that all looks rational. I don't have any good suggestions.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-01-13 17:53:29

Are there any wmi modules that can be blacklisted?

# lsmod|grep wmi

See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=181194

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-01-13 17:54:57)

tensai · 2016-01-14 00:32:28

I do not want to hijack this thread or anything, but I wanted to say that adding the line "blacklist wmi" to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and a reboot fixed my issue with this. Hopefully it works for the OP.

Strike0 · 2016-01-14 08:55:32

Well, anything with hardware/FN keys is manufacturer specific. The OP quotes the same thread as Head_on_a_Stick in post #1 and had to find out blacklisting "wmi" itself did not help, could be another wmi yes.

Before trying to blacklist things again my final suggestion is to boot the ISO which initially worked with wifi. In console

# rm /dev/rfkill 
# reboot

(into the ISO to see)

mcaceres · 2016-01-14 15:41:02

tensai wrote:

I do not want to hijack this thread or anything, but I wanted to say that adding the line "blacklist wmi" to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and a reboot fixed my issue with this. Hopefully it works for the OP.

This was the first thing I tried. Didn't help much.

I also tried "rm /dev/rfkill" and rebooting but it didn't help... I don't understand why the live ISO also does't pick up wifi...

ewaller · 2016-01-14 16:24:17

You might try the old remove the battery and AC power for several minutes trick. YMMV

mcaceres · 2016-01-15 04:17:57

ewaller wrote:

You might try the old remove the battery and AC power for several minutes trick. YMMV

Holy fuck that actually worked. I thought you were kidding O_O

How do I mark this as solved? Thanks a ton btw!

Last edited by mcaceres (2016-01-15 04:20:09)

ewaller · 2016-01-15 04:58:05

You are welcome. And thank you for making me chuckle after a really rough day.

Edit your first post and you have the option to edit the thread title. Prepend [SOLVED] using that option.

paafor11 · 2018-08-24 05:07:17

Thanks for the solution. I was trying since last week, but yours only solution works. Thank you, thank you!

ewaller wrote:

You might try the old remove the battery and AC power for several minutes trick. YMMV

circleface · 2018-08-24 19:30:37

paafor11, I'm glad you got it working, but please notice that this thread is over two years old. Please do not necrobump old threads, and especially not with an empty post.

HalosGhost · 2018-08-24 19:34:27

Please read the Code of Conduct; necrobumping (as mentioned by circleface) is disallowed.

Closing.

All the best,

-HG

Arch Linux

#1 2016-01-10 06:24:40

[SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#2 2016-01-10 06:44:52

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#3 2016-01-10 12:17:08

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#4 2016-01-10 20:10:28

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#5 2016-01-11 17:14:34

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#6 2016-01-11 20:32:22

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#7 2016-01-11 22:30:55

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#8 2016-01-12 00:06:06

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#9 2016-01-12 12:26:50

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#10 2016-01-12 16:26:05

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#11 2016-01-13 05:31:58

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#12 2016-01-13 14:53:12

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#13 2016-01-13 17:53:29

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#14 2016-01-14 00:32:28

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#15 2016-01-14 08:55:32

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#16 2016-01-14 15:41:02

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#17 2016-01-14 16:24:17

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#18 2016-01-15 04:17:57

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#19 2016-01-15 04:58:05

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#20 2018-08-24 05:07:17

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#21 2018-08-24 19:30:37

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

#22 2018-08-24 19:34:27

Re: [SOLVED] Wireless hard blocked

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