Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

Inseighn · 2016-06-27 19:22:39

PLEASE READ THE FULL POST BEFORE RESPONDING, I HAVE TRIED THE BASIC READING/TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS ALWAYS POSTED ALREADY.

Original post on HERE

So I am trying to install Arch on a laptop that I currently have Ubuntu installed on. I cannot directly connect this to my LAN, but I do have access to Wifi. So, when I do:

ifconfig

only my loopback and physical NIC are shown.

iw dev

my wlan (called wlp2s0) is shown, and almost every time I try

iw dev set wlp2s0 up

I am told

Operation not possible due to rfkill.

So here is what I've tried:

1. I have done a "rfkill list" this shows me two Wireless LAN devices (possibly conflicting?) they are:

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

Okay, so my device is soft-blocked. Whenever I try: "rfkill unblock all" the blocks switch and "rfkill list" shows:

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes

2: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes

This exact same behavior happens when I press the "hardware button" on my laptop that disables wifi. (It is the "airplane mode" button).
I thought this may be a conflicting issue between the wireless devices, so I looked for the module that is loading ideapad_wlan which is the module "ideapad_laptop". Whenever I tried "rmmod -vf ideapad_laptop" (or "modprobe -rf ideapad_laptop") the entire system hangs and I cannot do anything without shutting my laptop down and restarting.

I managed to blacklist the module at startup (by appending modprobe.blacklist=ideapad_laptop to the boot parameters) which works and makes "rfkill list" only show one device, but the hard/soft blocks still remain enabled 100% of the time and only swap places when I press the hardware button / "rfkill unblock all".

I am not sure how to further troubleshoot this issue. I don't know whether I should keep trying to just abandon this laptop.

ewaller · 2016-06-27 20:18:17

What is the NIC hardware involved here? You asserted you read the documentation, but you did not specify which documentation.
Is there a chance you are missing the firmware for your device type?
Did the wifi work during the installation of Arch? Missed this in the thread title

Last edited by ewaller (2016-06-27 20:42:38)

Trilby · 2016-06-27 20:30:24

This sounds identical to recurrent problems on the Lenovo S10-3. The only solution to date (for the S10-3) is either to reinable wireless through some windows-only interface or to open the case and physically remove the CMOS battery briefly for a reset. Most S10-3 users then superglue the hardware toggle into the on position as it functions as a one-way kill switch that cannot be undone.

This sounds absurd, but some time ago I did extensive exploration and experimentation with this issue, and to the best of my knowledge there are no other options. Is this an S10-3? If not, what model of Lenov is it?

Inseighn · 2016-06-27 23:29:48

I'm sorry, the Wireless NIC is "Rtl8723be" and the kernel module is loaded in under the same name.

The laptop in question is a Lenovo z50-75

Inseighn · 2016-07-04 15:41:44

So I'm going to bump this since it's been a few days. I tried installing a few other distros, and debian/ubuntu were the only ones that did not trigger the rfkill problem.
During install, it looks like the same kernel modules are loaded though (I was hoping there was something I missed that I could load and hopefully solve my problem). Not sure where to go, but I guess it's what I get for not getting open hardware

Last edited by Inseighn (2016-07-04 15:43:00)

Trilby · 2016-07-04 15:49:53

You bumped without bothing to answer the questions that had already been posed to you? What model of Lenovo is this?

EDIT: sorry! I'm really out of it today.

Inseighn · 2016-07-04 20:12:33

I did answer the questions in my previous response.

Inseighn · 2016-07-06 00:19:40

Alright, I have found some more information about the driver. For one, it (and the card) suck are are notorious for intermittent disconnects, now this isn't exactly my problem since I cannot get it to connect to begin with (and therefore it cannot be dropped) but I figured I'd try some of the solutions offered to those just to see what would happen. I have debian installed currently and it is WORKING. Thank god I can atleast use linux with this machine, but there should now be no excuse for arch to not work or to at least figure out a way to get it to work.

This is the driver module, as noted above:

rtl8723be

It is suggested, to turn the module parameter "fwlps" (the power saving feature of the card) off. So I have tried the following:

rmmod rtl8723be
modprobe rtl8723be fwlps=0

Which does NOT change the parameter value when viewing with "modinfo rtl8723be".

That being said, I also tried booting with the following:

rtl8723be.fwlps=0

to see if that would work, and once again the parameter value is not being set to what I want it to be.
I have also tried both of the following with "N" instead of "0", still no dice. I have an intel-wifi pci card in another laptop I am about to take out and put into this one but I am trying to exhaust every option possible beforehand.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-06-27 19:22:39

Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#2 2016-06-27 20:18:17

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#3 2016-06-27 20:30:24

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#4 2016-06-27 23:29:48

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#5 2016-07-04 15:41:44

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#6 2016-07-04 15:49:53

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#7 2016-07-04 20:12:33

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

#8 2016-07-06 00:19:40

Re: Cannot bring up network device during install, Lenovo Laptop.

Board footer