Arch Linux

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

[solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

Hello,

I always used the obsolete rt2500 wireless driver, and that worked fine (I negotiate a WPA connection manually using iwpriv commands). However, I now changed to the new rt2x00 included in the kernel. I closely followed the wiki, and I am able to connect to the internet, but I cannot start it at boot. I configured wpa_supplicant, and a net-profile (ulysses). When I issue the command "netcfg ulysses", I get an error (unknown error 132). However, when I issue the same command another time, it works flawlessly...

I noticed that this is related to the wifi-enable-button. I first have to issue "ifconfig wlan 0 up". Only then does the wifi-enable-button becomes responsive, and only then can I start the network with netcfg. With the old rt2500 drivers I didn't have to bother about the wifi-button at all.

However, the consequence is that I cannot start the network at boot. How can I solve this?

Last edited by anadyr (2009-11-18 13:04:26)

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

I think I should ask my question a bit clearer:

After the command "ifconfig wlan0 up" is issued (which I made into a daemon), the wifi-button becomes responsive. I can start the network (with netcfg) AFTER wifi is enabled (by pressing the button). When I start netcfg before pressing it, I get an error (132).

So, what I want is that wifi is automatically enabled after "ifconfig wlan0 up". Is there a "command" which is equivalent to pressing the wifi-button?

masterkoppa

Member

Registered: 2009-04-14

Posts: 92

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

Well it depends, on all the dell laptops that I have worked with the Wifi Button is at a hardware level, meaning that you have to actually press the key beacause its handeled by the BIOS. Yet on all the HP laptops I have the wifi button is software based because with the Windows Driver I could have the same effect as with the actual key. Could you provide the laptop model and year so that we may help you a bit further?

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

It is a Twinhead E12BL from 2006.
I can imagine that it is software based, because with the old RT2500 driver I could just ignore the wifi switch. The button didn't work then; when I pressed it the wifi led didn't light up but the wireless network was working fine.

eldragon

Member

From: Buenos Aires

Registered: 2008-11-18

Posts: 1,029

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

i would blacklist rfkill and be done with it...does this work for you?

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

Thanks, that worked!

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

One day later it doesn't work anymore. I added !rfkill to rc.conf, and I used modprobe.conf to suppress rfkill with rt2500pci and cfg80211, but I still had to press the wifi-switch after ifconfig wlan0, and then I manually had to issue the netcfg command.
I downgraded the kernel to the last one that worked with the regular rt2500 driver and now it works without any problems. Unfortunately compiling the rt2500 against the latest kernel does not work anymore, so I am forced to use an older kernel.

eldragon

Member

From: Buenos Aires

Registered: 2008-11-18

Posts: 1,029

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

there is a soft-switch app somewhere within aur which you might use to setup the rfswitch before bringing the netcfg profile up. this could be of some use.

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

Do you know the name of this program? I can't seem to find it...

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

it's called rfkill.

anadyr

Member

Registered: 2005-02-10

Posts: 225

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

Thanks alot, it works now.
I created a custom daemon with these commands (in this order)

ifconfig wlan0 up
rfkill unblock 0
netcfg ulysses

and I place it somewhere after the network daemon in rc.conf. And now it connects to the internet straightaway without the need of pressing a button!

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [solved] rt2x00 wifi at boot

If you're using netcfg, you should not be running the network daemon. Read the Network Profiles wiki page for details.