Arch Linux

nasure

Member

Registered: 2010-10-16

Posts: 3

Dell Studio XPS 1640 Wifi Card not working

Hi,

I am using Arch Linux on Dell Studio XPS 1640 with Intel 5100 AGN card. I followed the Arch Wiki and installed the corresponding driver for the Card but I can't start the card because of the hard block on the card. These are the output of the command.

[root@swallowed Desktop]# rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
[root@swallowed Desktop]# rfkill unblock 0
[root@swallowed Desktop]# rfkill list
0: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
[root@swallowed Desktop]#

I even try to include this inside modprobe but it doesn't work.

[root@swallowed Desktop]# cat /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf 
#
# /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf (for v2.6 kernels)
#
options ath_pci rfkill=0
options snd-pcsp index=2
options iwlcore led_mode=1

I believe that hard block is the hardware block which can be unblocked by some kind of switch on the Laptop. My laptop has a touch button for that block and it doesn't seem tobe working in Arch either.

Any body knows how to resolve this problem?

Thank you so much!

ajbader

Member

Registered: 2010-03-22

Posts: 23

Re: Dell Studio XPS 1640 Wifi Card not working

Hmn... I have a Dell Studio XPS 1340 (just the 13" inch version) and I don't have this Intel 5100 AGN card, but instead have some broadcom chip that requires the wl driver. 

I'm sorry if I don't I can't provide any suggestions, it just seems odd that two similar machines would have very different wireless chips.  Also, the switch that turns off the wireless (yeah, that touch sensitive button) on the laptop does not physically stop the wireless card from being used, instead it simply turns it off and drivers will say "The device has been switched off".

Could you please post the results of your lspci | grep -i net ? It's just that most 1640's have the same chip I do, the Broadcom and not the Intel variant.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1363911 <---- relevant article

surfed

Member

From: Vienna Austria

Registered: 2009-10-30

Posts: 86

Re: Dell Studio XPS 1640 Wifi Card not working

Hmm i have the 1645 with a intel 5300 card and it works fine. The soft touch button for wifi toggle works too, there is an option in the bios in what that button controls (wifi bluetooth and WLAN) maybe check there? Also if you still have winblows on there does wireless work with it? Also why the ath_pci ? The soft touch buttons get activated with the dell_wmi module for me.

Last edited by surfed (2010-10-22 21:47:35)