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I know there are already plenty of questions like this one; the problem is that, although I tried to follow the instructions, I couldn't have my wifi to work.

I re-installed Lubuntu 14.04 on my netbook yesterday because of some other problems I was having ("waiting for network configuration" on startup and I couldn't log in (after entering the password, I was given a black screen and then back to the login screen)).

Anyway, I was able to use the netbook properly for a few hours; then I got back home, and the wifi wasn't working anymore.

I tried # ifconfig wlan0 up and I got SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill. 

# rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
1: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

The problem is most likely with the phy0 "hard blocked". Using rfkill unblock all didn't do anything. I am pretty sure I don't have any wifi buttons on the netbook (asus 1225c), apart from Fn+F2. When I try the previous combination of keys I get

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: yes
1: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

Somebody said to try to remove /dev/rfkill, and it still didn't work.

I restored the BIOS to the default settings, and even made sure that WLAN was Enabled.

I then tried to boot from a live distro (the lubuntu 14.04) and I still got the very same problem.

Do you have any other ideas on what could be causing this problem? I am starting to think that it is due to some hardware problem but it seems unlikely, since it was working just fine a couple of hours earlier.

Thank you!

darkjoker
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5 Answers5

2

If that is an Asus Seashell eee-pc, check that you have wireless enabled on your BIOS.

  1. Press F2 at boot
  2. Select Advanced
  3. Select Onboard Device Configuration
  4. Set Onboard WLAN Disabled to Enabled

For some reason, it was disabled for me, and that didn't prevent me from connecting to wireless until now.

Luís de Sousa
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Mildred
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I suggest you experimentally unload asus-wmi:

sudo modprobe -r asus-wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all

Now does your wireless work? If so, let's blacklist the module:

sudo -i
echo "blacklist asus-wmi"  >>  /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit
chili555
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0

Just look for your wifi key on your keyboard (near the function keys).

Mine was PrtScr (Hit Fn + PrtScr to turn it on).

If you can't find it you can also attach a keyboard which has the wifi key to your laptop.

symbolic picture of wifi key

David Foerster
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Ryan Augustine
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I'm using an ASUS PC which had the same issue, solved by adding this to /etc/modprob.d/blacklist.conf:

blacklist wmi
blacklist asus-wmi
blacklist asus-nb-wmi
blacklist asus-nb-wmi
blacklist asus_nb_wmi

Hope it helps.

Felipe Francisco
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0

I had the same problem in a Dell Inspiron laptop (persisted with WLAN set to Enabled in BIOS), which I solved as follows: In the BIOS, in Wireless section, there is another option that controls what is enabled/disabled via keyboard/software, with options {none, WLAN only, Bluetooth only, both}. Setting this option to 'none' solved the problem (obviously this prevents any kernel module from disabling the WLAN via software, so you do not have to bother resolving which module does this and blacklisting it).

Nikos Nikopoulos
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