Can't get rid of "airplane mode" in Ubuntu 11.10

juanctes · 11-05-2011, 11:21 AM

Hey,

Just bought a lenovo V570 with the following wireless device (lspci):
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 (rev 67)

In the NetworkManager applet nothing happens when I click on "Enable Wireless"

With graphical interface tools like: System Setting -> Network -> Wireless, it just shows device MAC and "airplane mode on" if I try to change it and Turn on the wireless it goes to off again and again, but stays in "airplane mode off".

I find the device with ifconfig but its down, I can connect to my access point through command line but can't get it working otherwise. Made this to connect but its not useful outside home:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid SanAntonio1 key s:xxxxx
iwconfig wlan0 essid SanAntonio1
sleep 1
iwconfig | grep Not-Associated
if [ "1" -eq $? ] 
then dhclient wlan0 
else echo Not-Associated
exit 1
fi
exit 0

Can anybody tell me how to configure this in the Ubuntu way?

Thanks!

crosstalk · 11-06-2011, 10:32 PM

When I've had issues like this with wireless it's almost always been the hardware disable (which, IIRC, either the FCC or FAA requires (so it can be turned off when in flight)).

However, it seems odd that you can still connect to your home network (am I understanding you correctly?).

If it's installed (I think it's installed by default in Ubuntu), try running the following command (and post the output here):

Code:

rfkill list

This should tell you if a hardware disable is at fault (if it is, then there should be a switch or button somewhere to enable it again).

I hope this helps.

EDIT: The command may have to be:

Code:

sudo rfkill list

(Unfortunately, I don't have a laptop available to test this -- if "sudo" (beware, sudo gives you admin privileges) is needed, you'll get an error if you run without it.)
EDIT2: Actually, I see that you're a Gentoo user, so you probably already know about sudo.

juanctes · 11-07-2011, 06:56 AM

Hey crosstalk!

Thanks for answering. Yes, I have had a hard start with Linux, with Slackware 9, then tried Gentoo, then Arch, and finally got stuck with Ubuntu (Arch didn't make it easy to install a custom version of PHP and I needed it ASAP for work). But now I'm a bit rusty with Linux since it´s been a year since almost everything I have to do at work requires me to boot WinCrap7.

Done with the intro, let me tell you that I have tried rfkill, but it showed me 3 interfaces (o_O), one of which had only soft switch off, but could not change it. Anyway I could get connected to my home network (yes, you got it well, please correct me if I use English wrong, my mother tongue is Spanish)

Here is the output of CLI commands I issued with rfkill:

Code:

juanmf@juanmf-V570:~$ sudo su
[sudo] password for juanmf: 
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# ifconfig wlan0 up
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:15:6D:A9:E7:58 ...
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:3A:98:92:F4:D0 ...
                    ...
          Cell 21 - Address: 00:0E:2E:64:90:B2 ...
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# rfkill unblock 2
root@juanmf-V570:/home/juanmf# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

As you can see this "acer-wireless: Wireless LAN" is not changing upon unblock but still I can get connected. The NetworkManager applet's enable wireless has no effect

hope it clarifies my first post.

Any advise?

Thanks!