RFkill is killing me, no wifi, soft block, Debian Wheezy, RTL8187

Rich3077 · 04-08-2014, 05:05 PM

Rfkill is killing me. I have googled and tried everything i can find. I have posted in another forum but stopped getting replies.

Code:

root@dad:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

This is a soft block, I am running Debian Wheezy Kali version, no mixed repos, non-free repos included.

Linux has its own hard drive, no virtual machine. My wifi is RTL8187

I have tried uninstalling RFkill and it doesnt help. I would like for my wifi to work even if it involves breaking something else.

If you are interested in reading my previous thread and what steps we took you can find that here.

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=113266

Thanks

jdkaye · 04-09-2014, 12:51 AM

I'm using Debian with a Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter. I notice that the rfkill package is not installed on my system and so not necessary for this adapter. You say you've tried uninstalling the rfkill package but neglect to tell us what the error message was after you did that. Surely it must have changed, no? So what was it complaining about?
jdk

Rich3077 · 04-09-2014, 01:42 AM

There was no difference at all in the error messages once uninstalling RFkill... as it wasn't even uninstalled.. but I know it was. I ended up reinstalling it to try and correct the situation.

I just found this in my boot log, not sure what it means but good chance its related

Code:

Wed Apr  9 02:28:18 2014: [....] Configuring network interfaces...run-parts: /etc/network/if-up.d/gogoc exited with return code 1

Thanks

jdkaye · 04-09-2014, 06:21 AM

How did you uninstall rfkill?
Like the case with rfkill, I have no gogoc on my system. Do you know why it's installed on yours?
jdk

Rich3077 · 04-09-2014, 01:04 PM

I uninstalled it via command line because if I tried to uninstall it via synaptic it wanted to uninstall half my system with it. I am running the Kali version as I stated in my first post. It relies a lot more on internet connectivity. I reinstalled it because I dont really know what depends on it and it didnt solve the problem anyway.

I tried reinstalling the headers just a bit ago and that didnt help, still hopefull and working on it. The Kali forums are usless, still waiting to get my reply approved by a mod from 2 days ago. I really hate this new trend of having to have manual approval for everything.

Peace
Rich

jdkaye · 04-09-2014, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich3077

I uninstalled it via command line because if I tried to uninstall it via synaptic it wanted to uninstall half my system with it.

Sorry but that's no help. Try to be a little less parsimonious with your answers. What was the exact command you used to uninstall rfkill? That's very strange that it wanted to uninstall half your system. As I said before it is not installed on my system. It is also very strange that you didn't run into that problem when you uninstalled it from the command line. So please, how exactly did you remove rfkill?
jdk

EDDY1 · 04-09-2014, 02:01 PM

This command will fail running as root

Quote:

# sudo rfkill unblock wifi; sudo rfkill unblock all

You either run as user

Quote:

sudo rfkill unblock wifi; sudo rfkill unblock all

or root

Quote:

rfkill unblock wifi; rfkill unblock all

In fact most of the commands that you used in debian user forums were input using sudo while in root terminal, with the exception of dmesg

Rich3077 · 04-09-2014, 02:28 PM

Code:

root@dad:~# rfkill unblock wifi; rfkill unblock all 
root@dad:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
root@dad:~# rfkill unblock wifi
root@dad:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
root@dad:~# rfkill unblock all
root@dad:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

I dont remember the exact command I used, it was some days ago and I had to to a little gooling and playing to get it to uninstall but it was something along the line of dpkg --remove RFkill, not certain but I think I had to use dpkg to make it work.

If I can make this work here is a pic of what synaptic has to say about it.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9&d=1397070996

EDDY1 · 04-09-2014, 08:06 PM

Have you read this?
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/rfkill.txt

Quote:

1. Introduction

The rfkill subsystem provides a generic interface to disabling any radio
transmitter in the system. When a transmitter is blocked, it shall not
radiate any power.

The subsystem also provides the ability to react on button presses and
disable all transmitters of a certain type (or all). This is intended for
situations where transmitters need to be turned off, for example on
aircraft.

The rfkill subsystem has a concept of "hard" and "soft" block, which
differ little in their meaning (block == transmitters off) but rather in
whether they can be changed or not:
- hard block: read-only radio block that cannot be overriden by software
- soft block: writable radio block (need not be readable) that is set by
the system software.

Try the wireless button on machine. In fact what is the make & model?

Rich3077 · 04-09-2014, 09:03 PM

Its a soft block on a desktop, older 17 960 (not overclocked), ATI 6950, 12 gigs ram on a Gigabyte board, dont remember the model number offhand. Wifi is RTL8187, works fine with other operating systems, but its an older one and I think the exact model is 8187L even though they tend to get grouped together. I have seen one post that says this wifi performs better with an 8180 model driver but to be honest being a newb and all changing drivers can be a challenge for me, the guy could have been wrong anyway.

I have no wireless button.. or at least I havent found once since building this rig about 4 years ago.

EDDY1 · 04-09-2014, 11:07 PM

Post output of lspci

Rich3077 · 04-10-2014, 01:01 AM

Code:

root@dad:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub to ESI Port (rev 13)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 13)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 13)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 13)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 13)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 7 (rev 13)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 9 (rev 13)
00:10.0 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 Physical and Link Layer Registers Port 0 (rev 13)
00:10.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 Routing and Protocol Layer Registers Port 0 (rev 13)
00:11.0 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500 Physical and Link Layer Registers Port 1 (rev 13)
00:11.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500 Routing & Protocol Layer Register Port 1 (rev 13)
00:13.0 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub I/OxAPIC Interrupt Controller (rev 13)
00:14.0 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub System Management Registers (rev 13)
00:14.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub GPIO and Scratch Pad Registers (rev 13)
00:14.2 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub Control Status and RAS Registers (rev 13)
00:15.0 PIC: Intel Corporation 7500/5520/5500/X58 Trusted Execution Technology Registers (rev 13)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 1
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 2
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 4
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 5
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 6
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 90)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JIR (ICH10R) LPC Interface Controller
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) SATA AHCI Controller
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller
01:00.0 SATA controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE9128 PCIe SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller (rev 11)
02:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Cayman PRO [Radeon HD 6950]
03:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Cayman/Antilles HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6900 Series]
08:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 02)
08:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 02)
09:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 03)
09:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB363 SATA/IDE Controller (rev 03)
0a:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
0c:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-Core Registers (rev 05)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
3f:03.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller (rev 05)
3f:03.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Target Address Decoder (rev 05)
3f:03.4 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Test Registers (rev 05)
3f:04.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Control Registers (rev 05)
3f:04.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Address Registers (rev 05)
3f:04.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Rank Registers (rev 05)
3f:04.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 0 Thermal Control Registers (rev 05)
3f:05.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Control Registers (rev 05)
3f:05.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Address Registers (rev 05)
3f:05.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Rank Registers (rev 05)
3f:05.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 1 Thermal Control Registers (rev 05)
3f:06.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 2 Control Registers (rev 05)
3f:06.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 2 Address Registers (rev 05)
3f:06.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 2 Rank Registers (rev 05)
3f:06.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon 5500/Core i7 Integrated Memory Controller Channel 2 Thermal Control Registers (rev 05)

I actually got a reply in the Kali Linux forums, while the guy admits to being a newb he said he had a simular problem and changing drivers helped...however he linked me to information that would require me to install Ubuntu repos... everytime I try repo mixing it turns out for the worse.

If anyone has the spare time they can take a look, I am a bit skeptical. Untill I get some confermation I am not gonna try it.

https://forums.kali.org/showthread.p...due-to-RF-kill

The thread I found where the guy said the rtl8780 drivers are the way to go said so with confidence and said he has always ran like that, so its an option I would consider first.

BTW I want to thank everyone for their help so far, gonna make this my new main forum.

Cant work on any of this tonight, gotta get up early and run errands, but will be back on it tomorrow.

Peace

EDDY1 · 04-10-2014, 11:00 AM

I only see ethernet listed is it a usb device? If so post output of lsusb

aeroki · 07-29-2015, 12:10 PM

I installed mint cinnamon rafaela and lost use of my wifi. After a days worth of research and shell commands I was about to give up. Glad I didn't. I rebooted into the BIOS, regained the use of my "fn" key and was able to enable the adapter. It's worth a shot! It worked for me.