wlan0 network interface disabled in Open SuSE 12.1
 

Somehow my wireless network interface has become disabled in both Windows Vista and in openSuSE 12.1. I was at a hotel over the weekend and used a LAN cable to connect to the hotel's internet. Since I returned home, it seems that nothing will enable the wireless interface. I have a HP notepad that has the wireless button above the keyboard that you have to manually press (icon becomes blue when on, orange when off). Pressing this button in Windows does absolutely nothing, and the Windows help files say that this is the only way to re-enable the interface in Windows (!?).

In Linux, when I type:

ifconfig wlan0 up, I get the following:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill.

Also, nothing happens when I click "Scan Network" under network settings in YaST.

I tried the SuSE rescue disk but was unsuccessful.

I googled the RF-kill error and got some information, but I am at work right now and will have to wait until I get home to troubleshoot.

try this

http://nitiniamme.wordpress.com/2011...in-fedora-v13/

Thank you for the advice, xslc. The rfkill command told me it was not supported, and with no internet access I was unable to download it. It was a frustrating evening of looking through logs, troubleshooting and rebooting. The rescue disk didn't work. I even reloaded open SuSE 12.1, reformatting the partitions. That didn't work either. Maybe my wireless interface went bad? Not sure what to do next.

Still have not had success figuring this one out. I have done the following:

1. Reloaded both operating systems, openSuSE 12.1, and Windows Vista. The wireless interface still appears to be dead.
2. Purchased a netgear wireless USB adapter from Walmart. This adapter worked fine in Windows, but was invisible to SuSE 12.1, even after reloading Suse 12.1, with the wireless USB adapter plugged in.
3. I figured maybe the built-in wireless interface is indeed dead, so I would like to purchase another wireless USB adapter, one that would work for Linux. So I went back to Walmart, and looked on all the Netgear, Belkin, and Linksys boxes. None of the boxes have any mention of Linux, only Windows. I wound up not buying any of them for the time being. I think they will require firmware that will be difficult to install without internet access from my Linux OS. (I don't have internet at home, where I would use a LAN cable to connect).

It is interesting to note that the wireless interface went dead while I was travelling, using an airport wifi, and a hotel wifi. Maybe I had an intrusion in one of those places? Still puzzled.

Mabye it is disabled in the BIOS?