WiFi now disabled by radio killswitch

[Paolo Galtieri]

Folks,
   several months ago I was getting the following error:

WiFi now disabled by radio killswitch

forcing a reboot to get my wifi back.  Then the problem went away, but 
now it's back.  Every time I close the lid of my laptop and then reopen 
it several minutes later the wifi is dead and requires a reboot to fix.  
The problem has happened while running. This is really annoying.

Is this a hardware issue or software?

Any idea what I can do to get around this issue?

I'm running f29.

[Tom Horsley]

On Mon, 28 Oct 2019 09:04:28 -0700
Paolo Galtieri wrote:

>  Any idea what I can do to get around this issue? 
Don't know what it causing it, but you should be
able to run "rfkill" to turn it back on rather than
having to reboot.

[Paolo Galtieri]

I ran

rfkill list:

0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

I then tried running

sudo rfkill unblock wlan

and then

rfkill list:

0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

It still shows that it's hard blocked.


Paolo

On 10/28/19 9:16 AM, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  On Mon, 28 Oct 2019 09:04:28 -0700
>  Paolo Galtieri wrote:
>
> > Any idea what I can do to get around this issue?
>  Don't know what it causing it, but you should be
>  able to run "rfkill" to turn it back on rather than
>  having to reboot.
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[Sam Varshavchik]

Paolo Galtieri writes:

>  I ran
>
>  rfkill list:
>
>  0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
>  	Soft blocked: no
>  	Hard blocked: no
>  1: phy0: Wireless LAN
>  	Soft blocked: no
>  	Hard blocked: yes
>
>  I then tried running
>
>  sudo rfkill unblock wlan
>
>  and then
>
>  rfkill list:
>
>  0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
>  	Soft blocked: no
>  	Hard blocked: no
>  1: phy0: Wireless LAN
>  	Soft blocked: no
>  	Hard blocked: yes
>
>  It still shows that it's hard blocked. 
"Hard blocked" suggests there's a hardware switch on the laptop that's 

flipped to kill the Wifi.

It's weird how you claim the Wifi works after a reboot, but shuts off after  
a suspend/resume cycle.

This may not be a physical switch, but many laptops have a FN key  
combination that disables WiFi, sort of like a hybrid soft/hard lock. Just a  
wild guess, but the laptop might "forget" after it reboots that this key  
combination was pressed, but the bit still stays stuck somewhere, and the  
suspend/restore cycle makes the laptop's hardware suddenly realize (oh, my  
Wifi should be off).

[Ed Greshko]

On 10/29/19 7:31 AM, Paolo Galtieri wrote:
>  I ran
>
>  rfkill list:
>
>  0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: no
>  1: phy0: Wireless LAN
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: yes
>
>  I then tried running
>
>  sudo rfkill unblock wlan
>
>  and then
>
>  rfkill list:
>
>  0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: no
>  1: phy0: Wireless LAN
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: yes
>
>  It still shows that it's hard blocked.
>
>  
Pretty sure "hard" means blocked in the hardware.  A few years ago a friend of
mine had what I
recall was the same sort of issue.  He fixed it by toggling the switch on the laptop
repeatedly.
Apparently it was a "sticky" problem.


-- 
The key to getting good answers is to ask good questions.

[Paolo Galtieri]

Toggling the disable wifi button on the laptop keyboard did fix the 
problem.  Now if I close the lid and lift it the wireless is still 
enabled.  I still don't understand why the wifi is killed while using it.

Thanks for the help.

Paolo

On 10/28/19 4:48 PM, Ed Greshko wrote:
>  On 10/29/19 7:31 AM, Paolo Galtieri wrote:
> > I ran
> >
> > rfkill list:
> >
> > 0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
> >     Soft blocked: no
> >     Hard blocked: no
> > 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
> >     Soft blocked: no
> >     Hard blocked: yes
> >
> > I then tried running
> >
> > sudo rfkill unblock wlan
> >
> > and then
> >
> > rfkill list:
> >
> > 0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
> >     Soft blocked: no
> >     Hard blocked: no
> > 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
> >     Soft blocked: no
> >     Hard blocked: yes
> >
> > It still shows that it's hard blocked.
> >
> >
>
>  Pretty sure "hard" means blocked in the hardware.  A few years ago a 
>  friend of mine had what I
>  recall was the same sort of issue.  He fixed it by toggling the switch 
>  on the laptop repeatedly.
>  Apparently it was a "sticky" problem.
>
>

[Ed Greshko]

On 10/29/19 8:44 AM, Paolo Galtieri wrote:
>  Toggling the disable wifi button on the laptop keyboard did fix the
> problem.  Now if I close the lid and lift it the wireless is still
> enabled.  I still don't understand why the wifi is killed while using it. 
If the switch is engaged, even if you're using the wifi, it will get disabled.  Kinda
like pulling the power
plug.  Sensitive switches will sometime do that.

-- 
The key to getting good answers is to ask good questions.