Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[schwaahed]

Hello,

I have an HP Elitebook 8460w laptop containing a Centrino Ultimate-N
6300 AGN (linux-3.8.6 iwlwifi module -  firmware version 9.221.4.1
build 25532)

I am unable to remove the softblock on the chip with rfkill. For the
most part my wifi chip stays soft blocked. The only time I can manage
to get it unblocked is when the wlan0 interface is hard blocked.

I am able to:
- soft block the interface
- hard block the interface
- hard block and softblock the interface

I am not able to:
- soft unblock and hard unblock simultaneously.

I needed to do a fresh install of Gentoo Linux on a new hard drive. I
don't have access to the old hard drive at the moment, but wifi did
work on this older install of gentoo linux.. I am using the iwlwifi
driver and firmware that are part of Gentoo.

After I couldn't get wifi working I installed Windows 7 and the wifi
works fine when I boot into Windows 7.

I have looked many places for a solution and other people have run
accross this problem but none of their solutions work for me.

Here are some of the things that I have tried that have resolved this
problem for others, but not for me:

- unload and reload the iwlwifi module
- disable rfkill and bluetooth in the kernel
- boot with the hardware wifi switch off
- boot with the hardware wifi switch on

I have these kernels installed and ready to run on the new harddrive
they all exhibit this same behavior:

linux-3.6.11-r2
linux-3.7.10
linux-3.7.10-r1
linux-3.8.5
linux-3.8.6

I started out with linux-3.8.5 on this new harddrive. Wifi was working
fine with linux-3.7.10-r1 on the old harddrive (same machine). If
anyone has any insight into how I might solve this problem I would
really appreciate a push in the right direction.

Thanks
- Darwin


Below I've given a record of some of the commands I've tried to use to
unblock rfkill and some info about my system:


# iwconfig

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

# ifconfig wlan0 up

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

# rfkill unblock all
# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO ORANGE-OFF

# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes

# rfkill unblock 0
# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes

PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO WHITE-ON

# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no


PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO ORANGE-OFF

# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes

PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO WHITE-ON

# rfkill list all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no


portion of dmesg output

[    3.636945] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1
build 25532
[    3.666672] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[    3.666676] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth),
(max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[    3.666680] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[    3.666735] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[    3.666738] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz),
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[    3.666780] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[    3.666784] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
(300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
...
[    3.671565] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG enabled
[    3.671569] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS enabled
[    3.671571] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING enabled
[    3.671574] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TESTMODE disabled
[    3.671576] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_P2P enabled
[    3.671579] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R)
Ultimate-N 6300 AGN, REV=0x74
[    3.671651] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: L1 Disabled; Enabling L0S
[    3.671787] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
[    3.693396] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'


# lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
iptable_nat             2858  0
nf_nat_ipv4             3703  1 iptable_nat
nf_nat                 15405  2 nf_nat_ipv4,iptable_nat
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     28108  1
iwldvm                233069  0
mac80211              524815  1 iwldvm
snd_hda_codec_idt      60778  1
radeon                912449  1
iwlwifi               161962  1 iwldvm
i2c_algo_bit            5681  1 radeon
snd_hda_intel          34488  0
drm_kms_helper         33940  1 radeon
snd_hda_codec         106132  3
snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
ttm                    70693  1 radeon
snd_hwdep               6010  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                81985  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
kvm                   422194  0
snd_page_alloc          8204  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
cfg80211              493526  3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
snd_timer              19874  1 snd_pcm
drm                   252792  3 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
agpgart                31743  2 drm,ttm
snd                    58279  7
snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
xhci_hcd               87398  0
firewire_ohci          32771  0
soundcore               1090  1 snd
rfkill                 17656  3 cfg80211
firewire_core          56164  1 firewire_ohci

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[Dan Williams]

On Thu, 2013-04-11 at 20:03 -0400, schwaahed wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have an HP Elitebook 8460w laptop containing a Centrino Ultimate-N
> 6300 AGN (linux-3.8.6 iwlwifi module -  firmware version 9.221.4.1
> build 25532)

I notice that your 'rfkill list all' dumps below don't contain an entry
for hp-wmi.  Is that module loaded on your machine?  It's needed at
least for earlier models of the Elitebook, up at least until the xx40
series.  Perhaps it needs to be updated for your laptop?  You might ask
on the general kernel lists if anyone knows how rfkill is supposed to
work for the 8460 and if hp-wmi supports it, or if some other mechanism
is used.

Dan

> I am unable to remove the softblock on the chip with rfkill. For the
> most part my wifi chip stays soft blocked. The only time I can manage
> to get it unblocked is when the wlan0 interface is hard blocked.
> 
> I am able to:
> - soft block the interface
> - hard block the interface
> - hard block and softblock the interface
> 
> I am not able to:
> - soft unblock and hard unblock simultaneously.
> 
> I needed to do a fresh install of Gentoo Linux on a new hard drive. I
> don't have access to the old hard drive at the moment, but wifi did
> work on this older install of gentoo linux.. I am using the iwlwifi
> driver and firmware that are part of Gentoo.
> 
> After I couldn't get wifi working I installed Windows 7 and the wifi
> works fine when I boot into Windows 7.
> 
> I have looked many places for a solution and other people have run
> accross this problem but none of their solutions work for me.
> 
> Here are some of the things that I have tried that have resolved this
> problem for others, but not for me:
> 
> - unload and reload the iwlwifi module
> - disable rfkill and bluetooth in the kernel
> - boot with the hardware wifi switch off
> - boot with the hardware wifi switch on
> 
> I have these kernels installed and ready to run on the new harddrive
> they all exhibit this same behavior:
> 
> linux-3.6.11-r2
> linux-3.7.10
> linux-3.7.10-r1
> linux-3.8.5
> linux-3.8.6
> 
> I started out with linux-3.8.5 on this new harddrive. Wifi was working
> fine with linux-3.7.10-r1 on the old harddrive (same machine). If
> anyone has any insight into how I might solve this problem I would
> really appreciate a push in the right direction.
> 
> Thanks
> - Darwin
> 
> 
> Below I've given a record of some of the commands I've tried to use to
> unblock rfkill and some info about my system:
> 
> 
> # iwconfig
> 
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:off/any
>           Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off
>           Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
> 
> # ifconfig wlan0 up
> 
> SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
> 
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 
> # rfkill unblock all
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 
> PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO ORANGE-OFF
> 
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: yes
> 
> # rfkill unblock 0
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: no
> Hard blocked: yes
> 
> PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO WHITE-ON
> 
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 
> 
> PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO ORANGE-OFF
> 
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: yes
> 
> PRESS HARDWARE WIFI BUTTON, LED CHANGES TO WHITE-ON
> 
> # rfkill list all
> 
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 
> 
> portion of dmesg output
> 
> [    3.636945] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1
> build 25532
> [    3.666672] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
> [    3.666676] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth),
> (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
> [    3.666680] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
> (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
> [    3.666735] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
> (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
> [    3.666738] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz),
> (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
> [    3.666780] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
> (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
> [    3.666784] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz),
> (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
> ...
> [    3.671565] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG enabled
> [    3.671569] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS enabled
> [    3.671571] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING enabled
> [    3.671574] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TESTMODE disabled
> [    3.671576] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_P2P enabled
> [    3.671579] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R)
> Ultimate-N 6300 AGN, REV=0x74
> [    3.671651] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: L1 Disabled; Enabling L0S
> [    3.671787] iwlwifi 0000:25:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
> [    3.693396] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
> 
> 
> # lsmod
> 
> Module                  Size  Used by
> iptable_nat             2858  0
> nf_nat_ipv4             3703  1 iptable_nat
> nf_nat                 15405  2 nf_nat_ipv4,iptable_nat
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi     28108  1
> iwldvm                233069  0
> mac80211              524815  1 iwldvm
> snd_hda_codec_idt      60778  1
> radeon                912449  1
> iwlwifi               161962  1 iwldvm
> i2c_algo_bit            5681  1 radeon
> snd_hda_intel          34488  0
> drm_kms_helper         33940  1 radeon
> snd_hda_codec         106132  3
> snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
> ttm                    70693  1 radeon
> snd_hwdep               6010  1 snd_hda_codec
> snd_pcm                81985  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
> kvm                   422194  0
> snd_page_alloc          8204  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
> cfg80211              493526  3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
> snd_timer              19874  1 snd_pcm
> drm                   252792  3 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
> agpgart                31743  2 drm,ttm
> snd                    58279  7
> snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
> xhci_hcd               87398  0
> firewire_ohci          32771  0
> soundcore               1090  1 snd
> rfkill                 17656  3 cfg80211
> firewire_core          56164  1 firewire_ohci
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireless" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[Johannes Berg]

On Fri, 2013-04-12 at 17:04 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:
> On Thu, 2013-04-11 at 20:03 -0400, schwaahed wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I have an HP Elitebook 8460w laptop containing a Centrino Ultimate-N
> > 6300 AGN (linux-3.8.6 iwlwifi module -  firmware version 9.221.4.1
> > build 25532)
> 
> I notice that your 'rfkill list all' dumps below don't contain an entry
> for hp-wmi.  Is that module loaded on your machine?  It's needed at
> least for earlier models of the Elitebook, up at least until the xx40
> series.  Perhaps it needs to be updated for your laptop?  You might ask
> on the general kernel lists if anyone knows how rfkill is supposed to
> work for the 8460 and if hp-wmi supports it, or if some other mechanism
> is used.

Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
issue. 

johannes

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[Dan Williams]

On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 15:22 +0200, Johannes Berg wrote:
> On Fri, 2013-04-12 at 17:04 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:
> > On Thu, 2013-04-11 at 20:03 -0400, schwaahed wrote:
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > I have an HP Elitebook 8460w laptop containing a Centrino Ultimate-N
> > > 6300 AGN (linux-3.8.6 iwlwifi module -  firmware version 9.221.4.1
> > > build 25532)
> > 
> > I notice that your 'rfkill list all' dumps below don't contain an entry
> > for hp-wmi.  Is that module loaded on your machine?  It's needed at
> > least for earlier models of the Elitebook, up at least until the xx40
> > series.  Perhaps it needs to be updated for your laptop?  You might ask
> > on the general kernel lists if anyone knows how rfkill is supposed to
> > work for the 8460 and if hp-wmi supports it, or if some other mechanism
> > is used.
> 
> Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
> block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
> issue. 

On my 2530p and a lot of other laptops, blocking the BIOS
"switch" (either physically or softblock) hardblocks phy0.  I guess the
BIOS twiddles a GPIO that's connected to the mPCI-E module's rfkill
line/GPIO?

Which leads to the problem we've talked about a long time ago; you can't
treat phy0 hardblock as a physical block that cannot be soft-unblocked,
because some other switch might actually control it's state.  We tried
to gray-out the "Enable Wireless" when hardblocked (since logically you
can't soft-unblock something that's hardblocked), but it turns out you
can't do that because unblocking BIOS switches might un-hardblock the
phy0 wifi switch...  (and the kernel doesn't describe these
dependencies, because, well, that's laptop-specific and would never be
up-to-date).

Dan

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[Johannes Berg]

On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 09:39 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:

> > Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
> > block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
> > issue. 
> 
> On my 2530p and a lot of other laptops, blocking the BIOS
> "switch" (either physically or softblock) hardblocks phy0.  I guess the
> BIOS twiddles a GPIO that's connected to the mPCI-E module's rfkill
> line/GPIO?

Yes, that seems to be the case. Something does, anyway, as the GPIO
state is pretty much directly reflected in the hard kill of the "phy0"
device.

> Which leads to the problem we've talked about a long time ago; you can't
> treat phy0 hardblock as a physical block that cannot be soft-unblocked,
> because some other switch might actually control it's state.  We tried
> to gray-out the "Enable Wireless" when hardblocked (since logically you
> can't soft-unblock something that's hardblocked), but it turns out you
> can't do that because unblocking BIOS switches might un-hardblock the
> phy0 wifi switch...  (and the kernel doesn't describe these
> dependencies, because, well, that's laptop-specific and would never be
> up-to-date).

Yeah ... best thing you could do is assume that if a bios rfkill exists
it controls the phy0 hard kill and in case it doesn't enable when you
unblock the bios device you pop up a message saying to switch the
physical button?

johannes

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[schwaahed]

So I configured a kernel with hp-wmi enabled. It had the unfortunate
consequence of disabling wireless on the windows side. I also saw that
some people with different hardware from me were able to resolve their
problem by blacklisting hp-wmi.

rfkill show an additional wifi interface ('hp-wifi' I think), that
behaves exactly as phy0 did. I still am unable to unblock this
interface. phy0 doesn't respond to any rfkill commands or the physical
wifi switch. It is just remains soft and hard blocked.

Dan -- Are there any links/search terms to older conversations on this issue?

Is wifi working on your 2530p?

Thanks
- Darwin

On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Johannes Berg
<johannes@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 09:39 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:
>
>> > Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
>> > block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
>> > issue.
>>
>> On my 2530p and a lot of other laptops, blocking the BIOS
>> "switch" (either physically or softblock) hardblocks phy0.  I guess the
>> BIOS twiddles a GPIO that's connected to the mPCI-E module's rfkill
>> line/GPIO?
>
> Yes, that seems to be the case. Something does, anyway, as the GPIO
> state is pretty much directly reflected in the hard kill of the "phy0"
> device.
>
>> Which leads to the problem we've talked about a long time ago; you can't
>> treat phy0 hardblock as a physical block that cannot be soft-unblocked,
>> because some other switch might actually control it's state.  We tried
>> to gray-out the "Enable Wireless" when hardblocked (since logically you
>> can't soft-unblock something that's hardblocked), but it turns out you
>> can't do that because unblocking BIOS switches might un-hardblock the
>> phy0 wifi switch...  (and the kernel doesn't describe these
>> dependencies, because, well, that's laptop-specific and would never be
>> up-to-date).
>
> Yeah ... best thing you could do is assume that if a bios rfkill exists
> it controls the phy0 hard kill and in case it doesn't enable when you
> unblock the bios device you pop up a message saying to switch the
> physical button?
>
> johannes
>

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[Dan Williams]

On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 11:50 -0400, schwaahed wrote:
> So I configured a kernel with hp-wmi enabled. It had the unfortunate
> consequence of disabling wireless on the windows side. I also saw that
> some people with different hardware from me were able to resolve their
> problem by blacklisting hp-wmi.

Ok, so that means that perhaps the airplane mode interface changed on
your machine from earlier models in the Elitebook series.  You'll need
to talk to the hp-wmi maintainers about how to handle your device then,
at this point it's not a wifi issue, it's the BIOS telling the wifi
hardware to enable/disable itself and that's causing your issues when
trying to unblock stuff.

> rfkill show an additional wifi interface ('hp-wifi' I think), that
> behaves exactly as phy0 did. I still am unable to unblock this
> interface. phy0 doesn't respond to any rfkill commands or the physical
> wifi switch. It is just remains soft and hard blocked.

Yeah, kernel driver issue for hp-wmi, of if HP isn't using WMI anymore
then a different module.  One question though, any idea if your laptop
uses UEFI instead of traditional BIOS?

> Dan -- Are there any links/search terms to older conversations on this issue?

Not your specific issue that I know of, but the rfkill + BIOS
interaction issue has been going on for years; every time the OEMs
change the way BIOS talks to the OS and the wifi card, we need a kernel
update of the various laptop drivers like acer-wmi, hp-wmi,
thinkpad-acpi, etc to handle it.

> Is wifi working on your 2530p?

Yeah, but it's probably not relevant for your machine, since the 2530p
is from 2009.  HP has likely changed the BIOS <-> OS interface since
then.

Dan

> Thanks
> - Darwin
> 
> On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Johannes Berg
> <johannes@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
> > On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 09:39 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:
> >
> >> > Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
> >> > block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
> >> > issue.
> >>
> >> On my 2530p and a lot of other laptops, blocking the BIOS
> >> "switch" (either physically or softblock) hardblocks phy0.  I guess the
> >> BIOS twiddles a GPIO that's connected to the mPCI-E module's rfkill
> >> line/GPIO?
> >
> > Yes, that seems to be the case. Something does, anyway, as the GPIO
> > state is pretty much directly reflected in the hard kill of the "phy0"
> > device.
> >
> >> Which leads to the problem we've talked about a long time ago; you can't
> >> treat phy0 hardblock as a physical block that cannot be soft-unblocked,
> >> because some other switch might actually control it's state.  We tried
> >> to gray-out the "Enable Wireless" when hardblocked (since logically you
> >> can't soft-unblock something that's hardblocked), but it turns out you
> >> can't do that because unblocking BIOS switches might un-hardblock the
> >> phy0 wifi switch...  (and the kernel doesn't describe these
> >> dependencies, because, well, that's laptop-specific and would never be
> >> up-to-date).
> >
> > Yeah ... best thing you could do is assume that if a bios rfkill exists
> > it controls the phy0 hard kill and in case it doesn't enable when you
> > unblock the bios device you pop up a message saying to switch the
> > physical button?
> >
> > johannes
> >
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireless" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

Re: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN rfkill always Soft blocked

[schwaahed]

On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 12:34 PM, Dan Williams <dcbw@redhat.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 11:50 -0400, schwaahed wrote:
>> So I configured a kernel with hp-wmi enabled. It had the unfortunate
>> consequence of disabling wireless on the windows side. I also saw that
>> some people with different hardware from me were able to resolve their
>> problem by blacklisting hp-wmi.
>
> Ok, so that means that perhaps the airplane mode interface changed on
> your machine from earlier models in the Elitebook series.  You'll need
> to talk to the hp-wmi maintainers about how to handle your device then,
> at this point it's not a wifi issue, it's the BIOS telling the wifi
> hardware to enable/disable itself and that's causing your issues when
> trying to unblock stuff.
>

Thanks I will look for the maintainer. It seems like a few years ago
there was a Matthew Garrett dealing with some of the *-wmi modules.

Where would I go to find the present maintainer?


>> rfkill show an additional wifi interface ('hp-wifi' I think), that
>> behaves exactly as phy0 did. I still am unable to unblock this
>> interface. phy0 doesn't respond to any rfkill commands or the physical
>> wifi switch. It is just remains soft and hard blocked.
>
> Yeah, kernel driver issue for hp-wmi, of if HP isn't using WMI anymore
> then a different module.  One question though, any idea if your laptop
> uses UEFI instead of traditional BIOS?
>

I think it is UEFI but I'm not sure exactly what that means.


>> Dan -- Are there any links/search terms to older conversations on this issue?
>
> Not your specific issue that I know of, but the rfkill + BIOS
> interaction issue has been going on for years; every time the OEMs
> change the way BIOS talks to the OS and the wifi card, we need a kernel
> update of the various laptop drivers like acer-wmi, hp-wmi,
> thinkpad-acpi, etc to handle it.
>
>> Is wifi working on your 2530p?
>
> Yeah, but it's probably not relevant for your machine, since the 2530p
> is from 2009.  HP has likely changed the BIOS <-> OS interface since
> then.
>
> Dan
>

Thank you for these suggestions. It would make sense that these are
hardware issues.

-Darwin



>> Thanks
>> - Darwin
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 11:31 AM, Johannes Berg
>> <johannes@sipsolutions.net> wrote:
>> > On Mon, 2013-04-15 at 09:39 -0500, Dan Williams wrote:
>> >
>> >> > Yeah it seems not loaded, but how then does the soft block affect hard
>> >> > block? All very odd, but almost certainly a platform rather than a wifi
>> >> > issue.
>> >>
>> >> On my 2530p and a lot of other laptops, blocking the BIOS
>> >> "switch" (either physically or softblock) hardblocks phy0.  I guess the
>> >> BIOS twiddles a GPIO that's connected to the mPCI-E module's rfkill
>> >> line/GPIO?
>> >
>> > Yes, that seems to be the case. Something does, anyway, as the GPIO
>> > state is pretty much directly reflected in the hard kill of the "phy0"
>> > device.
>> >
>> >> Which leads to the problem we've talked about a long time ago; you can't
>> >> treat phy0 hardblock as a physical block that cannot be soft-unblocked,
>> >> because some other switch might actually control it's state.  We tried
>> >> to gray-out the "Enable Wireless" when hardblocked (since logically you
>> >> can't soft-unblock something that's hardblocked), but it turns out you
>> >> can't do that because unblocking BIOS switches might un-hardblock the
>> >> phy0 wifi switch...  (and the kernel doesn't describe these
>> >> dependencies, because, well, that's laptop-specific and would never be
>> >> up-to-date).
>> >
>> > Yeah ... best thing you could do is assume that if a bios rfkill exists
>> > it controls the phy0 hard kill and in case it doesn't enable when you
>> > unblock the bios device you pop up a message saying to switch the
>> > physical button?
>> >
>> > johannes
>> >
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>
>