Re: "Wireless is disabled" message

["Thomas O'Donoghue" <tomjodonoghue googlemail com>]

First we have nm-tool (I x'd out the HW addresses):

 - Device: eth1 ------------------------------

----------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            ipw2200
  State:             unavailable
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

  Capabilities:
    Supported:       yes

  Wireless Settings
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            b43
  State:             unavailable
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

  Capabilities:
    Supported:       yes

  Wireless Settings
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points


Then there's the output for the second command:

method return sender=:1.5 -> dest=:1.81 reply_serial=2
   variant       boolean false


If it helps, I get this when I type "ifconfig", where the x'd out HWaddr numbers are the same (I don't know if you're supposed to have a repeat with lots of 0's!):

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx 
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)


Tom

2009/5/13 Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>

On Tue, 2009-05-12 at 11:34 +0900, Thomas O'Donoghue wrote:
> No, I never suspend or hibernate my computer (it doesn't work: another
> problem to fix later!).
>
> To summarise: My computer acknowledges the existence of the wireless
> cards, but it won't let me connect to the internet via wireless (see
> pic in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1151646).
> When my laptop arrived with windows on, the external (belkin) wireless
> card picked up the internet. The intel wireless card doesn't work.

Ok, sounds like rfkill issues then.  Can you grab the output of
'nm-tool' for me?  Also, what does:

dbus-send --print-reply --system --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:org.freedesktop.NetworkManager string:WirelessHardwareEnabled

executed from a terminal report?

Dan

> The person in the linked conversation had exactly the same problem,
> and the solution he arrived at in the thread he started in Fedora
> Forums was:
>
> "After not getting answers in this forum i inquired at the
> NetworkManager mailing list, and got the above information. I was told
> that NetworkManager code "honors" and checks the HAL killswitch, with
> no user option to make it NOT honor it (software author's decision).
>
> however, the author(s) were kind enough to share a quick hack of the
> source code to disable the honoring of the killswitch, which worked
> like a charm, making NetworkManager detect and control my removable
> WiFi card."
>
> If it helps, I'm using Linux Mint. The first time I plugged in the
> wireless card it acknowledged it and set up the drivers for it, which
> is why I think it's Network Manager which believes the wireless kill
> switch to be "off" when it is in fact hooked up to a defective
> wireless device. I did read somewhere that Network Manager honours the
> kill switch, and uses it for ALL network devices rather than allowing
> control of individual devices. I think there's a clear argument that
> the downstream user should be able to enable and disable individual
> devices, in the event they have a problem like mine.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
>
> 2009/5/11 Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>
>         On Mon, 2009-05-11 at 14:46 +0900, Thomas O'Donoghue wrote:
>         > I found out about this list through the forum mentioned in
>         the
>         > following thread:
>         >
>         >
>         http://mail.gnome.org/archives/networkmanager-list/2008-September/msg00256.html
>         >
>         > and appear to have the same problem. The person appealed to
>         you guys
>         > and seemed to get a fix: I looked through the messages, but
>         was unable
>         > to deduce what that fix was. I have the same problem (my
>         internal
>         > Intel wireless card doesn't work, so I think the computer
>         > automatically assumes that the wireless switch is set to
>         "off"). I'm
>         > using an external card, but cannot enable wireless to use
>         it.
>
>
>         Does this happen when you return from suspend/hibernate?  If
>         so, please
>         see:
>
>         https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=477964
>
>         Dan
>
>